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The Fortress Guard (城塞兵) is a type of stage enemy from Strider 2.

A varied soldier unit found in Fortress Wahnen serving as the backbone of Herzog Schlange's personal army, the Fortress Guard is very similar to the original's Russian Infantryman. They are muscular soldiers wearing a German-esque military uniform with two white stripes crossing their chest and a round metal helmet. Each unit is identified by the color of their uniform and wield weapons suited to their roles, with the vast majority carrying Assault Rifles with bayonet spikes as their primary weapon.

These soldiers are direct subordinates of the Knight Leader.

Information[]

Soldier[]

Appears in Stage 02 (Fortress Wahnen), Scenes 1 (blue only in harder difficulties), 2 (green and red), 3 (all) and 5 (blue).

The basic type of soldier in Fortress Wahnen, these soldiers serve as guards around the fortress in most areas. They wear differently colored uniforms and wield Assault Rifles with an equipped bayonet spike. Green uniform soldiers are the most basic ones and attack exclusively up close, surrounding Hiryu and trying to stab him with their bayonets. The soldiers in blue uniforms keep their distance from Hiryu instead, moving back if Hiryu approaches them, and when far enough pump their rifles and shoot him. As the most basic and common unit, they attack in large crowds but are otherwise an easy kill.

In higher difficulties, these guards can be also seen sniping at Hiryu from the background, with a yellow crosshair marking the spot where the projectile will land. Green soldiers appear in this way during the 1st scene and blue soldiers appear in the 5th scene. These long-reaching enemies can only be killed by using the long-range plasma waves from Boost mode.

The red uniform variant is a rare enemy that randomly appears among the green soldiers. These act the same as the green soldiers, but drop red Zenny instead of blue when killed, which scores more points.

Brave Bomber[]

Appears in Stage 02 (Fortress Wahnen), Scene 3.

The Brave Bomber (爆弾勇士)[1] is an unique variation found in the fortress' Connecting Bridge. These guards wear white uniforms, eye-covering helmets with red visors, and wield a long stick with a bomb attached to one end. Much as their name implies, these enemies simply rush ahead at Hiryu with their weapon held forward, exploding if they make contact with him, killing themselves in the process.

They can be killed safely or avoided completely, letting the T-54 run over them.

Artillery[]

Appears in Stage 02 (Fortress Wahnen), Scene 5

Advanced enemy type wearing a dark blue-colored uniforms. Instead of a bayonet, this soldier type has a grenade launcher equipped to his Assault Rifle. They mainly attack Hiryu from afar by shooting a small missile in an overhead arc, making them good to strike him out of a jump. As such, they are usually placed in a way they can hit Hiryu while he's on mid-air.

Besides their weapon, they behave just like the common soldiers.

Iron Ball Guardian[]

Appears in Stage 02 (Fortress Wahnen), Scene 1 (harder difficulties only)

An unique and rare enemy, the Iron Ball Guardian (鉄球衛士)[2] appears standing in the first rooftop of the initial area, swinging a huge spiked iron ball over his head. He remains in place swinging his weapon, blocking out Hiryu's path and throwing his mace at him if he enters the guard's line of vision.

Though more resistant than the other soldiers, this enemy can be easily killed by ducking below him and slashing away.

T-54 Officer[]

Appears in Stage 02 (Fortress Wahnen), Scene 3.

A soldier of unknown name who appears leading the T-54 armored vehicle as it chases Hiryu across the Connecting Bridge. This soldier wears a higher-ranking uniform with what appears to be medals on one side of his chest, and can be seen waving a sword as the vehicle moves forward in its attempt to ram Hiryu.

The soldier serves as the only weakpoint in the otherwise invulnerable T-54, although actually attacking him is difficult as the tank never stops moving and he stands on its top, and jumping behind can either send Hiryu into the moat below or allow a hit as the tank drives backwards. Killing the soldier sends the T-54 into a frenzy, rushing forward without stopping until it falls into the waters of the castle moat.

Design Notes[]

Str2 brave bomber concept

Early concept art for the Brave Bomber shows the enemy was initially conceived as three soldiers running together with their weapons held forward, instead of simply one[1]. This early design was inspired and named after the Nikudan Sanyushi (爆弾三勇士, usually translated as the 3 Brave Bombers, Three Human Bombs or Three Human Bullets), three Japanese soldiers who seemingly blew themselves up against an enemy fortification in 1932, and posthumously became war heroes in Japan, being immortalized through several films, monuments and other materials.

The Iron Ball Guardian may have been based on an early, scrapped enemy known as Iron Ball the Great, a large armored knight with a huge helmet shaped like a spiked mace chained to his armor, which he'd spin around constantly to attack Hiryu.[3]

See also[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Capcom (February 22, 2014). Strider Hiryu Visual Chronicle (Japanese). Pg. 41
  2. MVP (February 04, 2000). "Strider Hiryu 2" (Japanese). Arcadia (Vol. 2). Pg. 96.
  3. Capcom (1999). Capcom Secret File #26: Strider Hiryu 2 (Japanese). Pg. 5
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