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A Crossover Combination!

So I loved Capcom's VS series of games, owning PS1 ports of X-men VS Street Fighter and Marvel VS Street Fighter despite their limitations. I always wanted a Japanese Sega Saturn to enjoy them at home the way they were meant to be played. Lucky for me, my local Tilt arcade kept up to date with the VS series so if I ever needed a proper hit it only took a trip to the mall. One day the large cabinet in the front had it's game swapped to a brand new VS title, Marvel VS Capcom and when I saw my boy Strider hanging out along the likes of Ryu & Mega Man, I was floored. He even had a stage background and his theme was perfect. I was no good at the VS games, still ain't, but back then I would try to make Mega Man & Strider work. It was my dream team. His new design was also really cool with the long scarf, I hope they make a game with that.

A Proper Sequel?

So there was a time that MAME didn't handle everything. Especially more advanced 3D hardware like Capcom's ZN-1 and ZN-2 which were based on the Sony Playstation. I was a fan of some of Capcom's 3d output such as Rival Schools or Arika's Street Fighter EX series so it was fun to discover an emulator (ZiNc) that covered those. It allowed me to discover games like Tech Romancer, Star Galdiator, and oh look, a Strider 2. Yes, somehow Strider 2's existence completely passed me by and it was only through this emulator that I would learn that Capcom had made a proper sequel to my beloved Strider. At least that's what I thought.

Strider 2 continues Strider 1's tradition of grand set pieces, many many boss fights, dazzling locals, and fast fluid action. The world was rendered in 3D but Hiryu and many of his adversaries were nicely drawn 2d sprites. The game features many callbacks to Strider 1, including returning bosses such as Solo, Tong Poo, Gravitron, and of course Grand Master Meio. A new rival strider has been introduced, which is a nice nod to the original manga having a whole organization of Striders.

I always have a blast playing Strider 2. It has a certain wild kinetic energy that permeates it. I haven't learned a 1CC for it yet or have tried but I won't rule one out. As a game I love it but as a Strider sequel, there was always something that felt missing. Still it was great to know a real sequel had been made and that I could (and would) own a copy of it for my Playstation. It even comes with a weird sounding port of Strider 1 (funny enough the discs are swapped, with the Strider 1 disc having Strider 2 on it).

The Real Sequel Revealed!

So it was sometime after playing Strider 2 on the ZiNc emulator for the first time that I got around to researching the series. That was when I learned about the NES game and manga that was co-produced alongside the arcade original, it was where I learned what Strider Returns really was, and it was where I learned of the man named Kouichi Yotsui. Originally a background artist under Tokuro Fujiwara, Yotsui would illustrate the backgrounds to The Speed Rumbler, Bionic Commando, and Ghouls 'n Ghosts. He would then be given the reigns on the arcade branch of the Strider project.

Kouichi Yotsui (listed in the credits as Isuke) would be arcade Strider's main designer and game planner. He considered his team's game as the "most important" of the 3 Strider projects and he would push his team long hours. Even with that, the game ate up budget and fell behind. Because of this, Yotsui would believe that his Strider under performed and would leave Capcom for Takeru, where he would design an adventure game for the X68K called Nostalgia 1907.

Sadly this title flopped, hurting Takeru immensely and Yotsui would part ways to go back to the arcade by joining up with Mitchell Corp. A company made up of former Capcom and TAD Corp devs most famous for the Pang/Buster Bros series. With Mitchell, Yotsui's first game as designer would be a fighting game known as The Karate Tournament in 92. It was until 96 that Kouichi Yotsui would go back to the arcade sidescroller with the release of Osman. Osman or Cannon Dancer as it's known worldwide, is Yotsui's spiritual successor to Strider and let me tell you something. It is amazing.

Osman is an incredible thrill ride the whole way through. Taking place in a cyberpunk Arabian setting, you play as Kirin, a mercenary hired by the Federation and Jack Layzon to reclaim one of his cities that had fallen to a cult named "Slaver". When Kirin infiltrates the city and the cult's temple, Jack appears to take over the city, double crosses Kirin, and leaves him for dead in the desert. Kirin survives the desert and storms Federation's capital in order to get revenge. Along the way, the cult's goddess "Slaver" wishes to help Kirin on his path of bloody revenge in order to enlist him to her side, only for that to fail when she cannot contain Kirin's bloodlust and rage.

This game might be the ultimate arcade action platformer. You have Strider's movement, such as sliding and climbing, the sword has been replaced with Kirin's kicks, however Kirin is also able to toss enemies around like ragdolls and create after images of himself to cause more damage. Gigantic bosses, cool set pieces, a final stage that acts as a boss gauntlet, it's amazing. 2 years ago I decided to learn the 1CC for it, which you can watch above. Fantastic and wonderful game, please give it a play. It's also on the Switch but the pricing for that is kind of nuts.

US Devs Take On Strider

So we've seen Japan and the UK both work on Strider titles. How bout the US? In 2014, US studio Double Helix Games, fresh off of Season 1 of Killer Instinct, would be given the reigns. Capcom at this time was out sourcing quite a few of their series to western developers, such as the year prior's Lost Planet 3. It was the strategy of, then Global Head of Production, Keiji Inafune who held beliefs that the Japanese games industry was "... at least five years behind" the rest of the world. It would seem that Double Helix pitched to Capcom a number of classic series reprisals but Strider was the only one to get green lit.

So here we have the last of the Strider series, 2014's Strider which came out right at the beginning of the PS4/XBone gen and tail end of the PS3/360 gen. Story wise, Strider (2014) is kind of like a retelling of the original Strider, though taking place entirely in the sprawling metropolis of Kazakh City. Gameplay wise however, 2014 is more like a re-envisioning of the NES Strider in that it's now a proper metroidvania. Hiryu gains access to new moves and weapons which allow him to backtrack and explore more of certain areas.

The devs seem like they were pretty big Strider fans, throwing callbacks to previous games all over the place. We have obvious returning bosses like Solo, the Tong Poo sisters, Mecha-Pon, Ouroboros, etc. Hiryu also has some Marvel VS Capcom flair with his launcher and Option-A attack resembling his MvC Ouroboros super. Even the re-fight with Solo labels him "Solo ZN-2" with ZN-2 being the arcade hardware Strider 2 was developed for.

The game itself is alright. Hiryu moves quite smoothly and he can now aim his cypher all around him. His combat and movement tools are quite fun, especially his little air dash he gets later on. Exploration is kinda just ok. There's health and energy upgrades but lots of times you go exploring only for the reward to be concept art or a stage for the survival mode. Boss fights are the highlight I would say, even though you can melt some of them incredibly fast (but isn't that the most Strider thing?). Perhaps it's cause I'm not the biggest metroidvania fan but I still thought this game was just ok. Props to Double Helix though unfortunately they would be absorbed into Amazon Games and never heard from again.

The Future?

So that's it for Strider. He still remains one of Capcom's most popular and iconic characters to date, appearing in crossovers like Namco x Capcom and Project X Zone 2. Street Fighter V character Zeku, in his young form, resembles Hiryu and in his old form has moves reminiscent of Hiryu's cypher gram. Zeku has also implied that he was creating a new organization which could be the Strider organization though nothing is concrete of that.

Kouichi Yotsui attempted to create another spiritual sequel to Strider in 2011 with a 4 player co-op action platformer called Moon Diver. I haven't played that but I would like to check it out sometime. Yotsui, despite being best known for action platformers like Strider and Osman, is a big fan of puzzle design. In 2000 he designed bomb defusing puzzler Suzuki Bakuhatsu and he has contributed puzzle designs to Zero Time Dilemma, the 3rd in the Zero Escape series.

In the world of AAA Capcom whose focus is primarily on Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, and Resident Evil, I'm not sure we'll be seeing our friend Hiryu for quite some time. Still, the games that bear his name are still some of my favorite games of all time and I won't be forgetting them any time soon. So I'll always have them to keep me company. I wrote way too much about Strider but thanks for reading.

Bonus Sunday Vibin' feat PC Engine CD Strider, C64, Master System, & More

Part 1 Can Be Found Here:

Growing up, we would take a 2 day road trip down the Atlantic Coast to Florida to visit family and do theme park things. Along the way we'd stop for a night at some roadside tourist attraction/motel which had a large arcade. Stuff like Captain America and the Avengers, Terminator 2, TMNT but also some older cabs. Among the Robocop and Double Dragon was Capcom's Strider. This game amazed me at the time. Cool guy with a sword, weird futuristic world, and large cool sprites. The action was so cool, the bosses so big, the music so rad.

My life with Strider

Funny enough I already had this game at home on the Genesis, but seeing the cab in action always forced me to put my hard earned credits in only to get destroyed. I love the game and through playing it during the road trips as well as grinding it at home, I'd manage to get further and further. The art of the 1cc (1 credit clear) wasn't something I knew at the time, so I just fed credits in but third moon would always stop me from clearing. It wouldn't be till later in my life thanks to emulation and Capcom's PS2 arcade collections that I'd get to see the end of the game, thanks to unlimited credits. However, thanks to the youtube age of digital video, I learned about 1CCs. I would redownload MAME and Strider would become my first 1CC.

This isn't that 1CC. This was just a random recording I did after streaming and getting the Elevator Action Returns 1CC for the first time. I had some extra time and I wanted to get it on record. Strider for me is one of the most iconic and influential games to me. My first 1CC of an arcade game. A game I thought was impossible to clear like how I thought all arcade games were. It really changed the way I looked at arcade games and gaming as a whole. Now a days I have a couple of 1ccs under my belt but Strider will always be my first and will always be attached to my childhood.

The Other Home Game

So I grew up with Strider at the arcade and on the Genesis. I actually never knew that there was a Strider game on the NES that was made alongside the arcade original. It wasn't till browsing the internet that I would learn of Strider NES however everyone always seemed really dismissive of it. It wasn't like the arcade game, it was glitchy and a mess. Somehow I talked myself out of ever really playing it until a few years ago where for a charity stream I thought I'd learn the Strider NES speedrun that anyone can do. It was actually only this year that I decided I'd play through the whole thing, the way it was meant to be played and you know what, I loved it.

Strider NES is loosely based on the Strider manga from circle Moto Kikaku. See, Strider was actually a joint effort between Capcom and Moto Kikaku for a large cross media project. An arcade game, famicom game, and manga would all be produced. Well that was the plan. See, Strider for the Famicom actually never came out in Japan, but it did get released in the US for the NES. Strider NES is a more story driven affair and is very much a prototypical metroidvania in that you have access to a few levels but progress is blocked by needing required items and keys. While it is a glitchy mess of a game, I found it very straight forward and enjoyable. Please give it a go, especially if you like the early days of search action.

The False Sequel

So when I was younger, I like a lot of you discovered emulation. Suddenly the entire library of the NES, SNES, Genesis, etc was available for me to play. So imagine my surprise when I go to boot up Strider only to see another game bearing its name right next to it. Strider Returns: Journey from Darkness. I had to play it. A sequel to my beloved Strider. I was in for one of the biggest disappointments in my life. The movement felt bad, it was super choppy, the level was boring, and too many random enemy spawns made it feel extra cheap. It was only later in life that I would learn how this came to be, why it exists, and who the culprits of this crime were.

Despite growing up with a C64, I knew nothing of the European video game scene. It turns out that their scene was primarily made up of microcomputers such as the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, & Amiga. European developers were hard at work porting arcade super hits to these machines, with Strider being handled by US Gold (a British publisher despite the name) and Tiertex.This duo previously handled the big Capcom hit Street Fighter for these systems and because of their popularity, attempted to develop their own sequel only for Capcom to say no. This resulted in the game Human Killing Machine. Well the same thing ended up happening with Strider only that Capcom didn't say no.

US Gold and Tiertex would make their own Strider sequel, Strider II, for these microcomputers. You play as Hiryu's descendant Hinjo, who not only has the cypher sword, but also a gun. Oh and he transforms into a robot for the boss fights. Oddly enough, this duo would go on to port this Strider II to Genesis/Mega Drive as Strider Returns and would be given the Genesis sprites from Strider 1 to use. Solo would replace the first boss, Grandmaster Meio would be the ultimate villain, and Strider turning into a robot would be replaced with orbs. This year I finally decided to conquer the Genesis one and while it gave me a few laughs, the game is very much a mess.

See Part 2 About Proper Strider Sequels

Bonus