Strider: A Transcript.
Agent: Hiryu?
Answering Machine: Hello. This is Strider Hiryu, please leave a message after the beep. *BEEEEP*
Agent: C'mon man, pick up, this is your agent. I know times have been tough, but I think I've got something for you. Remember the innovative arcade and NES games you were in in 1989, bro?Double Helix and Capcom want to bring that excitement back.
…
And it's not a guest appearance in a fighting game.
(sound of receiver being picked up.)
STRIDER: (Yawning) Y'hello. What is it, Geoff?
AGENT: Well, you're still under contract to Capcom for, you know, your entire life-
STRIDER: Got it, so it's a game.
AGENT: Not "A Game", buddy. THE GAME. Your game. Side-scrolling reboots are all the rage.
STRIDER: Didn't we do those back with Strider Returns and Strider 2?
AGENT: Yeah, I guess if you wanna party like it's still 1999, and Strider 2 wasn't bad. (Why even bring up Strider Returns? None of us want to remember 1990, bro.) Though you've been mostly living off those fighting game returns since Marvel vs. Cap-
STRIDER: My own game, you say?
AGENT: I knew that'd perk you up. They're calling it… Strider.
STRIDER: …Good title.
AGENT: Right?
STRIDER: So what are we talking about here? A reboot, right? Is it following the 1989 NES game? The Arcade game? They were pretty different.
AGENT: A little from column A, a little from column B. From the NES game we want to make it so upgrades or items unlock new areas, but we want the story and setting from the arcade. Grandmaster Meio's back as your nemesis in Khazak. (They dropped the Soviet Socialist Republic bit from Khazak, since the end of the Cold War kinda nixed that one.)
STRIDER: Meio? Didn't I kill that guy in the original, in like, two hits?
AGENT: Video game magic, my man. So let's get down to details.
STRIDER: Alright.
AGENT: So just so we're clear, we love what you do. The climbing on any surface with your little scythe thing, the mechanical robotic animal companions–love how they're called "options" A, B, and C–who do special attacks, the awesome sideways flippy thing. Your plasma sword.
STRIDER: My classic moves, all back in action.
AGENT. Right… but we want you to do everything faster.
STIDER: Faster?
AGENT: Yeah, even in Strider 2 you were moving a little slow on that flip for modern gamers. And we were wondering if we could add a block-
STRIDER: Strider Hiryu does not block. EVER.
AGENT: Okay, no blocking. That means the gameplay is gonna be no hesitation, flipping over stuff and sliding and slashing and explosions. We even got some of your classic enemies, the Sisters, the Armored Dragon, which this time you've got to climb around with timing to miss being fried by exhaust ports, and some new robotic guys—they might just be guys in suits, we're not sure—like teleporting guards and Heavy troopers with wrecking balls for arms.
STRIDER: That would make more sense when they all explode after I kill them.
AGENT: Man, in 1989 we just assumed everyone was made of gasoline. Robots, or robotic suits. The bloodless exploding enemies of the future. Let's get you suited up and into a demo to try it out.
Sounds of swordfighting, explosions, gunfire. Explosions.
STRIDER: Nice, I love the fast pace, you've just gotta go and trust your instincts. As long as you're moving, you're solid. And I can use my flip to divert where enemies will aim so I can slide and do attacks. By constantly charging my sword I double the range and strength of the attack, destroying the shields some enemies hold too. Nice skill-based gameplay touch, there, by the way.
AGENT: See, I knew you'd take to the reboot like a duck to water.
STRIDER: Are the platforms disappearing gonna be a problem?
AGENT: Disappearing!? Are you falling through the floors!?
STRIDER: No, and I can still see them on the mini-map, but sometimes the surfaces go invisible and it's like I'm fighting in thin air. Also the load times are really long. I started keeping a book next to my kunai in my satchel.
AGENT: Noted, I'm sure those are issues being ironed out by the guys at Double Helix. So let's talk about you again, buddy. After all, this is all for you.
STRIDER: So how do we wanna play this? How should I make my return to the spotlight?
AGENT: How about you hang glide in, just like you did in the arcade, and we'll give you that red scarf from the NES game, good visual element. From there you just do what you do, but faster and more intense. Classic. I'll send you the deets.
STRIDER: Classic. I can do that.
(Over coffee Hiryu reads his email, which tells him that Strider will release in February 2014 on bBox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. )
