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.

Cleared on May 13th, 2024 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 68/160)

Boy, I sure love it when programmers create movesets for characters only for their level design to actively work against it. This game will actively punish you for even the tiniest mistakes which requires ninja-like precision to avoid. In theory, this should be fitting since you are an acrobatic with the ability to leap around, powerslide, and repeatedly strike your foes by tapping the attack button. The problem is that these movements are so clunky that actually putting them to use is really difficult. I've had cases where I've grabbed onto ledges I didn't mean to grab or had no idea was even there, I've dealt with numerous uneven terrain, the enemy placement is bullshit and there are sometimes too many enemies on the screen. And in case you're wondering, the bosses are just as bad with the worst of them being the anti-gravity ball and the rematch with that mechanical dinosaur and yes, you have a boss rush in this game, and the final boss is actually lame as hell.

Top it all off with screen flickering at points in the game, camera too zoomed in, slow down at points, and a mediocre soundtrack, and you have something really unfun and just mentally trying. If you're looking for something acrobatic, you're better off playing Shinobi III (which I recently updated my review on after replaying the game). You might even have better luck with the 2014 Strider game.

I actually had Strider Returns among the games to go through for the Sega Genesis Challenge, but knowing how bad it supposedly is, and playing through Strider 1989, I think I'll save that game for a bonus Sega Genesis challenge I'm thinking about doing called the "Bottom of the Barrel".

a little rough around the edges for sure, if i was a kid and saw it on a lan house, i'd probably still go play CS 1.6 on the computers instead.
movement feels a little off with the jumping and the way you can only attack in horizontal even if some situations really demand another type of attack, else you get bonked, i have no idea how people managed to beat the last boss with limited coins. props to those who did, i am a basic emulator infinite coin B¨%$¨, what can i do, its just how i rather play these old arcades.

that being said, i know i sound negative with this review but i am actually VERY VERY glad this game and many other capcom old arcade games are so well preserved, a capcom collection that often goes on sale, has so many games in a single exec, no input delay emulation, arcade customization, rewind, coin limiting, unlockables and roms of games that never came to the west, i am a big fan of game preservation and emulation, but i am so glad capcom did the sega collection thing and made it available for people to purchase these old games and in such a quality state, i know some N companies who should learn from that.
hell you can even bind your mouse which i love to see, more games should let you bind mouse like this, its such a little thing that just makes me happy.
overall while i might not be the biggest fan of this game, it just makes me happy to see a old game that other people enjoy so easily available and in such good quality too for purchase, i LONG for more companies to do that, while i am a emulation fan, i am willing to pay for products like this, what i wouldn't give for more of these.

I've always had a strange fascination with this game.

The weird mix of red scare era communist imagery, the bizarre space wizard dictator laughing at you right at the beginning, the frankly undecipherable overabundance of robot animals and dinosaurs and cavewomen in a futuristic setting.

It feels very much like a melting pot of random aesthetics and imagery tailor made to catch a kid's eyes in the arcade, and by god did it work on me.

It is not an easy game, but it mostly manages to stay on the side of fairness. You at least have a health bar that can be upgraded with powerups so you can take a reasonable amount of hits before it's time to pop in another quarter. Other powerups are also massively helpful offensively, if you can keep them.

It generally seems like a lot of effort has gone into this game at the time, getting hit provokes elaborate reactions, with Strider Hiryu recoiling and rolling on the ground, your movement animations are plentiful and adapt to the steepness of the incline you're moving on, or clinging onto.
There are momentum mechanics that let you gather speed for big, cinematic jumps, long before a certain blue hedgehog made its debut.
There are altered gravity sections, bosses that constitute their very own gravitational pole, it's all extremely inventive for the time.

But these days, these days I still remember Strider for a different reason.

There is something I find very thematically appropriate about the gameplay of Strider.
The futuristic ninja protagonist is armed with the cypher blade, a sleek, razor sharp, disciplined weapon, only a slash rending metal in half in a glorious burst of energy no longer than a couple of frames.

It is the cypher I obsess over so much. Hiryu swings the thing with the greatest of ease, faster than any human would ever be able to catch, but in this also comes a lot of the challenge of the game.

Do you have what it takes to be like Hiryu? Can you swing your cypher as fast and precisely as a real ninja would?
Playing this game with a controller and using your thumb does not do it justice, you will inevitably be limited by your dexterity.
The cypher demands speed. It demands your index finger, maybe even the middle finger to piano that attack button.

The only limit is your humanity.

Tear those gravity orbs and steel gorillas and dinosaurs to shreds, lest they do the same to you.

So, get those fingertips primed and ready, and enjoy the absolute powertrip that this game lets you live out.

So long as you don't fall up into the sky in that darn final stage.

Strider on Mega Drive is a faithful adaptation of the Capcom arcade hit, down to the level of difficulty and short duration.

It’s a side scroller with futuristic Russian stylings, Strider himself is very aerobatic, climbs on walls, ceilings and even has a laser sword!

The conversion was handled by Sega and Strider definitely feels like an early showcase title for the Mega Drive - like Altered Beast and Golden Axe. The sprites are big and expressive and some bosses easily take up major sections of the screen.

Expect hardship, I used save states and some rewind on Switch since a single hit from projectiles is enough to take down Strider and with finite continues it’s even more difficult to complete legitimately. Controls can be wonky and titles with tighter controls are still a little ways off, there’s slowdown and the last stage is a brutal boss gauntlet. For a 1990 Mega Drive game, it’s accurate to the experience.

very jank and hard to control but surprisingly addicting for some reason, probably as you slowly master the controls of hiryu. When I first played this I was like hell naw hiryu controls like ass but the more I played the more I realized that the level design is actually pretty well balanced around hiryus stiff movement and jumps. Soon enough I was actually having a really good time! give it a try and see if u have the same experience i guess but I wouldn't blame you if the controls are just too much these days