The Master's Prison Ship

The Master's Prison Ship
Cutscene artwork
Vital Statistics
AKA	Prison Ship The Master's Lair
Location	The planet's orbit
Sub-Boss(es)	Inferno, Milsoma, Podulous, Alien Mother, Anti-Gravity Device
Boss(es)	Terrorist Leader Grandmaster Meio, Lexia
Stage progression
Previous stage	The Rooftops The Alien Depths MD

The Master's Prison Ship, also known as the Prison Ship or The Master's Lair, is the fifth and final stage in Strider II and all its ports.

Story

The Prison Ship is the Alien Terrorist's secret lair, found orbiting around Planet Magenta. A massive space fortress, the place includes a three-floor cell block separated by elevators and a large open area with an Anti-Gravity Device. The Magentan leader is found captive inside this ship under watch of the Terrorist Leader.

In the story of the latter ports, the Prison Ship serves the same purpose, with the added detail that no one who has infiltrated it has ever came out alive. As the Alien Terrorists are no longer part of the plot, however, the enemy force is described as The Master's slave warriors, indicating they are kept prisoners in this ship until Meio needs them.

Layout

The Prison Ship in the Amiga version

The stage begins at the entrance to the Prison Ship. The first two floors have yellow walls and feature hexagonal doors and large windows into the space outside, and must be traveled downwards by riding slow elevators in-between them. Following a corridor and a large elevator down, the player reaches the cell blocks area of the ship, with gray walls and large stone doors marked by numbers from 20 to 45. In this 3-floor area there are items in the floors below, but to continue one can simply move right on the first floor to find a hole leading into the Anti-Gravity Device chamber. After destroying it there are two more corridors and long elevators and a final stretch ending in the final boss room. Upon defeating him, touching the female leader will end the stage and the game.

The Mega Drive port retains the same imagery and backgrounds as the original, and makes minor alterations to its layout. The most notable change is the addition of several previous bosses spread across the stage: the first area has Hinjo fight against Inferno before entering the ship proper, and the Alien Mother, Podulous and Milsoma stand as rematches at later points. The Power Generators from Stage 2 are added on the lower floors as well. The final boss is Grandmaster Meio in a harder version of the boss fight from Stage 2, and Lexia becomes the final obstacle to beat the level, as the player has to destroy the platform she's chained on without injuring her to beat the game.

The Master System port remains mostly the same in terms of layout, except by the addition of several more Power Generators at various areas. The stage's palette now includes a lot more green, and the final boss is the Alien Terrorist sporting an unique sprite exclusive of this port. The Game Gear port adds another obstacle in the form of laser barriers that can only be disabled by striking an electric orb (the same one thrown by Meio in the Mega Drive boss battles) into them.

Stage Enemies

Enemies present since the home computer originals include:

• Mutant Soldier
• Automated Sentry ^{AM, AT, C64, MD}
• Missiles ^{HCO, MS}
• Mecho Bird ^HCO
• Mid-boss: Anti-Gravity Device, Laser wall panel ^C64
• Boss: Terrorist Leader

Enemies introduced in the ports include:

• Robopost
• Spinner
• Homing Missile Mechanoid ^{MS, GG}
• Wall Crawler ^GG
• Mid-boss: Inferno, Alien Mother, Podulous, Milsoma^MD, Anti-Gravity Device
• Boss: Terrorist Leader ^MS, The Master ^{MD. GG}