The guy on the screen really sounds like he has life-threatening asthma: a constant scratchy "pupupu" makes everyone aware of the dubiousness of smoking, but the intention of the manufacturer Sega is completely different - shooting.
Capcom procured the rights for the coughing hero, who in reality groans with a lightsaber and as a strider has to ensure law and order in the law of futuristic Russia of the year 2048. Anyone who has heard this title somewhere and is now wondering whether this could be a Deja Vu experience can be reassured: the game was also released for various home computers.
The specialty of the game is jumping and climbing techniques, which Strider has to make his way through extremely hilly terrain in the levels. It is precisely this floor and slope acrobatics that can hardly ever be used on the home computer version, but Sega managed to implement the Mega Drive "mega". This starts with the graphics, which are simply fantastic and in no way inferior to the arcade game. Each level has its very own style: there are dreamy valleys with snow-capped mountain peaks, winding forests, sandy soil, plants, a small sea, and sky impression or even pure high-tech for the science fiction fans among the players.
It goes without saying that the various play objects are in no way inferior to these eye candy, the sprites are partly of imposing size and perfectly animated, this applies particularly to the strider, the hero of the game. He can fight against huge bosses with successful somersaults and weapons, there are also a lot of intermediate enemies, the dimensions of the levels are accordingly gigantic despite all the obstacles and tricky situations Strider remains extremely playable, if not easy. There is no continue option, but you can set the number of player lives and the level of difficulty in the options menu. Once you've started playing this game, you won't be able to get away from it anytime soon.
For the year 1990, this is arguably one of the smartest and best action games out there. The rounded, really new game concept, filled with plenty of shooting action and good ideas, the fantastic graphics and excellent atmospheric sound make Strider the top game for the Mega Drive. The home computer versions, on the other hand, look really pale. This game was the first 8 megabit module for the Mega Drive and my first game on this console. I won´t forget.