Taking on the role of a lanky secret agent (appropriately named Albatross), you march through the underground lair of an organization called Geldra, which is presided over by a green-skinned, bald villain named Maboo and his army of hood-wearing goons. Where most coin-ops had a science fiction theme – even Taito’s evolution of Breakout was set in space – or resembled a Saturday morning cartoon (like Namco’s Hopping Mappy, also released that same year), Rolling Thunder was a platform shooter with a plot straight out of a 1960s spy movie. Rolling Thunder appeared towards the end of 1986, and its design was completely different from anything else in arcades at the time. But there was one great Namco game that didn’t quite have the same lasting impact as the iconic Pac-Man, or even its once-popular space shooting games, yet managed to exert a quiet influence both on the company’s later games and the industry as a whole. Increasingly tired-looking Galaxian, Galaga, and Pole Position machines were still kicking around at the end of the decade, while Pac-Manremains one of the most famous names in gaming today. Whether you were in Indianapolis or Ingoldmells, you were pretty much guaranteed to see a game by Namco in any 1980s arcade.
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