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After encouraging players to take a relaxing trip to the golf course last week, Hamster is offering something a little more action-packed for this week's Arcade Archives release: Seta's vertical shoot 'em up Thundercade (also known as Tokushu Butai U.A.G. and Twin Formation).
Released in Japanese arcades in 1987, the game swaps the idyllic imagery of greens and fairways from last week's game for enemy-filled warzones (including occupied cities and enemy hideouts), with the player taking control of a soldier tasked with riding a motorcycle straight through the middle of the volley of bullets to reach the enemy stronghold. Along the way, they'll be forced to destroy anything in their path (helicopters, tanks, and even submarines), while collecting power-ups in the form of sidecars that will give you a little extra firepower.
From what we've gathered, Taito handled distribution in Japan, while Romstar took care of the game's US release, producing the flyer art you can see above (the shirtless bit feels a little unnecessary, right?).
In 1989, Micronics and Sammy Corporation released a North American-exclusive version of the game for the NES. However, beyond that and its release as part of Arcade Memories Vol. 2 for the Egret Mini II, it doesn't seem to have been reissued all that much in the past.
The game will be released on Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S tomorrow (October 15th, 2026), and will cost $7.99 or $9.99 depending on whether you opt for the Arcade Archives (Switch, PS4) or Arcade Archives 2 (Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X|S) version. Both will feature additional options (Hi-Score mode, Caravan mode), as well as online leaderboards, with the Arcade Archives 2 version also promising an additional Time Attack mode.
You can watch the trailer below: