History YMMV / RollingThunder

** Maboo, at least in the arcade version. All Maboo does is run toward you to try to kill you. You can even kill him with enough shots before he gets to you. It's easier with the machine gun. Averted in the NES port. See ThatOneBoss below.

* AnticlimaxBoss:

* ThatOneBoss:
** Maboo in the NES version of Rolling Thunder. It's useless bringing the machine gun because Mooks will drop down constantly in the final area until you run out of ammo. Only when you get back with the pistol will Maboo appear to fight you. The boss fight gets better as he tries to kill you by shooting fireballs at you. It's a bit like PlayingTennisWithTheBoss, except you shoot through the fireballs and nail Maboo while doing so. It requires timing, so expect a tougher fight than in the arcade version.
** Gimdo from the Genesis version of ''Rolling Thunder 2'' harder due to him having two phases instead of one, and he takes more damage on the hard mode of the game. What's worse is that if you die, you'll restart from the checkpoint, and you won't have a lot of ammo for his second phase, meaning you'll be firing trying to fire shots while getting past his laser which blocks them.
** Dread in the last level of ''Rolling Thunder 3''. His first form isn't bad, but his second form has him firing lasers which sometimes bounce off of the ceiling.

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: Capcom's ''Code Name: Viper'' was basically a ripoff of the original ''Rolling Thunder'', but had you rescuing hostages like in the first ''VideoGame/{{Shinobi}}'' game.

** To a lesser extent, Gimdo in the arcade version of Rolling Thunder 2.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The first stage in the original. Rolling Thunder 2 (Arcade) and 3 (Genesis) had some excellent music too.

** Rolling Thunder 3 had female maskers who attack with kicks and backflip through your shots. Fortunately, they only appear in one level.

** Gimdo from the Genesis version of Rolling Thunder 2 harder due to him having two phases instead of one, and he takes more damage on the hard mode of the game. What's worse is that if you die, you'll restart from the checkpoint, and you won't have a lot of ammo for his second phase, meaning you'll be firing trying to fire shots while getting past his laser which blocks them.
** Dread in the last level of Rolling Thunder 3. His first form isn't bad, but his second form has him firing lasers which sometimes bounce off of the ceiling.

** There's also ''Rough Ranger'' by South Korean developer SunA, which rips off the original ''Rolling Thunder'' right down to the sprites. It even had a 2 player co-op mode predating ''Rolling Thunder 2'' by 2 years.

** There's also ''Rough Ranger'' but South Korean developer SunA, which rips off the original ''Rolling Thunder'' right down to the sprites. It even had a 2 player co-op mode predating ''Rolling Thunder 2'' by 2 years.

** Maboo, at least in the arcade version. All Maboo does is run toward you to try to kill you. You can even kill him with enough shots before he gets to you. It's easier with the machine gun.
** Averted in the NES port. See ThatOneBoss below.

* NightmareFuel:
** In ''Rolling Thunder'':
*** Maboo's portrait when he does his EvilLaugh.
*** Leila's ElectricTorture in the late-game intermissions.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The first stage in the original. Rolling Thunder 2 (Arcade) and 3 (Genesis) had some excellent music too.

* GoodBadBug: In the original arcade game, you can walk away a certain distance from an ammo closet and return to it to get more ammo. This is helpful in the case of the machine gun, which makes it a {{Game Breaker}}. Just don't waste ''too'' much time, though...

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: Capcom's ''Code Name: Viper'' was basically a ripoff of the original ''Rolling Thunder'', but had you rescuing hostages like in the first {{Shinobi}} game.

*** Leila being [[ShockAndAwe tortured with electric shocks]] in the late-game intermissions.

* FunnyMoments: The Genesis port of Rolling Thunder 2 had a sound test with an alien band playing the songs you selected. And then there's the password system, which had you forming together words to form sentences like "A MAGICAL THUNDER LEARNED THE SECRET".

** FunnyMoments: The Genesis port of Rolling Thunder 2 had a sound test with an alien band playing the songs you selected. And then there's the password system, which had you forming together words to form sentences like "A MAGICAL THUNDER LEARNED THE SECRET".

** Dread in the last level. His first form isn't bad, but his second form has him firing lasers which sometimes bounce off of the ceiling.

** Gimdo from the Genesis version of Rolling Thunder 2 harder due to him having two phases instead of one, and he takes more damage on the hard mode of the game. What's worse is that if you die, you'll restart from the checkpoint, and you won't have a lot of ammo for his second phase, meaning you'll be firing trying to fire shots while getting past his laser which blocks them.

** In the original game, the panthers and the yellow-skinned Bloga mutants are hard to hit, even when ducking.
** There's also the firemen that split into four upon death.
* Rolling Thunder 3 had female maskers who attack with kicks and backflip through your shots.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Maboo, at least in the arcade version. All Maboo does is run toward you to try to kill you. You can even kill him with enough shots before he gets to you. It's easier with the machine gun.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The first stage in the original. Rolling Thunder 2 (Arcade) and 3 (Genesis) had some excellent music too.[[invoked]]
* DemonicSpiders: In the original game, the panthers and the yellow-skinned Bloga mutants are hard to hit, even when ducking.[[invoked]]
** There's also the firemen that split into four upon death.[[invoked]]
* GoddamnedBats: All three games have them. They're not as bad in the third game, since you can fire at an angle upward with your pistol. In the other games though...[[invoked]]
* GoodBadBug: In the original arcade game, you can walk away a certain distance from an ammo closet and return to it to get more ammo. This is helpful in the case of the machine gun, which makes it a {{Game Breaker}}. Just don't waste ''too'' much time, though...[[invoked]]
* SerialNumbersFiledOff: Capcom's ''Code Name: Viper'' was basically a ripoff of the original ''Rolling Thunder'', but had you rescuing hostages like in the first {{Shinobi}} game.[[invoked]]
* ThatOneBoss: Maboo in the NES version of Rolling Thunder. It's useless bringing the machine gun because Mooks will drop down constantly in the final area until you run out of ammo. Only when you get back with the pistol will Maboo appear to fight you. The boss fight gets better as he tries to kill you by shooting fireballs at you. It's a bit like PlayingTennisWithTheBoss, except you shoot through the fireballs and nail Maboo while doing so. It requires timing, so expect a tougher fight than in the arcade version.[[invoked]]
** Gimdo from the Genesis version of Rolling Thunder 2 harder due to him having two phases instead of one, and he takes more damage on the hard mode of the game. What's worse is that if you die, you'll restart from the checkpoint, and you won't have a lot of ammo for his second phase, meaning you'll be firing trying to fire shots while getting past his laser which blocks them.[[invoked]]

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The first stage in the original. Rolling Thunder 2 (Arcade) and 3 (Genesis) had some excellent music too.
* DemonicSpiders: In the original game, the panthers and the yellow-skinned Bloga mutants are hard to hit, even when ducking.
** There's also the firemen that split into four upon death.
* GoddamnedBats: All three games have them. They're not as bad in the third game, since you can fire at an angle upward with your pistol. In the other games though...
* GoodBadBug: In the original arcade game, you can walk away a certain distance from an ammo closet and return to it to get more ammo. This is helpful in the case of the machine gun, which makes it a {{Game Breaker}}. Just don't waste ''too'' much time, though...
* SerialNumbersFiledOff: Capcom's ''Code Name: Viper'' was basically a ripoff of the original ''Rolling Thunder'', but had you rescuing hostages like in the first {{Shinobi}} game.
* ThatOneBoss: It's useless bringing the machine gun because Mooks will drop down constantly in the final area until you run out of ammo. Only when you get back with the pistol will Maboo appear to fight you. The boss fight gets better as he tries to kill you by shooting fireballs at you. It's a bit like PlayingTennisWithTheBoss, except you shoot through the fireballs and nail Maboo while doing so. It requires timing, so expect a tougher fight than in the arcade version.
** Gimdo from the Genesis version of Rolling Thunder 2 harder due to him having two phases instead of one, and he takes more damage on the hard mode of the game. What's worse is that if you die, you'll restart from the checkpoint, and you won't have a lot of ammo for his second phase, meaning you'll be firing trying to fire shots while getting past his laser which blocks them.

** Gimdo from the Genesis version of Rolling Thunder 2 harder due to him having two phases instead of one, and he takes more damage on the hard mode of the game. What's worse is that if you die, you'll restart from the checkpoint, and you won't have a lot of ammo for his second phase, meaning you'll be firing trying to fire shots while getting past his lazer which blocks them.

* * AnticlimaxBoss: Maboo, at least in the arcade version. All Maboo does is run toward you to try to kill you. You can even kill him with enough shots before he gets to you. It's easier with the machine gun.

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: Capcom's ''Code Name: Viper'' was basically a ripoff of the original ''Rolling Thunder'', but had you rescuing hostages like in the first {{Shinobi}} game.