Game:

Rolling Thunder (1986)

Duration: 0:00

119 views

7

A 1-credit clear of the arcade game Rolling Thunder, played with WolfMAME 0.277. Score: 248,660. A challenging classic with a great moody soundtrack. A lanky protagonist battles a gang wearing garish hooded costumes. You have a life bar, but any hit takes off either half or all of it. That plus limited ammo plus respawning enemies plus the fact you can't attack while jumping all creates tension.

Round 8 is the hardest because of a strict time limit, and also the section with the panthers (who I've never figured out a consistent route for). Backtracking and picking up extra ARMS ammo makes the game a bit easier - rounds 2 and 7 are the best candidate for farming. But, you lose that extra ammo if you die (which I do on this run, unfortunately!) There are also some shenanigans to fall through floors on round 2+7, and to ghost through enemies on rounds 5+10. I learned lots of tricks from the 1cc run from ‪@juanman2483‬

There are a lot of little details in the route - when to move forward, when to fire shots before you scroll the screen, when to jump to trigger the enemies to jump or move differently. For instance, in the first part of round 10 I stay back just far enough that the Blanka despawns when he jumps off screen to the right, then I jump forward to despawn the guys below me.