Thundercade
Nintendo Entertainment System
As a young kid in the early 90s I took video gaming very seriously. I made sure to have a list ready for any upcoming occasion that would warrant me possibly receiving a game as a gift. Every Christmas and every birthday that went by, my fingers were crossed that I would get at least one new game, if not many more. I don’t remember the exact year, but there was a Christmas where I hadn’t received a SINGLE game as a gift. I had made sure to distribute my list among family members. Why did no one get me anything?
My last hope was when I visited my grandfather’s house - my grandfather on my dad’s side of the family. He had become estranged from my grandmother many, many years in the past. He then remarried and started a new family of his own. We only saw him about once a year, around Christmas time. As a result, my brother and I (his original grandkids) were never really that close to him. I was not optimistic I would get a new game.
Surprise surprise, I actually got one: Thundercade. I was happy to get a new game, but at the same time I was a little disappointed because the game was not on my list. In fact, I had never even heard of Thundercade before. I bet he was out shopping and didn’t have the list, so he simply decided to buy whatever happened to look cool on the shelf… or whatever was the cheapest. But you know what they say about beggars and how they can’t be choosers. I was still going to play the game. Of course I was.
Having never heard of the game before, I came into it blind. I quickly discovered that it is a an old school shooter in the vein of Galaga or Galaxian. A more accurate comparison might be the Capcom arcade classic 1942. What this means is that you control a vehicle (in the case of Thundercade: a motorcycle). The game takes place from a slightly top/down, slightly behind the back perspective. As you play, the camera scrolls upward as you move forward. You can move your motorcycle left, right, up, and down on the field of play. You cannot move it off of the screen, however, nor does the camera scroll faster if you move to the top of the screen. Enemies come at you mainly from the front. Your goal is to shoot them and not get shot at the same time. Sounds easy, but this game offers up quite the challenge.
Enemies are going to be coming at you nonstop. Get hit once and you die. Making this even more challenging, you only get three lives (although the game does have continues, thank god!). You are going to be dodging enemy fire CONSTANTLY. At times you are going to be at a loss as to how you can avoid getting hit. Don’t give up though. The enemies appear in a predetermined fashion. It just takes some trial and error. Play through this enough times and these patterns get stuck in your head. This makes it easier not only to avoid enemy attacks, but to know where to shoot so you can kill these enemies before they can even get a shot off.
The game offers a lot in terms of power ups and weapon upgrades. You can pick up things like extra lives and extra special attacks as you play. There are also several different sidecars you can pick up for your motorcycle. They offer a variety of attacks, such as a long shooter, double shooters, side shooters (which shoot left or right as opposed to straight forward), and my personal favorite: the V gun. This gun shoots out from your vehicle in a V-pattern. Meaning your shots don’t go straight, they branch out in front of you. One veers left, the other veers right. This can make aiming a little problematic, but these guns are so powerful it more than makes up for it. Not only do these sidecars offer you a little extra firepower as you play, but they also offer protection. Normally one hit is enough to kill you. But if an enemy shoots your sidecar, the shot simply destroys the sidecar. So it is like a one-hit shield, in a way. Very useful.
Aside from the directional pad, you will only be using two buttons as you play: the basic fire button and a button for your special attack. Press the special attack button, and a jet swoops down and bombs the hell out of everything onscreen. This will kill most basic enemies and do major damage to the game’s bosses. It also will destroy any buildings in your vicinity that can be destroyed. Most buildings you can’t destroy, but there are a few that you can demolish if you shoot them enough times. More often than not, these buildings house secret items you can use to aid you on your quest. So the air raid is definitely a big help when it comes to discovering these buildings and taking them out quickly. I found that the most beneficial aspect to the air raid, however, is not the damage that the attack doles out. It is the fact that when you hit the air raid button, all enemy bullets suddenly disappear from the screen. So if you ever find yourself backed into a corner with bullets coming in and no way out, just use your special attack! This feature saved me more times than I would care to admit. The only downside is that this trick doesn’t work on the game’s final boss, which sucks big time because it is super hard.
Thundercade is not very long. There are four main stages, each one roughly ten minutes in length. All stages end with a boss fight, except for the third one for some reason. After each stage you gain access to a short side scrolling bonus level where you are being air dropped special supplies. It is your goal to catch as many things as you can before they hit the ground. I always made the one-ups and the V guns my top priority.
Even though the game is short, I do recall spending a lot of time with it when I was a kid. I liked to play the 2-player co-op mode with my step brother Kyle. We got pretty good at the game, but I’m not certain if we ever beat it together or not. I did beat the game by myself a small handful of times. But often I would make it to the end in great shape and then die in battle against the final boss. It got frustrating after a while. It took me several attempts to beat the game as an adult, but when I did I must say I felt quite accomplished afterwards.
The graphics for this game are fine, if nothing spectacular. The music is a little grating, I must say. I remember my dad coming into the room when I was playing this as a kid and him making a comment that it sounded like I was listening to church organ music. Really shitty, tinny church organ music. It was not a compliment! At first I didn’t see it, but the more I played the more I began to realize he was onto something. In present day, I think the music is charming and it brings back a lot of memories, but at the same time I would never recommend the game’s soundtrack to someone who likes listening to catchy 8-bit tracks. Because this game's music is not catchy at all.
Thundercade is not a game that is going to go down in history as an all-time classic. In fact, I am willing to bet this review is going to get shit for views, if only because so many people have never heard of the game before. Which is fair. I had never heard of the game either when I first got it. Am I glad I got it though? Heck yeah. It is a fun game and it has given me some good memories. It is short if you know what you are doing, but the game is so challenging that it will keep you at it and at it until you finally finish it off. If you can find a friend to play with, two player mode is very enjoyable too. Thanks, grandpa, for getting me this game. Over 25 years later it is still a staple of my NES collection. It is true that I don’t play it very often (I am willing to bet that the last time I played this game I was in my late teens or early twenties. I am 35 now), but I do take solace in the fact that it will always be there whenever I want to pop it in. Good game.
Overall:
B+
If you liked my review of Thundercade, check out some of my other game reviews:
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