Capcom announces new Strider game

[Dire 51]

You know, I disliked the NES game so much that I completely neglected to consider that, but you're right. This does seem to be a marriage of both games.

I think the NES game was just bigger conceptually than the hardware could handle. Would've made a great SNES game that could have done more colorful, fluid and smooth sprites and collision.

It didn't help that it was basically released unfinished; that is to say, it doesn't appear that many bugs that could have been fixed were (there are a ton of bugs in the game, as I'm sure you know). Since Strider tanked in Japanese arcades and (from here on this is all speculation based on what little we do know about the situation) the manga didn't go over so well, Capcom Japan decided that the project was a failure and pushed back the Famicom game's release from 1988 to 1989, then cancelled it altogether. However, Strider was a hit in U.S. arcades, so to capitalize on it a quicky English translation was slapped onto the existing Famicom prototype, a couple tweaks were made and it was released for the NES.

For a lot of American Strider fans, the NES game was their first exposure to the series. Myself included - I played the NES game first back in early '90, the Genesis port shortly after it was released, then finally stumbled across the arcade game a year or two later.

I'm glad to see that Double Helix seems to be taking inspiration from the NES game (I'm just waiting for one of them to say so in an interview), as I like it for what it is and have wanted to see a revamped version of it for years (an SNES version would have been awesome). Bugs aside, it's still a decent game and I play through it once or twice a year. I'd love to get my hands on the Famicom prototype, for that matter.

[Dire 51]

Interview with James Vance of Double Helix, in which he acknowledges the NES game's influence

[kupomogli]

I liked the NES game, but this demo also doesn't feel like the NES game either. The progression in the NES game seems to have a point. From the very start you already have your cypher abilities. You don't pick up 97 different cypher skills in 30 seconds. You don't find a cypher skill that allows you to open a door, etc. You find a piece of data and review it to find out that you need to go to Japan, Egypt, US, etc, or you take a key from someone you kill or someone who helps you to open doors in one of those previous areas. The find 62 different abilities in five seconds thing just seems extremely lazy and the level design we've been shown so far looks like ass because of it.

Even on the NES version, Strider didn't get hit with 942 bullets and still kept going no problem. If they didn't want people questioning this, they should have either made it look a bit better developed or had someone who didn't suck ass at video games playing it.

I'm not going to completely judge it and say the game sucks now and it'll suck once released. I'll atleast play the demo and if it interests me then cool. It's better to be pessimistic about it and the game turns out to be great than be optimistic and praising the game even when it sucks because you're a fan who was extremely hyped for the games release.