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Strider Returns: Journey From Darkness
YEAR: 1993
SYSTEM(S): Sega Genesis / Master System / Game Gear
DEVELOPER: Tiertex Design Studios
PUBLISHER: U.S. Gold
That "U.S. Gold" logo at the top of this game's cover means it isn't an official Capcom sequel. Knowing that, the rest of us can breathe easier and sleep more soundly at night. Strider Returns: Journey From Darkness deserves all the flaming garbage tossed its way, because it is entirely unworthy to bear the name "Strider."
Yet it does. While it is not Capcom Strider game, it is a Strider game, period. How U.S. Gold acquired the rights to make a Strider game in the first place has been a matter of much debate (most of it fueled by this site's egomaniacal owner). The most likely answer lies in the fact that they, along with French company Tiertex, ported the CPS-1 game to the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, C64, DOS, and ZX Spectrum. Somehow, someway, the deal with Capcom that allowed them to make those ports left them in a position to capitalize on the Strider trademark. In short, they were able to produce another Strider game, but they couldn't use Hiryu because Hiryu wasn't Capcom's to license out. Hiryu's ownership was hopelessly and gloriously complicated by Moto Kikaku's collaboration with Capcom, placing him beyond the reach of U.S. Gold's grubby fingers.
Instead of Hiryu, you play as Hinjo, the candy-assed Strider who talks like a surfer. Hinjo has to save his girlfriend Lexia ("Not the car, the babe!") from Grandmaster Meio, who's kidnapped her as part of a revenge conspiracy. Never mind that Hiryu defeated Meio, not Hinjo. The backstory in this game's manual is the stuff of legend, and should be read through at least once... for humor's sake. No lie. "Rumble on, Strider dude!" indeed.
Hinjo's nowhere near as cool as Hiryu, but he does have some rather... interesting abilities. He can use shuriken or a sweep cypher instead of Falchion (which doesn't look nearly as cool). He's also equipped with a blaster rifle and the ability to transform into a kind of weird mecha... but it's difficult to control, and actually pulling off the transformation is iffy. The game sometimes triggers the transformation on its own.
Strider Returns' level design is absolutely horrid, using a palette mostly consisting of brown and grey; and it's far too linear, something that Strider was not. The levels in the CPS-1 Strider followed every path but a straight line. There are no robot helpers, either. Apparently Hinjo is too cool to have a terapodal robopanther. He should have a surfboard familiar, though, to make up for his lack of helpers. That would almost make this game better.
To their credit, the programmers at Tiertex have actually admitted that this game was one of their less-than-stellar efforts. Allan Findlay said it was the first thing he ever programmed, that the debugging "left a lot to be desired", and that "it could have been done better". Wayne Billington blamed "some huge fundamental problems all contributing to a big turd", among them the invention of "an alternative main character that turned an acrobatic character, into a slow dalek". And Anthony Ball gave a peculiar insight:
Strider II was originally designed by Andrew (Ingram) - he was a graphics artist at Tiertex. But it changed too much from Andrews original design, which would probably been a good game. Andrew went on to start Travellers Tales and designed Leander - a great platformer.
Such frankness would almost make up for the fact that in some countries, this game was titled "Strider 2", which itself has caused no end of confusion. To those only casually interested in the series, this game IS "Strider 2", and among those are some who staunchly defend it. Some even believe that Capcom wanted to use this game as a template for a coin-op sequel. The poor unfortunate bastards. When Capcom decided they wanted to make their own, official sequel, they pretended this one never existed, and one can hardly blame them.
Supposedly the Master System/Game Gear version of this game has vastly improved control and programming. If you absolutely must play this game, I recommend that that version. Avoid the Genesis version like the plague.
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