The History of Strider - Arcade console documentary

happy little games every once in a while an arcade game comes along that does something truly magical in 1978 arcades were all a flutter with the revolutionary shoot em up space invaders [Music] 1980 brought us the phenomenon known as pac-man in 1987 we were introduced to the fantastic two player simultaneous beat em up double dragon and finally we were treated to the sweet in-your-face blast of the fart fatalities of tattoo assassins [Music] get up and fight carla win perfect today we are going to take a look at another in a long line of arcade hits from manufacturer capcom the name of the game is strider and it truly is a thing of beauty thanks to its smooth animation and nimble ninja moves what real life incident helped create the basis for this game what was the inspiration behind one of the major bosses of this game let's find out as we slice our way into the history of strider in early 1988 a rather unique project was on the table from arcade giant capcom the proposal would be a collaboration between capcom and moto kikaku who was a group of famous japanese manga artists this partnership would see the creation of a manga nes and arcade game koichi yatsui was placed in charge of the arcade game capcom employee masahiko kirakawa oversaw the nes title he had also worked on other spectacular nes games such as ghosts and goblins and finally tatsumi wada was chosen to develop the manga iteration all three teams spent a week in a hotel outlining the backstory of the game which starred strider hero and all the various bad guys including the game's big baddie grand master mio according to mr yatsui it was an entirely smooth ceiling when it came to developing these titles as each of the three project heads would have to come together and agree on where the story would be headed because the lead of each project had enjoyed success in other areas such as yatsui having developed ghouls and ghosts on capcom cps1 hardware three distinct versions of stryder emerged from one basic idea mr yatsuy had wanted to take the ghost and goblin style of gameplay to the next level and push it further than ever before he wanted to create a visual spectacle that utilized the immense power of the cps-1 hardware making it one of the most visually impressive games of the time the game would use huge sprites and extremely detailed backgrounds with smooth animation to tell the tale this would be a problem for mr yatsui because just the graphic data of the main character alone would take up more than half of the available space hero would be a ninja's ninja complete with nimble toes and plenty of acrobatic moves under his belt at various times you will find the character scaling up walls running down walls clinging to various objects and using his laser sword known as a cipher mr yatsui had inspiration strike in a very strange way during development of the game he went up on the roof of his building for a break with the door locked from the inside so he was stuck on the outside since it was extremely cold and he felt he was going to freeze to death he climbed down the side of the building in order to reach the emergency stairs knowing that one small slip could be the death of him mr yatsui also enjoyed rock climbing skydiving and the free fall aspect of floating through the air he wanted to implement this feeling into the game he also wanted to give the game an exotic feeling by having the characters visit areas all over the world which was showcased in the cut scenes before each level where the various characters speak different languages such as english japanese russian spanish mandarin and swahili had designed the game to appeal to arcade gamers to extract as much money from the player as possible the visuals had to impress not only the player but the people standing behind watching to achieve this he felt that a brand new location for each level with a constant stream of ideas would be required the music was also a huge factor in the overall presentation which was developed solely by female composer junko tamiya she went uncredited in the original arcade games release but was mentioned as part of the original arcade staff the game contains many different styles of music that change dynamically depending on what is happening on screen mr yazooie was relentless when juko was composing these tunes because he wanted them to be absolutely perfect he took inspiration from walt disney cartoons and classic ballet because he wanted the music to be dramatic and also have a lot of energy although all three projects were developed in tandem the nes and arcade versions were delayed so the manga was released 10 months before the release of the arcade game the character of the grand master was inspired by both emperor palpatine from star wars as well as an image of sauron from the lord of the rings the mini boss solo was inspired by boba fett and the character of mecca pond was inspired by the japanese movie mechanicon the original title of the game was changed to falcon when it was going to be localized here in the states with early arcade flyers even being printed with that name the higher-ups at capcom japan decided against this and kept the original title instead strider was released in the arcades in 1989. as the story goes in the year 2048 a small european nation known as kazakh has been taken over by a mysterious army who was headed up by grand master mio this group of soldiers would go on to march all over europe and seized control of all the other countries in its path a group of rebels sought out the services of a group known as the striders who were experts in espionage and assassination they enlist the most talented special a-class member of hero to stop the evil grand master and bring peace back to the world the game takes place across five levels which doesn't sound like a lot lop they are huge and very diverse when it comes to the locations you have an attack button and a jump button at your disposal it won't be long until you'll be soaring through the air with the gracefulness of a gazelle your primary weapon is your cipher or falsehood this is an extremely powerful plasma sword which will cut through enemies like butter you even have a slide move which you can use in conjunction with your cipher for a little sliding and cutting action your character can scale any of the walls and ceilings thanks to the assistance of a grappling hook thanks to the impressive animation your character does a nice somersault when jumping left or right this is known as the cartwheel jump which will make your character jump higher and longer turning his body like a wheel the tip of your foot can also damage enemies on the way down you will need to be quick though because the enemies are on you like stank on a pig the standard health bar that you start with only allows for three hits before you die there are various checkpoints located throughout the levels thankfully you have a few robot helpers to assist you known as options there are three of these types of options available including a dipole saucer which is a small bipedal robot robo panther who lunges at enemies and robot hawk which circles the air above your player and dives down to attack the enemies there are other power ups as well including upgrades for your cipher invincibility 1-ups and more the level design is a thing of beauty with you traveling all over the world scaling up walls and running down mountains if you have played the arcade game then one of the things that really stand out are the bosses not only was this one of the first arcade games to offer a boss rush the bosses on display are absolutely huge they are absolutely massive and sometimes fill up the entire screen you have everything from robot gorillas to amazon women who might just live on the moon all of these wouldn't mean a hill of beans if it controlled like a 1971 fort pinto but thankfully that's just not the case your character's movements are tight tight and you feel one with the character you do have to make some precision jumps which definitely helps as i mentioned the game takes place across five long levels with mini bosses all throughout there are also fully voiced cut scenes in between each level with the character speaking different languages [Music] hear you he will never leave your asia lie the five levels you encounter are saint petersburg [Music] siberian wilderness [Music] the aerial battleship [Music] [Music] adventure in amazon [Music] and finally the third moon [Music] the various bosses you encounter includes trovaya novo [Music] auroboros [Music] meccapon [Music] solo the kunyang martial arts team the eliminator [Music] the anti-gravity core [Music] captain beard jr [Music] lago [Music] and finally grand master mio [Music] if you are able to defeat the grand master your character leaps down from space and hitches a ride on the back of a humpback whale after this the game is over [Music] [Music] the manga started its release in the middle half of 1988 and was told over six chapters which were later compiled into one volume it does a great job at fleshing out the backstory of the characters and as usual the artwork is spectacular the game was a pretty big success in the arcades and a number of home conversions would follow i will talk more about the arcade conversions at the end of the video strider returns was released in 1990 for various home computers and later on home consoles initially it was called strider 2 but due to upgrades given to the game when it was ported to the sega genesis the name was changed as well because the first game was so successful on the home computer front us gold acquired the license to release a follow-up to the game but made it strictly for the home market the game is not part of the strider franchise canon so developer tiertex created a brand new game in this edition strategy is called to the planet magenta in order to rescue princess lexia your character is known simply as the hero since the original character was still owned by moto kikaku the game takes place across five levels in which you have to overcome various obstacles and enemies to reach the end level bosses the gameplay is very similar to the first game although for some reason you're able to transform into a tank threaded robot after being charged up this changes the gameplay up a bit because you can shoot laser beams instead of using your trusty cipher most of the moves from the first game made it over except for the slide technique although you can still climb walls you are no longer able to cling to ceilings the controls are decent but nowhere near as tight as the original game this could be because the original title was developed as an entirely different game and was later re-skinned as strider the only asset used from the first game was the main sprite who was recolored and also the character portrait for the grand master as i mentioned revamped versions were made available for the sega genesis master system and game gear with the mandate coming from the higher-ups of the company that the most important thing was to make it a better port of the amiga only running in full screen [Music] in 1999 the official arcade sequel strider 2 was released in the arcades and for the original playstation as the story goes grand master mio who has been lying dormant for the last 2 000 years has been resurrected and is looking to take control of the world a brand new strider who carries the namesake of hero who was a clone of the original and was created by the organization because he is one of the last riders after they were all wiped out decides to carry on his mission to destroy the grand master once and for all thanks to the advanced sony zn-2 hardware this game used a combination of sprites and polygons so it looks fabulous in its 2.5 d perspective now even though the graphics have been given a significant upgrade it is still a size scrolling action platformer your character has his traditional blue ninja outfit and flowing red scarf and they look great the game takes place across five stages with enemies and bosses littered all throughout the controls are fairly simple and are reminiscent of the original although this time there are three buttons being used instead of two you have your standard attack and jump button along with a boost mode his repertoire as a ninja has been given an upgrade as well and he is able to crouch double jump and control your direction all in midair your slide move returns as well also making its return is the ability to climb up walls and dangle from ceilings your trusty but perhaps rusty cipher is used as your primary attack method the controls are fantastic and apparently this game was developed as sort of a reimagining of the first game and it works because that's exactly what it feels like the action is very fast paced and you need to be on your toes because there are enemies everywhere if you find yourself in a bind you can press the boost button which causes energy blasts to fly out of your weapon that can kill surrounding enemies very quickly the animation is extremely smooth almost anime quality as i mentioned there are five levels in total with you being able to choose to play through any of the first three missions a very faithful playstation port was released in 2000 but this one did include an extra sixth stage this also included a bonus disc with a number of extra features such as a port of the original arcade strider and the option to play as strider heroes rival strider hen [Music] the character of hero would make a number of cameos in furious capcom games over the next 15 years while the series lay as dormant as my girlfriend did on prom night he would appear in snk versus capcom card fighters clash the tactical game namco x capcom for the playstation 2. he has appeared in the various marvel vs capcom fighting games he is also a playable character in project x zone 2 which is another tactical role-playing game but this time for the nintendo 3ds he was also a non-playable character in adventure quiz capcom world 2 as well as appearing in the background of ken stage and street fighter alpha 2. in 2014 after a 15-year hiatus the game known simply as strider was released for the playstation 3 playstation 4 and windows as you can imagine from the title this is a reboot of the original game and let me say in a nutshell it is awesome the striders send in their best assassin hero into the city of kazakh to take down the evil grand master mio who was attempting to take over the world the gameplay is a combination of all three main games which include the plot of the original arcade game the free roaming design of the nes title and the insanely fast paced gameplay of strider 2. for this adventure the action takes place entirely within the city of kazakh instead of traveling around the world as you did in the previous games that's okay though because the city is massive and there are still plenty of bad guys to slice and dice the gameplay is best described as an intense side-scrolling action platformer in which you get to control hero and freely explore the massive metropolis the further you progress in the game the more areas you can unlock and explore all of his previous techniques are available but have been given a bit of an upgrade as well your character has a health bar as well as a plasma energy bar which represents energy required for some of his techniques there is also a charge strike meter which fills up with the more enemies you hit and decreases when you take a hit yourself when filled he goes into a charge mode which increases your range of attacks for a short period of time there is also a map showing your exact location and current objective this game feels like strider through and through especially since most of your techniques in the previous games return as well such as the cartwheel slide dash and the ability to climb almost any surface you can also unlock new moves as you progress through the game once again your weapon of choice is your cipher which has been given a boost as well allowing it to be upgraded at various points in the game there are 15 levels to complete and you will run into some familiar and brand new bosses throughout the game there are three difficulty levels available as well as the ability to unlock 11 different costumes the graphics are fantastic and the animation is extremely smooth the controls are finely tuned and feels like an extension of your arm while you are playing of the various versions available there was only one physical release and that was for the playstation 3 in japan [Music] would you like to be part of iceland there was a bit of censorship in the original arcade game buried nice and deep in the arcade code are the original unused graphics for the amazons which shows a bare breast considering we got to see a pixelated peter in the arcade game rampage a pixelated boobie wouldn't be that big of a deal there were a few pieces of merchandise available including t-shirts as well as some fantastic toys and garage kits among others after these passages we'll be right back get the radical action in these exciting home video games featuring smooth animation and endless entertainment from capcom usa [Music] [Music] the home conversions were definitely a mixed bag so let's start off by taking a look at the one that was developed in tandem with the arcade game and that is the nes version the straight up action found in the original arcade game is replaced with an action adventure quest as the story goes located at the strider headquarters which is the space station blue dragon hero receives a disturbing message from the strider director matic one of your fellow striders known as kane has been kidnapped by the imperial forces hiro was instructed to track down cain and kill him he does not follow the odors but instead gets information out of him and learns about a mysterious project known as zane he learns that this is a secret weapon to hypnotize and brainwash the world's population the player has to find clues scattered throughout each level along with various items in order to progress you start out in kazakh but eventually you progress through the game to unlock egypt china and africa by collecting various disks your primary weapon of attack is your cipher various character traits such as strength levels will increase after you accomplish certain mission objectives a new attack available is the plasma arrow which can be shot out of your cipher there is a password system available which definitely comes in handy even though the game is different from the arcade title it's still fun to play in its own right there are some issues with the difficulty as well as cheap hits of plenty but overall it's not too bad for whatever reason the game was not released in japan [Music] do [Music] the turbografx cd version was in development for almost four years and finally saw its release in 1994. part of the reason for the delay was that it started out life as a super graphics hue card but thanks to the failure of that system they decided to make a cd-rom version instead with that being said the arcade card is still required while the resolution takes a slight hit and the parallax scrolling has been completely removed everything else looks really good because the game took so long in development they decided to add some enhancements including animated cutscenes red book audio and a brand new level exclusive to this version something else that has been added is the addition of fully voiced dialogue from each character all of the moves from the arcade game have made it over so if you are a strider fan you should check this version out just for the music alone [Music] the xenic spectrum version is up next and while everything for the most part is monochrome the animation and speed of the gameplay sort of makes up for it due to the limited memory space available a lot of heroes acrobatic moves had to be cut certain stages would also be split into two due to the large size of the original other concessions would be made such as certain bosses not appearing at all although monochrome the sprites are nicely detailed and are instantly recognizable the sound effects are sweet short bursts of nothing but gas but thankfully they are quick and to the point a 48k and 128k version was available with the 128 version featuring in-game music it's definitely not silky smooth but for an 8-bit machine it's plenty fast and it plays pretty good despite only using one fire button [Music] sticking with the 8-bits let's take a look at the amstrad version this is basically the spectrum version only with a little bit of color and running a whole lot slower the colors that were chosen are beyond horrendous with your character now sporting a spiffy pink ensemble i don't think this is what mr yatsui had in mind when he imagined free falling through the air because gravity shouldn't work the way it does in this game whereas the spectrum version ran at a decent clip this one seems to chug along which definitely affects the controls the sprites are fairly detailed although with such poor color choices it's hard to really appreciate them the sound effects and music are pretty much non-existent [Music] the sega genesis version was touted as the first eight megabit cartridge for the system at the time this was considered the benchmark and would show the general public what the sega genesis was truly capable of when it came to producing good arcade conversions it's not all rainbows and lollipops though as there is a fair amount of flicker and most of the voices are missing from the cutscenes the ending has also been changed slightly as well however everything else is pretty close to arcade perfect especially for back in 1990 all of the moves levels and bosses are here and everything looks great the animation is very smooth and plays very close to the arcade original [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the good old commodore 64 version is a mixed bag while the main sprites are detailed and fairly well animated the ghoulish colors are really distracting apparently the sprites have been stuck in a dryer for about 18 hours because everything has been shrunk down considerably most of the content from the arcade made it over although the cutscenes were removed entirely something else missing entirely is the final fight with the grand master once again the ending has been changed from the arcade game the controls are very frustrating due to how sluggish everything feels and how your character can literally get stuck on a wall from time to time there are cheap hits of mundo in this game which is par for the course when you consider the rest of the presentation the sound effects of music are pretty good and are leaps and bounds above the other 8-bit computer entries [Music] [Music] a stripped-down version for the sega master system was also released in 1991. the sprites are nicely detailed but the animation is extremely choppy the game also suffers from heavy slowdown at various points in the game and there is also a whole lot of flickering going on the parallax scrolling has also been removed with very little detail in the backgrounds the cutscenes also appear out of order for some reason the level layouts have also been redesigned which takes away from the arcade feel most of your ninja moves made it over except for the floor slide the gameplay is extremely stiff and to be honest it's just not fun to play the music is not very good and it tends to grate on your nerves after just a few minutes [Music] [Applause] [Music] the amiga version looks really good and if it was just a tad bit smoother it would be one of the best home computer ports next to the x 68 000 version the sprites are fairly detailed with decent animation but the overall frame rate is just too choppy similar to the other home computer ports there is a giant status bar at the bottom of the screen which i assume was used to help speed up the game but it doesn't quite get the job done the music is really good and we do get some nice digitized sound effects as well we also get music and sound effects playing at the same time which is a definite plus the cut scenes did make it over however all the voices are missing similar to the other versions there is no final fight with the grand master so the ending has been changed we also only have one fire button so sacrifices had to be made the game controls fairly well but if it would have been just a little bit faster and just a little bit smoother it may have turned out a whole lot better [Music] the atari st version looks very similar to the amiga although there is a slight loss of color what is not so slight is the drop in quality when it comes to the music and sound effects they are decent and get the job done but nowhere near as pleasant on the eardrums everything else including the controls are pretty much the same [Music] the man in pink is back which means i'm talking about strider for ms-dos it looks very similar to the amiga and atari st versions although not quite as colorful the sound effects are pure pc speaker and are non-stop one hundred percent queeferific so if that sort of thing floats your boat then you will be in heaven a lot of the content is missing such as the backgrounds and the giant metallic dinosaur among others the same choppy animation and stiff gameplay remains so unless you were glutton for punishment i would avoid this copy at all costs an almost arcade perfect version was released for the x 68 000. this features large detailed sprites and smooth animation that rivals the arcade original everything from the arcade game has been included from the opening and track screens to the entire arcade ending along with the fantastic graphics are the excellent tunes taken straight from the arcade game thankfully we have two buttons to use so the controls are essentially perfect the only downside is that there is a lot of flicker at certain points in the game otherwise this is fantastic [Music] [Laughter] [Laughter] the game was also available as part of capcom classics collection 2 and capcom classics collection remixed and yes there was even a tiger handheld version strider is a fantastic game that should be on your bucket list of games to play the difficulty can be a bit overwhelming at times but as with anything practice makes perfect the game introduced a number of innovations to the genre which are still being used to this day if you've never had a chance to fight a giant robotic gorilla with your huge plasma sword give this game a shot you'll be glad you did if you enjoyed this video be sure to like comment share and subscribe also if you would like to support me on patreon be sure and click the link below thank you everybody for watching you

Channel: PatmanQC - History of arcade game documentaries

Views: 40,092

Keywords: NES, arcade, SNES, amputee, Xbox, PlayStation, Sony, Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft, retro, video, gamesAtari, Colecovision, Intellivision, Jaguar, entertainment, system, Game, Boy, Genesis, Mega, drive, CD, X68000, Amstrad, spectrum, MSX, 2600, 5200, 7800, 400, 800, 1200, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, 360, one, switch, GameCube, wii, wii-u, Moto kikaku, Capcom, manga, kouichi yotsui, Masahiko Kurokawa, HirY, Grand Master, MEIO, Junko Tamiya, Censorship, KUNIANG MARTIAL ARTS TEAM, MEHCA pon

Id: 2fc7NFhiREo

Length: 40min 42sec (2442 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 22 2022