 |
This Nintendo Entertainment System port comes to us from the good folks at Tengen, best known for their unlicensed 8-bit games and a bitchin' version of Tetris. Although the graphics have been stripped down to fit on the NES cartridge, the basic gameplay and level structure is there. You play Albatross, a member of Interpol's "Rolling Thunder" espionage unit. Your job is to rescue a fellow agent, an inappropriately dressed woman by the name of Leila Blitz. She's being held in New York by a secret society known as Geldra. Of course, these story elements are only here to give you a reason to walk around and shoot hooded villains. As I mentioned before, the game allows you to fight on two different levels at any given time. As you walk through the levels you will occasionally see levels above you; all you have to do is push up on the D-pad and the jump button and you'll find your super spy leaping 15 feet into the air and landing on the ground above. But don't get too comfortable on that second level, because all of the enemies you left below can jump too. Outside of having a weird superhuman leaping ability, Albatross also knows how to open up and hide in doors. Scattered throughout each level are a series of doors; some that house enemies, some that have weapons and some that will give you extra time. It's important to spend some time exploring these doors as you go from area to area. Best of all, if you see an enemy coming and you don't have the time to get off a good shot, then you can hold the up button and remain in the door indefinitely. Unfortunately these are the only two things that set this Rolling Thunder port apart from the other action games on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Outside of being able to leap high up into the air and hide in behind a door, there's really nothing special about this spy. He has limited moves, can't shoot in the air and has absolutely no control over how far he jumps. Couple this with the fact the NES port has sluggish control problems and you have a so-so port of an otherwise amazing (albeit dated) arcade game. The nice thing about this Rolling Thunder port is that it doesn't skimp on the levels. Tengen comes to the plate with some twenty different levels. At first you'll be impressed at all of the different types of levels. You'll see indoor areas, warehouses, caves and more. However, as you keep playing through the game you'll realize that what's really happening is that you're visiting different locales over and over again. Thankfully these familiar levels now house brand new enemy types, including mutant monkey-things and cougars. The graphics and sound are fine for a Nintendo Entertainment System game, but they certainly aren't as strong as their arcade counterpart. The good news is that you'll hardly notice the downsized graphics while you're shooting up bad guys and trying to avoid grenades. There's more than enough action here to make you forget all about the decrease in quality. All in all, Rolling Thunder is a solid port of a great arcade game. While Tengen does manage to get the feel of the original game right, I can't help but notice all of the corners that were cut in the making of this 8-bit home game. Some of the cheap deaths and archaic design decisions ultimately bring the score down, but not enough to keep me from having a relatively good time playing through Rolling Thunder.Read full review
My brother and I bought Rolling Thunder for the old NES system and it was a great copy of the game. We bought it because we use to play the game on our Nintendo all the time when we were kids and wanted to relive the experience and memories. Rolling Thunder is a fun game and is based on the classic ARCADE by the same name. This product is great for nostalgic NES gamers who love to revisit the past and test their NES gaming skills! Have fun!
Worked the first time I played it. A classic from my childhood, game play is just like I remember.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Rolling Thunder is great old school shooter. I bought this game because I could never finish it as a wee lad...turns out I cannot beat it as an adult either. But the challenge is a fun one and reminded me why gaming in the nintendo games was soo much fun.
AWESOME GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not much can be said more than that very statement about this game. Will keep you wanting to progress further and further.
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Video Games
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Video Games
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
