Thunderbirds・サンダーバード
Developed by: Pack-In-Video
Published by: Pack-In-Video (JP), Activision (NA)
Release date: September 29, 1990 (JP) | September 1990 (NA)
Thunderbirds is a 60’s TV series about glass-eyed marionettes piloting futuristic planes to save the world. Or something. I dunno, 60’s British television is weird. You ever seen The Prisoner? Like, what were they even talking about for 99% of that thing? Why was the theme song 5 years long? So many questions, and none of them relevant to the puppets.
Anyway. Thunderbirds is beloved in its native England, but I’ve never been a fan. It’s always been “that boring puppet thing my dad used to watch on Sunday afternoons” to me. I’ve mentioned this once or twice on the blog before, but I have no interest in 99% of sci-fi stuff. It just isn’t my bag. Sorry, dad.
Meanwhile in Japan, they fucking loved Thunderbirds, and anyone who knows anything about Japan is not surprised in the slightest to hear this. The show ended up having a massive cult following, and significant influence on 20th century sci-fi anime, as well as the budding tokusatsu genre throughout the 60’s and 70’s. For the uninformed, tokusatsu is that Japanese niche of movies/TV that’s reliant on bombastic practical special effects and physical stunts. It’s best known for helmet wearing superheroes jump kicking guys in rubber monster suits; think Power Rangers, Kamen Rider and pre-CGI Godzilla. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a big weeb, but this is one facet of Japanese media that I know nothing about. Maybe I’ve been subconsciously avoiding it because I was subjected to Thunderbirds at a young age.
So since Japan couldn’t get enough of those freaky looking puppets, Japanese development house Pack-In Video made a Thunderbirds Famicom game, which landed on North American shores a year later. Oddly enough, a game based off of such an iconic British IP never came out in Europe. Go figure. I asked my wife (a UK native) about the state of Thunderbirds in the 90’s, and she told me this: it wasn’t oft seen outside of specialty “retro TV” channels, but the franchise had a resurgence in the early 2000’s thanks to a new live-action movie. And mega popular boy group Busted! did the theme song, which ended up being pretty popular with young’uns at the time. There’s some insider info for ya.
Thunderbirds doesn’t feel like a real word anymore.
Let’s talk about the game proper. Thunderbirds is a vertically scrolling shoot-’em-up. Playing as the five Tracy brothers from the show, your mission is to take down the nefarious Hood, whoever that is. Naturally, this can only be achieved through SHOOTIN’, AND LOTS OF IT. Instead of traditional lives and continues, Thunderbirds has a unique take on progression: you’re given sixty “days” to defeat the Hood. Every time you die, three days are subtracted from that total, but successfully clearing a level will only cost one. The game also has a password system, so you can get a lot of practice in on a level if you’re really choking. Which you likely will.
The graphics occasionally teeter into bad territory, but the game’s visual identity is about as interesting as gravel. Environments are usually nondescript ocean or caves. Sometimes the caves are orange to make it look like fire, and sometimes they’re dark blue to really switch things up. For the most part the enemies are planes, or other military-esque things; it’s all very reminiscent of Capcom’s 194X series. Similar to the early entries in said series, Thunderbirds is decent to play, dull to look at, and hard as shit. Of course, the puppet romp lacks the trademark Capcom polish that made people actually give a care about 194X; it’s simply okay in an uninteresting, yet inoffensive way. Worth mentioning is that the soundtrack is deserving of praise, though. There are some top grade hotblooded tracks to be found here. Makes me wanna hop in a plane and shoot down some bogeys. Just maybe not these planes, and not these bogeys.
So the parts are a bit all over the place, but I think they come together to make a passable little package. Even if you’re not into the show, it’s a shooter that’s not half bad. Nothing to write home about either, but trust me when I say there are so many other, godawful NES games you could be suffering through. Thunderbirds will satisfy the cravings of any shooter fans who have already beat Gradius 19 times and are looking for something new to sink their teeth into for a few hours. No one else need apply. I don’t watch the show, so I can’t end this entry on a witty reference to it! Godammit!
Final score:
NESJunk 