ACD Strider
Greetings, After reading good things about the ACD of Strider and nearly dying of shock, I figured I better play it again and put my two cents in. When I first bought it, I paid a mere $25 for it new in Osaka. This was four years ago. Then when I played it I couldn't believe how bad it was. While the addition of the extra stage was kind of nice because it reminded me of the cool desert parts in the NES version, this was not enough to make it a worthwhile game for me and I was super disappointed. Now the used copy of Drac X I got the same day (and it was only $20) made me super happy and I enjoyed that all the way to the end. I had heard plenty of hype about both games, and the prices were quite good, but I really felt like I had wasted money on the Strider. But that is just opinion, so I will move to fact... I have a wide screen high definition TV, so I can display two program sources next to each other at any time. So I put the ACD Strider on the left and the Mega Drive Strider on the right. I also had the arcade perfect but ruined by loading Playstation version loaded up, but not displayed. (I could switch to it at any time.) The ACD Strider was sadly in composite video, but the other two were in S-Video. After playing each version to the end, I noticed these things: 1. Coloring The ACD is usually really washed out, almost like it is only using 16 colors or something. A prime example is the fire in this game. Be it the fire that comes after beating Stroyoboya, or the explosions that result from beating enemies, the fire is always a really sorry looking yellow in the ACD version. On the Mega Drive; however, the fire always has that quality look that the fire has in most other Capcom games. 2. Arcade perfect The Mega Drive version is a pretty good version of the arcade. While there are missing features, like the names of the stages, and downgraded graphics, like the far background in the opening flight sequence, it generally does look and play like the arcade. The ACD version sometimes has better detail, like the very top of the dome near the end of the first board, but it has far too many alterations from the arcade, like the extra moving stakes on the last stage. Neither game has the original ending, but I can forgive that! 3. Backgrounds Way too many backgrounds are missing from the ACD version. One example is the building that should be there after fighting Stroyoboya on the first stage. Also, when a background is present, it usually looks pretty bad. An example is the background present in Sibera after running down the mountain. It just looks cleaner on the Mega Drive. 4. Foregrounds Foreground detail is about 50/50. As I mentioned before, the top of the dome is more detailed, although poorly colored, on the ACD version. But there are other parts, like the room below that dome and right before the boss, that look a lot better on the Mega Drive. 5. Sprites The sprites don't impress me on the ACD version. They always seem to be compressed one way or the other. Hiryu seems too short and certain robot enemies seem too tall. And the wolves on the Siberan stage are just hideous to look at. Not only are they lacking detail and animation, but they are a sickly yellow color as well. (Not to mention that they can't be hit while standing, a definite change from the arcade and Mega Drive versions.) 6. Music/Sound Effects The music is questionable, but the sound effects are much closer to the arcade sound effects (and better in my opinion) on the Mega Drive. Even the sound Hiryu makes when attacking is better. (The ACD one is a little too high.) As for music, I feel the Mega Drive tunes are closer to the arcade, but the semi-arranged tunes on the ACD are not bad. (Now the ACD music at the continue screen and the stage clear screens is lame since it is digitized and has that awful crackle sound to it.) But the music is generally a question of taste, if you want the arcade music then you will like the Mega Drive version and if you want semi arranged tunes with better sound quality you will like the ACD version. 7. Control Control is 100% better on the Mega Drive. The control part of the ACD version was not done all too well. Jumps must be anticipated, and I felt like I was putting my thumb through the pad sometimes while trying to jump. The way in which the cypher works is also not quite right because you can always swing it at full speed no matter what. In the arcade and Mega Drive versions the speed at which you can attack with the cypher is about half when hanging from objects. So while the ability to attack at full speed all the time in the ACD is quite a benefical bug, it shows that the programmers either didn't care to fix it, didn't know it was like that, or didn't have the time to worry about it. 8. Cinemas (Note: Could be a spolier.) I would have mentioned the cinemas in number 1, but there are more than just color problems with the ACD version. First off, the Mega Drive cinemas, while true to the arcade, are not quite as clear in the graphics department and missing the voices. As the Mega Drive Strider is a cart, and an old cart at that, I can forgive the lack of voices but not the slightly blurry still shots. And the cinemas on the ACD version generally let me down also. First off they are not colorful at all, and there is little motion. The face shots of characters are the same. The lack of color here really makes the cinemas look undetailed. The following is more opinion than fact: Now, the cinema before the last board is a little different because it doesn't look too bad at all. I am speaking of the shot of the Earth and the Third Moon. I did like it because the coloring felt right and it looked like I felt the Earth should. Then things get washed out for the next part, but the last part also looks alright. It features some polygons and a zoom to the tower where the last fight takes place. But that is the only cinema I really liked in the whole game. And I found the use of only Japanese speech to be lame too. In the arcade, the characters speak in their native tongue and I liked that. While they don't always say everything that is written in Japanese, I found it to be pretty cool. In the ACD we only get the captions from the arcade spoken in Japanese and that is a let down for me. Of course the Mega Drive is missing the foreign voices too, but it didn't have the capability for them in the first place. And that takes care of the observations I made. I still find the ACD version to be quite bad, but my opinion is a little higher than before. And the ending is a little better than the arcade version, but it can't touch the Mega Drive ending. It also uses polygons and I guess that is why it is an ACD instead of a Super CD. Feel free to correct me, but no bashing please! Later, Loc BTW: Strider is the kind of game you beat the day you buy it, so I don't know how the person who said "they lost interest in the Genesis one before beating it" was not able to get to the end...It makes me wonder if difficulty issues were involved here. The Mega Drive/Genesis version required a code to continue which is silly and could contribute to losing interest, but it is not that hard to begin with. The codeless continues on the ACD are definitely a plus for that version. (The evil bug on the Mega Drive (maybe not in the Genesis one) that makes it impossible to beat the game without dying at least once is rather lame, but it only costs you one life.)