Strider

[Zoyous]

I just started playing Strider for the MegaDrive/Genesis again recently, and I'm just so impressed with its creativity. It's got a real cinematic flair without much use of cutscenes - the soundtrack will change dynamically as you access different areas of each level. It's got a more atmospheric, understated soundtrack than most of its contemporaries had. And it just dishes out satisfying surprises at a steady clip. Just in the first few stages it has you scaling rooftops, breaking through ceilings, rushing down steep slopes just ahead of exploding mines, making leaps across chasms, hanging from ceilings, jumping across from one flying vehicle to the next, sliding under falling security barriers, fighting a giant robotic gorilla and a council of people who join together to transform into a huge serpent, climbing an electrified structure while silhouetted against the sky, entering a chamber where gravity changes and draws you toward a moving boss...  in short, it's unbelievably badass! I never beat it back in the day but I'm going to try to this week. I love this trio of early Genesis games that were conversions of Capcom coin-ops (Strider, Forgotten Worlds, and Ghouls n' Ghosts). Capcom was creatively firing on all cylinders in this time, with every stage of each game just bursting with wild, cool ideas.

[NE146]

For sure man.. I loved the game in the arcade back in the day then later I remember seeing a preview in a japanese gaming mag (Famitsu?), opening it up and being blown away that Strider was coming to the Genesis. Back then the game seemed just way too 'complex' to make it intact to a home console at least to me. 

 

Anyway playing it now, in retrospect you can see the rough edges here and there when comparing it to the arcade game, but all in all I still do think they did a great job.  I still like playing it now and then but it does get real tough in the later stages 

[+Razzie.P]

As a kid, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't more like the NES version.  Graphics were amazing, but I bought it and had finished it after a couple of plays and really wanted a bit more of the "adventure" type of game.   I didn't realize it was an arcade port at the time, and just thought it was supposed to be more like the NES.

 

Love the game now, though.  Love the whole franchise, really, with my favorite being the 2014 version.

[Austin]

It's a memorization heavy game if you want to get through it without continuing a bunch of times, but it's really satisfying learning it and getting better at it. I definitely recommend trying the arcade version as well, it's even better.

[NE146]

As an aside, some of the staff who made Strider went on to make what's basically a sequel, or at least a spiritual successor: Osman. Worth checking out in Mame at least

 

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by NE146

[Tanooki]

On 8/24/2022 at 5:20 PM, Razzie.P said:

As a kid, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't more like the NES version.  Graphics were amazing, but I bought it and had finished it after a couple of plays and really wanted a bit more of the "adventure" type of game.   I didn't realize it was an arcade port at the time, and just thought it was supposed to be more like the NES.

 

Love the game now, though.  Love the whole franchise, really, with my favorite being the 2014 version.

I'm with this post.  I liked the NES version a whole lot more, didn't matter over time 90s, 2010s, whatever.  I just had the game again during this year, it didn't sit well with me even less now than it used to.  I prefer the adventure of the NES one, have to love at times those old Nintendo oddball licensing commandments they had about making a license unique vs another format.  I got rid of the game yet again, this time for the last.  I will admit, I now own Run Saber again, did in another period I had the Genesis game too, and in both cases I find it the more fun adventure.

[Zoyous]

On 8/24/2022 at 9:43 PM, NE146 said:

As an aside, some of the staff who made Strider went on to make what's basically a sequel, or at least a spiritual successor: Osman. Worth checking out in Mame at least

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. I read about that (but later forgot about it) in an interview with Strider's designer, Kouichi Yotsui, and Mitchell Corp's Roy Ozaki in "The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers." In that interview, they both indicate that they felt Strider wasn't a hit at all, and were mostly unaware of its popularity in the West. It seems pretty iconic to me, but maybe it is more of what you'd call a "cult hit." But I do remember it making a big impression in the gaming magazines in the early days of the Sega Genesis. Anyway, I just watched the first level of Osman in that video because I don't want to spoil it, but yeah... wow! Just the beginning of it, it almost has a dreamlike quality. So cool and creative.

 

16 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I'm with this post.  I liked the NES version a whole lot more, didn't matter over time 90s, 2010s, whatever.  I just had the game again during this year, it didn't sit well with me even less now than it used to.  I prefer the adventure of the NES one, have to love at times those old Nintendo oddball licensing commandments they had about making a license unique vs another format.  I got rid of the game yet again, this time for the last.  I will admit, I now own Run Saber again, did in another period I had the Genesis game too, and in both cases I find it the more fun adventure.

I want to check out the NES version. At the time I was definitely more in the camp of wanting a close re-creation of the arcade game for the home versions, but it is also cool to have expanded/alternate home versions that are more suited to long-term playing at home. What is Run Saber?

[roots.genoa]

I've always been a fan of Strider, mostly because of its unusual lore. I discovered it with the Atari ST port which was not the worse at the time I guess, then I borrowed (or rented) the Genesis version that blew me away. One of the very few Genesis games I actually beat (or almost, don't remember well). Never played the NES game.

I beat Osman a few years ago but it was a letdown, probably because I expected too much of it. But the lore is a little too crazy for me, and objectively way crazier than Strider's.

[Tanooki]

7 hours ago, Zoyous said:

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. I read about that (but later forgot about it) in an interview with Strider's designer, Kouichi Yotsui, and Mitchell Corp's Roy Ozaki in "The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers." In that interview, they both indicate that they felt Strider wasn't a hit at all, and were mostly unaware of its popularity in the West. It seems pretty iconic to me, but maybe it is more of what you'd call a "cult hit." But I do remember it making a big impression in the gaming magazines in the early days of the Sega Genesis. Anyway, I just watched the first level of Osman in that video because I don't want to spoil it, but yeah... wow! Just the beginning of it, it almost has a dreamlike quality. So cool and creative.

 

I want to check out the NES version. At the time I was definitely more in the camp of wanting a close re-creation of the arcade game for the home versions, but it is also cool to have expanded/alternate home versions that are more suited to long-term playing at home. What is Run Saber?

I did a little digging, thinking I may just want to do a double grab online or hope for dumb luck locally for Strider and Bionic Commando.  Strider on the NES isn't a game that was designed after the arcade title because the hardware lacked.  There is this large Strider only based Wiki, and digging into it, it seems that the NES/FC game was made at the same time as the arcade one as a true stand alone chapter, not a pity prize because the NES was weak.

 

Run Saber is what many would call a copy cat, but probably better called an homage to the style of Strider as it has quite a few similar style choices.  This will best cover it as usually HG101 is on point about stuff - http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/run-saber/

[schuwalker]

I love this particular era (CPS 1) of Capcom. Our local Aladdin's Castle had a Ghouls n Ghosts which eventually became a Strider... later that was converted to a UN Squadrun.

 

Back To Strider, I always afix that summer of '89 playing this at the aforementioned arcade. My Strider prowess improved overtime where I could beat it on a quarter. If you can retain the drone options, even one for that matter, you will plow through the game in no time.

 

The Genesis version I picked up at Babbage's; I think I paid around $70 for it. The big one for those in the know, the Genesis version had the complete soundtrack corrected; the arcade version had a bug where some stage level's music repeated on other stages. I'm not sure I knew this at the time or not... Strider was gone from my arcades around the release of the Genesis version. And like Ghouls n Ghosts, Sega programmed this one in house not Capcom - and a wonderful job they did!

 

NE mentioned Cannon Dancer/Osman... I consider that a true sequel to Strider and much better than the official version that came out in the late '90s - never cared for the sequel myself.

 

It's funny people mentioning they loathed the Genesis version since they played the NES one first. I was the other way around... I absolutely hated the NES version. My stance now is I did a complete 180 and cherish the NES version, great soundtrack too.. I really wish Capcom pushed a  NES  sequel instead of the piece of garbage Tiertex/US Gold pushed on Genesis/Megadrive owners.

[roots.genoa]

It looks like Osman will be released on PS4 and Switch by ININ Games. It appears in Konami's line-up for the Tokyo Game Show (in the partner section).

[Cobra Kai]

I've been playing the arcade version quite a bit on my A1up Yoga Flame unit. There are times during play where I think it's got serious flaws. The movement is weird, so weird as to make it tough to have the same exact game. The hit detection is not refined either, the game just feels unfinished. 

 

I'm not saying it's a bad game, obviously it's not, but there are aspects that needed ironed out, the game feels raw as it is. There are frustrating moments for me when I can play two games back to back and have completely different outcomes, even though I have the stage memorized and know what to do, because the control and the hit detection is not precise enough.

[schuwalker]

19 hours ago, Cobra Kai said:

I've been playing the arcade version quite a bit on my A1up Yoga Flame unit. There are times during play where I think it's got serious flaws. The movement is weird, so weird as to make it tough to have the same exact game. The hit detection is not refined either, the game just feels unfinished. 

 

I'm not saying it's a bad game, obviously it's not, but there are aspects that needed ironed out, the game feels raw as it is. There are frustrating moments for me when I can play two games back to back and have completely different outcomes, even though I have the stage memorized and know what to do, because the control and the hit detection is not precise enough.

The jump mechanic does take time to get used to. Once you're committed, you're committed. I never really had an issue with the hit detection though... 

 

The game sorta was unfinished and rushed out the door. Music was fubared in the arcade version initially. Level 1's music was repeated on stage 3; I think stage 5 was repeated. A big one which I believe still needs attention is the overlapping of the intermission voice overs...really noticeable in stage 4 conclusion.

 

I bitched a moaned bitd that I wanted a Strider sequel around '91 or '92 not knowing the creator split ties with Capcom. I'm sure Capcom rushing the game didn't help matters at all.

Edited September 10, 2022 by schuwalker

[Bloodreign]

Despite the atrocious boxart we got on the US release, the game itself is a pleasant surprise, though I hear it has more bugs than the arcade original. I bought it on PS1 later, with Strider 2, the infamous mislabeled CD's, that version to me is the best one, the emulated version on Capcom Classics Collection 2 uses the ROM set that has less music in the game than the later revision (it is emulation, but avoid playing that version as  it uses the same music for almost every stage, Capcom got lazy with that one brought over), which is what the Genesis version seems based on as it has all the music of the revision that added more music.

 

I can pretty much speculate that this dropped a lot of jaws for Genesis owners that bought that game back in the day, and had played the arcade version beforehand.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Bloodreign

[retrorussell]

I had seen the arcade machine at a Circle K so I'd heard about it before I saw the Genesis port at a Toys R Us.  The box art was lame ("Strider" looked like a high school PE coach) but the price tag ($60) and the 8 MEGA MEMORY blurb (didn't know specifically what that meant but it had to be a positive) pulled me in.  When I bought it and played it.. I could not believe this was Genesis graphics!  It is fortunately much easier than the arcade (on non-difficult setting anyway).