Thunder Attack is a new four-level light-gun arcade game featuring oversized chaingun-style weapons, scannable power-up cards and a 65-inch display. The machine made its first US appearance at Amusement Expo 2024 after earlier showings in China and Europe.
Thunder Attack’s arcade background
The game had already attracted attention outside the United States, although its exact manufacturing origin is difficult to confirm. It appears to have been produced by Huoshi Entertainment, also known as Firestone/Leon Amusement. The title was shown at GTI Expo the previous year.
That manufacturer has also been associated with the widely rebadged Top Gun. JET Games released it in the United States as Quick Shot, while Electrocoin marketed it in Europe as Skill Shooter.
Electrocoin had quietly tested an unlocalised Thunder Attack cabinet at its Funland arcade in London. The game did not appear at EAG in January, making Amusement Expo 2024 its first major public look in the United States. It is also possible that the cabinet displayed by ASI came from another Chinese manufacturer, such as Nitto Amusement.
A substantial two-player cabinet
The cabinet has a strong visual presence, with LED illumination around the artwork and three-dimensional lettering. It uses a 65-inch screen, padded individual seats, card readers and card dispensers, plus two oversized guns styled after heavy chainguns.
The guns recall Vulcan-M, an older Korean arcade title that used rotating chainguns, visible shell ejection inside protected transparent housings and smoke effects. Thunder Attack does not reproduce all of those features, but its weapons include a large gun body, blast shield, air-compressor feedback and a rattling mechanism that simulates ammunition cycling.
One notable part of the presentation is the advertised price: under $10,000. That is an unusually low figure for a new large-format arcade machine with this level of physical hardware.
Scannable weapon cards
Thunder Attack uses eight scannable cards, with each card adding a particular weapon as a power-up. Up to four weapons can be used by a player, and the gun’s thumb buttons allow them to be switched during play.
The exact recharging or reload process was not clear, although the cards appeared to be scannable at any point during a game. Unlike systems such as Minecraft Dungeons Arcade, the cards do not appear to use an authorisation system. Extra cards can therefore be fed back into the machine, but bent cards should be avoided because they could jam the reader.
ASI offers the cards in boxes of 540 for $135 each, plus freight.
Four levels with demanding boss fights
The game contains four levels built around familiar light-gun arcade action. Voice acting was not confirmed, as much of the observed play was taking place during a boss encounter.
The boss battles were a weak point during the demonstration. Their lengthy attack sequences require players to destroy circular targets within a time limit, but even powered-up weapons—and sometimes two players working together—did not seem capable of clearing every target. Missing them causes damage, which can make the encounters feel frustrating and unfair.
Some regular enemies also appear to need several hits while attacking before the player has enough time to defeat them. The cabinet does include adjustable difficulty settings, so those settings may alter the balance. Even so, the demonstrated sections seemed likely to benefit from further tuning.
Where Thunder Attack fits in an arcade lineup
The combination of large physical guns, air feedback, card-based weapons and a relatively low advertised price gives Thunder Attack a distinctive footprint. Operators assessing the cabinet can compare it with other arcade machines, while collectors planning a home setup may want to review the Arcade Machine Buying Guide first.
Its full appeal will depend on how the difficulty settings, boss encounters and card system perform in longer sessions. For Australian operators and enthusiasts, the machine is another interesting example of the current large-screen light-gun arcade market. More industry coverage is available on the RETROCADE Arcade Blog, and maintenance considerations can be explored through the site’s arcade repair service.
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