Thunder Helix First Look - A New Retro Gaming Flight Sim | Tech Nibble

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Thunder Helix is a homage to '90s flight sims with elements of Desert Strike thrown in for good measure. Today we get an early look at the pre-release build of the game set to be released in March.
This video is in no way sponsored by David or Thunder Helix.
Thunder Helix Steam Page: store.steampowered.com/app/19...
Release Date: 21st March 2024
#ThunderHelix #simulator #helicopter
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● Visit The Cave (Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK)
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● Chapters
00:00 My Love of LHX Attack Chopper
02:55 First Impressions of Thunder Helix (pre-release)
03:52 PCBWay.com Could Make a Helicopter
04:22 Thunder Helix Preview Continues
09:50 Interview with developer David Walters
19:30 Closing Thoughts
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[@syrus3k]

The benefit of 'older' sim games is they weren't quite like the real thing, eg you could actually play it and enjoy it, rather than having to actually learn how to be a pilot.

[@RMCRetro]

spot on

[@syrus3k]

this game looks beautiful. Really nice.

[@PicturesqueGames]

That's what i usually call midsim. Novalogic mastered them - Mig-29 fulcrum is pinnacle of that kind of genre.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

"Stay on target!"

[@X-Bit-Gits]

We only want realism in our games, to a point. Otherwise, you're just getting punished the same way life would. Where's the escapism in that?

[@RacingPuma]

"A simple pyramid was the pinnacle of terrain" - I see what you did there.

[@RMCRetro]

a-thank-a-you!

[@LeeOades]

Peak puns.

[@hondahirny]

Or a Cybertruk 😂

[@zenonzkition6358]

Could you explain? ;) I'm slow headed these days :D

[@FintanMoloney]

David is extremely talented. To make a game like this as a one man operation is very cool.

[@rotteneffekt4416]

It is extremely cool, but rather simple due to a lack of hardware limitations today. Having the balls and patience to go through with it. 💯

[@Blazs120gl]

Oh LHX, purple night sky, drums sound on adlib when firing the guns, targeting camels. I'm grateful I could live in those times.

[@henson2k]

Played LHX together with my friend back in 1991, he was firing, I was flying. Had a blast!

[@Blazs120gl]

@@henson2k Nice! Have you also tried Chuck Yeager's Air Combat?

[@henson2k]

@@Blazs120gl Actually no, I went through F19, F117, F15, F29 Retaliator because name was suggesting what I'm flying. Air Combat sounds too generic, perhaps that's why I missed it

[@Blazs120gl]

@@henson2k Haha F19 and F15 were basically the same Microprose games, I played both. :D As i see, F117 was also the same animal but with F117 :). Back in the days my frined only had an IBM XT so it ran F19 so slow that he took off, switched on autopilot then went to have lunch. By the time he finished, the aircraft has reached the taget area XDDDDD. F29 Retailator was a beast of it's time, DiD did a great job with it! That fire alarm is something I'll never forget XDDDD. Its successor, TFX was IMHO the first to nail the balance between simulation and fun. I liked Chuch Yeager Air Combat because there was a lot of planes are eras to fly. Also the first game that made the players learn to lead gunfire.

[@nuchbutter]

Okay, it's on my Steam Wishlist, and is a Day-One buy!

[@wjadams2]

I logged many hours on LHX, Gunship, and Comanche 3 as a kid. I am so excited for Thunder Helix!

[@RaptorCallOfTheShadow]

Me too😊

[@edtuckerartist]

Love the nostalgic look and hope the dev makes many more games in this style that are all successful.

[@Legen007]

wow, this is just wow im amazed at the look and feel of this game, and my favorite part is that dropping a camel and it explodes, i can just imagine developers would have done that to save time and not want it to look too real. i love to see this

[@richardhockey8442]

Microprose are back and releasing new games: Carrier Command 2.0, Tiny Combat Arena

[@Yuushiboy]

I played LHX a lot as a kid but my favorites where still Gunship and Gunship 2000. Microprose was heaven for me and I think I had all of their simulators :)

[@sunnyjim1355]

Microprose were simply god tier back then, incredible achievement and fantastic games - even played on a tape loaded C64. My personal favourites were Project Stealth Fighter, Red Storm Rising and Gunship, all absolute classics.

[@Jaw0lf]

I loved Airwolf and Blue Thunder growing up and played plenty of Comanche. For me the first hills were on my Atari 800XL with Rescue on Fractalus. I still can't believe how impressive that was. My first game that I bought with my Amiga A500 was F/A 18 Interceptor. This game does look like great fun with a nod to the originals.

[@theladyfingers___]

Comanche was great!

[@config2000]

F/A 18 was glorious. Most memorable for me was the roaring engine noise when you activated the afterburners.

[@rainerblessing923]

Speaking of the Atari, Tomhawk was also a great helicopter game.

[@macsmith2013]

@@config2000 First time I managed to land on that f'ing carrier. 🥳

[@RaptorCallOfTheShadow]

Blue Thunder... you just made my day😊

[@naviamiga]

Love the clean single colour polygons of this style of game. Really nails that 90's look.

[@donatj]

Oh man, this just reminded me of how much time I pumped into ThunderHawk in the early 90s. I’d nearly forgotten. There was really something special about games back then.

[@JohnHoggard_aka_DaddyHoggy]

I added Thunder Helix to my Steam Wishlist as soon as David made it available. I miss chatting to him when I finally abandoned the former bird site. Really looking forward to this coming out.

[@NoSpamForYou]

Did you abandon the former bird site because you prefer censorship and government control of industry?

[@SnakebitSTI]

@@NoSpamForYouPeople who hate censorship ditch the site where the owner silences people he has grudges against.

[@retrosim4197]

Fantastic work. Back in episode 129 of This Week In Retro, I posted a PDF in the community question of the week showing all of the maps and enemy troop placements for the original Microprose GUNSHIP game. It would be great to see some of these maps added to this game in the future, especially considering all the work that the late Arnold Hendrick put into creating them all those years ago. That would be a very fitting tribute. Maybe add them in time for GUNSHIP's 40th anniversary in a couple of years time.

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

He could set a level around the Cave. Those hills and valleys! Bearded Men hiding in Caves! Popping up with antique tech! Fantastic video and a lovely looking game. Nice man, nice game. Proper job.

[@ChrisFranklyn]

Trying to winch away the expensive sandwiches from the cafe down the road before they notice...

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

@@ChrisFranklynYes! That's the spirit!

[@bewilderbeestie]

You get extra points by airlifting arcade machines up to the loft.

[@herbiehusker1889]

I played LHX on a monochrome luggable 386 with a lot of ghosting. Love that game.

[@alancheatley4378]

I just keep thinking of Thunderhawk, that was my game on the Amiga 😊

[@KaiWegner]

It always surprises me how many of these games I have also played back then. Even though I live in germany ;-)

[@3dhYT]

_Translator:_ Making such a game yourself is a challenge. A very talented programmer.

[@doomedcolonist]

Well, that looks really fantastic! Really fun to see somebody embracing the stylings of those 90s flight sims. Good to see the developer has focused on making the whole thing an accessible and enjoyable experience as well. Those games were always more fun when it didn't take 20 minutes just to figure out how to take off!

[@jorvikwitch]

I didn't have the Amiga, Atari and PC experiences, but I spent a lot of time on an Archimedes helicopter sim called Chopper Force. Interestingly it also had a winch and one of the early missions had you pick up cargo and carry it whilst being attacked. Also had a 'jet mode' on the helicopter which you needed to use to chase down an armoured limo in the first mission.

[@piero_75]

I also had a 90s monochrome laptop 3D gaming experience, but with an amber screened Toshiba from my mum's workplace, and Indianapolis 500. That was amazing! And this game really looks incredible, well done David! I will be getting this!

[@damsonn]

I've been playing flight sims since late 80s. Started with Amiga 500 then went on to PC. I had a pleasure to test pre-release version of this game and I have to admit - it's a true love letter to those flight sims from the early 90s indeed. I'm looking forward to more content coming out during the Early Access phase. Also great video as always.

[@jimmyvau]

My favorite version was F-15 Strike Eagle II on our family's Packard Bell 486. It came with the computer as a promotion with a Joystick and a game card

[@MarquePierreSondergaard]

One of the sadly forgotten Sid Meier classics.

[@surject]

Loved that game! ..on my 386/SX-33.

[@arcadeages3917]

I’ve been following this game for a long time. Great to see it in The Cave! I’m a huge STEEL TALONS fan. It’s an early 90’s flat shaded polygon helicopter sim by Atari. Best played on sit-down arcade cabinet

[@archieohare]

There was another flightsim built on the same engine "Stormovik: Su-25 Soviet Attack Fighter".

[@predcon1]

I didn't play a lot of the heli sims on the Amiga, but I had "M1 Tank Platoon", and it was a lot of this, just on the ground.

[@Redster930]

Been following Hiddenasbestos since i first sniffed this. Masive old skool fan of Gunship2000, still run it on my accelerated a1200 ocassionaly, looking forward to early access, day 1 for me!

[@RedneckIrishman]

Disclaimer: Some camels may have been hurt in the making of this film 🤣🤣

[@alistermunro7090]

The original Gunship 2000 \o/ There was nothing better than limping back to base dodging enemy fire and landing just as I ran out of fuel.

[@bazodee2]

Thunderhawk on amiga is still to this day the undisputed champion of flight sims and it ran perfectly fine even with an A500. Also the intro anim was perfect and way better than on many modern games.

[@MarquePierreSondergaard]

Amen to that! It played beautifully.

[@dalecole7339]

I want this to become DCS, but for the mid 90's... with tanks, boats, jets, and other military vehicles.

[@MarquePierreSondergaard]

No love for Thunderhawk AH-73M on the Amiga? Perhaps it was a pared down simulation compared to Gunship and the like, but it played beautifully! The controls using the mouse and the 2 mouse buttons was really inspired. It had a lovely immediate feel to it, like a perfect mix between sim and arcade.

[@joechevy2035]

Maan, "Apache vs. Hind" was the bees knees for me back in the day! I hope there's a pilot/copilot multiplayer or vs. multiplayer! Tagged this on my STEAM wishlist! 🤑 Thanks for bringing this game to light on your channel!!

[@daniel_lucio]

The most incredible thing is that there is a version of LHX for Mega Drive and it is not as slow as, for example, the F-22. Most of my collection of old MS-DOS and Windows games are air combat simulators

[@SsspraakForsskkarring]

I love it when you open with "story time" in a video, it means something good is on its way😊 Cheers✌

[@theladyfingers___]

Really enjoyed this video. My sim during childhood was sneaking a go at F-15 Strike Eagle on my brother's monochrome 286. I got really good at taking out infrastructure with my cannon, and landing off-runway to taxi around blowing things up.

[@jp-ny2pd]

LHX is my all time favorite pre-accelerator game. I'd spend hours tweaking DOS configs just to try and get it to run in VGA mode on my 286. Watching the missles fly and hit the tanks was so much fun.

[@TheGreatSteve]

I played the F-22 sim on the Megadrive, and enjoyed it muchly.

[@JonBloor7]

Might be worth chatting to the dev behind "Helicopter Gunship DEX" - he's very much recreating the old Jane's Longbow era and a lovely chap!

[@michaelholmes7147]

Thanks - I did not know about that game so I just looked it up. It's on the wishlist now!

[@whiskeygamer9402]

All of us Amiga Fans had no choice to Jump ship to PC and it set us back few years 😂

[@dinocorreia1202]

That's traveling back in time in a Time machine. I still have some original simulators in my attic. Love it!!

[@notaboutit3565]

Reminds me a little of Jane’s Longbow, that and Comanche were my first intro to flight sims as a kid

[@alexscarbro796]

Thank you David. A wonderful product built from passion for the genre!

[@pmgrodrigues]

I can't explain why, but watching footage of retro games, those game boxes of the physical copies, that Packard Bell, it holds such a charm that i can't find in today's realistic graphics and gorgeous looking rigs full of LEDs and stuff like that

[@dingusbingus7463]

I remember finding out about this game literally just the other day it popped onto my feed, I think it's been found by a lot of people that way, and it deserves it. It looks amazing

[@liamwhite6451]

Hints of Zeewolf that was on the Amiga! Added to my wish list on Steam.

[@AlanPope]

What a wonderful project. I do love hearing about passion projects like this, developed by indie developers who just love what they're doing.

[@monostripezebras]

i loved LHX and chuck yeagers air combat, back then

[@MacMelmac]

I loved all Microprose simulations, but the one that blew me away was EF2000. Just to strafe by the Swedish border and se two scrambled JAS Gripen following you from distance. Amazing!

[@RMCRetro]

I’ll never forget the bass that came out of my speakers the first time I took EF2000 down the runway, that sound was awesome before liftoff

[@Grandmaster-G]

@@RMCRetroaahh.. the way the outside temps got announced by the text-to-speech before takeoff... ''zero-five-DE-greeez'' . Burnt in my memory.

[@drewnewby]

MS Flight Simulator 2.0 was my introduction, so playing FS 4.0 and F-15 Strike Eagle II on a kit built 386SX-25 pc were high tech by comparison, which is the vintage this game reminds me of most.

[@nakotaapache4674]

you are in the same timezone i was in my youth, same hardware and liked games, also the janes series simulations

[@TheTray2003]

Wow, I played all of those games, that was my PC gaming period, 1990 - 1996. LHX was my favorite. I still have all those boxed PC games ion boxes down in the basement.

[@ClaytonDeeringC3D]

Oh man I see that Falcon 4.0 box!!! My favorite game ever

[@surject]

..and it's sealed :o

[@OneSwitch]

Blimey that looks superb.

[@Ningyo42]

When LHX Attack Chopper was a new game, I worked at Radio Shack in the US. When we got in the first 286s, this was the first thing I put on it to see how it ran. :) I was so excited to see how much better it runs on the new machine.

[@dadgameruk]

Looks brilliant. Have added it to my Steam Wishlist. Great video Neil!

[@DarrenBoxhall]

My dad and I played LHX on Sega Mega drive when I was a kid. We used to go into battle and see how many bullets we could take without blowing up then limp it back to base and then the game would show you the damage over the chopper. So much fun

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

I've been loving the resurgence of classic style games on modern systems with modern features over the past decade or so. There's so much untapped potential there and innovations that can be applied on top of the foundation of those games like how this merges some elements from Choplifter and the Strike games. I'm glad there's finally some focus being given to the classic sim type of games besides action platformers as well. Even though I have a fairly beefy PC I don't always feel like playing the latest and greatest games that take up ridiculous amounts of 60 or 80GBs and enjoy something I can quickly fire up and have a good time with the retro aesthetic. I'm interested to try this out with my flight stick soon. 😇

[@johnnyutah892]

I went from my beloved Amiga 500 (Class of the 90’s box, that’s how I sold my parents) to an 486 DX100 from ESCOM. I upgraded so I could play Dark Forces, and learnt my first hard lesson about PC ownership, it didn’t have enough RAM to run the game, so I had to upgrade! I loved F19 on my Amiga, and my go to on the PC was F22 lightning 2, loved that game.

[@AccAkut1987]

Thanks YT algorithm, this was a fun watch and one new game to my Steam account. Brought me back to playing F/A-18 with a friend on his Amiga.

[@nickblackburn1903]

Is this what Thunderhawk was based on Neil? Loved that game on the Sega CD. Nice video thank you very much.

[@harag9]

wow this brings back memories, m1 tank, silent service, commanche - loved em!

[@caeserromero3013]

I still play Geoff Crammond F1 GP to this day via DosBox. I'll do half a dozen or so laps of a GP each night and complete a full season over a 6 months every so often. Always playing as Damon Hill, of course! For a 1991 game, it STILL thrills you.

[@TheGreatSteve]

My first IBM compatible PC was a Commodore.

[@edtuckerartist]

Would love to see a chinook mission - avoiding enemy and getting the cargo back to base.

[@8bvg300]

LHX and Silent Service 2, a memorable part of my childhood. Indeed SS2 was played on one of those "blue & white" letterbox Toshiba laptops. Much screen ghosting ahoy!

[@PatrickDunn13078]

Neil you are great! Yes I was the same way, Sims are pretty much all I played on the PC back in the day! This is a must buy.

[@RMCRetro]

No, you’re great Patrick! Thanks man, I hope you enjoy the game as much as I am

[@phalcon23]

I'm earlt 40's and I've played most of those games. So much nostalgia

[@Leptospirosi]

This was my first PC game in 1990 on a 386SX. I still have the original box and the floppy disks!

[@mhult5873]

I bought the F-19 Stealth Fighter for the Amiga 500. It was a great game, I played all missions and was so proud when I succeeded in the mission objectives.

[@thedomesticoperator]

This was the first PC game I played. I was 4. Then came Alone in the Dark, US Navy Fighters, JANES Longbow, Mechwarrior 2, Armored Fist, Delta Force... good times.

[@PXAbstraction]

I'll have to find David's contact info. I'd love to cover this on my Indie Ramble series once it releases. Looks great!

[@commentingpausedtoprotectus]

Absolutely buying this! Thanks for the video :)

[@RobertAbe]

Thank you for this. Gonna check that out. I too loved LHX and Gunship 2000, etc. I worked at MicroProse for a number of years and have the honor of knowing a few of those involved with many of their great flight sim titles. :)

[@GeneralThargor]

Late 80s or early 90s we had an Amstrad PCW 512. There was a great heli combat sim by DI I think, the hills were unfilled triangles.

[@ChrisFranklyn]

I absolutely love a passion project like this. I'll be tempted to pick this up.

[@dairedarcy1130]

Wishlisted! Really looking forward to it

[@ThePostalPat]

I loved Thunderhawk on the ST, it was my Christmas game from my parents that year (I was 18 at the time but I needed something to look forward too rather than just buying it). The controls where excellent with most just on the two-button mouse. As soon as I pressed both buttons together and moved the mouse up to power up the collective to take off the Airwolf music kicked in on my internal jukebox. There was one mission I could not complete on the ST. When I swapped the ST for an Amiga when Syndicate was released I bought Thunderhawk again but this time I completed the mission I couldn't on the ST but there was another mission I couldn't complete on the Amiga that I had on the ST. I have the PC discs kicking around in the house somewhere. It would be cool if Thunder Helix had a similar control scheme so the old internal jukebox can fill my head with music again with the physical motion with the mouse to take off.

[@slot9]

I could really feel the love in this video. F-19 Stealth Fighter and early Microsoft Flight Simulator are both good memories for me. Even though I had barely any idea how to play them.

[@GeorgesChannel]

Amazing video and project! Really love the whole idea and execution. I also am Sim-Fan from the early days and i especially like the green wireframes of the helis at the beginning of the game! Well done and keep going!

[@ianel-habre1262]

I love the Comanche series. Comanche Gold being my favorite, good mix of arcade and simulation. Wish a remaster would come up.

[@TheForbinExperiment]

Fantastic! I spent many, many hours in LHX, and it’s great to see that someone had the imagination and talent to bring to bear on this project. I’ll definitely be picking this up on Steam. 🎉

[@timmyers9798]

BRILLIANT STUFF Neil 🎉 Have been waiting for game reviews for a while on this channel. You nailed it... Great game from a very talented guy.

[@lankey6969]

really looking forward to this!

[@porkfang]

Omg!!! I loved these games as a kid!!! I'd WISH I had a PC back then. I was a Nes kid by default.

[@Xstioph]

Great preview/interview! Been psyched for this since I heard about it on the retro hour podcast. I don't know why, but I really love the look of it! Feel like it has really nailed a sweet spot for looks and gameplay.

[@jasedobson2793]

straight on wishlist thanks rmc

[@ItsCrapContent]

You know me i love flight games of the old skool type and this looks sooooo up my street ………this looks amazingly like all my fave flight sims type games ….love it❤

[@RMCRetro]

And you famously love camels too Daph. Ticks all the boxes

[@ItsCrapContent]

lol@@RMCRetro

[@HussarPlays]

I spent many hours as a teen playing LHX on a Sega Genesis and a wireframe helicopter sim on a C64. I occasionally look back and miss the LHX like experience.

[@milgeekmedia]

As an 'oldie' gamer I like games like this and 'Tiny Combat Arena' which give us the nostalgic retro look but with mechanics that we expect from modern computers. Would like to see a 'new-retro' version of M1 Tank Platoon, - which you mentioned - and 'Chuck Yeager's Flight Sim'! Thanks for a great video.

[@xXE4GLEyEXx]

Reminds me of Abrams Main Battle Tank, remember that game and loved it. I had no idea what I was doing as a kid but the imagination ran wild as I figured that you can see through smoke with thermal sights and you can even get court martialed xD gotta put this on my wishlist.

[@bertieblob3387]

I first played LHX on a diskless Apricot 286 machine. Oh the good old floppy swapping days. On my Steam wish list now.

[@mrwibbles20]

It looks fantastic. Maybe it dates me, but there is a timelessness to flat-shaded dithering done well.

[@2beJT]

My best friend growing up had that Packard Bell. Seeing it immediately put me back into all those chatrooms we'd go to to mess with people as kids while his mom was at work.

[@juliusfucik4011]

I spent years doing the high altitude dumb bomb missions on F22 ADF. There was nothing more pleasing than releasing your bombs high and fast and hitting the target. It took a lot of practice. I am going to try this game for sure.

[@raxacor]

Played the heck out of Zeewolf, Desert Strike and Thunderhawk back in the day, this is very exciting and looks like all 3 have been seamlessly blended together with incredible talent. I hope the game does well, I’ll certainly be picking it up! 🤩

[@innercynic2784]

I had those games back in the day. Such memories

[@Turrican]

I spent many happy hours on F15 Strike Eagle II on my Amiga. Great times!

[@infinitebirch]

LHX was such a cool game. my favorite thing was the bullet holes in the windshield and losing instruments, it was so satisfying to limp back to base full of holes with nothing working

[@blairframpton9196]

OMG. This was a favourite of mine also f18 and Retaliator