00:06Grazie a tutti.
00:30Strider was first unleashed on the world back in the late 80s as a multimedia extravaganza,
00:35expanding a Japan-only comic in not one, but two games.
00:38The first game released on arcade and outlined the travails of Hi-Ryu,
00:42a young and promising member of an elite mercenary group known as the Striders.
00:46The game put players in the cloven ninja shoes of Strider Hi-Ryu,
00:50who could swing his cypher blade so fast all you saw was a swoosh that made people explode horribly.
00:55The gameplay was simple and fast, taking Hi-Ryu through a variety of eclectic locales,
01:00from the futuristic cityscape of Kazak, to the Amazon, to this anti-gravity chamber, to this here robo-gorilla parlor.
01:08Of course, he never could have taken on the evil grandmaster Mayo without the help of his signature robot buddies,
01:13a panther, a hawk, and this adorable little walking saucer, later upgraded to a hovering room.
01:22Released just months after the arcade game, was a completely different game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
01:27Playing to the strength of the home console, Strider NES featured a more elaborate story,
01:32which adhered closely to that of the comic, semi-non-linear progression, and lots of character upgrades,
01:37like the magnet boots and the aqua boots, because that shark boy ain't gonna kill himself.
01:41The game introduced some big ideas while retaining the hack-and-slash, dude-exploding action of the arcade game.
01:49Fast forward ten years to Strider 2, a faster, bigger, prettier reimagining of the arcade original.
01:55Call it a sequel if you'd like, but man, that's an awful lot of coincidences.
01:59Featuring some of the biggest sprites ever seen at the time, Strider 2, like its predecessor,
02:04debuted on the arcade, and was ported shortly afterwards to the Sony PlayStation.
02:08The PlayStation version, arguably the definitive one, contained not only a near-arcade-perfect port of the game,
02:14back when that was still a feat, it also came with the original Strider on a second disc.
02:18On top of that, clearing Strider 2 would unlock the ultimate playable character, Strider Hien.
02:23And clearing both games would unlock a PlayStation-exclusive stage, Stage 00,
02:28which used the backdrop from the high score screen.
02:30And that's about it.
02:32I don't think we have to convince many of you watching that the Strider has become one of the more
02:35enduring video game characters of all time,
02:37and that's made all the more impressive once you consider he only really starred in three, three and a half
02:42games.
02:43Is Strider's longevity due to the colorful, dystopian setting?
02:46Its dazzling star jumps and cypher swooshes?
02:49Its multilingual cast?
02:51Well, one factor might be the fact that the first game was ported to a veritable crap load of systems,
02:57most notably for many of you on the Sega Genesis.
03:00Definitely Strider.
03:01Sega Genesis!
03:03Genesis.
03:03Strider was everywhere.
03:05In fact, the company that handled many of these ports overseas, U.S. Gold,
03:09was apparently so happy with Strider's performance that it made its own sequel exclusively for the West,
03:14Journey from Darkness, Strider Returns.
03:17Where did this game fit in with the rest of the series?
03:19Well, they may have taken a few liberties, what with the gun-wielded expandex man,
03:24but luckily they'd already eased the Western audience into that kind of digression with their ports of the original game,
03:29which not only omitted a final boss,
03:30but even added a new ending, where everything was all just a simulation that never happened.
03:35That may raise serious philosophical debates about the Strider canon, but never fear, it's all fiction anyway.
03:41Core games aside, Strider's had a variety of guest appearances over the years,
03:46from his consistent attendance in the Marvel vs. Capcom series,
03:48to bit parts in Street Fighter Alpha 2, to various others.
03:53But his new game, also called Strider, is poised to put Hiryu back where he belongs, in the spotlight.
03:59The new game will combine all the best elements of past Strider titles,
04:03fast and frantic cypher action from the arcade games,
04:05rewarding exploration and character progression from the NES game,
04:09and a fanservice-y electronic soundtrack, which pays homage to both.
04:13You'll also catch plenty of appearances from returning cast members,
04:16Solo, the smack-talkin' cyborg,
04:18the robot gorilla mecha-pone whose existence remains a mystery,
04:21and the unfortunately named Pooh sisters, to note just a few.
04:26Look forward to Strider on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC early this year.
04:51Right here.
Commenti