Thunder Blade

Thunder Blade is Sega's super-scaler helicopter shooter, part of the same sprite-scaling family as After Burner and Space Harrier. Piloting an attack chopper through city canyons and naval fortresses, you alternate between chasing-the-camera 3D sections and top-down vertical sections, strafing tanks, gunboats and enemy helicopters with vulcan cannon and missiles.

The X Board's scaling hardware sells the illusion beautifully — buildings sweep past, enemies grow from specks into detailed sprites — and the alternating views keep the pacing varied. It is a score-attack game at heart: learning where the missile launches come from, and committing to strafing runs at the right altitude, is what separates a clear from a credit-eater.

• ▸Alternating pseudo-3D chase views and top-down strafing sections
• ▸Sega's X Board sprite-scaling city flyovers
• ▸Vulcan cannon and missile loadout with limited salvos
• ▸Land, sea and air targets across distinct mission areas