Strider 2 is great. Definitely realises the original's "ninja stuntman" concept. The jumping, climbing, dashing and sliding is in another league, and the setpieces are even grander (entire Balrog sequence is stunning... as the singlehanded invasion and destruction of a monster airship should be). Excellent sidescroller to play for score too (gotta be fast, agile and kill like crazy for high ranks).
Isuke wrote:The graphic staff and planners will sometimes conspire against the planner and put something in without his knowledge. For Strider, someone put a panda in the battleship's cannon room without my knowing.
Always wondered about that panda. Funny that it made it into the MD port too. Thanks for this, GP!
Ganelon wrote:My comment was a jab on the fact that I don't recall an instance where a creator left, someone else took over the product, and the creator has been full of praise of the product that the new guy was pumping out.
Both things can be true at the same time. I know that Strider 2 is also my favorite of the games (though CD is pretty sweet) but I don't know, even with this interview, exactly what he was trying to accomplish. It sounds a bit more like he wanted a Final Fight-esque cast of memorable characters as nearly equal to the gameplay, for instance.
Yeah, I wonder if having interesting random characters trumps the cool "leaping forever like a ninja can" aspect for him. Strider Hiryu 2 does focus less on interesting random characters than Cannon Dancer but there are more varieties of enemies around as tradeoff. I bet Isuke is/would be a big fan of Bare Knuckle III where there's a huge plethora of random but memorable characters out of nowhere.
I like Strider Hiryuu 2 but I don't have as much ijnvestment with it as I do the first. I guess I like the original Strider Hiryuu the best out of them all. I mean... fuck... they spoke all those crazy ass languages and everyone understood each other!
RegalSin wrote:New PowerPuff Girls. They all have evil pornstart eyelashes.
It's weird how games like Bionic Commando and now Green Barret get these Western remakes but not Strider, so far. Anyway, if they do end up doing this, just don't give it to Backbone.
GaijinPunch wrote:I like Strider Hiryuu 2 but I don't have as much ijnvestment with it as I do the first. I guess I like the original Strider Hiryuu the best out of them all. I mean... fuck... they spoke all those crazy ass languages and everyone understood each other!
I'm the same, I bought Strider Hiryuu 2 last year but haven't really gotten into it. I haven't played the first one enough either for that matter, and that was an expensive PCB. I've never left Eurasia alive.
A Strider sequel to make you cry? Go play Strider Returns.
ugh... no that makes me gag
I played through Strider Returns: Journey from Darkness once to see how bad it was. It's very bland with some unnecessarily cheap design (that damn lightning maze!) and the BGM/SFX are below par for a 16-bit game. Strider moves slowly in JFD, as if he's slogging through mud. Never again, especially when there's CD and Strider 2.
Hopefully the real Strider 2 will get a proper Japanese sequel. Capcom should hire Mitchell before even thinking of Backbone - Commando 3 and 1942 Joint Strike aren't SRJFD bad, but still not all I had hoped for.
Ganelon wrote:Yeah, I wonder if having interesting random characters trumps the cool "leaping forever like a ninja can" aspect for him.
GaijinPunch wrote:I like Strider Hiryuu 2 but I don't have as much ijnvestment with it [...] fuck... they spoke all those crazy ass languages and everyone understood each other!
There you go.
Honestly, fluid movement and gameplay is my first preferred goal, and I always kind of felt Strider 2 does the ninja-ery thing better. But the scenario can be interesting too (we have whole genres of games that are basically just scenario and little else...jRPGs and the Resident Evil games, older ones, for instance).
I have to go with the 1st one also.... I own all three games and multiple ports of Strider 1. But the 1st game blew me away the 1st time I played it in the arcade. I had owned and played the NES version but it was no big deal to me.... not bad but nothing outstanding. I remeber reading a letter in EGM that a reader was complaining about the NES version after playing the arcade version.
My mom dragged me to Wal-Mart with her, it was a little bit of a drive b/c this was the 1st Wal-Mart to open in our area (I'm 33 now and was in 6th grade then). I walked into the lobby and saw it there... I had 5 bucks and blew it all on the game. I was amazed by it.... it was the I can go anywhere jumping crazyness and the visuals that blew me away. It was really bitter-sweet b/c the port was out on the NES. I had a genesis and I hoped for a port but that was when nintendo had that strict policy over 3rd party developers.
I remember opening EGM and being estatic when I saw one pic in the letter section and it being confirmed to come out on the genesis. It got game of the year in EGM and that same issue had a huge 2 page advertisement for "NCS" and had strider listed along with other imports. That was my 1st import game ever and turned into a massive snowball effect within my circle of friends.
I liked strider 2 and still do but when I came to this forum and discovered Cannon Dancer I was floored.... I could not believe there was another spiritual strider game made by the same guy. That game was what made me get into PCBs. It was also one of the toughest ones for me to snag... It was luck. But I adore it.
Long story short I am with GP, I like Strider 1 most but there is alot of attachments other than gameplay that draw me to that title. But having said that, the game blew me away with it's visuals, audio, and crazy all over the place gameplay....... it was one of the 1st games that had something I couldn't put into words in 6th grade.... it was atmosphere.
Damn Tim, you know there are quite a few Americans out there who still lives in tents due to this shitty economy, and you're dropping loads on a single game which only last 20 min. Do you think it's fair? How much did you spend this time?
GaijinPunch wrote:I know this is totally expected but I find the sprite-only direction ages far better than the polygon mish-mash.
Whiner sprite elitist.
Can't tell if you are joking or not. Strider 2 (PSX) is ... not an attractive game. I am guessing you are joking.
Of course I was joking! Strider 2 should have been made either with completely 2d graphics or 2,5D graphics at least in PS2 era which were pretty attractive
I still accept how Strider 2 looks (not bad for PS1 IMO), but I would've liked to see it done on Naomi - or maybe even just ported to Dreamcast and eventually PS2 with enhanced textures and higher-polygon BGs and bosses.
Zinc emulates the arcade version just about perfectly. IIRC there's some slowdown in boss fights on the PS port probably due to PS1's RAM disadvantage versus ZN-2 arcade hardware.
gameoverDude wrote:I still accept how Strider 2 looks (not bad for PS1 IMO), but I would've liked to see it done on Naomi - or maybe even just ported to Dreamcast and eventually PS2 with enhanced textures and higher-polygon BGs and bosses.
Zinc emulates the arcade version just about perfectly. IIRC there's some slowdown in boss fights on the PS port probably due to PS1's RAM disadvantage versus ZN-2 arcade hardware.
to be honest i find the image with the PCB is better than the port.....the 2d and 3d mesh a bit better.....its still not amazing by any stretch, but less obvious perhaps.....the low resolution probably helps too
this thread is making me very interested in cannon dancer....watched a vid....looks pretty intense.....
how much does this usually go for? i gather from what strider77 said its hard to come by?
Big fan of Strider 1 & 2 (I wrote an FAQ for each game.) I know you're all gonna think I'm crazy, but I think Strider could move to polygons and perhaps even 3D, but great care would have to be taken to keep it from becoming something generic. Strider Returns shows there's nothing magic about pixels--they can make boring, generic games too. Reinventing Strider in 3D would be really challenging. I think the key to it would be speed and dropping all the RPG-esque elements cropping up in all these 3D games. Can they make a 3D, 3rd person game that isn't clunky where the character is a real joy to play? I think they can *cough*Bayonetta*cough*, and it's worth at least considering. Before you totally shit all over this idea, keep in mind it couldn't possibly just be plugging Strider into the standard 3rd person platformer. Personally I don't think I've quite seen the engine that would make Strider feel right in 3D, but I think they could do it.
Randorama wrote:ban CMoon for being a closet Jerry Falwell cockmonster/Ann Coulter fan, Nijska a bronie (ack! The horror!), and Ed Oscuro being unable to post 100-word arguments without writing 3-pages posts.
Eugenics: you know it's right!
I'm not going to totally shit all over the idea of a 3D Strider, but I remain skeptical. Ninja Gaiden works since the arcade NG does allow 3D movement. Reinventing Strider for 3D would be a hellish undertaking - you'd have to have the platform hang, the pull-up, etc. Good luck to Capcom if they try it.
I'll gladly take a Strider 3 that follows straight up from Strider 2 and maybe adds branching routes.
I'm pretty tired, but I skimmed the interview and it looks excellent. Many thanks, as usual, GP, for your dope-tituity. I'll go back and read it in scrutinizing detail.
-b
MAK had it on April 1st 2008, for 21,000 yen. On 24th February, they got another in, at 29,400 yen. On both occasions it sold within the week. And then some fools on Yahoo bid one up to 300,000 yen, as you no doubt remember.
Ninja Spirit/Saigo no Nindou is THE ninja sidescroller for me: bleak and deadly, unforgiving but fair, sports the atmosphere matched only by Ninja Master's (as far as arcade games are concerned). The gameplay, the soundtrack and the graphics are superb. It's a shame Irem didn't port it to the PSX (as they did with R-Types, Image Fight and X-Multiply). Strider 2 is an excellent game, but it doesn't play so "on the edge", moreover, the graphics and the performance are of inconsistent quality. One of the greatest arcade tunes ever, and one of Irem's more "human" soundtracks.
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off
jonny5 wrote:
this thread is making me very interested in cannon dancer....watched a vid....looks pretty intense.....
how much does this usually go for? i gather from what strider77 said its hard to come by?
would definitely like to give it a go....
You don't want to know how much it goes for. Frightening numbers, though it was once at least reasonable.
i do want to know actually 'tis why i asked
Magic Knight wrote:
MAK had it on April 1st 2008, for 21,000 yen. On 24th February, they got another in, at 29,400 yen. On both occasions it sold within the week. And then some fools on Yahoo bid one up to 300,000 yen, as you no doubt remember.
so generally it goes around $300ish? thats not bad at all...but seems hard to come by despite the price
as a last resort to at least try it out, is it emulated very well?
jonny5 wrote:
this thread is making me very interested in cannon dancer....watched a vid....looks pretty intense.....
how much does this usually go for? i gather from what strider77 said its hard to come by?
would definitely like to give it a go....
You don't want to know how much it goes for. Frightening numbers, though it was once at least reasonable.
i do want to know actually 'tis why i asked
Magic Knight wrote:
MAK had it on April 1st 2008, for 21,000 yen. On 24th February, they got another in, at 29,400 yen. On both occasions it sold within the week. And then some fools on Yahoo bid one up to 300,000 yen, as you no doubt remember.
so generally it goes around $300ish? thats not bad at all...but seems hard to come by despite the price
as a last resort to at least try it out, is it emulated very well?
It used to go for about $300, but 300,000 yen is $3000. Three thousand dollars.
It's emulated well.
no...no i understood the 300000 yen....i was commenting on the previous prices you listed....from what you said i thought the 300000 yen one was more of an anomaly....im certainly not interested in paying 3k for a platformer ....or a cave game for that matter....
hmmm...im gonna give it a go in mame tonight in the cab....looks pretty awesome
jonny5 wrote:no...no i understood the 300000 yen....i was commenting on the previous prices you listed....from what you said i thought the 300000 yen one was more of an anomaly....im certainly not interested in paying 3k for a platformer ....or a cave game for that matter....
hmmm...im gonna give it a go in mame tonight in the cab....looks pretty awesome
Just wasn't sure if you read the number of 0's in that! For $300 it would be great I think.
jonny5 wrote:no...no i understood the 300000 yen....i was commenting on the previous prices you listed....from what you said i thought the 300000 yen one was more of an anomaly....im certainly not interested in paying 3k for a platformer ....or a cave game for that matter....
hmmm...im gonna give it a go in mame tonight in the cab....looks pretty awesome
Just wasn't sure if you read the number of 0's in that! For $300 it would be great I think.
thats what i was thinking....for a good game, thats not much at really....but this seems more like one of those games that isnt super pricey(usually), but those that have it, dont let it go often.....
im excited to give it a go....dunno why i didnt just check mame and fire it up
Thanks for this, GP!
'tis why i asked 
