The Death of a Legend
Terry Gene Bollea known to most as Hulk Hogan sadly, passed away on May 14th 2025. It is very difficult to overstate just how much of an impact “The Hulkster” had on pop culture and the western world. Often credited with popularizing the professional wrestling industry and body slamming André the giant this is a man who’s status goes far beyond just being famous. He was a much loved super star and his significance is best described as legendary. He died mysteriously at age 71 when he was found on the floor in his home gym unconscious and not breathing. While medics rushed to the scene and attempted to revive him they were unfortunately unsuccessful. The circumstances around his death has caused many wild theories and allegations to be circulated around the internet and YouTube.
Hulk Hogan Starred in Many Retro Video Games
Regardless of what the truth is about his personal life and reasons for his death, his unique position and status in pop culture had resulted in him starring in at least 30 video games. Many of these games are retro video games, which is what we are concerned with on Retro Game News. Not many people aren’t aware of just how popular the professional wrestling industry is, in particular WWF, WWE, WCW, etc. I am certainly no expert as I never got into professional wrestling as it wasn’t as big in Australia as it was in the United States or Great Britain and other parts of the world. However there is a WWF wrestling game called Royal Rumble on the Super NES that I used to play a lot in the 90’s with my brother and friends that came over. This was one of the only wrestling games in which Hulk Hogan was confusingly absent from even though it had many of his rivals and work colleagues who faced him in matches such as the The Undertaker, Brett Heart, Yokozuna and Rick Flair. Much of the game’s enjoyment came from the royal rumble mode in which all the wrestlers would enter the ring with the winner being the only one to not get thrown out the ring.
Thunder in Paradise for the CD-i
But enough about games that don’t have Hulk Hogan. So let’s have a look at a particular game which was all about The Hulkster. In 1994 a TV series called Thunder in Paradise was created starring Terry Gene Bollea. The TV show plot is about a couple ex-Navy Seals that are now working as mercenaries to help bring down criminal organizations located on the coast of Florida using a high tech boat called Thunder. The series was made into a shooting game for Philips CD-i using full motion video (FMV) footage from the TV series. Thunder in Paradise for the CD-i, as mentioned, was a shooting game meaning that it used the gun remote accessory. The CD-i gun, rather than being a traditional gaming light gun used a motion sensor (like the Nintendo Wii remote) so it would work even on newer TVs. The CD interactive, while being generally a poor games machine excelled at full motion video and so it had the best FMV games. The game Thunder in Paradise was exclusive for the CD-i (if you ignore the DOS release) and was actually a rather entertaining shooting game as far as FMV games go. For those who are unaware FMV games have a reputation among gamers as having very poor gameplay, however a few of them can have some decent gameplay at times and in my opinion Thunder in Paradise on the CD-i is one of the few. Having said that the story is very cheesy and B-grade movie-ish and hasn’t aged well at all.
The big difference between Thunder in Paradise and most other FMV shooting games was it’s use of completely digitized sprites as the enemies that the player needed to shoot during the levels. The choice of using digitized sprites over real FMV actors in the footage allowed for far greater replayability in gameplay as the enemy encounters could now be randomized as the digitzed sprites weren’t part of the FMV footage which was stuck using the filmed actors as the enemies. This unique difference made Thunder in Paradise the best FMV shooting game that exists to my knowledge and in my opinion. In the past I used to own a physical copy of a prototype of the game for the CD-i labelled as version v1.03. The main difference it had from the commercially released final version was the graphics used in the digitized sprites and some of them popped up in different locations. Sadly I had sold the prototype to another collector many years ago, which now is probably worth a lot more due to Hulk Hogan’s passing. None the less it was a major part of the great legacy he left on the world of retro gaming.
Thunder in Paradise for the Super NES
Although never commercially released, Thunder in Paradise was supposed to come out on the Super Nintendo. Of course it was a completely different game to the CD-i version as the Super NES didn’t have the capability for FMV games without extra hardware to enhance both graphics and memory. The SNES version of Thunder in Paradise was therefore a completely unique game that was a blend of part platformer and part shoot-em-up. The platformer part used traditional SNES graphics and simulated the “boots on the ground” mercenary enemy shooting sequences and the “shmup” part was used to simulate the boat driving and shooting sequences. Although this game never made it to a complete commercial release, it was previewed in video game magazines during the mid 1990’s and a working prototype of the game was discovered in 2024.
Rest in Peace Terry Gene Bollea
While we only looked into two games based on one franchise that Hulk Hogan starred in, there were many more games (mostly wrestling) that he starred in. He wasn’t just physically big man and wrestling super star but a larger than life personality that the whole world knew. While he wasn’t perfect and there is plenty of negative stories about him that can be found online, even after his death I believe that deep down his heart was in the right place. During the final years of his life he made a very concerted effort to become a better man and was a firm believer in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He talked about his faith and spirituality in televised interviews and it was clear that while he made some bad decisions in his life, he found forgiveness, peace, contentment and spiritual enlightenment through following the teachings of Jesus Christ. Retro Game News acknowledges Terry Gene Bollea’s contribution to the retro gaming community and salutes and honor’s his memory. Thank you Hulk Hogan and may you find the eternal rest and peace in true paradise that you’ve earned through the trials that you have lived through during your brief but intense period playing the toughest game of all – the game of life.
Relevant Links
- Thunder in Paradise review wrestlecrap.com [https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/thunder-in-paradise-interactive/] Gives you a good understanding of what the CD-i / DOS game is like
- Every WWE game from the company’s golden era ranked [https://www.thesportster.com/every-wwe-video-game-golden-era-ranked/] This link gives you some idea of just how much Hulk Hogan was a part of retro gaming
- SNES Central – Thunder in Paradise for Super NES [https://snescentral.com/article.php?id=0960] Some information when the SNES version of Thunder in Paradise was first previewed in EGM 1994
- eBay auction for Thunder in Paradise (Super NES) [https://www.ebay.com/itm/135022293722] This link won’t last long before it’s broken
This article is incredibly fascinating! I love how it dives into the specifics of Thunder in Paradise, especially the unique use of digitized sprites in the CD-i version. Its cool to hear about the unreleased SNES prototype too. Great job exploring these retro gaming gems!