Top 50 Video Games: Number 45

#45: Strider
System: Arcade
Publisher: Capcom
Released: 1988
Players: 1


Strider's boss battles were fun and creative. You had to beat this one by hitting him while riding on his back.


Strider left it's mark on me not only because it was a solid game, but becuase it was the first game I remember being impressed by in an artistic sense. Strider sounded and looked awesome, almost to the point of being a little distracting.

Strider is a side-scrolling action game, typical of the late eighties. I'm not really sure what his purpose was. Strider Hiryu was a guy in a cool blue jumpsuit, and he had this sword that he apparently swung so fast that it was a blur. It kinda looked like a big yellowish boomerang. There was a bad guy in a black cloak that laughed in an evil manner as the game began. At the end of the game, Strider handed that guy's ass to him. He was probably trying to take over the world with robotic gorillas or something.

The graphics were very good at the time, better than anything I'd seen and the soundtrack was beautiful. The music often suited the situation on the screen, and it would trigger at the perfect time. For example, I remember on the second stage there is a point where you are at the top of a mountain, and as you begin to run down, this dramatic music began playing. Lands mines were exploding as you ran past them, and when the cliff of the mountain was reached, there was a very long jump to be made. The music climaxed at the precise moment of the long jump - very dramatic stuff.


The aforementioned dramatic Running Down the Mountain scene.


Strider is not a long game, I think there were somthing like 5 levels. The levels were fairly long and quite varied. The game starts out in a Russian city, and from there moves to mountains, the jungle, and a battle on an airship. The game is still fun today, even though it's obviously no longer a visual feast. The game had a Sega Genesis port, a NES sequel, a Playstation port and a Playstation sequel.