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Namco’s arcade classic came home to the NES in stellar fashion, retaining the visual style and gameplay. It also brought all the challenge of the coin-op, and all these factors combine to produce one of the better arcade ports on the NES. This is definitely a cartridge to own.
A lot of classic game franchises have been making comebacks lately. Bionic Commando, Rocket Knight, and Splatterhouse are just a few of the brands that are being retooled for modern audiences. After Namco is finished giving Rick and his 2”x4” the upgrade treatment, I would love to see Rolling Thunder be next. Sadly, that hasn’t been announced yet (rubs rabbit’s foot and prays for an E3 miracle), so we’ll have to be satisfied with the excellent trilogy of games that is already out there. The third installment, a Genesis exclusive, was the last time we saw the Agency and Geldra go at it, and it’s actually a darn solid game.
One of Namco’s biggest franchises saw two sequels on the Genesis and then upped and disappeared. Successfula and popular, the story of Rolling Thunder is one that mimics something you’d hear about on True Hollywood Story. Why was it abandoned? Who knows. All that is known is that the Genesis got two awesome action games, one of which was an exclusive.
Rolling Thunder 2 takes just about everything the original did well and does it better. Sharper and more detailed graphics, a greater variety of weapons, smarter and more plentiful enemies; all make for a great sequel. Namco adopted an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality here, leaving the game play intact.