Strider 2: Future Ninja Godliness

[EmperorIng]

Stage 1 is so basic it seems like it would be foolish not to save it for last if you are trying to 1CC.

I probably should try 3-2-1 now that I could more or less confidently clear stage 2 without dying (doing 2-3-1) but I need to get a replacement PS2 before that starts happening.

[Skykid]

Stage 1 is so basic it seems like it would be foolish not to save it for last if you are trying to 1CC.

Yeah, you say that but playing stage 1 third is still brutal because of the rank up. Even fighting the very first boss has changed quite dramatically. I noticed the game is very clever about toughening up stages depending on order. Life ups go missing, new enemies are introduced, new attacks are introduced, resilience is up, etc etc.

I think you're right though, I just need to learn stage 3.

I have a feeling stages 4 and 5 are a standard difficulty no matter what, can anyone confirm?

[Skykid]

Yeah, if I can manage to make it to Herzog Schlange with more than one hit (the previous section is rough; especially that knight-fight with the grenadiers in the background), it's pretty easy to make him my bitch (ha).

The mammoth though has that problem of the homing balls and way more health than most other mid-bosses. It also feels like the midigare slash doesn't do as much damage to it. I don't want to think about getting past the gravity robot-thing in the next stage...

Stage 3 isn't too tough except that stupid Mammoth. You're right he seems way more resilient to the midigare and takes ages to kill. There's no way you can camp behind him like midbosses on stage's 1 & 2, as he either kicks his legs if you're at the back or his trunk/tusks if you're at the front. He's also super tough if you choose stage 3 as anything except your first choice (lotsa homing balls.)

My method is to stay at the back of the screen, approx two slides back, and maintain the distance. If you slide in too far, you lock the screen right in-front of him and there's very little room to breathe. It takes ages, but with two slides in you can clip him with your blade and have a lot more area to get away from the homing balls. Just need to watch out for which attack is coming, as the trunk swing can be tricky, as can falling debris. Haven't perfected him at all, but a strat is emerging.

[CIT]

Two questions:

What is your take on stage order? I generally play 3-2-1, as the Mammoth and Kraken seem unnecessarily tough if you take that stage second or third in the row. But maybe not playing the original order has an effect on score?

Do you get points for remaining boost items at the end of a stage?

[BIL]

Do you get points for remaining boost items at the end of a stage?

I believe they're (a bit confusingly) included in the "Item Bonus" subtotal.

[Skykid]

Two questions:

What is your take on stage order? I generally play 3-2-1, as the Mammoth and Kraken seem unnecessarily tough if you take that stage second or third in the row. But maybe not playing the original order has an effect on score?

Do you get points for remaining boost items at the end of a stage?

I'm playing 3, 2 , 1. The mammoth meth is simpler than I thought: just stay under him and slide left and right as necessary. Nearly always get by unscathed.

Honestly, the real shit of it is, I keep getting suckered on stage 1 when I play it last - driving me nuts.

[CIT]

OK, I can now get to stage 5 on one credit on a good run. However I generally get slaughtered in the second section, with the shifting gravity and those unmanned circular saw motorcycles.

Anyway, a couple of things I discovered:

- I think it makes more sense to play for speed than to get all the bonus items. A lot of sections are quite easy to zip through unscathed if you just ignore the items.

- Maybe this isn't new to people, but when you're hanging from a wall or ceiling, press dash and attack (→ → A) for an extra fast attack. Gives you about twice the power and speed of the regular rapid.

- By pressing ↓ ↑ A+B the midare-giri can also be activated without jumping. Very convient if you need a strong attack in a confined space!

[BIL]

- By pressing ↓ ↑ A+B the midare-giri can also be activated without jumping. Very convient if you need a strong attack in a confined space!

Cool, didn't know this! I should've tried it out... I love how the game uses Capcom fighter/beltscroller-style control buffering, so you can input the dash command before landing a jump or recovering from a sliding stop, and combine detaching from a ceiling with the first midare-giri input. Creates a sense of unbroken movement counterbalanced by the slight recovery penalties in jumping and dashing.

[Skykid]

- By pressing ↓ ↑ A+B the midare-giri can also be activated without jumping. Very convient if you need a strong attack in a confined space!

I didn't know that either, that's awesome. You're up to stage 5 already? Damn, racing ahead. I better get back on it, I've spent the last 2 weeks finishing various SFC games and playing Tatsujin Oh on the Marty. Need to catch up with you!

[Skykid]

Strategy sharing plz, want some tips.

CIT, what version are you playing, arcade or PSX? Can you tell me how many Boosts you start with and the max you can hold, and the same with life stocks?

On stage 2, how do you get that life max-up after you drop the robot thing down the hole? Every time I drop down for it, I can't jump out in time.

What order did you guys settle on, 3,2,1?

Solo's second form on stage 1 when played 3rd in the order can annoy me - he likes to park too high requiring jump attacks, which take ages and throw your timing off. Any tactics? I find the dragon boss straight after less random.

[CIT]

I'm playing the PS1 port. There you start each stage with 5 life points and 1 boost (life and boost doesn't carry over between stages). Not sure what the maximum is, but anyway there's only a few of these items you can find in each stage.

With the stage 2 life-up time your drop so that when you reach the item, the flame on the right is retracting, then jump while pressing right so you land on the platform below the flame. I think this is safer than trying to jump back up to the ceiling.

I'm playing 3-2-1, yes.

With Solo, position yourself directly beneath him and attack him with the midare-giri. When he launches those yellow things, slide out of their way, then get back under him. If he doesn't move to where you are, just be patient and he will eventually get close to you. There's no quick kill for him, so just take your time, play it safe, and use your window of opportunity for attacking him.

[Skykid]

Cool, set my board to 5 stocks with an option for one increase, and boosts 1 + 1 max. I think the default pcb setting is rather harsh.

I already tried your method for grabbing that max up, but I seem to get sucked down the hole no matter what, it's like the jump button stops working!

And I think you're right about solo mk.2, I'm way too hasty. Need to chill out and stop rushing it.

[CIT]

Cool, set my board to 5 stocks with an option for one increase, and boosts 1 + 1 max. I think the default pcb setting is rather harsh.

The most boosts I can find is in Stage 3, where I can get three in addition to the one you start with. So I think you can set the max to four.
I believe the most max-life-ups I can find in any stage is two (might be missing one somewhere).
I think the default difficulty setting on the PS port could also be lower?

I already tried your method for grabbing that max up, but I seem to get sucked down the hole no matter what, it's like the jump button stops working!

Maybe you're jumping to late? Figuratively speaking you'll want to collect the item "with the tip of your toes" before jumping right.

And I think you're right about solo mk.2, I'm way too hasty. Need to chill out and stop rushing it.

You'll be facing him again in Zero G in stage 5 and the same tactic applies there again. Only difference is you'll need to get rid of his gang of minions first, and your midare-giri execution needs to be quite precise, since you'll need the second jump to get back down on the floor and not get sucked up to the top of the shaft.


Some more questions:

Has anyone directly compared the arcade and PS versions? I'm wondering if the performance is better on the arcade hardware. Unfortunately, in scenes with a lot of sprites (incl. the rapid sword slash) the PS version can get some pretty intense slowdown and the missing frames mean that the game stops registering some inputs. For example, if you activate boost against the mammoth it can prevent you from being able to slide out of the way of his plasma shots, or jumping while rapid-slashing on the stage 2 boss will sometimes prevent the game from registering a double jump and you end up falling down one of the pits. I've adjusted my strategies accordingly, but sometimes I just wish the hardware had a little more oomph for the game.

Also, where is the full-life-restore item (飛竜) that is in the manual? I can't find it anywhere in the game.

[Skykid]

Cool, set my board to 5 stocks with an option for one increase, and boosts 1 + 1 max. I think the default pcb setting is rather harsh.

The most boosts I can find is in Stage 3, where I can get three in addition to the one you start with. So I think you can set the max to four.
I believe the most max-life-ups I can find in any stage is two (might be missing one somewhere).
I think the default difficulty setting on the PS port could also be lower?

Well I've combed stage three pretty thoroughly and there's only one max-up life, not three. In-fact, that's the same for all stages - 1 max-up and a handful of life-ups. So you're saying you've managed to have eight (5 + 3 max-ups) stocks altogether?!

Perhaps the default PCB difficulty is higher then, but I wouldn't know how to gauge it exactly.

How many max ups can you get on stages 1 and 2? I can try to adjust the boards difficulty settings until I find something that brings it in line with those bonuses.

Maybe you're jumping to late? Figuratively speaking you'll want to collect the item "with the tip of your toes" before jumping right.

Ah, I see what you're saying now. Yep, that should work.

Has anyone directly compared the arcade and PS versions? I'm wondering if the performance is better on the arcade hardware. Unfortunately, in scenes with a lot of sprites (incl. the rapid sword slash) the PS version can get some pretty intense slowdown and the missing frames mean that the game stops registering some inputs. For example, if you activate boost against the mammoth it can prevent you from being able to slide out of the way of his plasma shots, or jumping while rapid-slashing on the stage 2 boss will sometimes prevent the game from registering a double jump and you end up falling down one of the pits. I've adjusted my strategies accordingly, but sometimes I just wish the hardware had a little more oomph for the game.

The arcade version has only a second to load between areas, and although I've noticed some slowdown, it's mostly limited to using the boost. I've never noticed anything that's caused me to drop an input though.

[CIT]

Cool, set my board to 5 stocks with an option for one increase, and boosts 1 + 1 max. I think the default pcb setting is rather harsh.

The most boosts I can find is in Stage 3, where I can get three in addition to the one you start with. So I think you can set the max to four.
I believe the most max-life-ups I can find in any stage is two (might be missing one somewhere).
I think the default difficulty setting on the PS port could also be lower?

Well I've combed stage three pretty thoroughly and there's only one max-up life, not three. In-fact, that's the same for all stages - 1 max-up and a handful of life-ups. So you're saying you've managed to have eight (5 + 3 max-ups) stocks altogether?!

Perhaps the default PCB difficulty is higher then, but I wouldn't know how to gauge it exactly.

How many max ups can you get on stages 1 and 2? I can try to adjust the boards difficulty settings until I find something that brings it in line with those bonuses.

I was talking about boosts. There are three in stage 3 (at least if you take that stage first). One right after you make the leap after the chase down the slope, one above the scaffolding in front of the entrance to the lab, and one on top of one of the canisters in the first area where the gravity shifts.

About the life-ups. I think the most life I've had in a stage is 5+2. I'll have to check again, but I think you can only get +2 life in the stage you play first, and then +1 in the others.

The arcade version has only a second to load between areas, and although I've noticed some slowdown, it's mostly limited to using the boost. I've never noticed anything that's caused me to drop an input though.

OK, seems like the arcade is a bit smoother then (should be, at least on paper, as the ZN-2 is basically a Playstation with more RAM). The port definitely has sections that slow down even without using boost.

[Skykid]

I was talking about boosts. There are three in stage 3 (at least if you take that stage first). One right after you make the leap after the chase down the slope, one above the scaffolding in front of the entrance to the lab, and one on top of one of the canisters in the first area where the gravity shifts.

Apologies my mistake, I read directly on from the quote about life stocks and misread it. You say you can get two max ups on the first stage and one thereafter? I can't find two max-ups on any stage at all.

Regarding boosts, I don't need a maximum of four (and that's more than I thought you could hold, even on PSX!) - I'm used to getting by with a maximum of two.

Anyway, pointless to keep wondering this stuff when I posted the info on the last page (!)

PSX Defaults

Health Stock: 5
Max Health: 6
Game difficulty: 4
Bomb: 1
Max Bomb: 2

Arcade Defaults

Health Stock 3
Max Health: 3
Game Difficulty: 6
Bomb: 2
Max Bomb: 2

OK, seems like the arcade is a bit smoother then (should be, at least on paper, as the ZN-2 is basically a Playstation with more RAM). The port definitely has sections that slow down even without using boost.

Should be the case, especially considering it loads new sections much faster. I'm a fussy so and so, and I can't easily go back to the PSX one because those extra few seconds really grate now! I'd definitely suggest grabbing a board if you enjoy the game.

[CIT]

Went back and checked the game. Actually, no, the PS defaults are:

Health Stock: 5
Max Health: <— there is no cap on health, but the most I could find in a stage are two Max+1's
Game difficulty: 4
Bomb: 1
Max Bomb: <— there is no cap on boosts but the most I could find in a stage are three

I already described how to get three extra boosts in Stage 3, but it's also possible to get two Max+1's. First one is on top of one of the tubes in the first reverse-gravity room. The second one you can get if you slay the walrus researcher.
You can also get two Max+1's in Stage 5. First one is in one of the containers that are in the middle of stage in the section after the fight against Solo. Second one is in the second area at the bottom right just before you ascend the long shaft.

Couldn't find more than one Max+1 in stages 1, 2 and 4, although I generally zip through them rather quickly, so its possible I missed something.

Anyway, if you want to put yourself on an equal footing with the PS1 players you should put difficulty to 4 and Max Life to 7 and Max Bombs to 4.

[Mortificator]

^ I see those settings are true of both the US and Japanese versions of the PS1 port.

Like trap15 said earlier, the dumped arcade boards have different defaults in each region:

Japan
Difficulty: 4
Start vital: 5
Max vital: 8
Start boost: 1
Max boost: 5

US
Difficulty: 5
Start vital: 5
Max vital: 8
Start boost: 1
Max boost: 5

Asia
Difficulty: 8
Start vital: 4
Max vital: 8
Start boost: 1
Max boost: 5

It's weird that the PS1 port matches the dumped board and not Skykid's, but I can't argue with the actual hardware. Maybe there's an emulation mistake, or more than one Japanese revision?

[Skykid]

That's weird. I wonder if someone changed the defaults in the dumped rom? I definitely think 3 health stocks are a more common default for this type of game... but it's tough.

I'll make a note of my revision tomorrow and someone can cross reference it with the dump.

@CIT: On my board the only max-up on stg3 is on the canister - I get two regular life-ups from each researcher, the white wolf and the walrus (you do fight two researchers on the PSX version right? You only mentioned the walrus.)

[CIT]

Yeah, you fight both. The wolf yields a Life+1 and the walrus a Max+1. What about on Stage 5? Do you get both Max+1's there?

It's very strange that your PCB has default settings that are not documented anywhere. You've already reverted everything to the factory settings in the configuration menu right?

The official manual details the default settings for each version:
http://www.gamesdbase.com/Media/SYSTEM/ ... Capcom.pdf

[CIT]

So, I finally managed to eek out the 1CC today. But alas, only a short three stage game, as I was actually practicing stage 5 and that's the quickest way to get there.
Will go for a full 5 stage run now to get a respectable score. Awesome game, btw.

[Skykid]

Nice work indeed! You've done the hardest bit, the rest should be easy.

[CIT]

Turned out to be a little tougher than expected, but anyway, I finally nailed the 1CC with all five stages.

Got the star rank in stages 1 and 3, messed up a bit in 2 and only got a B there. Finished stages 4 and 5 with rank A, so managed to get an S rank for the clear.

For some reason stage 2 is the hardest (apart from the final stage) for me. I've never managed a star rank there.

This game is really addictive, but I think I've had enough of it for now. Here's my score:

[Mortificator]

Awesome job!

When I have the time, I definitely want to get into this game.

[BIL]

Very cool. Nice to see this game getting some involved play.

[CIT]

When I have the time, I definitely want to get into this game.

This is actually the perfect game for people with little time. A complete run will last under 25 minutes, and the selectable stages make it easy to practice in small, concentrated bouts without the tedium of having to repeatedly play through stages you already learned.

[Skykid]

CIT how sure are we that the pcb default difficulty may be lower than the PSX? I dropped it by one today and used all your other settings for life max ups etc and got straight to stage 4 no real trouble.

Not a problem to play this way unless I find out I've cleared it on a mode that's easier than psx default, in which case I'll be pissed.

[jepjepjep]

I recently picked up a Japan region pcb and it defaults to these same settings:

Japan
Difficulty: 4
Start vital: 5
Max vital: 8
Start boost: 1
Max boost: 5

[Skykid]

I recently picked up a Japan region pcb and it defaults to these same settings:

Japan
Difficulty: 4
Start vital: 5
Max vital: 8
Start boost: 1
Max boost: 5

Wow, well I have a JPN region PCB and it defaults to these:

Difficulty: 6
Start vital: 3
Max vital: 3
start boost: 2
Max boost: 2

No wonder it's kicking my ass.

[CIT]

CIT how sure are we that the pcb default difficulty may be lower than the PSX? I dropped it by one today and used all your other settings for life max ups etc and got straight to stage 4 no real trouble.

Not a problem to play this way unless I find out I've cleared it on a mode that's easier than psx default, in which case I'll be pissed.

You obviously own some mystery PCB with an undumped revision, so we can't really help. Why don't you use the settings of the Japan version that Mortificator posted, and then play it in MAME to compare? If the same items appear in the same spots and you're getting the same number of enemies then the difficulty will likely be the same.