Super Thunder Blade

[Melf]

An arcade smash and Genesis original, Super Thunder Blade defied the system's lack of hardware scaling and showed what some good programming could accomplish. We here at Sega-16 are big fans, and have a full review (http://www.sega-16.com/2005/08/super-thunderblade/) for your perusal. Come on in and share the love.

[j_factor]

I've never seen such a glowing review of Super Thunder Blade.

[Melf]

Hehe, yeah. I don't think it deserves a ten (more like a 7 or so), but I don't change the reviewer's score. Personally, I like the game, but not that much.

[raystorm]

wow... a 10 for Super Thunder Blade??!! Crazy!!! I would give it maybe a 6. Its still quite choppy but thats expected. I guess they did what they could with the genesis hardware.

I will never understand why Sega did not put a chip for scaling/rotation effects. What a difference it would have made for so many games. ...and I mean REAL scaling/rotation not mode 7 trash.

[Russman]

Good game but not a 10. I was really enthralled with this game when it was released, the reviewer makes a good point about that. This is one of those games that, at the time, stood out leaps and bounds above 8-bit technology. I like the artwork on this one too. I'd probably give STB a 7.

[j_factor]

wow... a 10 for Super Thunder Blade??!! Crazy!!! I would give it maybe a 6. Its still quite choppy but thats expected. I guess they did what they could with the genesis hardware.

I will never understand why Sega did not put a chip for scaling/rotation effects. What a difference it would have made for so many games. ...and I mean REAL scaling/rotation not mode 7 trash.

In 1988 the technology wasn't very cheap and it didn't seem like something they should do since no one else had it. The first system to have hardware-implemented scaling/rotation was Lynx, which wasn't really known about until very close to its release (which was after Mega Drive was in the market). After that it was the SNES, which wasn't even in any stage of development when Mega Drive launched.

[Drixxel]

I just never considered Thunder Blade much of an arcade contender compared to Afterburner and Space Harrier, but it's good to hear that at least one person out there was completely overtaken with Thunder Blade-related joys.

[daminmancejin2]

i got this game its great i love the music its great i love the game over music! :D

[Electroman]

Super Thunderblade was an easy 6 or 7 tops. I did like the music though.

[ary incorparated]

wow... a 10 for Super Thunder Blade??!! Crazy!!! I would give it maybe a 6. Its still quite choppy but thats expected. I guess they did what they could with the genesis hardware.

I will never understand why Sega did not put a chip for scaling/rotation effects. What a difference it would have made for so many games. ...and I mean REAL scaling/rotation not mode 7 trash.

The megadrive has,HAM (Hold and modify)It could do almost the same as the snes,look at batman and robin and vectorman beeing pseudo 3D animated .What snes did also the mega cd did with Batman and robin,batman returns etc.Look at vectorman having a third dimension sometimes,plus still keeps the 3D effects scalling fast.I think what snes did with mode 7 didnt really fitted the MD way,Btw contra hard corps also has scalling and rotation which makes the game overall great.BTW what snes didnt had was isometric perspectif,That means that the ROM sise can be much smaller to fit every thing nice into a little cart,It was something With the A channels that where built in genesis.Oooh yeah MD sure had fully 3D cards with SVP virtua racing but sega didnt go further on that,the game shows polygon graphics,which sega could do more with if they wanted but sega saw more in the pseudo style of 3D games like vectorman.BTW If you have a good look at the genesis hardware then in some ways it is supperior to the even later snes.But sega didnt intent to go fully max with al their games.Only a few are extreme in graphics but most of the games look like what we use to know. There are games that certainly outdo snes games,Games like Gunstar Heroes show how to use the good parts of the hardware.etc the genesis therefore has a big variaty in games.Btw Thunderblade could have been done way better with the genesis cart and this is exually also 3D but then also is skitching and Road rash but they werent thinking about that that much then.If you want to see quality Kind of mode 7 tecniqeu(HAM ofcoures)Then go play games like panorama cotton and Yu Yu hakusho(Which shows also a terrific feature namely Sprite scalling technics,these where also used in vectorman that means that the background doesn just rotate horizontal but also vertical,So the real 3D deal in the backgrounds).Snes isnt spectacular at all compared to genesis.You have to find that games on the genesis that use these features,And you wil end up searching very long,because games like Cotton and yuyu hakusho are very rare and expensive but Truly serve the Genny right.Go with mega cd for instance,there its very much about HAM.Or go with a cdx or 32x(which i dont recoment fully).still the genesis has its games in their own way that make em" good,they dont need mode 7 or something to make a good playable game,Gunstar heroes aggian. ;)

[j_factor]

Hold and modify isn't a mode, it's just a technique. I couldn't read the rest of your post.

[ary incorparated]

Dude thats why it isnt like mode 7 at all but it is a option,Sorry my corrections ,read more of this,I corected it for you hope it is beter now i also saw some nasty typing faults,thats because i type fast and im dutch,That wont work together.

[ary incorparated]

fixed :D hope you can read or understand it now

[j_factor]

Ok, I see what you're saying.

I don't really have anything to add, so, yeah.

[ary incorparated]

Thanx

[Joe Redifer]

Super Thunderblade was a fun game, but those jumpy paper-thin buildings were like acid on my eyeballs. I did like the music (which sounded pretty thin in the game, but the composition was great). In fact I liked the music enough to do my own short remix of one of the later stages (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00574/) a few years back!

[TwistedReality]

It's a classic, and it's nostalgic for me to go back and play it now. But honestly, I don't like the game too much. I find it very repetitive and difficult. I do like the music though. :|

[grolt]

Holy dead thread revival, Batman, but I thought I'd add my pennies to this discussion...


This is one of those games that, at the time, stood out leaps and bounds above 8-bit technology.

Only it didn't. By my account this is a very rushed, incomplete and lacking port. I think SOJ really rushed to make this a launch title, and were so enthralled with the scaling, SPACE HARRIER-esque gameplay that they ported over only that half of the game. The arcade version is pretty awesome, a fine combination of perspectives, since it goes from a top-down vertical shmup to a behind the ship perspective midway through and then back to top-down for the boss battle. That variety made for some addictive gameplay, but on the Genesis all we get are all the portions of the levels that the Genesis is worst at. Why bother?

The Master System port, by comparison, is a much better game. It still attempts the choppy scaling, but you know what, it feels smoother to me than the Genesis version. What makes the SMS version a far better port, though, is that the top down perspective at the start and end of each level are also included, making this a pretty spot on arcade port. The top down graphics are among the best on the system, too, with all that nice shading and helicopter shadowing effect on the buildings below. This is one of the only cases where the Master System port is more than just a scaled down port of the Genesis version.

So yeah, Super Thunder Blade couldn't have possibly looked leaps and bounds above what was available on 8-bit, because the SMS version is definitely superior!