A follow-up to the original Rolling Thunder, this is a "shoot-the-bad-guys-and-save-the-world" game. A terrorist group has taken out the world information flow and, as either a guy named Albert Ross or a woman named Leila, you must stop them. You can also get weapons that pack more of a punch than your ordinary hand gun. The original Arcade version of Rolling Thunder 2 supports two-player cooperative play.

The Genesis conversion introduces several new stages with new enemies and bosses. The original stages have been tweaked to provide more cover points and bonus items; also two new weapons were added - a laser and a flamethrower. The storyline cutscenes between the stages were expanded. This version introduces a password system that allows the players to continue from any previously visited stage.