Rolling Thunder, Atari, 1986

A secret agent must rescue his partner from the claws of a terrorist organisation. Rolling Thunder is a horizontal scrolling shooter, and can be situated somewhere between classics like Shinobi and Contra. Each level consists of two floors, which means each level is played out over two layers. The spaces are filled with doors.

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Rolling Thunder - Rolling Thunder is a run and gun arcade game that was released by Namco in 1986. An arcade machine is part of Mediamatic's Arcade collection. Photo by bradsearles from Flickr.

Behind some of them, Geldra, the terrorist organisation, is hiding. Be prepared to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by a grenade when the game's protagonist Albatross opens one of these. Other doors, however, react more kindly, and present you with weapons or additional energy. Albatross' opponents are daunting, Ku Klux Klan-clad figures, who you'd gladly wipe off the face of the earth. In 1988 Tirex developed five console versions of Rolling Thunder.