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Strider (Mega Drive)

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Strider
ストライダー飛竜
MegaDrive
Japanese Cover Art
Information
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Release Dates: Mega Drive/Genesis
22px-Flag of Japan.svg September 29, 1990
22px-Flag of the United States.svg September 1, 1990[1]
Flag of Europe.svg 1991
Virtual Console
22px-Flag of Japan.svg November 15, 2011[2]
22px-Flag of the United States.svg February 16, 2012[3]
Flag of Europe.svg March 15, 2012

Strider (Strider Hiryû in Japan) for the Mega Drive (Genesis in the U.S.) is a port of the original coin-op game onto Sega's 16-bit system. This conversion is the most well-known port of the coin-op as well as one of its most faithful recreations, in part thanks to the Mega Drive's hardware being very similar to Capcom's CPS-1 board.

Upon release, the game was considered an earlier Killer App for the system, being well received by reviewers and getting recognition from magazines of the time including ACE's ACE Rated seal given to games of outstanding quality[4], Computer and Video Games' "C+VG Hit!" seal[5] and EGM's "Best Graphics" and "Game of the Year 1990" prizes.[6]

This version also saw a re-release for download through Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console in late 2011/early 2012. It was first released in Japan for 600 Wii Points, and later followed in America and Europe for 800 Wii Points.

StoryEdit

The story itself bears no actual change from the arcade and all cutscenes remain identical. However, the game's manual reveals a few extra details: Grandmaster Meio made his sudden appearance in the year 2042 and took control of the world in only 5 years[7]. Gathering all the science and technology from the Earth, he constructed his orbital satellite The Third Moon, which he decided would be his seat of power[8]. Just when the world is approaching its own destruction, the Striders were called forth and assigned Hiryu the mission of eliminating Meio[8]. Several of the backstory details from the manual were transcribed from the original art pieces created for the Arcade game, as shown in the Strider Hiryu Visual Chronicle artbook.[9]

The English localization of the manual expands certain bits of the backstory even more and includes some terms which are exclusive to it (for example, "Falchion", the name of Hiryu's Cypher; and "Moralos Island", the Striders' home base), though it changes other parts, most notably substituting 1998 for 2048.

DevelopmentEdit

Strider md 6mega

An earlier promo, stating it as having 6 Mega memory

Strider was first revealed in Japan around April/May 1990, and was later featured during the Las Vegas' Winter CES convention held in June[10][11]. Initially reported as being a 6 Mega game[11], at some point during development it was upgraded into a 8 Mega game. This made Strider the first released game on a 8 Mega cartridge, a fact used to market it in both printed ads[12] and commercials[13] as the "First and Only 8-Meg Game Ever".

The game was designed in-house by Sega themselves, which is reflected on a second 1990 copyright mark on its title screen claiming it is a "reprogrammed game" by Sega. Handling ports of third-party games for their own consoles was a common practice of Sega during the early 90's, and the "reprogrammed" label can be seen in games such as SNK's Art of Fighting or Capcom's Forgotten Worlds and Ghouls 'n Ghosts. This is also shared by the Master System port of Strider, even though the port was actually programmed by Tiertex.

CreditsEdit

Position In-Game Full Name
CHIEF PROGRAMMER
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
YAMA1 Keiichi Yamamoto (山本敬一, Yamamoto Keichi)
ASSISTANT PROGRAMMER
MIZORAN Mizoguchi Matsuhide
CHIEF DESIGNER
GRAPHIC COORDINATOR
TARO .S:) Tarō Shizuoka (静岡太郎, Shizuoka Tarō)
DESIGNER
SAYSHI Atsushi Seimiya (清宮敦嗣, Seimiya Atsushi)
MT.MAYA
SOUND PROGRAMMER
XOR
TOTAL COORDINATOR
PAL-KO❤
SPECIAL THANKS TO
MOMONGA MOMO Hiroshi Momota (百田浩司, Momota Hiroshi)
LITTLE SUN
LARIE
THUNDER
PANPAKAPANN
FILLY
THE HI MASTER
CAPCOM ARCADE STAFF

Differences from the ArcadeEdit

This port is mostly faithful to the arcade original in replicating its graphics, sound and gameplay. Hiryu's whole arsenal of weapons and items remain intact, the controls are as responsive as the original, the stages are complete, and all enemies are present. Any differences are minor, such as some missing animation frames and the overall graphical quality being slightly lower and more pixelated.

Arcade - Genesis. Native Resolutions

Arcade - Genesis. Native resolutions

CPS-1 native resolution: 384 by 224. Viewable gameplay area: 384 by 224.


Genesis native resoluton: 320 by 224. Viewable gameplay area: 320 by 200. (Vertical viewable gameplay area is limited by the opaque HUD.)

Image3

Arcade - Genesis. 4:3 aspect ratios


As displayed on an arcade monitor or  home television using a 4:3 aspect ratio resolution.








List of ChangesEdit

  • A Continue system replaces the coin-op mechanic. Hiryu has a finite number of "Continues" that, upon reaching zero, leads to a Game Over and back to the title screen. The Japanese version, however, does not normally feature a continue system unless a secret button combination is used to access it.
  • Slower gameplay and progression, including noticeable slowdown and pauses.
  • Fewer onscreen enemies.
  • Alternate dynamic difficulty behavior.
  • Fewer difficulty levels.
  • Lower game difficulty.
  • Some objects and enemies have different score and HP allocations.
  • Modified enemy, object, and checkpoint placement in some areas.
  • The first boss fight against Solo cannot be avoided, as the stage doesn't scroll ahead until he's defeated. Similarly, Strobaya's boss battle is also unavoidable.
  • Cypher extension pickup does not persist across stages and its reach is longer than in the arcade version.
  • Hidden item boxes are dispersed across each stage, including both point and health increases, as well as an extra life.

  • Altered collision detection has also been implemented for the redrawn foreground tiles and sprites, affecting gameplay.
  • Lower native display resolution.
  • Contains exactly half of the tile graphics resolution of the arcade version in the foreground layer.
  • Fewer background scrolling layers.
  • Altered game boundary scrolling limits.
  • The stage layout and appearance has been modified in several areas.
  • The combination of a smaller gameplay viewing area coupled with an increase in sprite pop-up contribute towards a lower response time to player reaction time ratio, increasing the likelihood of perceived 'cheap deaths' by being hit by so-called 'invisible bullets', etc.
  • Slightly modified sprite movement and collision behavior.

  • A redesigned opaque HUD has been added.
  • All stage intro texts (showing the stage's name in different languages) have been removed save for the first stage ("Казахская CCP", or Kazakh SSR written in Russian), probably due to space constraints.
  • All the game's graphics including sprites have been redrawn, subtlety changing their appearance.
  • The sprite for the Amazoness enemies have been edited, removing the originals nudity and the leaf that was used to partially obscure said nudity.
  • Different text fonts are used during cutscenes.
  • Fewer frames of animation in the foreground, backgrounds and sprites.
  • Missing foreground and background tiles and objects.
  • Fewer colors.
  • The Invincibility powerup's after-image effect is absent; Hiryu only becomes transparent while using it.
  • The Wii Virtual Console version of the port replaces the original's iconic onion domed buildings from Stage 1 with generic futuristic-looking domed towers.

  • Fewer in-game sound effects.
  • Lower instrument quality for music and sound effects.
  • Omission of the multilingual voice clips played during cutscenes.
  • Both the digitized speech and text localization for "All sons of old gods, die!!" are exclusively absent from the Genesis version of the port.

  • Reprogrammed game by Sega.
  • An Option menu allowing the player to select a difficulty level (Easy, Medium and Hard), number of lives, and a Sound Test option containing the entire soundtrack and sound effects.
  • An all-new ending replaces the original. Instead of Hiryu landing on a whale, he's shown escaping the destruction of The Third Moon on his glider while the credits roll.
  • The word "Lord", used in the translation of the Arcade game when speaking of Grandmaster Meio, was changed to "Master" in the English version of this port.
  • Removal of the highscore initial-input and highscore screens.
  • Alternate default game attract sequences.
  • Single player only.
  • Unregistered trademark symbol on game title.

External LinksEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. ↑ US TX0003229607, Sega Enterprises, Ltd., "Strider.", issued 5 Feb 1992
  2. ↑ Famitsu (November 11, 2011). Virtual Console "Strider Hiryû" Confirmed Release Date & Latest Video Exhibit (Japanese). Retrieved 18 Nov 2011.
  3. ↑ Capcom Unity (February 16, 2012) Wii Virtual Console Update: Strider (English).
  4. ↑ Haynes, Rik (January 1991). "Console Screentest: Strider". ACE: Advanced Computer Entertainment (40). Pg. 103
  5. ↑ Leadbetter, Richard (December 1990). "Review: Strider". Computer & Video Games (109). Pg. 70
  6. ↑ "The 1991 Video Game Buyer's Guide". Electronic Gaming Monthly, issue 15. October 1990.
  7. ↑ Sega (September 29, 1990; Mega Drive). Strider Hiryû (Japanese). Instruction manual, Pg. 27
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Sega (September 29, 1990; Mega Drive). Strider Hiryû (Japanese). Instruction manual, Pg. 4
  9. ↑ Capcom (February 22, 2014). Strider Hiryu Visual Chronicle (Japanese). Pg. 07
  10. ↑ Staff (July 1990). "International Outlook". Electronic Gaming Monthly (12), pg. 22.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Staff (August 1990). "Strider - Sega". Electronic Gaming Monthly (13). Pg. 88.
  12. ↑ Strider Advertisements. Guardiana.net. Retrieved 09 Jan 2013
  13. ↑ Genesis Does What Nintendon't Commercial
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