Research Staffs

“

Thanks to these two research staffs, the Grandmaster was capable of confronting Hiryu with an array of artistic robots.

”

(「この２つの開発スタッフのおかげで、グランドマスターは数々の芸術的メカを飛竜に立ち向かわせることができたのである。」)

—"How were the artistic robots opposing Hiryu created?", Gamest #81

Research Staffs or Development Staffs (開発スタッフ) refers to two minor groups featured in the backstory of the original Strider.

Overview

The Mosqueman Research Staff with their 2nd machine, the Flying Mosqueman. Art by Gamest.

Within the territory of the Kazakh Federation, there exists a world-renowned Development Academy, house of several research teams known for their sklls in robotics and engineering. And within the academy, there exists two specific research teams known as the Mosqueman Research Staff (モスクマン開発スタッフ) and the Rascal Research Staff (ラスカル開発スタッフ), which have always been in keen competition against each other.

After Grandmaster Meio took over control of the Kazakh Federation, and under his supervision, these research staffs were ordered to develop the many enemy machines that conform his personal army. Most of their creations became the enemies Hiryu would eventually face in his mission.

Story

Mosqueman

The Mosqueman and Rascal robots

The first machine developed by the eponymous staff, the Mosqueman was developed by request of General Mikiel and the Kazakh's ruling party.

At some point during the war, the Kazakh council realized the oval-shaped pointed domes and rooftops of the mosques, which made up a majority of the buildings in St. Petersburg, the capital city of Kazakh, would make defending them properly a very difficult task. So they ordered the Mosqueman Research Staff to start development of a machine capable of moving and protecting these large rooftops.

The staff presented a prototype of the Mosqueman to the ruling party, an octopus-shaped robot whose four legs are capable of adapting to the irregular shapes of the rooftops and easily move through them. The machine, however, did not meet the council's "aesthetic sense", which coupled with the staff exceeding its development schedule of 2 and a half months resulted in the ire of the ruling council and the staff being sent to Siberia to work hard labor as punishment.

Rascal

The Rascal was a defense sentry developed by the eponymous staff to serve the same purpose as the Mosqueman, to protect the capital city of Kazakh.

Unlike the Mosqueman, the Rascal was developed as a high-performance defense robot with a shape similar to a human being. Developed over the course of 12 years, its designer proclaimed that, since there's no weapon like it in any other place around the world, Rascal was to be considered "the final ultimate weapon".

This derailment of the Rascal's development, however, did not impress Meio and it'd later lead to him favoring the Mosqueman staff on a major project.

Flying Mosqueman

Flying Mosqueman

The 2nd machine developed by the Mosqueman Research Staff, a direct successor to the ground-based Mosqueman.

During their time serving in Siberia, the members of the staff went over the Mosqueman design and realized developing a robot with walking legs for the purpose of defending the city's rooftops was an absurb idea. The staff then developed a new model of Mosqueman, reducing its weight and size considerably and removing weaponry, and then installing very light, transparent metal wings so it could fly instead of walk.

The machine was christened "Flying Mosqueman" and was adapted for use at various locations. Certain versions, however, can be seen carrying Hiryu's Item Boxes around. As the development staff harbors a deep resentment against their superiors over having been sent to Siberia, this was apparently their way of getting revenge.

Anti-Gravity Device

Anti-Gravity Device

Following the development of the Rascal, and due to his worries over the staff's handling of said development, Grandmaster Meio decided to call back the Mosqueman Research Staff from Siberia to work on a special project. He demanded the staff to develop a device capable of controling gravity. Such a wonderful and innovative machine would require the skill and brainpower of all staff members in order to be completed.

Working diligently the staff completed the Anti-Gravity Device in record time, but the Grandmaster himself forgot about their work in spite of having issued the order personally, and only discovered it was finished after he passed by the research room one day by chance. Grandmaster Meio was extremely pleased with the finished machine, and ordered it to be installed in the Flying Battleship Balrog to serve as its power core and allow it to fly.

Feeling themselves realized after the success of the Anti-Gravity Device, the research group requested the Grandmaster for a well-earned vacation. Furious at their self-conceit, however, Meio instead banished them all back to Siberia.

Mecha Pon

The 4th machine developed by the Mosqueman Research Staff, Mecha Pon is a gorilla-type robot capable of imitating a real gorilla's movement through its oil hydraulics.

Forced back to Siberia, the research staff started studying oil-based hydraulic functions, and as a result of this research developed Mecha Pon as a large-scale experimental robot. Although they learned to use Mecha Pon's hydraulic pumps to enable more realistic and subtle animal expressions, it was not suitable for use in combat. It was left stored in the mountain-side complex, behind a shutter door, where Hiryu eventually finds and destroys it.

Trivia

• Isuke's written backstory for his 3rd action game Moon Diver features a weapon's manufacturer known as Siberian Arsenal, and the group has several references to the Mosqueman Research Staff and its backstory:
  • Siberian Arsenal was founded by a group of researchers who were banished to Siberia after incurring in the rage of their superior, a "man whose name must never be spoken". This parallels the Mosqueman Research Staff's story when they were banished to Siberia after angering Grandmaster Meio (whose subordinates are forbidden to speak his name) with a request for vacations, possibly implying they are the founders.
  • A prominent scientist in Siberian Arsenal, Dr. Kraznyj (a character who originally debuted in another one of Isuke's game, Suzuki Explosion), is stated to be a renowned robot maker, with two such machines he helped develop being "a medium-size robot able to freely walk across the irregular-shaped cathedrals" and "a giant robot gorilla using a hydraulics system which operated like an animal", the same descriptions used for the Mosqueman and Mecha Pon robots.
  • Dr. Kraznyj has also worked on a "gravity control unit" which he claims was lost after the "fall of the capital on the third moon", clear allusions to the Anti-Gravity Device and the events of the final stage in Strider, where the device appears as a boss enemy.
  • The description for the "Reflect Laser" enemy states it shares some similarities with the design of a "previous reflect device", likely referring to Novo as both share a similar concept.