YEAR: 1990

HARDWARE: Motorola 68000

DEVELOPER: Capcom

PUBLISHER: SEGA

Why is it that American gamers always get the short end of the stick? Compared to the Japanese cover, the American cover looks positively anemic. Look at it. Go on, I dare you. That picture of Hiryu looks not entirely unlike a bad G.I. Joe figure. Why do the Japanese gamers get the cool, brooding cover and we get spandex? Why is he holding Falchion wrong? Why is Falchion designed wrong? Where's his hook? And what exactly are those straps across his chest?

And why did Capcom decide to redesign the title screen? To me, the Japanese screen with its orange kanji looks infinitely cooler than its American counterpart. The American title screen doesn't seem to flow right when it's placed side-by-side with the Japanese version. Hiryu's name is in purple kanji, and the word 'Strider' is written on top of that, in a vaguely Arabic script. The flaming kanji of the Japanese version is undeniably cool, however. Did Sega think that American gamers wouldn't play a Japanese game? If they thought that, then why did they leave the kanji powerups in the game itself?

Anyway, those are pretty much the only problems with this version. Everything else is pixel-perfect. Well, except for Hiryu's cypher slash. Those frames of animation are missing. But this version does boast a different ending than the arcade game, one that actually makes more sense in the context of the game.

This version put the Genesis console on the map. Once it came out, everyone wanted a Genesis or MegaDrive. The simple fact was, whereas the Nintendo boards relied on proprietary architecture (and still do), the CPS-1 and the Genesis boards were virtually identical, making arcade conversions relatively simple.

Due to its immense popularity, it should be easy for you to find a copy of this game on eBay or at your local game exchange. The ROM isn't that difficult to find, either.