The first strider game was a fun albeit hard to initially grasp arcade game with really cool ideas and a sizable learning curve both with play control and level memorization. This game basically takes the good parts of strider 1 and "modernizes" them to shine brighter than they did previously. They cracked up the movement speed and gave the game much more fluid controls, which makes it easy to get in a nice flow state of goin fast and kickin ass through the levels. The game constantly references iconic moments in the first game like the gravity changing chambers with the sphere bosses, the bouncy laser chambers, and the multi-segmented dragon bosses, all in new ways that keep the game fresh while still making it feel like strider. The visuals are also super rad, with stylish cutscenes and that kino late-90s capcom pixel art powering the character sprites. My only real gripe with the game is the fact that the PS1 port gives infinite continues which makes it incredibly easy to credit spam and trivialize the entire game in like 20 minutes. There's a rating system that will let you know you suck for doing that, and you can obviously stick to the 1CC code of honor should you choose, but idk I feel like doing what a lot of other arcade console ports do and giving a limited credit pool that builds up over repeated game overs would have done better to potentially get goop-brained gamers like me to engage with the levels and mechanics more. It's definitely one of those games where you have to really be self-motivated to master it if you want, because the game doesn't really offer much incentive and motivation to get cracked at it itself. Regardless, if the rigidity of the original strider game was a bit much for ya, just play this instead.

Was pleasantly surprised when visiting this classic to learn this is an arcade port, since the later venture into metroidvania territory didn't sit so well with me, yet home console arcade gaming also comes with its own set of problems. Arcades weren't really that much of a thing in the place i live in, so i never grew accustomed to its coin-munching difficulty, so when an experience like this gets released on something like the Playstation it inevitably leads to an abuse of infinite continues to the point it trivializes the difficulty, while leaving a sour taste in the mouth when the low scores get plastered onto the menu screen. I get that these ports are a way to preserve these games outside of limited arcade cabinets and relive those older days, yet in my case there are no nostalgic arcade days to relive.

Yet, even with my modern sensibilities turned on, there's some sweet fun to be had here. There's a sort of purity in arcade game design that i'm actually really behind; the swiftness of Hiryu's slashes and his vast mobility feels immediately satisfying, whether you're playing for the 1st time or the 100th, an aspect surely important in a genre where most people wouldn't pay to see through to the end. Playing the Metal Slug series on console has a similar feeling, the gorgeous art style and catchy gameplay win me over rather quick, but taking that experience out of its natural habitat leaves some things lost in translation, to the point the experience, great as it is, becomes rather shallow.

Speaking of art style, there's really no denying the aesthetics in display here. Possibly one of the finest looking games on the PS1, it does its blend of 2D sprites and 3D environments to near perfection, lending a sense of scale to the amazing levels and enemies while enhancing the movement possibilities, masterfully playing around with gravity and space. The comic book style cutscenes are the cherry on top, making those great character designs pop out even more, even if i can't really follow the story.

It's very worthwhile to beat at least once, or even multiple times if you want to 'git gud' and get some juicy higher scores.

If you just want to finish this game, you can just rush towards the end without a care in the world, since you have unlimited continues, and just respawn on the spot. The rating system will tell you that you suck though.

This rating system is what makes this game brutal, if you decide that you want to A-rank or, God forbid, Star-rank it, which requires doing it very fast, getting as many points as possible, and not getting hit once.

Super appealing art style too. Very easy game to pick-up-and-play, and it's cool that it's as hard as you want it to be - you can change the strength of Strider's blade to a ridiculous level, just by changing a simple in-game option. Plus, when you finish the game, you unlock Strider Hien, who's incredibly satisfying to use.

The emphasis of Strider 2 is all on the movement. They intentionally truncate and limit your offensive options to melee only, with 1 power-up temporarily granting you some ranged damage, but offer you dozens of ways of avoiding damage and closing distance through double-jumping, sliding, trajectory changes, and wall grappling. The movement is fluid and satisfying. The game is on the easier side you just credit-feed you're way through it like a precocious 8 year old arcade-goer with a pocket full of daddy's money, but like most arcade games, the difficulty of Strider 2 is to be judged by it's 1CC, which is no simple feat.

The presentation is great. I love the 2D pixel art against low-poly 3D backgrounds, an art style that time forgot but that lives on in my heart whenever I play Strider 2 or Dolphin Blue. The music is serviceable, and there are no real salient flaws of the presentation here. The environments are excellent, and even in spite of it's simplistic gameplay, the environments work to incorporate both aesthetic and gameplay variety, with wind resistance and zero-gravity situations both awkwardly thrust upon you.

But there are some flaws: I still feel that weapon variety is too low, that most of the game is still too easy, that the music is nothing special, and that it's overall a little too simplistic. My modernized combat sensibilities cry out for block and parry options. But most everything that is actually in the game is done with excellence.

A rather bizarre game, honestly! I think the difficulty is what throws me off, as there's basically two ways to play: For score, which for the absolutely maximum rank requires the player to not die once while getting a ridiculous number of points, or for speed / pure completion in which case you have INFINITE continues (you only get one life, so every death is a continue) that also does not refill health and gives you back your kinda broken Boost ability at the same time. This means it teeters between something more challenging or something very easy. While I know a lot of people think they're archaic, a lives system feels like it may have been beneficial for a more smooth difficulty curve, or at least being a little bit more demanding with the checkpointing. Note that while you need to never die for the highest rank, you CAN still get high ranks by only dying a few times, so it isn't some totally hit-or-miss thing here.

Leaving all that aside for a moment, I enjoyed this game much more than the original Strider. Hiryu feels smooth to control here (for the most part), and in particular the addition of juuuust a little bit of aerial drift on his jumps makes it a lot smoother to run through and makes you feel more like the futuristic ninja you're supposed to be rather than the lost cosplaying Belmont brother. While the cool options are (sadly) gone, Hiryu gets some secret moves like a backwards flip or a bunch of spinny slashes that add a little dynamicism to the gameplay. I will admit I didn't find THAT much use for them, mostly because Strider just cutting up enemies is so strong, but they have potential and the fact the multi-slashes give you more points encourages you to not just spam the slash button in score runs. Wall jumping and climbing feels niiice in this game, with the only exception being going around corners on a D-Pad sometimes being finicky. I did also have trouble getting the dash out a few times, but I suspect that is more of a Me issue. But with how buttery smooth his jumps and dashes are, it feels gooooood to just slice through hordes of enemies, jumping wildly and doin' some wall climbin' fun.

What's up with the fact enemies seem to just...mostly lack collision damage, though? There's multiple bosses where running into them and spamming the attack button led to easy wins, sometimes dodging their attack patterns, and it felt really weird. The game's entire difficulty curve is mostly low, outside of the end I'd say most stages are pretty easy, but then spiking pretty hard in only a few sections or bosses. Most didn't feel too challenging (I was shocked how easy Meio was!), but there was definitely some that kicked my ass. The game's difficulty only really starts to ramp up in the last level or two, with the final levels feeling particularly harsh (and swapping the game's usual dichotomy of easier stages but harder bosses).

Frankly, my favorite part of the game was probably the vibes and the art. The game for the most part looks goooood, an excellent PS1 spritework combined with some beautiful anime cutscene art. Seriously, look at these! and, uh, ignore the screenshotting making them look kinda worse fsr. Even when the game isn't being mechanically dense, the vibes and control make it a Fun experience. I do think the length is a major downside, being defeatable in under an hour pretty easily and with the end result being that it DOES feel a bit shallow. The game doesn't really expand on its concepts a lot in that runtime and it even ends up re-using some elements within that timeframe in a bit of a lazy way. It also felt disappointing how often the right option felt like just moving right and mashing the attack button, the Scientists miniboss in particular felt actively harder when I was trying to dodge them rather than just spamming. Also while I am going to bet Auto Fire makes the game easier, I think I should have used it because by god does it hurt your thumb to mash attack the way you should in this! They put it in the game, so I'll take advantage of it.

Honestly, I might go for a second playthrough with Hien later since it was short and enjoyable. Totally recommend trying it out of you want some fast-paced, low commitment 2D ninja action in your life!