=============================================================================== _____ _ _ _ ____ _____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _____ /__ __X \ /|/ \ /\/ \ /|/ _ \/ __// __\/ _X _ \/ _ \/ __/ / \ | |_||| | ||| |\ ||| | \|| \ | \/|| / | / \|| | \|| \ | | | | ||| \_/|| | \||| |_/|| /_ | /| \_| |-||| |_/|| /_ \_/ \_/ \|\____/\_/ \|\____/\____\\_/\_\\____X_/ \|\____/\____\ (c) American Sammy For the NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM. Released in 1989. =============================================================================== Introduction ************ Terrorism has reached new heights. AATOM (Atomic Age Terrorist Organization of Miracali) has constructed their own nuclear power plant, and threaten the world with atomic terror. The world powers have decided to initiate operation THUNDERCADE to stop AATOM. Equipped with a high-performance combat motorcycle, sidecar cannons, and backed by a precision B-7 bomber, you set out on the dangerous mission. The wind rages through your hair as your cycle charges into enemy territory. Your sidecar cannons unleash a storm of hot metal rounds, shredding tank armor and shattering concrete. When the going gets rough, you call in air support and let the flyboys wipe'em out. Through city streets, forests, and strongholds you fight, but can you make it to the fortress and save the world? =============================================================================== Controls ******** D-PAD Move A Launch Bomb B Fire Cannons SELECT Cycle between modes START Start, Pause, Unpause The display has each player per side. If you only play by yourself the other side is empty. 1P's score is displayed underneath his number. The other numbers are the bombs available as B:x and the number of heroes left as H:x. Thundercade consists of four zones: the city, the base, the woodland and the fortress. With a combat cycle and air support, you have to battle your way through these zones and destroy the nuclear power plant - your final objective. Your combat cycle is equipped only with a machine gun. To increase your firepower, side cars can be added to the cycle. While fighting, look for these extra cannons along your route. Some will appear in the open, while others will be hidden in buildings, greenery, or other obstacles. Be careful! Not all obstacles can be destroyed, and if you run into some of them, you may crash. Your combat cycle will automatically jump before water pools, inclines and dirt hills. While jumping, you can move to the left or right, but cannot slow down. You can also easily slip above enemy fire while in the air, but are vulnerable as soon as you land. You have three heros, each with three bombs in their reserve, at the beginning of the game. When you encounter many enemies or an exceptionally difficult one, you can use the bombs for more firepower. Available bombs and heros remaining are shown at the lower part of each player's side of the screen. If all heros are eliminated, the game will end. Up to the tunnel at the end of the third zone, you can continue the game twice. Once you go through the tunnel, you are allowed another continuation. Thundercade offers the player the option to continue a game after all heros have been eliminated. Pressing any button on the control pad during the continuation countdown will start a new game at the beginning of the area where the last hero was eliminated. In two-player mode, when the longest surviving player loses all heros, any button on the controller can be pressed before the end of the countdown to continue the game for both players. If you clear the tunnel at the end of the third zone, you secure another continuation. Scores obtained in previous stages are not carried over into the continued game. A display appears when the game is over or a zone is cleared. It lists shots fired, the number of hits, the hit ratio, and displays a progression map. SHOT FIRED 0000 NUMBER OF HITS 000 HIT-MISS RATIO 00% These figures can help you better your score and game performance, and judge the distance to the final objective. As you progress through the areas you will end up at the nuclear power plant. There are ten windows in the plant and each one has a sniper firing from. Kill each one to explode the power plant and complete the game. Congratulations. =============================================================================== Side-Cars ********* Various types of side cars appear in the battle scene, each of them having different capabilities. Pick them up to power up your combat cycle If you have side cars already, new side cars replace the old ones. Some of the side cars appear on the ground, but some are hidden in obstacles, thus, to pick up the side cars, you must destroy the obstacles. The available side cars are: 12.7mm Chain Gun Dual 30mm Cannon Dual Side 30mm Cannon 105mm Cannon Dual 105mm Cannon Dual Side 105 Cannon =============================================================================== Air Support *********** Against heavy enemy forces, a tough strategic target, or any situation too hot to handle, remember that you have a B-7 bomber providing air support, just press the "B" button on your controller. Each hero starts with three bombs in his bomb reserve. If you pick up a bomb it will be added to your stock. The number of bombs in the reserve is displayed as 'B:3' (in this example, there are three bombs) at the lower corner of each player's side. The hero's position and bomb timing are critical, since the bombs only destroy what they hit. Pressing the "B" button within the first two seconds of the first bombing extends the target range and doubles bombing area. =============================================================================== Bonus ***** If you secure a bonus item at the end of zone 1 or zone 2. or safely go through the tunnel at the end of zone 3, you can play the bonus stage. While in two player mode, if either player enters the tunnel, both will receive bonus play. In the bonus stage, a sky truck appears and drops supplies. By driving your bike back and forth, you should secure as many of them as you can. You can obtain the following items in this stage: Bomb, 1UP and Vulcan Cannon. Each parachute carries four missiles. Missiles as well as bullets are fired by pressing the B button. After the completion of the bonus stage, the screen displays a list of items obtained. =============================================================================== Items ***** BONUS STAGE ITEM These items appear if the gunships are destroyed within a certain period of time. You can play the bonus stage by securing this item. In a two-player game, the bonus game can be played only by the player who obtains the bonus item first. VULCAN CANNON This item can be captured in the battle field or bonus stage. If you secure this item, the Vulcan cannon system is connected to your combat cycle. BOMB This is an item for air support. The bomb can be obtained in the battlefield or during the bonus stage, and is stored in your bomb reserve. 1UP Player gains one extra hero. =============================================================================== Enemies & Obstacles ******************* Green Soldier 100 points Red Soldier 500 points Armored Mobile 1,500 points Light Tank 500 points Heavy Tank 1,000 points Chopper 800 points Jet Fighter 1,500 poinnts Pillbox 1,500 points (Woodlands) Missile 1,500 points Missile Pad 500 points Rocket Launcher 2,000 points Submarine 5,000 points Gun Ship 10,000 points Gun Ship Engine 2,000 points Gun Ship Cannon 2,000 points Sniper 500 points Supply Truck 1,000 points Gas Barrel 200 points Gas Barrel Stack 1,000 points Building 2,000 points Greenery 500 points Cactus 100 points Mine 0 points Launch Pad 2,000 points Helicopter 1,000 points Infantry Base 2,000 points Gate 2,000 points Dirt Mount 2,000 points =============================================================================== Tips **** When fighting large targets (Gunships, Submarines, etc.), use both the cycle cannons and bombs. Destroy as many obstacles as possible, for you may find valuable tokens or side cars in them. Enemy bullets cannot harm you when jumping, however, watch your landing! When you have a favored side car cannon, don't touch any others or you may lose it. Most enemy attacks can be stopped by bombing, but don't waste bombs either. Using a joystick with rapid-fire will improve your fire-power, yet some might consider it cheating. =============================================================================== Credits ******* This is my guide, but I did not make the game. Credit goes to Activision for this and their manual. If you want to host this guide on your own site, just do it already and do not clutter my inbox about it. -PianoChampion90 -09/23/2007 EOF