one day you’re all gonna meet a fan of this game and end up beating them to death
Innovative, challenging, varied, ahead of its time. Strider is one of the unsung heroes of gaming for many reasons. It was one of most influential arcade games of all time, if not one of the most influential video games period. The atmospheric level design, cinematic nature, surprising home port quality, extremely fast-paced action, variety of setpieces, and competent adaptation from its native medium all helped in forming one of the most unique games of the 1980s, one which would receive a fair share of imitators in the decade to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b-0XeU-6-A
Our journey begins with a screen of Hiryu slashing Grandmaster Mayo in half, foreshadowing events to follow. After pressing start, the player is greeted to a symbolic opening of Mayo holding the world in the palm of his hand, giving the player an immediate idea of how much is at stake even without reading the manual. As soon as the player leaves their glider, they are subject to a dozen enemies coming from all sides, and these villains are willing to sacrifice their lives for Mayo by suicide bombing the legendary super ninja in their desperate attempt to stop the last obstacle in Mayo's path to global domination.
Indeed, it takes only a minute to understand the sheer state of the world Hiryu inhabits. Major cities are overrun by terrorists and nigh-indestructible robots ranging from Ivan Drago lookalikes to giant mecha-monkeys. Even the demo screen makes it clear the player is the last ray of light in the world, through their control of Hiryu.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/790816265148694579/1014128664885080194/unknown.png
The player will need to harness every tool at their disposal to save the world as well as come to grips with Hiryu's physics. The Cypher swinging, sliding, wall climbing, and jumping are all very deliberate and flashy. Every animation from the player has vastly more frames than its home console platforming contemporaries of the NES and Master System. The spinning jump in particular is very reminiscent of ninja theatrics seen in martial arts cinema, to say nothing of Hiryu's recovery roll; even when the player is damaged, they take damage in style. When enemies are sliced, they go down in a fiery hot explosion of their own blood and a mini tokusatsuesque boom. It truly gets across the feeling of slicing everything in Hiryu's path with an unstable 1000 degree knife.
In a way, realism is what Strider is all about. Hiryu will slant across surfaces in a way few action-platformers would bother with, allowing for the player to build momentum and make last second jumps across minefields in the vein of an action movie star. Guards will patrol platforms by walking left and right periodically, which allows some to be stealth killed in true shinobi fashion. Voice clips weren't invented by Strider, but it had much more of a cinematic element than contemporaries by featuring fully voice acted cutscenes spoken in several languages depending on the character's nationality, with Mayo's iconic "STRIDER HIRYU WILL NEVER LEAVE EURASIA ALIVE" being the highlight for certain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3y0aFDkGUs
One interesting detail I was always iffy of was Solo. I found it rather peculiar Solo was built up as Hiryu's rival figure only to be mercilessly shredded in half by the player with no fanfare, but in hindsight it makes sense. The player recognizes Solo as the grandmaster's Strongest Soldier, but to Hiryu's knowledge he's just another obstacle in the way for your friendly neighbourhood super ninja.
The music can and will change at the drop of a hat within the same screen, something that was also rather unheard of at the time as platformers such as Mario would reserve this for occasions like going down warp pipes. The Genesis version of Strider in particular had brilliant music cues, such as the first stage playing a triumphant melody after notivandrago's death only for it to be shockingly cutoff by an ambush the instant the player could realize they were surrounded by enemy turrets and guards. Without a single word, Strider could express that the player wasn't safe no matter where they went.
And that's just what made Strider so special, the style and subtlety. The player could strike a fair amount of poses for an end level screen, sometimes to hilarious result. Airships could be pushed up and down depending on where or how the player landed on them. Capcom even included a special game over screen for the final boss fight to put into perspective how badly the player failed the earth, something unheard of for its time. There would be no game over jingle, as if the world was uninterrupted by the death of one more insignificant individual who dared oppose the grandmaster.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/790816265148694579/1014131649895735366/unknown.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/790816265148694579/1014131861313830922/unknown.png
All of this combines to make Strider a very memorable game for me and many other fans of 1980s arcade games. However, it is also a flawed game in several aspects. The powerups are rather weak compared to say, Ninja Gaiden's as they do not really give the player a new skill so much as simply add more objects on the screen to interact with enemies. Compare Strider's ninjutsu simply making him intangible or having a longer sword to the sort of ninjutsu Ninja Gaiden or Shinobi would provide the player to increase combat options. There are also a couple attacks in the game which are nigh-impossible to dodge, most notably the quadruple laser and the gravity core's thrusts; it is quite telling even with a turbo button I was never able to defeat a single gravity core without taking damage. However, these encounters can still ultimately be damage sponged so I do not believe they ruin the overall experience.
Strider's influence can be seen in many of my favourite games. The Mega Man games would borrow multiple gimmicks, including Gravity Man's stage in 5 having similarities to the Battleship Balrog or the wall crushers in Mega Man X2 borrowing from a certain segment in Strider's 3rd stage. The Ninja Gaiden series would go on to give Hayabusa a proper wall climb in 2 and even copy Hiryu's Cypher in NG3. Flatout imitators such as Run Saber, Osman (by the same director no less) and Hagane would come out in the years to follow, and while they would expand the combat options of Strider, they never became as iconic nor had the amount of sequels. Strider has even been cited as an influence in the hack n slash genre.
https://www.eurogamer.net/strider-1-2-review
Furthermore, Strider demonstrated what a licensed game could be, adapting only a few elements from its source manga to create a digestible experience for those who were unfamiliar with the original story. This was in stark contrast to the NES game which had a condensed version of the manga's story which did not click with the North American market it was aimed for. In an era where licensed games were generally seen as low quality, Capcom did a great job pumping out games such as this and Disney's titles which could stand on their own merits.
If I had to choose one version of the game as my favourite, I would say the Genesis port. In the early years of the Genesis' lifespan, Strider was a system seller due to breaking new ground in the public eye as to what an arcade port could be. The first stage was reworked to make the turret ambush more surprising, enemies were altered to render machine gunners or spiked wall enemies less annoying, stages became more approachable as there were now more ways to clear obstacles such as the first vine in stage 4, the ceiling being removed from the laser boss resulted in an actually dodgeable attack which no longer obscured the player's view, the doomsday weapon was given a darker atmosphere with muted colours replacing the bright pallet of the arcade, and even the music was slightly reworked to make the fall of Balrog more intense. Some sound effects were compromised (mainly during the cutscenes) but I simply can't pass over a version that gave the game an actual ending sequence with a whole ass cast roll to boot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7iWY3quVLM
In the end, I don't believe Strider is the greatest ninja action platformer of all time. I would argue it was far surpassed by the original Ninja Gaiden, as well as Shinobi 3 and Hagane. However, it still has its place at the table as it brought one of Capcom's most iconic characters into the public eye worldwide. Marvel VS Capcom 2 just wouldn't be the same without the blessed Hiryu/Doom power couple, now would it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREri3qeKc8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b-0XeU-6-A
Our journey begins with a screen of Hiryu slashing Grandmaster Mayo in half, foreshadowing events to follow. After pressing start, the player is greeted to a symbolic opening of Mayo holding the world in the palm of his hand, giving the player an immediate idea of how much is at stake even without reading the manual. As soon as the player leaves their glider, they are subject to a dozen enemies coming from all sides, and these villains are willing to sacrifice their lives for Mayo by suicide bombing the legendary super ninja in their desperate attempt to stop the last obstacle in Mayo's path to global domination.
Indeed, it takes only a minute to understand the sheer state of the world Hiryu inhabits. Major cities are overrun by terrorists and nigh-indestructible robots ranging from Ivan Drago lookalikes to giant mecha-monkeys. Even the demo screen makes it clear the player is the last ray of light in the world, through their control of Hiryu.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/790816265148694579/1014128664885080194/unknown.png
The player will need to harness every tool at their disposal to save the world as well as come to grips with Hiryu's physics. The Cypher swinging, sliding, wall climbing, and jumping are all very deliberate and flashy. Every animation from the player has vastly more frames than its home console platforming contemporaries of the NES and Master System. The spinning jump in particular is very reminiscent of ninja theatrics seen in martial arts cinema, to say nothing of Hiryu's recovery roll; even when the player is damaged, they take damage in style. When enemies are sliced, they go down in a fiery hot explosion of their own blood and a mini tokusatsuesque boom. It truly gets across the feeling of slicing everything in Hiryu's path with an unstable 1000 degree knife.
In a way, realism is what Strider is all about. Hiryu will slant across surfaces in a way few action-platformers would bother with, allowing for the player to build momentum and make last second jumps across minefields in the vein of an action movie star. Guards will patrol platforms by walking left and right periodically, which allows some to be stealth killed in true shinobi fashion. Voice clips weren't invented by Strider, but it had much more of a cinematic element than contemporaries by featuring fully voice acted cutscenes spoken in several languages depending on the character's nationality, with Mayo's iconic "STRIDER HIRYU WILL NEVER LEAVE EURASIA ALIVE" being the highlight for certain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3y0aFDkGUs
One interesting detail I was always iffy of was Solo. I found it rather peculiar Solo was built up as Hiryu's rival figure only to be mercilessly shredded in half by the player with no fanfare, but in hindsight it makes sense. The player recognizes Solo as the grandmaster's Strongest Soldier, but to Hiryu's knowledge he's just another obstacle in the way for your friendly neighbourhood super ninja.
The music can and will change at the drop of a hat within the same screen, something that was also rather unheard of at the time as platformers such as Mario would reserve this for occasions like going down warp pipes. The Genesis version of Strider in particular had brilliant music cues, such as the first stage playing a triumphant melody after notivandrago's death only for it to be shockingly cutoff by an ambush the instant the player could realize they were surrounded by enemy turrets and guards. Without a single word, Strider could express that the player wasn't safe no matter where they went.
And that's just what made Strider so special, the style and subtlety. The player could strike a fair amount of poses for an end level screen, sometimes to hilarious result. Airships could be pushed up and down depending on where or how the player landed on them. Capcom even included a special game over screen for the final boss fight to put into perspective how badly the player failed the earth, something unheard of for its time. There would be no game over jingle, as if the world was uninterrupted by the death of one more insignificant individual who dared oppose the grandmaster.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/790816265148694579/1014131649895735366/unknown.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/790816265148694579/1014131861313830922/unknown.png
All of this combines to make Strider a very memorable game for me and many other fans of 1980s arcade games. However, it is also a flawed game in several aspects. The powerups are rather weak compared to say, Ninja Gaiden's as they do not really give the player a new skill so much as simply add more objects on the screen to interact with enemies. Compare Strider's ninjutsu simply making him intangible or having a longer sword to the sort of ninjutsu Ninja Gaiden or Shinobi would provide the player to increase combat options. There are also a couple attacks in the game which are nigh-impossible to dodge, most notably the quadruple laser and the gravity core's thrusts; it is quite telling even with a turbo button I was never able to defeat a single gravity core without taking damage. However, these encounters can still ultimately be damage sponged so I do not believe they ruin the overall experience.
Strider's influence can be seen in many of my favourite games. The Mega Man games would borrow multiple gimmicks, including Gravity Man's stage in 5 having similarities to the Battleship Balrog or the wall crushers in Mega Man X2 borrowing from a certain segment in Strider's 3rd stage. The Ninja Gaiden series would go on to give Hayabusa a proper wall climb in 2 and even copy Hiryu's Cypher in NG3. Flatout imitators such as Run Saber, Osman (by the same director no less) and Hagane would come out in the years to follow, and while they would expand the combat options of Strider, they never became as iconic nor had the amount of sequels. Strider has even been cited as an influence in the hack n slash genre.
https://www.eurogamer.net/strider-1-2-review
Furthermore, Strider demonstrated what a licensed game could be, adapting only a few elements from its source manga to create a digestible experience for those who were unfamiliar with the original story. This was in stark contrast to the NES game which had a condensed version of the manga's story which did not click with the North American market it was aimed for. In an era where licensed games were generally seen as low quality, Capcom did a great job pumping out games such as this and Disney's titles which could stand on their own merits.
If I had to choose one version of the game as my favourite, I would say the Genesis port. In the early years of the Genesis' lifespan, Strider was a system seller due to breaking new ground in the public eye as to what an arcade port could be. The first stage was reworked to make the turret ambush more surprising, enemies were altered to render machine gunners or spiked wall enemies less annoying, stages became more approachable as there were now more ways to clear obstacles such as the first vine in stage 4, the ceiling being removed from the laser boss resulted in an actually dodgeable attack which no longer obscured the player's view, the doomsday weapon was given a darker atmosphere with muted colours replacing the bright pallet of the arcade, and even the music was slightly reworked to make the fall of Balrog more intense. Some sound effects were compromised (mainly during the cutscenes) but I simply can't pass over a version that gave the game an actual ending sequence with a whole ass cast roll to boot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7iWY3quVLM
In the end, I don't believe Strider is the greatest ninja action platformer of all time. I would argue it was far surpassed by the original Ninja Gaiden, as well as Shinobi 3 and Hagane. However, it still has its place at the table as it brought one of Capcom's most iconic characters into the public eye worldwide. Marvel VS Capcom 2 just wouldn't be the same without the blessed Hiryu/Doom power couple, now would it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREri3qeKc8
I decided to play Strider tonight because I saw multiple people leaving reviews on it lately and the How Long to Beat time was about an hour, so why not check out what everyone's talking about? And I gotta say that by the time I rolled credits at about twice of said time, the main thing I had to say was "Wow, that kinda sucked".
Look, I can see plenty of reasons to like this game. The art, especially for a quite early Genesis title, is very well done. This is probably most epitomized in the Siberian Wilderness stage in the segment with power outages (where the darkened, silhouette look broken by crackling electricity is pretty badass), the ending sequence and city shots, and the detailed sprites on enemies along with Strider himself. It has the clear intent of a neo-futuristic, 80s anime style setting (given Moto Kikaku's involvement on the manga this seems particularly fitting), and there's some pretty rad boss visual designs. The music's pretty solid and the sound can be good too, although I do feel the need to note two things. First, Stage 4's Amazon enemies seem to have some oddities going on with their sound, because a lot of times I'd have them play their attack sounds on loop a LOT when they were on the fringes of the screen in a way that was outright annoying. I thought maybe this was just a glitch of some kind, but when I checked a random Longplay on Youtube and it seemed to have the same issue so IDK. Hiryu's sword swing also makes a LOT of sound when you spam it but that was probably more frustrating than when it'd be designed due to listening with headphones rather than a crowded arcade or CRT or w/e so I don't hold that much against it.
I just couldn't jive with a lot of the gameplay though. The game feels like a bad, peanut butter mashup of Ninja Gaiden's speedy action with Castlevania's jumping physics, with the end result being a game that demands precision and speed that feels stiff and, in my opinion, unresponsive. You can definitely get used to it, sure, and it is consistent (even if Strider tumbling with the horizontal jump is at first maybe a bit throwing off), but it isn't particularly fun to play. It's like a bad version of a Metroid-style two-different-jumps mechanic. I also felt like some consistent hitbox and physics dissonance was on display here, largely with any kind of moving platform, which was absolutely PAINFUL in the final level. I died at least 10 times to the run up to the final boss because you have to stay on a moving platform that will cause you to flip off if you don't grab and/or jump with the right timing, and there were plenty of times I just grabbed on and then instantly fell off or fell off for seemingly no reason and so on. There's also a bizarre inconsistency to the game: I streamed a good chunk of this with a friend on Discord and we both noted how I'd run through the same area, often times doing the same thing, and yet have enemy spawns vary for reasons that were esoteric to us.
This is particularly notable because Strider is HEAVY on trial and error gameplay, it loves to put enemies just off screen or in spots where if you don't react immediately after entering a new area you'll get hit. There's also plenty of "gotcha" moments in the game. If you don't know a trap is coming up right when you beat the first boss, for example, you WILL get hit. Boss quality varies heavily but most are unimpressive in execution, one of them felt particularly odd as it seems like it has unavoidable damage to hit it and you basically have to mash and have full health to win before you die. When I looked up other runs, I never saw them avoid the damage either. It's likely possible but I couldn't figure it out. I'd probably enjoy this more if the game's physics felt more free, because then I'd be able to memorize myself into a nice rhythm of jumping, attacking, and so on.
It's not as though gameplay is without any merit. The idea of Gradius style Options as power-ups is underexplored but interesting. The game's got some classic ninja wall jumps and ceiling clings and platform grabs and tends to mix these in quite well: If the jumping didn't feel so bad for me the actual level design seems solid if very difficult (you can definitely tell this was an arcade game!) to me albeit with way too many gotcha moments. Some of the Options do seem to sometimes work oddly, mostly just kinda going wherever they please off screen, but it's pretty cool conceptually and fun to use. Plus I love how it fits hard into the cyber-ninja theming, he has a robot dog!
Overall, Strider might be pretty fun if the way it controls and the physics hit for you, but those things just never hit for me and it just dragged down the experience and kinda devolved into a frustrating effort by the end of things. I respect the influence it had over gaming and Strider Hiryu himself is cool, but it was just a miss for me.
Look, I can see plenty of reasons to like this game. The art, especially for a quite early Genesis title, is very well done. This is probably most epitomized in the Siberian Wilderness stage in the segment with power outages (where the darkened, silhouette look broken by crackling electricity is pretty badass), the ending sequence and city shots, and the detailed sprites on enemies along with Strider himself. It has the clear intent of a neo-futuristic, 80s anime style setting (given Moto Kikaku's involvement on the manga this seems particularly fitting), and there's some pretty rad boss visual designs. The music's pretty solid and the sound can be good too, although I do feel the need to note two things. First, Stage 4's Amazon enemies seem to have some oddities going on with their sound, because a lot of times I'd have them play their attack sounds on loop a LOT when they were on the fringes of the screen in a way that was outright annoying. I thought maybe this was just a glitch of some kind, but when I checked a random Longplay on Youtube and it seemed to have the same issue so IDK. Hiryu's sword swing also makes a LOT of sound when you spam it but that was probably more frustrating than when it'd be designed due to listening with headphones rather than a crowded arcade or CRT or w/e so I don't hold that much against it.
I just couldn't jive with a lot of the gameplay though. The game feels like a bad, peanut butter mashup of Ninja Gaiden's speedy action with Castlevania's jumping physics, with the end result being a game that demands precision and speed that feels stiff and, in my opinion, unresponsive. You can definitely get used to it, sure, and it is consistent (even if Strider tumbling with the horizontal jump is at first maybe a bit throwing off), but it isn't particularly fun to play. It's like a bad version of a Metroid-style two-different-jumps mechanic. I also felt like some consistent hitbox and physics dissonance was on display here, largely with any kind of moving platform, which was absolutely PAINFUL in the final level. I died at least 10 times to the run up to the final boss because you have to stay on a moving platform that will cause you to flip off if you don't grab and/or jump with the right timing, and there were plenty of times I just grabbed on and then instantly fell off or fell off for seemingly no reason and so on. There's also a bizarre inconsistency to the game: I streamed a good chunk of this with a friend on Discord and we both noted how I'd run through the same area, often times doing the same thing, and yet have enemy spawns vary for reasons that were esoteric to us.
This is particularly notable because Strider is HEAVY on trial and error gameplay, it loves to put enemies just off screen or in spots where if you don't react immediately after entering a new area you'll get hit. There's also plenty of "gotcha" moments in the game. If you don't know a trap is coming up right when you beat the first boss, for example, you WILL get hit. Boss quality varies heavily but most are unimpressive in execution, one of them felt particularly odd as it seems like it has unavoidable damage to hit it and you basically have to mash and have full health to win before you die. When I looked up other runs, I never saw them avoid the damage either. It's likely possible but I couldn't figure it out. I'd probably enjoy this more if the game's physics felt more free, because then I'd be able to memorize myself into a nice rhythm of jumping, attacking, and so on.
It's not as though gameplay is without any merit. The idea of Gradius style Options as power-ups is underexplored but interesting. The game's got some classic ninja wall jumps and ceiling clings and platform grabs and tends to mix these in quite well: If the jumping didn't feel so bad for me the actual level design seems solid if very difficult (you can definitely tell this was an arcade game!) to me albeit with way too many gotcha moments. Some of the Options do seem to sometimes work oddly, mostly just kinda going wherever they please off screen, but it's pretty cool conceptually and fun to use. Plus I love how it fits hard into the cyber-ninja theming, he has a robot dog!
Overall, Strider might be pretty fun if the way it controls and the physics hit for you, but those things just never hit for me and it just dragged down the experience and kinda devolved into a frustrating effort by the end of things. I respect the influence it had over gaming and Strider Hiryu himself is cool, but it was just a miss for me.
Re-played this bc holy fuck out of nowhere everyone started absolutely shitting on this game
It's sorta deserved????? Idk
Strider is kinda like Altered Beast in the way it screams cool factor over playability, on top of being a launch-era Genesis port with that dilapidated green/metal artstyle. It's short. and a lot of the opportunities for proper game design are sacrificed in order to justify its setpieces. But to be fair, its setpieces are really damn good, sloping seamlessly into each other (barring the freeze/loading on the genny version) and conveying a world and sense of verticality akin to an action movie. Strider actually debuted as a Capcom-funded manga a year before the arcade game - something that ultimately influences the game's direction for better or worse. Like, bosses have cool designs, but are either complete pushovers or bouts of luck. Platforming has Ghost-n-Goblins jumps, which works for the thematic weight its trying to communicate, but leads to a lot of annoyances and bumbling around. This game is a whole hodge-podge of 'ideas' that never get meaningfully expanded into assessable gameplay scenarios, but I don't think that makes the experience inherently 'flawed'.
Strider isn't good viewed under the same lens as other action game design testaments like Ninja Gaiden or Castlevania. I don't even know if I'd even say it's 'good' for the time, or 'good' for what it's trying to do. But I don't think the experience is mechanically taxing enough or long enough to take away from its concept and spectacle. I think the only thing that makes this game hard to stomach is that Genesis boomers spent DECADES online calling this the best game on the system. Not 'one of the best' - THE best. Better than Sonic 2 & 3, SoR2, Shinobi 3, Ristar, and Treasure's games. It takes an obscene amount of cope to rewrite history like that.
ADDENDUM: I only realized now that Sonic 2's Wing Fortress like, just steals everything from stage 3. All of it. It's insane
It's sorta deserved????? Idk
Strider is kinda like Altered Beast in the way it screams cool factor over playability, on top of being a launch-era Genesis port with that dilapidated green/metal artstyle. It's short. and a lot of the opportunities for proper game design are sacrificed in order to justify its setpieces. But to be fair, its setpieces are really damn good, sloping seamlessly into each other (barring the freeze/loading on the genny version) and conveying a world and sense of verticality akin to an action movie. Strider actually debuted as a Capcom-funded manga a year before the arcade game - something that ultimately influences the game's direction for better or worse. Like, bosses have cool designs, but are either complete pushovers or bouts of luck. Platforming has Ghost-n-Goblins jumps, which works for the thematic weight its trying to communicate, but leads to a lot of annoyances and bumbling around. This game is a whole hodge-podge of 'ideas' that never get meaningfully expanded into assessable gameplay scenarios, but I don't think that makes the experience inherently 'flawed'.
Strider isn't good viewed under the same lens as other action game design testaments like Ninja Gaiden or Castlevania. I don't even know if I'd even say it's 'good' for the time, or 'good' for what it's trying to do. But I don't think the experience is mechanically taxing enough or long enough to take away from its concept and spectacle. I think the only thing that makes this game hard to stomach is that Genesis boomers spent DECADES online calling this the best game on the system. Not 'one of the best' - THE best. Better than Sonic 2 & 3, SoR2, Shinobi 3, Ristar, and Treasure's games. It takes an obscene amount of cope to rewrite history like that.
ADDENDUM: I only realized now that Sonic 2's Wing Fortress like, just steals everything from stage 3. All of it. It's insane
Strider is a hell of an odd game. I remember I utterly loathed it back in May when I first gave it a go, then declared it was garbage, and suddenly an avalanche of similar negative reviews came down. I eventually started to feel like I didn't give it enough credit, and then some evil spirit possessed me to replay this at 4 AM seven months later. I still think it kind of sucks as a whole, but I didn't really have much to say the first time so I might as well go a little more in depth now.
I've talked about how setpieces and cinematic flair can amp up the enjoyability of a game as a whole when I replayed R-Type III, and the same pretty much applies here. There's a handful of games on the Genesis that play out like a little action movie or OVA, such as Battle Mania Daiginjou or maybe El Viento, and this is a really early example of that. The atypical stage design further amplifies this, feeling more tailored to the setpieces rather than just playing like the average platformer at the time, if that makes sense.
Actually playing through the stages is...really bad. Strider controls kind of miserably, a lot of enemies are a chore to hit and there are various sections of the game where it is actively impossible to slip by without taking damage. There is a lot of this in the final stage in particular, and above all else it just makes me wonder: why? Sure, a lot of arcade releases around this time are insane with their quarter munching, but why wasn't the opportunity taken to sober up a little for this port? Even if unlimited continues were provided here, there's no satisfaction in slowly mastering the levels because for some of them, you can't! It really boggles my mind, and I think it's a big reason why I held such intense vitriol on my first playthrough.
This port was awarded Game of the Year by Electronic Gaming Monthly in 1990, which at first utterly baffles me, but really at the time there wasn't much if anything quite like it, even if the end result is shoddy. I can kinda see why some people have a soft spot for it today, especially if they grew up when it was newly released, but I have to wonder if even one playthrough is all it might take for someone in that position to reconsider. There's some pretty obscene design flaws here, as cool as the game may look.
I've talked about how setpieces and cinematic flair can amp up the enjoyability of a game as a whole when I replayed R-Type III, and the same pretty much applies here. There's a handful of games on the Genesis that play out like a little action movie or OVA, such as Battle Mania Daiginjou or maybe El Viento, and this is a really early example of that. The atypical stage design further amplifies this, feeling more tailored to the setpieces rather than just playing like the average platformer at the time, if that makes sense.
Actually playing through the stages is...really bad. Strider controls kind of miserably, a lot of enemies are a chore to hit and there are various sections of the game where it is actively impossible to slip by without taking damage. There is a lot of this in the final stage in particular, and above all else it just makes me wonder: why? Sure, a lot of arcade releases around this time are insane with their quarter munching, but why wasn't the opportunity taken to sober up a little for this port? Even if unlimited continues were provided here, there's no satisfaction in slowly mastering the levels because for some of them, you can't! It really boggles my mind, and I think it's a big reason why I held such intense vitriol on my first playthrough.
This port was awarded Game of the Year by Electronic Gaming Monthly in 1990, which at first utterly baffles me, but really at the time there wasn't much if anything quite like it, even if the end result is shoddy. I can kinda see why some people have a soft spot for it today, especially if they grew up when it was newly released, but I have to wonder if even one playthrough is all it might take for someone in that position to reconsider. There's some pretty obscene design flaws here, as cool as the game may look.
Surprisingly decent. Visually the game looks good, and the movement at your disposal is actually really good for a 16-bit platformer, but Strider himself feels quite stiff to control and the game throws A LOT of enemies at you at once. Not bad for a first game but it has its issues and slowdown at parts ruin it.
Like I mentioned in my Bionic Commando review, Strider is one of Capcom's franchises that have been left to rot in comparison to some of their other bigger properties. Which is a shame too, because it is a series with a lot of cool ideas, coupled with a style and flair that I love in video games, and I wish that it was brought back at one point (again, of course, after the 2014 game). For what we did get though, it looks like a pretty solid series (with an exception or two in there), and the original Strider is no exception.
This was my first proper experience with the Strider franchise, and after playing it, I would say that it is a pretty solid first entry, and an overall really damn good arcade game. Sure, it has its problems, and it is probably outshined by sequels later down the road, but it is still worth playing today.
The story is very basic for this kind of game, but it is helped with story visuals and the presence of voice acting (even if both of these things are presented in the blink of an eye, and then they are gone), the graphics are very nice, the music is pretty well done and memorable, the control is alright, aside from one aspect I will touch upon in a second, and the gameplay is simple, yet very fun in execution paired with many elements the game presents.
The game is a 2D hack-and-slash platformer, where you move from left to right, defeating enemies, getting powerups, fighting bosses, and all the stuff you have probably seen plenty of times before, but what makes it pretty unique compared to others is the types of enemies, powerups, and bosses you run into throughout the game, with the enemies and bosses being pretty creative for the time. In addition, the powerups themselves have what you would typically expect from a game like this, but you can also gain robotic helpers, such as a robotic tiger and hawk, to help you take on what lies ahead.
In my opinion, the simple gameplay, coupled with ideas the game introduces with the enemies and powerups make this game really fun to play and very memorable. Not to mention, it is extremely satisfying to run through these stages as fast as you can, slashing through so many different goons, coupled with the extreme precision and skill you can pull off. Not too many other games (at least from this era) can replicate this kind of style and look.
Of course though, it isn't perfect, with plenty of elements that can be done a lot better. For instance, your movement and jumping in this game is pretty fucking awkward, with many different directions and ways you can jump around the screen. This is cool and all, but given how much this game throws at you, and with the precarious terrain you will most likely encounter, it can be pretty frustrating to control. This is also paired with the climbing mechanic you have in the game, which does help out a lot, yes, but it isn't all too reliable when I feel like it should be.
In addition, yes, this is an arcade game, and as such, it is pretty short, and they throw as much at you as possible to try to get money out of the poor kids that played this back in the day, and that can make the journey more stressful than it needs to be. It is doable, yes, and it is still fun, but it can be a bit of a hassle.
Overall, despite the awkward jumping/climbing and the cases of arcade syndrome, it is still a pretty solid game after over 30 years later, and it has me looking forward to what the rest of the series after this has to offer.
Game #115
This was my first proper experience with the Strider franchise, and after playing it, I would say that it is a pretty solid first entry, and an overall really damn good arcade game. Sure, it has its problems, and it is probably outshined by sequels later down the road, but it is still worth playing today.
The story is very basic for this kind of game, but it is helped with story visuals and the presence of voice acting (even if both of these things are presented in the blink of an eye, and then they are gone), the graphics are very nice, the music is pretty well done and memorable, the control is alright, aside from one aspect I will touch upon in a second, and the gameplay is simple, yet very fun in execution paired with many elements the game presents.
The game is a 2D hack-and-slash platformer, where you move from left to right, defeating enemies, getting powerups, fighting bosses, and all the stuff you have probably seen plenty of times before, but what makes it pretty unique compared to others is the types of enemies, powerups, and bosses you run into throughout the game, with the enemies and bosses being pretty creative for the time. In addition, the powerups themselves have what you would typically expect from a game like this, but you can also gain robotic helpers, such as a robotic tiger and hawk, to help you take on what lies ahead.
In my opinion, the simple gameplay, coupled with ideas the game introduces with the enemies and powerups make this game really fun to play and very memorable. Not to mention, it is extremely satisfying to run through these stages as fast as you can, slashing through so many different goons, coupled with the extreme precision and skill you can pull off. Not too many other games (at least from this era) can replicate this kind of style and look.
Of course though, it isn't perfect, with plenty of elements that can be done a lot better. For instance, your movement and jumping in this game is pretty fucking awkward, with many different directions and ways you can jump around the screen. This is cool and all, but given how much this game throws at you, and with the precarious terrain you will most likely encounter, it can be pretty frustrating to control. This is also paired with the climbing mechanic you have in the game, which does help out a lot, yes, but it isn't all too reliable when I feel like it should be.
In addition, yes, this is an arcade game, and as such, it is pretty short, and they throw as much at you as possible to try to get money out of the poor kids that played this back in the day, and that can make the journey more stressful than it needs to be. It is doable, yes, and it is still fun, but it can be a bit of a hassle.
Overall, despite the awkward jumping/climbing and the cases of arcade syndrome, it is still a pretty solid game after over 30 years later, and it has me looking forward to what the rest of the series after this has to offer.
Game #115
plays like absolute dogwater, i do not understand how people like this game at all
sure it's a cool looking game but it's actual pain to play through
when a mega drive game is slowing down even on an emulator you know something went wrong
sure it's a cool looking game but it's actual pain to play through
when a mega drive game is slowing down even on an emulator you know something went wrong
Very impressive visually considering it came out in '89. Very (kinda goofy) exaggerated jump animations to show the player doing crazy flips and scaling walls. Clearly pushes the Genesis to its absolute limits considering how many enemies and projectiles are present on screen at times. A bit buggy though, with the classic final level cranking up the difficulty to an unreasonable amount. Still, not bad.
CAPCATHON, GAME 6: Strider (1989; Arcade, Megadrive)
Strider feels, in many regards, like a game five or six years ahead of its time. It is a landmark title, a trailblazer for platformers and action games alike.
The world of Strider is extremely colorful and, even more than 30 years later, still feels alive. Hi-tech ninja Hiryu will visit all sorts of locales around the world, from Eastern Europe to the Amazon, to leaving Earth altogether and fighting the wicked Grandmaster Meio in his space station. The backgrounds are colorful and detailed, and so are the sprites. Even though the animation isn't particularily fluid, especially considering future Capcom games, every motion is perfectly readable; in particular Hiryu's satisfying cartwheel jump and the extremely quick blade swings only a top-rank Strider can pull off are both memorable and dazzling.
Hiryu's controls take a bit to get used to. He reacts realistically to slopes, speeding up while running downhill and slowing down while running uphill. His jump physics are very realistic as well, in that he can't change directions in midair; this lack of course-correction will spell the loss of many lives. To compensate, he can cling to walls and ceilings and move smoothly to and from almost any type of surface. Hiryu can also slide to dodge certain attacks, and, most importantly, can swing his Cypher about as fast as the player can mash the attack button. Hiryu can also find some powerups that summon robots helpers that can aid him in defeating enemies from a distance.
The level designs are intricate and, in true quarter-muncher fashion, require both skill and memorization to traverse safely, but perservering players will be rewarded with exhilarating sequences, such as the second stage's mad scramble down the mountain as bombs explode behind you, followed by a leap of faith.
Most of the game's enemies can be dealt with easily, but others are more annoying to defeat, be they more heavily armored, faster and thus harder to hit, or placed in awkward spots. Some cheap hits are sprinkled throughout the game, with no way around avoiding them the first time they are encountered. This is especially true for the last stage, a gauntlet filled with the game's hardest challenges, along with a boss rush.
While the game does have good music, expect to remember mostly the first stage's theme, as that's the only memorable track it has. It's not that they're badly composed, it's just that they lack the catchyness of other game music. However, the game's sounds are all excellent- of particular note are, along with the Cypher swinging sound, all the game's digitized voice clips, which still sound extremely clear. I appreciate how each character speaks in their own native language- for example, Hiryu speaks in Japanese, Solo and the Grandmaster speak in English, Tong Pooh speaks in Chinese, and so on.
Strider is not kind to newcomers. It will take some perseverance and practice to get through its deadly traps. However, once the player understands what the game wants from them, Hiryu will soar through the stages, slicing the opposition left and right. It is a satisfying game to learn, one that I'd reccommend to anyone up for the challenge.
Strider feels, in many regards, like a game five or six years ahead of its time. It is a landmark title, a trailblazer for platformers and action games alike.
The world of Strider is extremely colorful and, even more than 30 years later, still feels alive. Hi-tech ninja Hiryu will visit all sorts of locales around the world, from Eastern Europe to the Amazon, to leaving Earth altogether and fighting the wicked Grandmaster Meio in his space station. The backgrounds are colorful and detailed, and so are the sprites. Even though the animation isn't particularily fluid, especially considering future Capcom games, every motion is perfectly readable; in particular Hiryu's satisfying cartwheel jump and the extremely quick blade swings only a top-rank Strider can pull off are both memorable and dazzling.
Hiryu's controls take a bit to get used to. He reacts realistically to slopes, speeding up while running downhill and slowing down while running uphill. His jump physics are very realistic as well, in that he can't change directions in midair; this lack of course-correction will spell the loss of many lives. To compensate, he can cling to walls and ceilings and move smoothly to and from almost any type of surface. Hiryu can also slide to dodge certain attacks, and, most importantly, can swing his Cypher about as fast as the player can mash the attack button. Hiryu can also find some powerups that summon robots helpers that can aid him in defeating enemies from a distance.
The level designs are intricate and, in true quarter-muncher fashion, require both skill and memorization to traverse safely, but perservering players will be rewarded with exhilarating sequences, such as the second stage's mad scramble down the mountain as bombs explode behind you, followed by a leap of faith.
Most of the game's enemies can be dealt with easily, but others are more annoying to defeat, be they more heavily armored, faster and thus harder to hit, or placed in awkward spots. Some cheap hits are sprinkled throughout the game, with no way around avoiding them the first time they are encountered. This is especially true for the last stage, a gauntlet filled with the game's hardest challenges, along with a boss rush.
While the game does have good music, expect to remember mostly the first stage's theme, as that's the only memorable track it has. It's not that they're badly composed, it's just that they lack the catchyness of other game music. However, the game's sounds are all excellent- of particular note are, along with the Cypher swinging sound, all the game's digitized voice clips, which still sound extremely clear. I appreciate how each character speaks in their own native language- for example, Hiryu speaks in Japanese, Solo and the Grandmaster speak in English, Tong Pooh speaks in Chinese, and so on.
Strider is not kind to newcomers. It will take some perseverance and practice to get through its deadly traps. However, once the player understands what the game wants from them, Hiryu will soar through the stages, slicing the opposition left and right. It is a satisfying game to learn, one that I'd reccommend to anyone up for the challenge.
A fun classic!
Never played strider before so I decided to change that ! having the capcom Arcade stadium collection I thought It would be a good way to experience this game for the first. With that being said I had a really good time and am excited to dig deeper into the series and play them all!.
What made it so fun?
The game is very simple but it works very well and will provide you with a good time. There aren’t many power ups besides getting a partner that will shoot orbs , Longer range on your sword swing and the many men strider mode as I like to call it. This isn’t really much of an issue however as each powerup is fun although I wish you had more chances to use many men mode. Furthermore, traversing through each level is fun as the movement feels very open ended since you can latch onto anything and climb your way through segments of each level. In addition , fighting was consistently fun hearing that SHING sound effect never got boring once and is honestly such a classic sound. Having such a short playthrough time there really isn’t much else to talk about with Strider , it is simply a good time that I do recommend if you have yet to dabble into the series.
Some issues?
While I enjoyed my time with the game I do have a few complaints that aren’t game ruining but will hinder certain segments of the game. First off, while the movement can be very fun it can also be VERY awkward as there were times I could clip through the level , miss jump and jump in the direction I did not intend to. Furthermore, there are downhills slopes in which you run fast as you walk down it but this can be annoying since certain points of stages may have enemies at the bottom pretty much making you take a hit for no reason. In addition to this , the boss pool really wasn’t memorable; they were all pretty basic besides the final boss which had a few cool ideas.
In the end
I am glad I finally got around to this title and am very excited to play more titles in it ! It's a classic for a reason. I was surprised to see how well the arcade game holds up. It honestly still looks great even in this generation. Highly recommend giving this one a playthrough !
Never played strider before so I decided to change that ! having the capcom Arcade stadium collection I thought It would be a good way to experience this game for the first. With that being said I had a really good time and am excited to dig deeper into the series and play them all!.
What made it so fun?
The game is very simple but it works very well and will provide you with a good time. There aren’t many power ups besides getting a partner that will shoot orbs , Longer range on your sword swing and the many men strider mode as I like to call it. This isn’t really much of an issue however as each powerup is fun although I wish you had more chances to use many men mode. Furthermore, traversing through each level is fun as the movement feels very open ended since you can latch onto anything and climb your way through segments of each level. In addition , fighting was consistently fun hearing that SHING sound effect never got boring once and is honestly such a classic sound. Having such a short playthrough time there really isn’t much else to talk about with Strider , it is simply a good time that I do recommend if you have yet to dabble into the series.
Some issues?
While I enjoyed my time with the game I do have a few complaints that aren’t game ruining but will hinder certain segments of the game. First off, while the movement can be very fun it can also be VERY awkward as there were times I could clip through the level , miss jump and jump in the direction I did not intend to. Furthermore, there are downhills slopes in which you run fast as you walk down it but this can be annoying since certain points of stages may have enemies at the bottom pretty much making you take a hit for no reason. In addition to this , the boss pool really wasn’t memorable; they were all pretty basic besides the final boss which had a few cool ideas.
In the end
I am glad I finally got around to this title and am very excited to play more titles in it ! It's a classic for a reason. I was surprised to see how well the arcade game holds up. It honestly still looks great even in this generation. Highly recommend giving this one a playthrough !
PS1 ver.
Important for future hack and slash and character action games but this didn't aged well. Controls are really stiff and everything feels really clunky. The sequel is leagues above this one.
Important for future hack and slash and character action games but this didn't aged well. Controls are really stiff and everything feels really clunky. The sequel is leagues above this one.
Strider controls like a sack of dogshit and I don't care who knows it. And if you want to tell me how clunky all the other games were back then, as if that’s supposed to make it okay, then you might want to make sure you’re sitting down before I tell you about a quaint little series called Super Mario Bros.
Picked up simply for the sake of completion since I was interested in playing the second title in the franchise: it just didn't stick with me too much.
The emphasis on acrobatic movements and the fast pace both work fairly well at adding some consistency in the gameplay, but the messy level design and confusing visual features make the experience quite unfulfilling, not completely turning the game unplayable, but certainly failing to create something truly memorable.
The emphasis on acrobatic movements and the fast pace both work fairly well at adding some consistency in the gameplay, but the messy level design and confusing visual features make the experience quite unfulfilling, not completely turning the game unplayable, but certainly failing to create something truly memorable.
This game is considered innovative for its time for having very "acrobatic" gameplay... at least, that's what the NSO description told me.
To be fair, I do like the acrobatic feel this game does give you, but... Jesus Christ, I really hate how you don't have much control over your jumps, and you essentially have to button-mash if you want to beat enemies quickly.
Lots and lots of enemies are thrown at you, and overall, it was difficult having fun with many of the stages.
Also, this game actually stutters sometimes, which is something I never thought I would see happen in an old game like this.
Regardless, I am glad I finally got to try this game out, but I don't see myself ever coming back to it.
To be fair, I do like the acrobatic feel this game does give you, but... Jesus Christ, I really hate how you don't have much control over your jumps, and you essentially have to button-mash if you want to beat enemies quickly.
Lots and lots of enemies are thrown at you, and overall, it was difficult having fun with many of the stages.
Also, this game actually stutters sometimes, which is something I never thought I would see happen in an old game like this.
Regardless, I am glad I finally got to try this game out, but I don't see myself ever coming back to it.
deliberate vs expressive movement, restrictive design to encourage thoughtful play vs free design to encourage unorthodox solutions; this dichotomy not only allows us to quickly convey the mechanical aims of a game but also is a fundamental litmus test for any gamer's preferences. this made strider a particularly interesting game to me on my first blind playthrough, as through the relatively painful gotcha moments and frequent shifts between setpieces it was undeniable that the game drew deeply from both sides of the spectrum of restriction with regards to its movement and handling. main character hiryu's moving jump arc is a graceful (if not captured well by the choppy animation) parabola befitting the fixed movement of something like castlevania, yet it interfaces with the rest of hiryu's kit elegantly thanks to its lack of endlag and gentle buffering. hiryu can leap backwards to cancel his ground slide, instantly flip off of poles and ledges that he grabs, and rotate mid-jump to slash foes behind him with minimal effort. learning the ins and outs of how all of these moves interact with each other takes effort thanks to both natural and unnatural restrictions set in place: the inability to jump out of a crouch given that the input makes hiryu slide makes sense, while some curved ceilings being traversable forward via climbing monkey-bars style while instantly making hiryu fall off if he goes backwards is less intuitive. however, practice learning these interactions can lead to extremely fluid platforming that skirts the need for precise routing.
becoming comfortable with the interactions of hiryu's toolkit was evidently on the mind of the developers as well. one of the simplest examples that showcases their understanding of the stiff horizontal jump is an early-game boss that reappears in the boss rush that uses a dome ceiling to ricochet lasers at hiryu. the goal, while simplistic, requires leaping over the lasers as they descend to land on the other side of the boss and continue attacking it. on the opposite end of the complexity spectrum is the jungle level's middle section, which presents a variety of routes through a set of trees laden with vines. here the player can navigate up in any way they desire: from running to the end of each section and wall-jumping up to higher branches, to using hiryu's high vertical jump to skip certain problematic platforms, to grabbing upon the sloping vines that can toss strider off if not treated with care.
in between these are a vast variety of setpieces that veer between demanding careful routing and allowing the player to devise their own unique approach. areas such as the upside-down portion of the fifth level provide choices between hectic series of moving spike towers riddled with enemies on the bottom or precise platforming challenges on the top, but the density of your options unfortunately chokes out hiryu's ability to move given his large sprite and hitbox. this section, among others, features a slope on which hiryu can gain momentum for a large jump, a tool that may as well be completely scripted and often is a pace-killer once the location of these sections is memorized. certain sections require nigh mandatory use of a powerup that increases the length of hiryu's sword, and while they consistently do drop said powerup in each area, the fact that the alternatives generally boil down to pixel-perfect attack positioning or damage boosting feels like a major oversight (the portion before the gorilla refight is a perfect example of this). however, otherwise uninteresting ideas turn into gold when they utilize hiryu's unique moveset. for example, the power grid area with electric arcs on a timed cycle could potentially result in tedious stop-and-go gameplay in a lesser game, but thanks to the intricate lattice of platforms available and strategic enemy placement, routing one's way through this section is engaging and potentially very speedy (if you don't want to grab the 1UP that is).
the weaker sections undoubtedly necessitate memorization, but I can stomach a 20 minute game with some heavy memo, which I think is what kept me afloat for a solid five runs of this one. it helps that while the bosses are undercooked, finding speedkill strats is simple, keeping them from dragging the experience down (especially important with a brief game with ~10 bosses total). I also enjoy the odd little shmup touches, such as swooping enemies with powerups such as options that orbit around you. having options in general is a bit of a game-breaker, and I really wish I had gotten the special animal version of it once. I may try the genesis version down the line, but the playstation port of the arcade original felt very well-polished: large options menu, autoslash and roll buttons, better collision handling, and supposedly a small speed bump.
becoming comfortable with the interactions of hiryu's toolkit was evidently on the mind of the developers as well. one of the simplest examples that showcases their understanding of the stiff horizontal jump is an early-game boss that reappears in the boss rush that uses a dome ceiling to ricochet lasers at hiryu. the goal, while simplistic, requires leaping over the lasers as they descend to land on the other side of the boss and continue attacking it. on the opposite end of the complexity spectrum is the jungle level's middle section, which presents a variety of routes through a set of trees laden with vines. here the player can navigate up in any way they desire: from running to the end of each section and wall-jumping up to higher branches, to using hiryu's high vertical jump to skip certain problematic platforms, to grabbing upon the sloping vines that can toss strider off if not treated with care.
in between these are a vast variety of setpieces that veer between demanding careful routing and allowing the player to devise their own unique approach. areas such as the upside-down portion of the fifth level provide choices between hectic series of moving spike towers riddled with enemies on the bottom or precise platforming challenges on the top, but the density of your options unfortunately chokes out hiryu's ability to move given his large sprite and hitbox. this section, among others, features a slope on which hiryu can gain momentum for a large jump, a tool that may as well be completely scripted and often is a pace-killer once the location of these sections is memorized. certain sections require nigh mandatory use of a powerup that increases the length of hiryu's sword, and while they consistently do drop said powerup in each area, the fact that the alternatives generally boil down to pixel-perfect attack positioning or damage boosting feels like a major oversight (the portion before the gorilla refight is a perfect example of this). however, otherwise uninteresting ideas turn into gold when they utilize hiryu's unique moveset. for example, the power grid area with electric arcs on a timed cycle could potentially result in tedious stop-and-go gameplay in a lesser game, but thanks to the intricate lattice of platforms available and strategic enemy placement, routing one's way through this section is engaging and potentially very speedy (if you don't want to grab the 1UP that is).
the weaker sections undoubtedly necessitate memorization, but I can stomach a 20 minute game with some heavy memo, which I think is what kept me afloat for a solid five runs of this one. it helps that while the bosses are undercooked, finding speedkill strats is simple, keeping them from dragging the experience down (especially important with a brief game with ~10 bosses total). I also enjoy the odd little shmup touches, such as swooping enemies with powerups such as options that orbit around you. having options in general is a bit of a game-breaker, and I really wish I had gotten the special animal version of it once. I may try the genesis version down the line, but the playstation port of the arcade original felt very well-polished: large options menu, autoslash and roll buttons, better collision handling, and supposedly a small speed bump.
This reminds me a lot of Shinobi 1987, in that the core movement is slick and, coupled with the dazzling setpieces and graphics, really sell you into the illusion of playing as a fast, precise action ninja star. Much like that game, however, the levels after the first and a half start to pour so much shit at you that it starts to feel apathetic. Some cool shit with the power plant, air fortress, and space station, but I can't really care about it all along with trying to tie my skill altogether since there's so much to keep track of. Doesn't help powerups seem to appear at random intervals...
Was initially confused as to the amount of low scores that cropped up in mid-2022, but after finally finishing it, I'm starting to get it, Arcade original (me) or otherwise (most of the others playing Genesis conversion). Gonna hope Kouichi Yotsui and Co.'s second outing with 1996's Osman improves on a lot of this, though there's all that weird business with Strider 2, Strider II, and Strider 2014.
Was initially confused as to the amount of low scores that cropped up in mid-2022, but after finally finishing it, I'm starting to get it, Arcade original (me) or otherwise (most of the others playing Genesis conversion). Gonna hope Kouichi Yotsui and Co.'s second outing with 1996's Osman improves on a lot of this, though there's all that weird business with Strider 2, Strider II, and Strider 2014.
I actually had Strider on the mind for a while to play, because for a bit it felt like this thing was constantly showing up in my friend activity feed, it only took me a few weeks to finally join the conga line like the slow brainless lemming that I am.
People who hate this game will probably breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I have zero nostalgia for this thing, because I think I may have put a grand total of ten minutes into it on the old Capcom Classics Collection compilations that were released on PS2 and PSP as opposed to the hundreds I put into Mercs or getting my ass kicked in Varth. So why did I barely play this game? Well let's find out. For the purposes of this review I played both the Genesis port and the poorly emulated CCC version on PS2.
Right away, the control feels like Capcom went "hey that Ninja Gaiden game is pretty neat, let's slap some shitty Belmont movement onto it. I'm sure it'll age very well down the road." No doubt said right after putting on their clown shoes, and honking their big red noses at each other like they normally do when they make poor decisions. The stage design reeks of "lmao got ya bitch" and "where am I supposed to go?" style Famicom awfulness, with many setpiece-style explosions just suddenly ragdolling you right after killing easy bosses or getting instantly shot at offscreen by some shithead with a chaingun. It's not helped by the fact that the hitboxes on the Genesis version felt absolutely abominable, many times it felt I got smacked by the blunt corner of a box around an enemy as opposed to somewhere on their visible person. I dunno if it was because I was more familiar with the stage design before moving onto the arcade version, but it just felt a bit better there as opposed to the genesis port. Not that it super helped my enjoyment, though it was nice not having those little "loading" freezes, or have the game chug like a shitty IBM computer all throughout the jungle stage with those fucking amazon ladies who never shut the hell up.
Don't get me wrong, I can understand why people loved this game. No doubt it was impressive for it's time and probably looked even more jaw-dropping playing it on the Genesis. The art design is all absolutely exquisite and very charming, I lost my shit when I witnessed the entire Soviet counsel congregate into each other to form a robot centipede wielding a hammer and sickle. That's stuff's great. The stupid digitized voice acting in the arcade version is fantastically hilarious, and that laugh during the game over screen probably traumatized at least a few kids. The line where Hiryu goes "you're sending a toy into battle?" in response to a giant battleship is also fairly fucking badass.
I also got entertained during gameplay by the visual of Hiryu just facetanking a fucking battleship's cannon, then later getting thrown off the side by malevolent floor-sliding things straight out of Flying Battery Zone. That stuff was mean to me the player, but I got entertainment out of it since I can laugh that shit off very easily. Probably helped when I was playing with infinite continues in the arcade version, imagine being the sick fuck who set the dip switches to "no continues".
As always, it's a touchy subject for everyone over whether an older game has aged fairly well or if it is, to put it incredibly nicely, "a product of it's time". For me Strider was a nice product of it's time, but I don't think I'm going back to it anytime soon.
People who hate this game will probably breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I have zero nostalgia for this thing, because I think I may have put a grand total of ten minutes into it on the old Capcom Classics Collection compilations that were released on PS2 and PSP as opposed to the hundreds I put into Mercs or getting my ass kicked in Varth. So why did I barely play this game? Well let's find out. For the purposes of this review I played both the Genesis port and the poorly emulated CCC version on PS2.
Right away, the control feels like Capcom went "hey that Ninja Gaiden game is pretty neat, let's slap some shitty Belmont movement onto it. I'm sure it'll age very well down the road." No doubt said right after putting on their clown shoes, and honking their big red noses at each other like they normally do when they make poor decisions. The stage design reeks of "lmao got ya bitch" and "where am I supposed to go?" style Famicom awfulness, with many setpiece-style explosions just suddenly ragdolling you right after killing easy bosses or getting instantly shot at offscreen by some shithead with a chaingun. It's not helped by the fact that the hitboxes on the Genesis version felt absolutely abominable, many times it felt I got smacked by the blunt corner of a box around an enemy as opposed to somewhere on their visible person. I dunno if it was because I was more familiar with the stage design before moving onto the arcade version, but it just felt a bit better there as opposed to the genesis port. Not that it super helped my enjoyment, though it was nice not having those little "loading" freezes, or have the game chug like a shitty IBM computer all throughout the jungle stage with those fucking amazon ladies who never shut the hell up.
Don't get me wrong, I can understand why people loved this game. No doubt it was impressive for it's time and probably looked even more jaw-dropping playing it on the Genesis. The art design is all absolutely exquisite and very charming, I lost my shit when I witnessed the entire Soviet counsel congregate into each other to form a robot centipede wielding a hammer and sickle. That's stuff's great. The stupid digitized voice acting in the arcade version is fantastically hilarious, and that laugh during the game over screen probably traumatized at least a few kids. The line where Hiryu goes "you're sending a toy into battle?" in response to a giant battleship is also fairly fucking badass.
I also got entertained during gameplay by the visual of Hiryu just facetanking a fucking battleship's cannon, then later getting thrown off the side by malevolent floor-sliding things straight out of Flying Battery Zone. That stuff was mean to me the player, but I got entertainment out of it since I can laugh that shit off very easily. Probably helped when I was playing with infinite continues in the arcade version, imagine being the sick fuck who set the dip switches to "no continues".
As always, it's a touchy subject for everyone over whether an older game has aged fairly well or if it is, to put it incredibly nicely, "a product of it's time". For me Strider was a nice product of it's time, but I don't think I'm going back to it anytime soon.
For something that came out in '89, this game is gorgeous. Your moveset is varied enough to feel fun, and well-animated enough to make you feel like a badass. These, combined with the nice variety of action set-pieces, make it very apparent why this game was an arcade favorite when it came out. The difficulty curve goes from 'manageable' to 'downright mean' to 'psychotic' in the half-hour-or-so runtime of the game, at some points requiring near pixel-perfect aiming and millisecond-perfect timing. It gets pretty obnoxious, but I guess it's par for the course for a port of an arcade quarter-muncher.
I could put up with that level of difficulty especially given the brevity of the game, but the game is often very poor in communicating what it is you're supposed to be doing. Some enemies flash when you hit them and others don't, turning some of the boss fights into weird guessing games. The game makes use of both horizontal and vertical space well, but doesn't always make it clear where you need to go; the worst offender is a large area full of platforms and enemies where you need to go to a specific platform and jump upwards to progress, with no visual indication that there's anything there. Then there are the bosses like the floating robot that you fight in a room where the gravity is turned off. The idea is great, the gravity effects are fantastic from a technical point of view... but I have no bloody idea what is going on. I float around and slash at the boss, and once in awhile I lose health without knowing what is even hitting me or how to prevent it. I've replayed that boss many times over and even watched videos, and I still have no idea what is causing me to lose health.
The poor communication exacerbates the unforgiving difficulty, and while I appreciate a lot about this game, I have to file it under the "good for its time" pile.
I could put up with that level of difficulty especially given the brevity of the game, but the game is often very poor in communicating what it is you're supposed to be doing. Some enemies flash when you hit them and others don't, turning some of the boss fights into weird guessing games. The game makes use of both horizontal and vertical space well, but doesn't always make it clear where you need to go; the worst offender is a large area full of platforms and enemies where you need to go to a specific platform and jump upwards to progress, with no visual indication that there's anything there. Then there are the bosses like the floating robot that you fight in a room where the gravity is turned off. The idea is great, the gravity effects are fantastic from a technical point of view... but I have no bloody idea what is going on. I float around and slash at the boss, and once in awhile I lose health without knowing what is even hitting me or how to prevent it. I've replayed that boss many times over and even watched videos, and I still have no idea what is causing me to lose health.
The poor communication exacerbates the unforgiving difficulty, and while I appreciate a lot about this game, I have to file it under the "good for its time" pile.
Probably great for fans of Battletoads and/or feces
I am trying to get the site achievement for five reviews in a day and can feel myself slipping into madness as I near the end. It really doesn't help that the last game I am reviewing today is Strider for the Sega Genesis. Not good, this game!
Hiryu's acrobatic leaps, twirls, and flourishing sword strikes might deceive you into thinking this is an elegant game to play, but Strider is one of the clunkiest pieces of junk I've played for the Genesis, and I beat Ecco god damnit! This is of course among other early Genesis titles, which I've lamented before on having a sort of cheap feeling to them. In Strider's case this is mostly relegated to game design as the sprite work is pretty good, easily the game's most stand out quality. There's still areas where the color pallet seems very washed out, almost pastel, which was a hallmark of this era of Genesis games, but the sprites are very richly detailed and nice to look at.
It is also very short, which is a blessing considering it ain't no fun to play. Your main impediment to a low clear time is how frustratingly difficult it can be at times, which is just as much a consequence of game design philosophy at the time as it is being poorly made.
You don't need to play Strider, and by all means you shouldn't, but if you do then perhaps give one of the other dozen ports a shot. I haven't messed around in any of them so I really couldn't tell you if Strider plays better on anything else, but at the very least I would suspect the arcade version would be preferential to the Genesis. You could also go outside and smash all your toes with a hammer. The cool thing is you're in control of your own destiny and can harm yourself however you wish. That's the most important thing Strider taught me, and now I pass that lesson on to you.
Hiryu's acrobatic leaps, twirls, and flourishing sword strikes might deceive you into thinking this is an elegant game to play, but Strider is one of the clunkiest pieces of junk I've played for the Genesis, and I beat Ecco god damnit! This is of course among other early Genesis titles, which I've lamented before on having a sort of cheap feeling to them. In Strider's case this is mostly relegated to game design as the sprite work is pretty good, easily the game's most stand out quality. There's still areas where the color pallet seems very washed out, almost pastel, which was a hallmark of this era of Genesis games, but the sprites are very richly detailed and nice to look at.
It is also very short, which is a blessing considering it ain't no fun to play. Your main impediment to a low clear time is how frustratingly difficult it can be at times, which is just as much a consequence of game design philosophy at the time as it is being poorly made.
You don't need to play Strider, and by all means you shouldn't, but if you do then perhaps give one of the other dozen ports a shot. I haven't messed around in any of them so I really couldn't tell you if Strider plays better on anything else, but at the very least I would suspect the arcade version would be preferential to the Genesis. You could also go outside and smash all your toes with a hammer. The cool thing is you're in control of your own destiny and can harm yourself however you wish. That's the most important thing Strider taught me, and now I pass that lesson on to you.
To everyone who hates this game all of a sudden, screw off! This is an innovative classic, and it's one of the most fun and exciting arcade titles that I've played. The controls take a while to get used to, but once you start to get them, you'll be having a blast. The attacks and jumps are extremely satisfying to pull off, and the vertical layouts of the levels here make it stand out quite a bit from its peers. Strider is also pretty challenging, but it's also not too frustrating like other arcade games from around that time. I've beaten this more times than I can count, and I still love it. I'll never understand the recent hate for a lot of these old Arcade classics. I mostly play the Genesis version, which is a fantastic port. Stay away from the PlayStation one. It's very lazily made.
Talvez a definição máxima do quão estúpido um jogo de arcade podia ser nessa época, além de escancaradamente confuso e desengonçado...
... Mas ao menos não dá pra dizer que não é maneiro hein...
Sabendo como as coisas funcionam até da pra desenrolar um tiquinho, mas eu com certeza não iria valorizar nenhum pouco esse jogo se não fosse a versão de PS1 que possui continues ilimitados e inúmeros checkpoints, diferente da versão de Arcade que nem sequer isso tem mesmo lá sendo por ficha...
... Mas ao menos não dá pra dizer que não é maneiro hein...
Sabendo como as coisas funcionam até da pra desenrolar um tiquinho, mas eu com certeza não iria valorizar nenhum pouco esse jogo se não fosse a versão de PS1 que possui continues ilimitados e inúmeros checkpoints, diferente da versão de Arcade que nem sequer isso tem mesmo lá sendo por ficha...
Russia Simulator
screaming at this user score. if you put this lower than four stars, you're going in the contraption.
I was pretty excited to start this game since it's status seems to be one of solid praise. The game itself is an absolute mess. Visual overload, chugging framerate, unfair difficulty spikes, unnatural movement and physics, horrid sound and music design... I managed to get to the final stage but it gets to the point of being so unbearably mean in its design with an absurd boss rush after a brutal platforming section. I can't think of anything I actually liked in this game, which is unfortunate given it's legacy. Is the Genesis version my problem? Researching, it seemed this was the one everyone refers back to. If not, this is probably another Battletoads situation for me where I simply can't get on board with the product offered. 1/6
Strider is really cool.
Opens with one of the best first levels I've ever played in any game. The levels aren't too long, or too short. They'll only feel long because of the games difficulty.
It will kick your ass, but you can very easily figure out how you screwed up. The only actual badly designed level would be the final one.
The gameplay is really fun for how simple and fast paced it is. Hiryu's animations make something as basic as jumping look like a spectacle.
Top that off with an epic OST and you have an excellent arcade game.
Opens with one of the best first levels I've ever played in any game. The levels aren't too long, or too short. They'll only feel long because of the games difficulty.
It will kick your ass, but you can very easily figure out how you screwed up. The only actual badly designed level would be the final one.
The gameplay is really fun for how simple and fast paced it is. Hiryu's animations make something as basic as jumping look like a spectacle.
Top that off with an epic OST and you have an excellent arcade game.
Terrible jumping psychics. Why was this game popular?
Strider is a cool looking action game—the sprites and backgrounds are excellent, and Strider's animations as he flips or attacks looks cool as hell. However he doesn't feel as agile as he looks—it can feel a little awkward handling him. The way you run through levels while things explode around you reminded me a bit of Gunstar Heroes, and the way Strider builds momentum when running down hills felt a lot like playing the first Sonic game. Like most arcade games the challenge here is a combination of skill based action and memorizing when and where enemies are, and where to go; the most frustrated I felt playing this game was at the end of one of the levels, where you have to jump on a floating ship in the right-hand corner of the map. It just isn't well communicated.
Really worth playing though, it's an interesting and novel arcade game, even if it doesn't completely work.
Really worth playing though, it's an interesting and novel arcade game, even if it doesn't completely work.
A day in the life of THE STRIDER!!!:
>Perform Olympic-level jumps on a whim because I’m just gonna assume his parents made him take gymnastics that long
>Be animated like you’re from a 1970’s anime
>Get thrown into a wall by the jock and shatter instantly
>Cry
>Perform Olympic-level jumps on a whim because I’m just gonna assume his parents made him take gymnastics that long
>Be animated like you’re from a 1970’s anime
>Get thrown into a wall by the jock and shatter instantly
>Cry