YEAR: 1989

HARDWARE: CPS-1

DEVELOPER: Capcom

PUBLISHER: Capcom

This is the game that started it all: a frenetic 24-color five-level masterpiece of an action platformer that exuded coolness from every weapon swipe, every rolling slide tackle, and every cartwheeling leap into the unknown.

Strider is action gaming at its finest. Every move, every enemy, every sound, and every piece of music is of such utter quality and perfection that it is truly without peer.

Everything about it is superb. The level design and layouts follow every path but a straight line, belying the simple fact that this is a platformer, of all things. How long did it take you to figure out how to exit the lightning area of Siberia? Or how best to kill Lagos in the Amazon?

The character design in this game is unforgettable, as well. Even today, Strider's graphics are so detailed, you swear you're playing a Saturday morning cartoon.

Sure, the plot's kind of contrived, but that's its one and only failing. And anyway, who plays a platformer expecting Shakespeare? Super Mario Bros. had a worse plot than this!

Strider set the bar so high, it couldn't follow it up. Strider 2 comes close (oh, so tantalizingly close!) but ultimately fails to completely recapture the freewheeling spirit of its predecessor.

So slot it into your console and kick Meio's ass. Games like this one don't come around very often.