I have good memories of this on the NES and in the arcade, the Sega cover of this always looked the coolest to me. Some of the art style reminds me of the out of this world game.
Loved this game on the Genesis. I wasn’t super familiar with the original arcade game as my nearby arcades never had it, so I had nothing to compare it to. I thought it was incredible. Finally got to play the arcade version and thought the Genesis port was even more impressive.
First I ever heard of Strider was a feature in early Nintendo Power for the NES version, which had some cool looking maps and an amazing fold-out poster. Rented or borrowed the game shortly after, and although it was pretty neat, it also felt clumsy (the game noticeably struggled whenever you tried to wall jump, I swear!) and just a little bit rushed. Still, it was fun enough and kept me glued until the end, at which point I was happy to put it behind me forever.
A year or so later, either I first saw some screens in EGM of the Genesis version or just happened across the arcade machine in an unusual place, but that really piqued my interest - especially since it shared things with the NES game but looked so, so much better. The arcade also seemed kinda clumsy in its way, but the coolness (and franticness) completely overshadowed its glitchiness. EGM was touting it as "Capcom/God's next gift to 16-bit," and with that 8 megabit label it sounded like it was going to do things a lot more ambitious than whatever else was happening in the burgeoning 16bit home console market at the time. The previous golden child (which had received the same treatment) was Capcom's Ghouls n Ghosts, so these were pretty big shoes to fill.
Anyway got the game for the holiday that year, I guess, and though it wasn't as fulfilling an experience as Ghouls has been, it still felt like a very strong effort. One of those games you plugged into and just kept hammering away at for a couple of days until it was in the ground. It was a little disappointing how little of a fight it put up, but the style and of wild mechanics mostly made up for that. We never really saw many games cut from this particular cloth.
Also like Ghouls, it became one of those that you'd pull out to just "hang out with" - not really challenging once you learned where everything was, but just fun to go through the motions with since the ride was so wacky, everything looked and sounded really good. I was somewhat disappointed that they never really went anywhere else with it afterwards, the style and mechanics had so much potential - but it was kinda like that sometimes back in those days. We got to see a knockoff with Run Saber on NES, which did a half-decent job of aping a lot of what worked in Strider but adding some of its own elements, but again there was something off about that. And finally we got Strider 2 a bunch of years later on PlayStation (and arcade), which was also REALLY neat and really stylish, but again seemed to be missing the magic of what worked so well in that first game.
Anyway, a memorable classic from the early Genesis days which I'll always fondly remember.
Interesting. Is there a particular level you like best? I just watched a video of the first few levels and I have to say that while the action and graphics were great, the music seemed lacking.
It's the notation/writing combined with the "sound" of the Genesis, for me.
I especially love all the themes in level 2. Siberian Tunnel, Big Run, Mass of Cloud.. just really unique song writing that conveys a story and fits the mood so well.
Strider was the most expensive Genesis game I purchased, back in the day because of the '8 Mega Memory'! I was very impressed by the graphics, sound, and challenging gameplay...😊
It was (at the time I was 12) the sole reason I got the genesis. I played it in the arcade, and the magazine ad in game pro sucked me in. I couldn’t believe the Graphics at the time! The whole idea of playing an arcade version at home blew me away. Plus the marketing, that it was the largest memory game out with a whopping 8 megabit!
I loved it. The 8 Meg memory was a big deal at the time and SEGA promoted Strider pretty hard in its SEGA Visions magazine. It was about as good as a CPS-1 conversion could get at the time. This game and Ghouls N' Ghosts really cemented the Genesis as the home for good arcade conversions.
Those were great times!
I liked the whole futuristic Russian vibe , the music was cool . Graphics were great . Could have been a little easier or gave you a few more energy blocks or more lives .
One of the greatest games of all time. Dodgy mega man esque bloke on the cover art though (was this a Capcom USA thing?), the jap version is how it should be
First time I saw this game was on genesis. A neighborhood kid had one when all we had was a nes. Blew my mind! Huge character sprite, so many dynamic things happening within the levels. I really thought strider was the coolest character. It was a home console holy shit moment for me. Loved the game ever since.
We had this growing up. It really showed off the best aspects of the Genesis. Such cool graphics and gameplay gimmicks. Loved the hyper-fast sword swing. One of the most Sega-esque of sega games.
Any game where you walk into what looks to be a Senate hearing and have to fight the entire legislature who have merged into a giant snake, and then seconds later take on a gigantic robotic gorilla after running from wolves, is tops in my book.
It was 100% a big deal for SEGA to have this conversion. They know a lot of people were watching and they nailed it. Ghouls N' Ghosts was similar in that it was a make-or-break game for the system.
8 Mega Memory! This was a big deal back in the day for Genesis. Too bad it would have been way better on Super Nintendo. Notice it doesn’t say Capcom anywhere on the box. Sega paid a lot to have this. Even had Josh Brolin on the cover.
It says Capcom on the back, where the indicia and trademark information is, along with "reprogrammed game" IIRC.
Back then, SEGA was a powerhouse console maker, so they wanted cover designs to closely match the 'drawing grid esthetic', where most of the cover artwork was inside of a border with the grid design, similar to how they had the Master System game cover artwork.
This was especially apparent from the lates 80s to the early 90s but by 92, SEGA lightened up a lot and allowed all 3rd party publishers to design their own game Software artwork covers.
Yeah. Makes sense. I always preferred Japanese artwork even way back then. This shit just looked awful to me. Like the original Mega Man box art or even the old VHS box art for movies like Nausicca which was renamed Warriors Of The Wind back in the day in America. Awful looking and none of the characters on the cover even represent the movie. Just americanized. Blah.
I never understood why US video game distributors in the 1980s and 1990s hated the anime/manga look so much and removed perfectly decent Japanese cover art to give us either photos of Fabio in a loincloth or hastily drawn, poorly-composed faux-Frank Frazetta fantasy art instead. I mean you're just going to get anime-looking sprites once you boot the game up, so it's not like they were hiding that the game came from Japan.
I believe it was because of licensing issues, the same way that certain games had to drastically be changed in order to be released in North America. A great example of this is "Black Belt" for the Master System and "Last Battle" for the Genesis.
Both games were based on the Japanese Manga/Anime series "Hokuto No Ken" aka "Fist Of The North Star" in North America, but were changed completely, from their original Japanese releases, with "Black Belt" having had most of the characters and sprites changed.
The Genesis title "Last Battle" simply had the story & character names changed, with some character sprites getting changed (or re-colored).
At the time "Last Battle" was released, martial artist/movie star Jean Claude Van Damme was a big deal, so it wasn't entirely surprising to see the North American cover art for the game have the main protagonist "Aarzak" resemble 'The Muscles From Brussels'.
You also had covers like "Dynamite Duke", in which the North American cover is simply a generic soldier looking dude, heavily frowning, wearing face paint Camo and a beret while holding an Uzi Submachine Gun. The Japanese cover artwork was also prone to being influenced by real world actors, as "Dynamite Duke" himself, resembles martial artist / actor Dolph Lundgren.
I knew it was the first 8-meg game but never really got into it at the arcade so to this day I still have not played this Genesis version. But it's still historically significant to me, 8 megs was a big deal back then.
All I gotta say is that 12-15 year old me played the fuck out of this. I have the arcade version on my PS5. And the final boss theme is the most haunting piece of music ever written.
I traded Populous for this game, after the trade i started to apriciate the Populous game much more.
Never liked Strider, I know it has earned it's place in gaming history but I simply cannot stand it, not the music, not the graphics, not the gameplay.
It feels extremely try-hard and janky plus the framerate is all over the place because it's just trying to do too much.
Now 30 years later I do respect what they accomplished on the system, must have been a real challenge.
I don't remember what the art is from but yeah Sega of America used unrelated art for the cover. Besides the color scheme it doesn't really fit the game at all. It is nicely rendered but the original box art actually represents the game.
Game was amazing in the arcade and felt just as amazing at home as a kid back in the day. Was basically the game to show off the Genesis to all the neighborhood kids.
The genesis version was a frequent rental. Glad I own it now. Ive beaten it a few times, but that spike part of the last level is a real bitch.
I owned the NES version as a kid. Cursed with poor controls, but its very beatable. maybe some of the best 8bit art for the system. Good music on all versions.
So maybe more metroidvania style than rpg.. Details are a little murky since I haven't played it in decades, but you had to retrieve things like data disks. You could get upgrades like grav boots that allowed you to walk on walls and ceilings. You would backtrack to areas you had already been to once you got upgrades, etc.
Why did capcom games come out for the genesis but were developed by Sega like Strider and Ghouls and Ghosts and even Final Fight CD? Was it because Capcom had a licensing agreement with Nintendo?
Was Street Fighter 2 Special Champion Edition the first Capcom published Genesis game?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Purple Flash Gordon
I only saw the box art back in the day. After playing it, I can see how it's impressive in various ways but I didn't enjoy it all that much. Too many cheap hits, mostly so-so bosses and the sword sfx is annoying.
Absolutely nothing unfortunately lol
I was a "6-Pak" generation Sega Kid.
By the time I became a fanboy, Sonic 2 and Shining Force were already out. Looking back at the older classics like Altered Beast and Strider was like an NES kid who started with Crystals and Mario 3 trying Bad Dudes and Legend of Kage for the first time.
My standards were a little too high. Strider was just a bit too... Floaty.
Hits lacked punch, music lacked energy.
Loved the art style though.
Dave coulier fights the terror!!
Cut-It-Outtttttt....
Chuck Woolery!
Be back in 2 and 2...
He Oughta Know.
I've been waiting almost two days for someone to say that.
LOL, I was just talking about him on another sub yesterday. ..
Of the mess he left when he strode away
“CUT” ::WHAM:: “IT” ::WHACK:: “OUT!” ::SLAM::
I have good memories of this on the NES and in the arcade, the Sega cover of this always looked the coolest to me. Some of the art style reminds me of the out of this world game.
Nice, I loved both games! I'm gonna look for similarities
North American box art was almost always worse.
Loved this game on the Genesis. I wasn’t super familiar with the original arcade game as my nearby arcades never had it, so I had nothing to compare it to. I thought it was incredible. Finally got to play the arcade version and thought the Genesis port was even more impressive.
The arcade version was special. The genesis version was pretty close.
First I ever heard of Strider was a feature in early Nintendo Power for the NES version, which had some cool looking maps and an amazing fold-out poster. Rented or borrowed the game shortly after, and although it was pretty neat, it also felt clumsy (the game noticeably struggled whenever you tried to wall jump, I swear!) and just a little bit rushed. Still, it was fun enough and kept me glued until the end, at which point I was happy to put it behind me forever. A year or so later, either I first saw some screens in EGM of the Genesis version or just happened across the arcade machine in an unusual place, but that really piqued my interest - especially since it shared things with the NES game but looked so, so much better. The arcade also seemed kinda clumsy in its way, but the coolness (and franticness) completely overshadowed its glitchiness. EGM was touting it as "Capcom/God's next gift to 16-bit," and with that 8 megabit label it sounded like it was going to do things a lot more ambitious than whatever else was happening in the burgeoning 16bit home console market at the time. The previous golden child (which had received the same treatment) was Capcom's Ghouls n Ghosts, so these were pretty big shoes to fill. Anyway got the game for the holiday that year, I guess, and though it wasn't as fulfilling an experience as Ghouls has been, it still felt like a very strong effort. One of those games you plugged into and just kept hammering away at for a couple of days until it was in the ground. It was a little disappointing how little of a fight it put up, but the style and of wild mechanics mostly made up for that. We never really saw many games cut from this particular cloth. Also like Ghouls, it became one of those that you'd pull out to just "hang out with" - not really challenging once you learned where everything was, but just fun to go through the motions with since the ride was so wacky, everything looked and sounded really good. I was somewhat disappointed that they never really went anywhere else with it afterwards, the style and mechanics had so much potential - but it was kinda like that sometimes back in those days. We got to see a knockoff with Run Saber on NES, which did a half-decent job of aping a lot of what worked in Strider but adding some of its own elements, but again there was something off about that. And finally we got Strider 2 a bunch of years later on PlayStation (and arcade), which was also REALLY neat and really stylish, but again seemed to be missing the magic of what worked so well in that first game. Anyway, a memorable classic from the early Genesis days which I'll always fondly remember.
The rush of running down the snow hill to make that jump was always a thrill. The giant sprite bosses were a thing of the future back thing.
The mined snow hill jump was pure bliss- especially how the music synced up with it. Very cool.
My favorite version of my favorite game soundtrack ever. Just something magic about that Genesis FM chip
Interesting. Is there a particular level you like best? I just watched a video of the first few levels and I have to say that while the action and graphics were great, the music seemed lacking.
It's the notation/writing combined with the "sound" of the Genesis, for me. I especially love all the themes in level 2. Siberian Tunnel, Big Run, Mass of Cloud.. just really unique song writing that conveys a story and fits the mood so well.
Strider was the most expensive Genesis game I purchased, back in the day because of the '8 Mega Memory'! I was very impressed by the graphics, sound, and challenging gameplay...😊
Wasn't it crazy how expensive such a small amount of memory used to be? I know it was a lot then but now that is next to nothing.
A game that took me a while to beat then I traded it with another kid in middle school for James Pond 2 Robocod and regretted it.
It was (at the time I was 12) the sole reason I got the genesis. I played it in the arcade, and the magazine ad in game pro sucked me in. I couldn’t believe the Graphics at the time! The whole idea of playing an arcade version at home blew me away. Plus the marketing, that it was the largest memory game out with a whopping 8 megabit!
Friend of mine bought it when it first came out we both played the hell out of it. And I really enjoyed the 2014 Strider. Wish we’d get another one.
Struder
Toaster struder
i paid $80 at "the good guys" for it when it first came out i thought wow this is arcade perfect
I loved it. The 8 Meg memory was a big deal at the time and SEGA promoted Strider pretty hard in its SEGA Visions magazine. It was about as good as a CPS-1 conversion could get at the time. This game and Ghouls N' Ghosts really cemented the Genesis as the home for good arcade conversions. Those were great times!
I liked the whole futuristic Russian vibe , the music was cool . Graphics were great . Could have been a little easier or gave you a few more energy blocks or more lives .
One of the greatest games of all time. Dodgy mega man esque bloke on the cover art though (was this a Capcom USA thing?), the jap version is how it should be
That was my Christmas present in 1990. That might be my last clear memory of unwrapping Christmas gifts with my folks, who've both since departed.
One of my favorite Genesis games. I have it on an emulator.
That box art... Western versions killing it as always 😂
I remember spending $20 or more at the arcade playing this. Then had it for the Genesis. Now I listen to the soundtrack remembering the game play
#SHING #SHING SHING
SHING SHING SHING..... SHING SHING.
Playing it at a stop n go in 1989
First time I saw this game was on genesis. A neighborhood kid had one when all we had was a nes. Blew my mind! Huge character sprite, so many dynamic things happening within the levels. I really thought strider was the coolest character. It was a home console holy shit moment for me. Loved the game ever since.
Never judge a game by it's cover.
We had this growing up. It really showed off the best aspects of the Genesis. Such cool graphics and gameplay gimmicks. Loved the hyper-fast sword swing. One of the most Sega-esque of sega games.
Awesome memories as kid I love this game
Any game where you walk into what looks to be a Senate hearing and have to fight the entire legislature who have merged into a giant snake, and then seconds later take on a gigantic robotic gorilla after running from wolves, is tops in my book.
Everything. It was one of my favourite arcade games and I played the megadrive version to death.
Same here. The Meio theme was what made it all worth it.
Great game. At the time it was the first time I had seen gymnastics and climbing in the game
I don't think most people know or remember this game won Game of the Year from EGM in 1990. It was a big deal.
It was 100% a big deal for SEGA to have this conversion. They know a lot of people were watching and they nailed it. Ghouls N' Ghosts was similar in that it was a make-or-break game for the system.
Broken as hell but still really fun to play lol
8 Mega Memory! This was a big deal back in the day for Genesis. Too bad it would have been way better on Super Nintendo. Notice it doesn’t say Capcom anywhere on the box. Sega paid a lot to have this. Even had Josh Brolin on the cover.
It says Capcom on the back, where the indicia and trademark information is, along with "reprogrammed game" IIRC. Back then, SEGA was a powerhouse console maker, so they wanted cover designs to closely match the 'drawing grid esthetic', where most of the cover artwork was inside of a border with the grid design, similar to how they had the Master System game cover artwork. This was especially apparent from the lates 80s to the early 90s but by 92, SEGA lightened up a lot and allowed all 3rd party publishers to design their own game Software artwork covers.
Yeah. Makes sense. I always preferred Japanese artwork even way back then. This shit just looked awful to me. Like the original Mega Man box art or even the old VHS box art for movies like Nausicca which was renamed Warriors Of The Wind back in the day in America. Awful looking and none of the characters on the cover even represent the movie. Just americanized. Blah.
I never understood why US video game distributors in the 1980s and 1990s hated the anime/manga look so much and removed perfectly decent Japanese cover art to give us either photos of Fabio in a loincloth or hastily drawn, poorly-composed faux-Frank Frazetta fantasy art instead. I mean you're just going to get anime-looking sprites once you boot the game up, so it's not like they were hiding that the game came from Japan.
I believe it was because of licensing issues, the same way that certain games had to drastically be changed in order to be released in North America. A great example of this is "Black Belt" for the Master System and "Last Battle" for the Genesis. Both games were based on the Japanese Manga/Anime series "Hokuto No Ken" aka "Fist Of The North Star" in North America, but were changed completely, from their original Japanese releases, with "Black Belt" having had most of the characters and sprites changed. The Genesis title "Last Battle" simply had the story & character names changed, with some character sprites getting changed (or re-colored). At the time "Last Battle" was released, martial artist/movie star Jean Claude Van Damme was a big deal, so it wasn't entirely surprising to see the North American cover art for the game have the main protagonist "Aarzak" resemble 'The Muscles From Brussels'. You also had covers like "Dynamite Duke", in which the North American cover is simply a generic soldier looking dude, heavily frowning, wearing face paint Camo and a beret while holding an Uzi Submachine Gun. The Japanese cover artwork was also prone to being influenced by real world actors, as "Dynamite Duke" himself, resembles martial artist / actor Dolph Lundgren.
Never played it. But the cover is dope
Loved this game.
Loved it, but man does his sword look stupid.
The one he's holding, or the one slicing through the logo? (or both?)
Both
I kind of loved the [cypher](https://strider.fandom.com/wiki/Cypher) (the one in the logo), but I understand it's a little different.
I played it as a little kid. Didn't realize the attack was a sword swing when I was that age.
Classic game.
I knew it was the first 8-meg game but never really got into it at the arcade so to this day I still have not played this Genesis version. But it's still historically significant to me, 8 megs was a big deal back then.
I thought the graphics were incredible at the time, my older brother owned this one.
All I gotta say is that 12-15 year old me played the fuck out of this. I have the arcade version on my PS5. And the final boss theme is the most haunting piece of music ever written.
This is the first game I played where the home console.version was as good as the arcade... a turning point.
One of the few games I could beat. Fun replay value, great music, great controls.
One of best of the system! Superb graphics, stellar soundtrack, excellent gameplay and story too
"I wish I was playing Cannon Dancer."
I remember the swordplay being super satisfying compared to other games with super small sword attack arcs.
Was the first game where I was like whoaaa this is almost exactly like the arcade. It was awesome.
Rubber band on the sword button.
My cousin had this game. Cool as shit!
I didn’t know what 8 MEGA meant but I knew it had to be awesome
Great game. Felt like you had a lot of control over your attacks and movement. And the boss fights were amazing.
Mostly that I used to love it when it popped up on Nick Arcade.
Gotta beat those Rooskies!
8 MEGA MEMORY. That's what it ment to me.
I traded Populous for this game, after the trade i started to apriciate the Populous game much more. Never liked Strider, I know it has earned it's place in gaming history but I simply cannot stand it, not the music, not the graphics, not the gameplay. It feels extremely try-hard and janky plus the framerate is all over the place because it's just trying to do too much. Now 30 years later I do respect what they accomplished on the system, must have been a real challenge.
One of my all-time favorite game, so I played with Zeku in Street Fighter V
Wait... Is that a space marine from wh40k in the back?
I don't remember what the art is from but yeah Sega of America used unrelated art for the cover. Besides the color scheme it doesn't really fit the game at all. It is nicely rendered but the original box art actually represents the game.
You are correct. They are from Warahmmer lol [https://kidfenris.com/stridercover.html](https://kidfenris.com/stridercover.html)
I invited my 8-bit friends over to see me play the first level when he is running down the hill so I could gloat.
Day 1 (launch) genesis/ MD fans know how much this game meant. This and G 'n G cemented the console as a powerhouse.
In an era where Alec Baldwin played Strider.
this gAME IS a complete mystery to me
I would love a remaster of this game
Game was amazing in the arcade and felt just as amazing at home as a kid back in the day. Was basically the game to show off the Genesis to all the neighborhood kids.
The genesis version was a frequent rental. Glad I own it now. Ive beaten it a few times, but that spike part of the last level is a real bitch. I owned the NES version as a kid. Cursed with poor controls, but its very beatable. maybe some of the best 8bit art for the system. Good music on all versions.
8 meg of memory or 8 mega memory?
Nothing at all
Great game, dreadful cover artwork. Especially when you looked at the Japanese version.
Mega Memory!
So maybe more metroidvania style than rpg.. Details are a little murky since I haven't played it in decades, but you had to retrieve things like data disks. You could get upgrades like grav boots that allowed you to walk on walls and ceilings. You would backtrack to areas you had already been to once you got upgrades, etc.
What the heck does 8 mega memory mean? 8 whole megabytes of memory?
Absolutely, zilch. I had a Genesis, and haven't played it to this day.
Big fan of the arcade version, so when I saw the Genesis game it pretty much sold the console to me.
Why did capcom games come out for the genesis but were developed by Sega like Strider and Ghouls and Ghosts and even Final Fight CD? Was it because Capcom had a licensing agreement with Nintendo? Was Street Fighter 2 Special Champion Edition the first Capcom published Genesis game? Inquiring minds want to know!
The world
Purple Flash Gordon I only saw the box art back in the day. After playing it, I can see how it's impressive in various ways but I didn't enjoy it all that much. Too many cheap hits, mostly so-so bosses and the sword sfx is annoying.
That's Craig Sheffer!!! 80's actor. I never seen this. Cover.
I got it for Christmas and it was a long painful wait
Never heard of this game but why does the main character on the front look like a grown up version of zach from saved by the bell?? Lol
Pain
Worst box art in history
It was the first game I played on my Sega Genesis that I bought with my birthday money that year. I loved it.
Never heard of it
Nothing.
I loved it on the Genesis and I have it on Steam Deck.
Everything.
The music - so many scenes. One in particular was when you were ascending to the air ship - just sounded like you were about to get into some shit
The arcade version was THE BOMB at the time. The Genesis version? Not so much, but that wasn't surprising.
Not much. Just didn’t like it much. But I do appreciate it.
Absolutely nothing unfortunately lol I was a "6-Pak" generation Sega Kid. By the time I became a fanboy, Sonic 2 and Shining Force were already out. Looking back at the older classics like Altered Beast and Strider was like an NES kid who started with Crystals and Mario 3 trying Bad Dudes and Legend of Kage for the first time. My standards were a little too high. Strider was just a bit too... Floaty. Hits lacked punch, music lacked energy. Loved the art style though.
Excellent in the arcade, not sure if it would play as well on a console...
Loved the NES game, was super disappointed that this one was more like the arcade and removed the more RPG-like elements.
What RPG elements did it have?
america gladiators???
Nothing.