Rolling Thunder 2

About Rolling Thunder 2

Rolling Thunder 2 (1991) is Namco's sequel to its spy run-and-gun, adding two-player co-op with agents Leila and Albatross as they fight the revived Geldra and its cyborg Maskers.

Rolling Thunder 2 in Depth

In the 1990s, the Geldra organisation, believed destroyed in the first game, returns and starts destroying the world's satellites. Players again take on members of the WCPO's Rolling Thunder task force, now two at once: Player 1 is the female agent Leila and Player 2 the male agent Albatross, who look different and carry different handguns but have identical abilities. Each can survive only two physical blows, while any bullet or laser kills instantly. Their pistols have limited ammunition and fire slow "chaser" shots when empty, and marked doors provide a submachine gun, with a counter showing how many rounds remain so one player can leave ammunition for the other. Unlike the original, ammunition does not carry over between levels.

Where Rolling Thunder was set in 1968, the sequel has a contemporary setting and a more futuristic design, with noticeably better graphics. The Maskers, once hooded terrorists, are now cyborgs, and stages are more varied: the first four take place at a seaside resort in Florida and the last four in a pyramid in Egypt, both camouflaged Geldra bases. The Genesis version was well received, with 92 per cent from Computer & Video Games, 23 out of 25 from GamePro and 90 per cent from MegaTech.

Making Rolling Thunder 2

Namco developed and published it for arcades in 1991 as the sequel to 1986's Rolling Thunder, keeping its predecessor's play while adding co-operative play, improved graphics and an optional female lead. Sega-16 later gave the Genesis version 8/10, and Bandai Namco included the game in its Namco Museum collection.