Tiger Electronics' Strider is a LCD handheld electronic game, one of several similar games developed by the company during the early 90's. The game is loosely based on the NES version Strider, borrowing concepts, locations and enemies from it. It also follows the same basic premise (the manual even directly copying the NES game's prologue) with Hiryu facing the corrupt Striders and Enterprise in order to stop the evil brainwashing weapon created by the ZAIN Project. However, practically all the important figures of the plot such as Faceas Clay, Matic or the Yggdrasil, are entirely missing from the game.
Gameplay[]
Overview[]
As a much simpler game than its inspiration, the main objective is to control Hiryu through linear stages, destroying all enemies in order to advance into the next stage. The first three stages are finished once a hidden File is found in each. These files need to be used in order to access the final three stages, by selecting them and pressing the attack button. The background is always the same, depicting what appears to be a blue corridor with large windows showing a set of mountains in the distance. Due to this, each stage location is marked with a particular sprite shown on-screen:
| Stage | Information |
|---|---|
 Stage 1-3 |
Location not referenced. Its icon is a set of three mountains appearing on the top-left side of the screen. |
 Stage 4 |
Set in Kazakh. Its icon is some sort of stone ruins made up of three pillars and a roof, with a mountanous background. It appears on the middle-right side of the screen. |
 Stage 5 |
Set in Egypt. Its icon are two pyramids appearing on the middle-right side of the screen, above the location of the Kazakh icon. |
 Stage 6 |
Set in an original location not featured in the NES game, "Castle". Its icon takes the form of a medieval castle in front of a crescent moon, appearing on the middle-left side of the screen. |
The lower half of the screen contains the score tally, Life Energy and Attack Energy. The first one is Hiryu's health gauge, while the attack energy is a special gauge required to use the "Spark" trick. Both can be refilled with life and attack energy capsules dropped off by defeated enemies.
Controls[]
Hiryu has a very limited array of movements, being only capable of running forward, turning around to attack enemies behind him or, by pressing up, jumping and standing on the ceiling, an useful tactic to avoid incoming bullets. In terms of offense, Hiryu counts with two different weapons: his Sword and the Spark, which can be freely switched by pressing Select.
The Sword is Hiryu's default weapon, it has a short reach but requires no attack energy to use. It can also deflect projectiles back at enemies if timed correctly. The Spark, on the other hand, uses up 1/3 of the energy gauge and can't be used if there's no energy left. Once activated, an electric ball starts spinning around Hiryu, serving as a defense as well as killing enemies by contact. By pressing the attack button one can extend the ball's spinning orbit to reach almost full screen.
Interestingly, the Spark seems to be closer in function to the Arcade game's Dipodal Saucer than the NES game's Trick of the same name.
Enemies[]
All enemies give out 10 points after defeat, while bosses give out 50 points.
- Stage Enemies:
- Kodiak (Axe+Gun)
- Giant Robot
- Robot Frong
- Machine Cannon - First appears in Stage 2.
- Sky Wing - First appears in Stage 3.
- Bosses:
- Flash Blade - Boss of Stage 4 and 6.
- Badger - Boss of Stage 5 and 6.
Gallery[]
References[]
- Tiger Electronics (Handheld, 1990). Strider Instruction Manual. Retrieved from Hasbro.com.