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NEC Avenue's Strider Hiryû (ストライダー飛竜) is a port of the coin-op for the PC Engine. This port is infamous for its protracted development, as it was originally announced as a HuCard for the PC Engine SuperGrafx in 1990 before undergoing various format changes, ultimately being released as a CD-ROM game for the Arcade Card add-on in late 1994.[3][4][5] Its most noticeable changes are new animated cutscenes, arranged Red Book-quality soundtrack, and an optional bonus mission between the first and second stages, set in a desert. Otherwise, the game plays similar to the coin-op. The new cutscenes appear to have inspired the later Strider 2, as both games use similar wireframe maps for their stage introductions.

Story[]

The new cutscenes flesh out more of the story. Most cutscenes are still shots of the characters, but a few are animated. Some shots are animated through layering and scaling[6], while others are animated traditionally.[7]

StrPCE intro group

Screenshot from the game's intro.

The cutscenes strengthen plot continuity between stages. Hiryu communicates with the Striders through a satellite link which provides mission objectives, used mostly as a way to tie stages together. The Amazon stage introduction, for example, reveals that Meio's threat is actually a hologram projected from the Amazonian jungle; and the stage completion cutscene shows a shuttle being launched from the South American base to the Third Moon, which explains Hiryu's arrival on the orbital station. A female Navigator was introduced in order to handle Hiryu's communications with the Striders Base, providing him with mission intel and objectives during most cutscenes.

The other notable change to the backstory can be seen in the stated origin of the Striders: here called a secret organization created by the United Nations to deal specifically with the Grandmaster's attack.

Differences with the Arcade[]

This port is a mostly faithful, expanded version of the arcade game. It contains a new stage, animated cutscenes and Redbook Audio tracks for stage music and cutscenes.

Arcade - Turbo Duo

Arcade - TurboDuo. Native Resolutions

Arcade - TurboDuo 4by3

Arcade - TurboDuo. 4:3 aspect ratios


CPS-1 native resolution: 384 by 224. Viewable gameplay area: 384 by 224.

PC Engine native resolution: 256 by 224. Viewable gameplay area: 256 by 208.

(Vertical viewable gameplay area is limited by the opaque HUD.)



As displayed on an arcade monitor or  home television using a 4:3 aspect ratio resolution.






List of Changes[]

  • The new stage, "Oil Fields", an oil refinery and military desert camp used by the Kazakh Federation. The stage includes a few new enemies and two original bosses: a commander who summons a giant monster resembling an ant lion larva, and a soldier who drives the Sovkhoz Я tank, reminiscent of the T-48 from the manga.[8]
  • A life unit associated with one of the Options will now move along if the player restores lost life, moving it always at the front of the lifebar instead of staying in its original place. This removed a strategy in which one could get hit on purpose and then refill the lifebar after obtaining an Option, protecting it until Hiryu dies.
  • Slower gameplay and progression, including noticeable slowdown, pauses and invisible barriers.
  • As with the Genesis port, both Strobaya and Solo must be defeated before the player can continue.
  • Fewer on-screen enemies.
  • Alternate dynamic difficulty behavior.
  • Fewer difficulty levels.
  • Lower game difficulty.
  • Some objects and enemies have different score and HP allocations.
  • Double the amount of time allocated between each checkpoint.
  • Altered checkpoint locations.
  • More checkpoints.
  • The player has to restart the stage they died on from the beginning if they continue.
  • Modified enemy and object placement in many places.
  • Removal of the Tyrannosaurus enemy from the Amazon stage.

  • Altered collision detection has been implemented for the foreground tiles and sprites, affecting gameplay.
  • Lower native display resolution.
  • Contains exactly one quarter of the tile graphics resolution of the arcade version in the foreground layer.
  • Increased sprite pop-up and flicker.
  • Altered game boundary scrolling limits and general scrolling behavior.
  • Only one background scrolling layer is used in the entire game (Flying Battleship Balrog).

  • A redesigned opaque HUD has been added.
  • All of the graphics have been redrawn or edited to accommodate the game's lower resolution and color palette, subtlety changing their appearance.
  • A few characters were redesigned. While some characters received just minor updates, others went through considerable change. These redesigns are exclusively seen in the cutscenes and with the exception of Captain Beard Jr., aren't reflected in the in-game sprites.
  • Lago's sprite has a slightly different purple palette when summoned during the final stage.
  • Heavily modified (redesigned) sprite movement and behavior for all sprites.
  • Far fewer frames of animation for sprites.
  • No animating tiles used in graphics layers.
  • Missing foreground and background tiles and objects.
  • Altered color palette.
  • The stage layout, design and appearance has been modified in many areas.
  • The invincibility powerup's glowing and shadow effect is removed.[7]

  • The Red Book audio tracks reinterpret most of the themes from the arcade and add three original themes: two for the new stage[8] and a third replacing "Hiryu" from Stage 05.[9]
  • Ouroboros' boss theme ("Uroboros - The Iron Ruler") is reused in the boss battles against the Kuniang trio, Captain Beard Jr. and Lago. As a result of this, the original boss themes ("Fu-jin", "Capture!" and "African Formidable") are not part of the soundtrack. Similarly Strobaya's boss theme ("Coup") is reused for the Mecha Pon mid-boss fight.
  • Three other themes are not found in the game: "Mosque the Cold-Hearted" ("Coup" takes over it), "Siberian Tunnel" and "Driving Wheel" (both replaced by "Mass of Clouds"). The three short intro fanfares from St. Petersburg ("Defense Line") and the Amazon ("War Drum" and "Encirclement") are also not included.
  • A vocal introduction precedes all boss fights, accompanied by an animated mugshot of the enemy.
  • Fewer in-game sound effects.
  • Sound effects have been redesigned.
  • Lower sound quality used for sound effects.
  • The Japanese language is used throughout the game, completely dropping the original's multilingual aspect. The game's interface however remains in English.

  • Reprogrammed game by Dice Creative, Ltd.
  • An Options menu allowing the player to determine Level Select (Normal, ???), number of lives and the option to switch off the Extra Stage from play.
  • Removal of the highscore initial-input and highscore screens.
  • Gameplay attract sequences have been replaced with an animated introduction.
  • All stages are preceded with an animated cutscene and followed by an animated outro screen.
  • Changes to the script:
    • Hiryu's line demanding Tong Pooh to take him to her boss is omitted.
    • Grandmaster Meio's threat during the stage 4 introduction is slightly reworded so he addresses the Striders as a whole.
    • During the final cutscene, Captain Beard Jr. makes no reference to the power of science, only stating Meio has all military power in his hand.
  • Removal of the hidden panda.
  • Single player only.
  • The port's staff credit roll features all the names of the staff members written in kanji.
  • Unregistered trademark symbol on game title.

Credits[]

Position In-Game Full Name
CAST
Hiryu (飛竜) 塩沢 兼人 (Shiozawa Kaneto) Kaneto Shiozawa
Uncredited 冬馬 由美 (Tōma Yumi) Yumi Tōma
堀 之紀 (Hori Yukitoshi) Yukitoshi Hori
池田 秀一 (Ikeda Shūichi) Shūichi Ikeda
矢田 耕司 (Yada Kōji) Kōji Yada
松井 摩味 (Matsui Mami) Mami Matsui
Grandmaster (グランドマスター) 戸谷 公次 (Totani Kōji) Kōji Totani
Narration (ナレーション) 家弓 家正 (Kayumi Iemasa) Iemasa Kayumi
STAFF - GAME PART
Program 今川 豊広 (Imagawa Toyohiro) Toyohiro Imagawa
高橋 吾郎 (Takahashi Gorou) Gorou Takahashi
Map Graphic 石井 宣緒 (Ishii Norio) Norio Ishii
斉藤 明宏 (Akihiro Saito) Akihiro Saito
杉野 元 (Sugino Gen) Gen Sugino
中村 伸正 (Nakamura Nobumasa) Nobumasa Nakamura
堀口 昌男 (Horiguchi Masao) Masao Horiguchi
VISUAL DEMO PART
Program 渡辺 護 (Watanabe Mamoru) Mamoru Watanabe
Character Design & Animate 稲野 義信 (Inano Yoshinobu) Yoshinobu Inano
Graphics 青木 裕子 (Aoki Yūko) Yūko Aoki
石井 宣緒 (Ishii Norio) Norio Ishii
大津 千秋 (Ootsu Chiaki) Chiaki Ootsu
斉藤 明宏 (Saito Akihiro) Akihiro Saito
杉野 元 (Sugino Gen) Gen Sugino
丸山 誠司 (Maruyama Seiji) Seiji Maruyama
Music K.M. Brothers
Original Game Made by Capcom
Produce 斉藤 明宏 (Saito Akihiro) Akihiro Saito
Direction 大野 聡 (Ohno Satoshi) Satoshi Ohno
Executive Producer 多部田 俊雄 (Tabeta Toshio) Toshio Tabeta
Manufactured Dice Co.Ltd
Copyright Capcom, NEC Avenue.Ltd

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Dice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PC Engine CD-ROM². Level/area: End credits. (September 22, 1994).
  2. "Company History 会社沿革" (in Japanese). Dice Creative Inc. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  3. (September 1990). "Strider Hiryu" (in Japanese). PC Engine Fan (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten). Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  4. (January 1991). "Are SG Games Being Withdrawn?" (in Japanese). PC Engine Fan (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten). Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  5. (September 1991). "Strider Hiryu" (in Japanese). PC Engine Fan (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten). Retrieved December 13, 2010.
  6. Dice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PCEngine CD-ROM². Level/area: Kazakh Federation. (September 22, 1994).
  7. 7.0 7.1 Dice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PC Engine CD-ROM². Level/area: The Flying Battleship Balrog. (September 22, 1994).
  8. 8.0 8.1 Dice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PC Engine CD-ROM². Level/area: Extra Stage. (September 22, 1994).
  9. Dice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PC Engine CD-ROM². Level/area: The Third Moon. (September 22, 1994).
Strider video game series
Games
Strider (Home computersMega DriveMaster SystemPC EngineSharp X68000PlayStationMobile)
Strider (NES)Strider II/ReturnsStrider 2Strider (2014)
CompilationsCrossoversRelated Games
Characters
HiryuGrandmaster MeioSoloKuniang M.A. Team
Tong PoohHienGeneral MikielOuroboros
Recurring Elements
StridersCypherClimb SickleOptionsKazakh Federation
Anti-Gravity Device/GravitronMecha PonFlying Battleship BalrogThe Third Moon
Other Articles
CapcomMoto KikakuTiertex Design StudiosDouble Helix Games
IsukePatariroOther key staffStrider Hiryu (Manga)Capcom Gamebooks
MerchandiseSoundtracks
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