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...

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 !

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.

I have a bit of history of hearing about this particular Capcom series as I've caught a few glimpses of the title and the character itself, whether it's through re-releases via smaller arcade machines or in compilations, or character appearances like Marvel vs. Capcom. I first picked up Strider 2014 for my PS4 and was fascinated by its gameplay, but never got far into it, and I wanted to experience the 1989 arcade release. After wasting money by purchasing the game individually from Capcom Arcade Stadium, I delved into the whole game, and my thoughts on it... eh.

First things first, I love the setpieces and cinematic flair that was implemented in the game, and probably for 1989 standards, it looked impressive visually. Strider himself looks impressive too as I love his acrobatic nature when he jumps and flips in the air, swinging his plasma sword toward enemies, but controlling Strider himself is a different story. It's not terrible, but Strider feels stiff to control as some of the enemies are a chore to hit without dying several times to finally strike them down, including the bosses in the second half, and don't even get me started on the final boss. The stages themselves are ok albeit kind of cheap in areas like the crusher in the Air Fortress stage where you think you'll reach the top with no problem until a drone comes to ruin your day, and the majority of the final level as examples. At least the checkpoints are lenient so you can continue where you left off. When I beat the game, I never felt a sort of satisfaction when clearing the levels I'd overcome, more of a sign that I was done with the game entirely.

Strider might've been impressive for the time but it has its issues, and while I'm not a big fan of the game, I can see why others have a soft spot for this one.

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

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.