History VideoGame / RollingThunder

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'' borrows some elements from ''Rolling Thunder''

* NoExportForYou: Inverted. All of the ''Rolling Thunder'' games were made in Japan, but ''3'' was released exclusively in America.

* ContinuingIsPainful: Woe to you if you die, you'll go back to your pistol and lose any extra ammo and your machine gun (if you had one) when you restart from a checkpoint, or worse, the whole level. ''Rolling Thunder 3'' averts this problem by resuming from where you die, thankfully, and you keep everything you have (unless all your lives are lost).
* DenialOfDiagonalAttack: Averted in 3, where you can fire at an angle upwards and in midair. This only works with your pistol, though.

* CollisionDamage: The only damage you can take that isn't a OneHitKill.

* AWinnerIsYou: The first game's ending when you finally kill Maboo. The second game is a little better, but not by much. The 3rd game averts this trope.

''Rolling Thunder'' is an arcade game released in 1986 by {{Namco}}. It is a side-scrolling action game where players controls "Albatross", a member of WCPO's "Rolling Thunder" espionage unit, who infiltrate the hideout of a terrorist cult named Geldra, led by a green-skinned humanoid alien named Maboo. Unlike other action titles, it is a little more slower paced, and is more about taking cover from enemy fire and conserving ammo than mindless running and gunning. You often have to find cover, hide behind doors (some which hold more ammo for your weapons) and leap up and down between floors.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Hiding behind doors. Besides wasting time, enemies will keep appearing and sometimes they will stay around the door until you come out. The second game required this in the last level, but that's only because you need to conserve ammo for Gimdo, the final boss. Unless you like firing [[PainfullySlowProjectile Painfully Slow Bullets...]]

* BottomlessPits: The first two games have them. Averted in the third game.

* DenialOfDiagonalAttack: Averted in 3, where you can fire at an angle and in midair. This only works with your pistol, though.

** In ''Rolling Thunder 3'', you get three hit points if you play on the normal setting, but the harder difficulty gives you the standard two hit points. Some unmarked doors actually have life expansions. Or the special weapon door if you didn't pick an alternate weapon in the pre-mission menu.

* MiniMecha: When you face Dread for the second time in the last level, he fights you in one in his first phase.

* NotCompletelyUseless: The knife in ''3''. Not only is it helpful for close range combat, but it's helpful against Dread's second phase in your final encounter with him.

Two sequels were released: ''Rolling Thunder 2'', an arcade sequel released in 1990 that featured better graphics than the original and 2-player co-op (with Leila as Player 1 and Albatross as Player 1) with a SegaGenesis port in 1991; and ''Rolling Thunder 3'', a Genesis-exclusive final entry centered around a new agent named Jay.

* ActuallyADoombot: [[Dread pulls this on you in the third game when you face him for the first time in the underground base. It's not until you beat Stage 9 do you find out he's still alive.]]

''Rolling Thunder'' is a series of side-scrolling action games developed by {{Namco}}. The player controls "Albatross", a secret agent for the WCPO's "Rolling Thunder" espionage unit. In the first game, he must rescue his female partner Leila from a terrorist organization named Geldra, led by an alien named Maboo. The second game featured a co-op mode where Leila and Albatross stop Gimdo, who has revived the Geldra terrorist group. The third game takes place during the second game & it has the remaining agent Jay go after the second-in-command, Dread.

Unlike other action titles, it is a little more slower paced, and is more about strategy and conserving ammo than mindless running and gunning. You often have to find cover, hide behind doors (Some of which held ammo for your weapons) and leap up and down between floors.

This series only has three games, the first two starting in arcades before being ported to home systems, and the final game being released only on the Genesis.

* ''Rolling Thunder'': 1986 (Arcade), 1989 (NES)
* ''Rolling Thunder 2'': 1990 (Arcade), 1991 (Genesis)
* ''Rolling Thunder 3'': 1993 (Genesis)

* ActionGirl: Leila in Rolling Thunder 2. [[spoiler: Ellen]] is also playable by a cheat code in Rolling Thunder 3.

* FloatingTimeline: A weird example. The first game was an intentional period piece set in the late [=1960's=], but ''Rolling Thunder 2'' moved the game's setting to the [=1990's=]. The sequel even establishes that it's the same Leila and Albatross from the original game, not just successors inheriting the same codenames.

** For really good and obvious reasons, this is averted in the third game's plane level (you're on a hijacked plane and you can virtually see the whole plane interior).

* DenialOfDiagonalAttack: Played straight in the first two games. But in 3, you can fire at an angle and in midair. This only works with your pistol, though.

* OneHitPointWonder: Played With. Getting shot even once kills you, but you can take two physical attacks before dying. In the third game it's two shots and the punches unless you play on the Hard setting.

* OneHitPointWonder: Zig-Zagged. Getting shot even once kills you, but you can take two physical attacks before dying. In the third game it's two shots and the punches unless you play on the Hard setting.

* OneHitPointWonder: Getting shot even once kills you. Subverted in ''3'' in that you die in two shots unless you play on the Hard setting.

* AWinnerIsYou: The first game's ending when you finally kill Maboo. The other two are a little better, but not by much.

* StalkedByTheBell: In ''Rolling Thunder 3'', a sniper appears and fires at you if you take too long to finish a level.

* WakeUpCallBoss: The robot boss in the Genesis version of ''Rolling Thunder 2'' His crosshair will slowly move back and forth and fire at you. Unless you can take advantage of a certain blind spot close to him early on in the battle, you'll lose a few lives and see the continue screen once or twice until you figure it out.

* BigBad: Maboo in the first game, Gimdo in the second.

* BottomlessPits: There's none in the third game, thankfully.

* DenialOfDiagonalAttack: Played straight in the first two games, but averted in 3, where you can fire at an angle and in midair. This only works with your pistol, though.

* TheDragon: Dread in ''Rolling Thunder 3''.
* EasyModeMockery: Played straight in all three games. In the original arcade game, when you beat the first five stages, [[{{Big Bad}} Maboo]] laughs at you and you go through a HardModeFiller. The NES version, along with both Genesis games, gives the player a password after completing the normal difficulty which restarts the game on a harder setting. The full ending of each console game can only be seen by completing their respective hard modes.

There is also an officially sanctioned webcomic, ''[[http://shiftylook.com/comics/rapidthunder/ Rapid Thunder,]]'' that continues the plot of the games.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Hiding behind doors. Besides wasting time, enemies will keep appearing. Rolling Thunder 2 required this in the last level, but that's only because you need to conserve ammo for Gimdo, the final boss. Unless you like firing [[PainfullySlowProjectile Painfully Slow Bullets...]]

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: While Leila is a brunette in game, the the arcade flyers of the first game and the cover art for the Mega Drive version of ''2'' depicts her with blue hair.

* [[ComicBookTime Video Game Time]]: The original game was a period piece set during the late 1960's, but they moved it to the 1990's for the sequels.

There's also an action film of the same name, but that was released in 1977.

* PalmtreePanic: The first stage in Rolling Thunder 2 takes place in Miami.

* The third game's first boss isn't any better. It'll move back and forth and fire shots at you, and will also jump in the spot where you're currently standing. What's worse is that when half of it's health is gone, it'll switch to a crosshair which fires explosive shots.

* CrosshairAware: The sniper and spider robot in the third game. There's also the third boss of Rolling Thunder 2.