---STRIDER--- ------HIRYU------ ------I------ ULTIMATE GUIDE V1.0 - 2000, July 29 Author: Chris Moon E-Mail: camoon@radiks.net Please contact me with any questions, comments or corrections. OUTLINE: 1. Why another Strider FAQ? 2. About this FAQ/Credits 3. A brief overview A. Strider Hiryu B. Robotic friends C. Other power-ups D. Game System 4. Game Play A. Kafazu B. Siberia C. The Balrog Flying Fortress D. Amazon E. The Third Moon 5. Arcade/PSX differences 6. Secrets/Glitches 7. Strider 2 8. Legal 1. Why another Strider FAQ? First, there used to be a fantastic Strider page by NeoStrider, and this FAQ does owe him and his fantastic page some debt. Why it is that the Neostrider page didn't live to see the release of Strider 2 remains a mystery, however I hope this FAQ can help answer some of the Strider 1 questions that might have been answered by that resource. Secondly, while there is much good to be said for other FAQ's (see Rigel Di Scala's for example), they do not, in my mind offer a sufficient walk through for the game. This FAQ will tell you how you can beat Strider 1 without dying at all. For those who have just purchased Strider 2, this will provide an easy way to unlock level 0. Third, knowing the arcade version intimately, I thought it worth documenting arcade/PSX differences. There definitely are some, though they are minor. Fourth, and most important, I hope that this FAQ can help players new to Strider improve their game enough so that they can get past the frustration barrier and really see this 11 year old game as the classic that it is. There is more than one way to approach Strider, but knowing at least one clear path will chip off a layer of alienation so that the player is comfortable making the game their own. Because many who wanted to see Strider 2 or were just anxious to pick up the newest Capcom game will be approaching Strider 1 as an artifact rather than a masterpiece (subsequently disappointed by its aging graphics and slow speed), I think this FAQ will help in this regard. Lastly, I would be happy to hear any feedback that Strider players may have (both from newbies and veterans.) 2. About this FAQ/Credits: This FAQ, unlike Rigel Di Scala's will not review other version's of Strider, including the infamous Strider Returns, nor will it explain why Strider is cool, or the history or story of Strider. When I first played Strider 1 in the arcades in 1989, there was no instruction manual and I did not learn until years later what the approved names were for the various creatures I was killing, the power-ups or even the name of Strider's sword. This FAQ will deal entirely with game play, strategies, secrets and glitches as well as Arcade/PSX differences. As to credits, I again want to mention NeoStrider, who confirmed some of the glitches/cheats I found as well as having a fantastic shrine to the game (now defunct.) Also, so as to not sound as poor as the new Strider2 instruction manual, I will be using some of the terminology in Rigel Di Scala's excellent FAQ. Again, if you are interested in the history or many versions of the game, please consult this guide. Lastly, much thanks to Strider Ishmael who both strongly encouraged the writing of this FAQ at all levels, acted as editor, made many helpful suggestions and even took part in grueling hours of testing so as to find every possible difference between the arcade and the PSX version. 3. A brief overview: A. Strider Hiryu: You control Strider Hiryu (Hiryu apparently translates to Hero), a very straightforward character if you are used to other Capcom games of this period (such as Guy from Final Fight). You have only two controls, attack and jump. Your weapon (and you cannot lose it) is a plasma sword or Cipher called Falchion, which you can swing as fast as you can hit the button, but has limited range. You can attack while walking, jumping, sliding and climbing (though it is slower while climbing). You can jump fairly high and in any direction. Unlike Strider2, Hiryu does not have a double jump. The closest thing to a special move is Strider's slide which is executed by holding down and jump. Note that your slide normally does not kill your opponents (nor does it let you slide past them as in Strider2), but you can attack while doing so. Rigel Di Scala's FAQ notes that when dropping on some characters (and I have noticed this when sliding as well), Strider automatically kills them (with Razors in his shoes). This isn't a big part of game play, but in the first level especially, you might notice a few baddies dying before you even have the chance to slash them. One of Hiryu's most dynamic abilities, and the one which really makes the game is his ability to crawl/climb on anything. This means you will find yourself dangling from the ceiling, the bottom of moving craft, hanging from vines, etc. This is an integral part of game play and makes Strider significantly different than other platform games of this period. Another aspect of controlling Hiryu that confused many players in 1989 was the existence of 'reverse gravity' rooms, meaning that the ceiling becomes the floor and vice-versa, so that you are playing upside-down. This is hardly worth mentioning to the savvy players of the 21st century, however being able to deal with upside-down playing, or even spinning around a gravity core are imperative to mastering Hiryu. B. Robotic friends: (inexplicably called Option A. B. and C. in the Strider 2 instruction manual) Dipodal Saucer, AKA Bots: This certainly wasn't the first game where you could acquire friends that helped/protected you, but these little robotic saucers were certainly the coolest. If you aren't attacking and they haven't homed in on anything, they'll just circle you, but if you attack, they'll rush out in the direction your facing, then return. This can add up to some pretty decent damage, but even more ideal is if they home in on something by themselves, easily wiping out the toughest enemies. Actually one starts wondering if you are the hero or they are! This and the robotic panther use a rather interesting system that has earned much exploitation. One play through this game and you will understand that Strider has a certain number of life units (green) and you lose one for each hit. When you pick up a saucer, the last life unit will turn red (IE, the one you will lose immediately if you are hit.) Thus, it behooves the player to pick up bots when they have low health, and then recoup health so they can sustain the maximum number of hits before losing their bots. Incidentally, you can have a total of two bots--the same number used to maintain one RoboPanther. Terapodal RoboPanther: This is arguably the worst power-up in the game unless you know how to exploit it (more on this in the 'secrets' and 'game play' sections. The panther will not be offered until you have two bots, and then both life units will turn from red to yellow. But why is this big guy so bad? True he does kill anything in one hit, however if you are hit even once you will automatically lose one bot, even if it is buried back in your life bar. Also, the panther can't fly like the bots, and I have seen him rendered virtually useless in certain parts of the game. Robot Hawk: Not much to say here. When you release the hawk he just circles a certain area killing baddies if he accidentally hits them. Other than that, this is a worthless power-up that seems to exist mostly for eye-candy. C. Other power-ups: Life power-up: There are three types of life power-ups (always found within canisters through-out the games). These appear as Kanji letters, and since I can't read Kanji, it has mostly come down to learning what each symbol does, though in the rush of battle, who cares right? According to the instruction manual these are Ryu, Hi and Hiryu, but all you really need to know is that of the three, one restores one unit of health, one gives you a new unit of health (though will restore no energy if you already have 5 units, even if they are empty!--very frustrating in the helicopter scene when you keep getting these but only have two or three full units of health!), and a third which looks very different than the others and fills your life-bar completely. Sword power-up: If picked up, you will have nearly twice the range on your swings (really effective in the Amazon level). Exhausts after about 100 uses (can anyone confirm this?) V-ism power-up: OK, I don't really know the name for it, but if you pick this up, Hiryu will appear to go into V-ism (from alpha 3). That is, he will glow and several shadows will follow him, repeating his motions. While the V-ism lasts, Strider will be both invulnerable and each shadow will perform an extra hit! There are of course point power-ups. Best to avoid if you can since they aren't really worth very much and it is far more useful to have extra health or an extended sword than 500 lousy points. If you want points I can show you where to get these! There is also one life-up in the game, but with only one occurrence, I certainly couldn't give it its own paragraph. D. Game system (1) Difficulty level: This may at first seem rather confusing to players of both the arcade and the PSX. Difficulty affects several things, but not the way you would probably think it would. Primarily it seems to reflect the probability of power-ups appearing. The easiest level seems to produce almost all the power- ups all the time while at the hardest this drops to 50% or so. Also, soldiers become more aggressive and it seems that projectiles increase in speed somewhat. This does not effect the number of hits it requires to kill anything, and in general the easiest game is not that much easier than the hardest game. Someone who can master one can master the other. (2) Mercy call: If you are doing very badly--namely, on your last guy (00), the game will become significantly easier. In the bomb level for instance you will find only 2 bombs in each wave instead of 5. In other areas, certain barriers may disappear, such in level one above the 'drill' machine. In the last level, the reverse gravity area becomes easier such that the flying turrets do not constantly hound you. Also, and quite humerously, in level 1, many of the projectiles slow down to a fraction of their speed so that, say, a one legged blind man might easily step out of their way. (3) Manners of death: There are three ways you can die. Run out of health, fall to an immediate death, or by time-out. The first two are extremely undesirable as you'll lose all your power-ups, but the third can be to an advantage if you know you are going into an area with no life-ups and you don't want to lose the bots you have. When time runs out, you lose a life but retain all your life units (completely refilled) and keep all the bots you had. For instance, it is very common for me to let time run-out just after entering the reverse gravity chamber on the last level, as I know that I will have to sustain one or two hits to clear it, and there are almost no life-ups to be found here. (4) Life unit system: This explained above so I apologize for the redundance, however, Hiryu starts with three units of health, and when you are hit you lose one. When they are all empty, you die. It is possible to both refill your life units and also to add more life-units so that you have five. (5) Score: Your total score is only a reflection of points earned since your last continue. If you do continue, your score will reset to zero. 4. Game Play A. Stage 1 - Kafazu The game starts with the master flying ominously across the screen and then you see the city sky-line with Hiryu piloting in on his glider. He lands on the beginning of the first platform with a beam barrier to his left. This is the only level with beam barriers and there is one that I've managed to get past, though they are really there for your protection, so go with the flow and head right. Incidentally, if you are new to Strider, this is a good place to learn the controls. The Russian soldiers typically won't come on to the screen until you actually start parading across their turf, so fiddle with your sword, slide, jump, etc. Once your ready, start off to the right taking out anything that comes your way. You'll encounter the soldiers of course. They mostly run away though they do occasionally use their gun (the results of which looks like an incoming snowflake.) Also are some little guys (Rascals) that can be easily taken out if you duck. Also note the drones (Flying Mosquemen)--these will stay with you the rest of the game and often carry canisters. You can dispatch all of these critters with one hit, so do so. It is worth saying at this point that you can approach this and all the levels with two philosophies in mind--either point maximization which is very tedious, or a 'get to the end' strategy. I tend to favor the later most of the time, though I'll show you how to do both. There are really only three things you need to do for point maximization. 1. Kill everything. 2. Explore everything. 3. Do not leave an area until time is about to run out (cue the Strider theme music.) The reason for #3 is because monsters regenerate constantly, and you DO get points for them--in some places you'll get lots of points, so you could potentially get the best score by not crossing any of the check points until time is about out and killing and killing and killing right until the last second. Oh, there is a sort of stupid #4: Don't die. If you have to continue, your score goes to zero (as mentioned in the previous section). If, for instance, you get all the way to the Master then die, it is probably better score wise not to continue than to 'insert another quarter' and get the points for killing him, since you'll only get THOSE points. So, the first -time check point- is at the end of the platform. You'll see where it drops off and you can jump across to another platform. If you are point greedy, just keep killing Russians until the Strider music starts. I am afraid I can't tell you where every check point is, and will trust you to take advantage of these to get the ultimate top score. OK, so you're on the other side and you'll be facing an incline with a guard or two at the top. As you approach and execute him, a Mosqueman will appear, almost always carrying a bot. Kill it but leave the bot where it lays. Now there will be a wall to your right with a platform above you. This may seem counter-intuitive, but jump up and get hit either by the Guard (I prefer to kill him) or the incoming projectile (looks like a big orange) from the wall-mounted gun-turrets. You should now only have two life-units. Drop down and pick up the bot. Climb to the top of the structure taking out guards and turrets along the way. If you are patient, you will eventually be able to kill all the turrets, but it really isn't necessary. You'll know you are at the top because one of those Rascals will be up there. Execute him and as you do, two mosquemen should appear. If you are lucky they will be carrying both a life-up and a bot. Take the bot FIRST, then the life up, so that you have both bots in your bottom two life units with a third as buffer. Keep swinging your sword as a horde of rascals (okay, only 3) will be coming up shortly. Once they're gone, you have a choice as to how to proceed. Below you is a both a nest of gun turrets and a strange machine that will try to 'drill' you when you pass under it. If you are on your last Strider, it is possible to climb over the machine as the barrier beam will be gone (mercy call). Seem frustrating? Fortunately Strider rewards those who go forth brazenly. Just run down the hill--the turrets will all miss you, and so will the drill machine. You will quickly find yourself running up to a steel ramp. If you make the jump at full speed you'll leap onto another platform and be dangling from the underside. If not, you'll face a big but easy-to-beat muscleman called Strobaya. Let me deal with him first and then will move on to the platform business. OK, you fell a LONG ways and now there is this big guy standing on top of a tiny platform. He gets mad and leaps at you. Just keep slashing this guy. He'll try to roll at you, he'll try to be tough, but he can't do anything about your sword. He dies quickly. Run under his little platform as soon as he dies since it seems he set his place to self-destruct should anyone ever beat him. Once the fire falls, leap onto the platform and keep going up. You will find yourself almost exactly where you would have ended if you had made the leap correctly in the last scene. The next level will not be so forgiving. Once on the platform, execute the soldiers. The first canister will be a robo- hawk. From here to the top of the mosque there isn't a lot to explain. The new addition is two RoboSpiders. They aren't really that tough but they have an impressive arsenal of lasers and bombs they can shoot vertically--so be careful. This climb to the top of the mosque is one of the first places you can employ a powerful Strider glitch/secret. If you don't already have two bots you should shortly be offered one, and then in most games you will be offered the panther. Open the panther canister but DO NOT pick it up. Now go get hit by something-- if necessary take your health all the way down to one unit. Then go pick up the panther, but be careful--you need to make it past a few baddies without getting hit. Why? The panther glitch allows you to have two bots on one space, which means you can ensure that unless Hiryu is killed you'll never lose any bots. This makes Hiryu amazingly powerful and the game pretty easy to beat. Once you have the panther, there should be one or two health units to pick up before you've made it to the top, and here you'll get another life-up item. At the top you'll be swarmed by half a dozen mosquemen, but they die easy. Get the sword and life power-up. From here you need to descend the other side, but there is a really easy (and somewhat humorous way to do this. After gaining a little speed, jump to the right so that you hit the barrier beam--completely bypassing a Robospider on the way down. [Special note: I've actually gone through or over this beam once--note sure how. It was completely worthless though and I had to wait for time to run out while stuck in the tiny area on the other side of the beam.] Now apply your sword to the mosque (left), and the wall will explode away. Funny enough, so will the robospider--I guess there is no excuse for failure. You are now facing yet another new opponent--in this case a laser cannon pod called Novo. In this level you'll get off easy. Just run up to it and keep wacking it until it dies (note that below its eye there is a life-bar!) At this point your panther should turn back to two bots. You are free to get hit now. Move right and you will fall through the floor. Here there will be a gunner, but in almost all cases he will miss (though not true later), so take him out before he hurts someone with that thing! There are some guards to take out here and a point bonus, but you are really here to fight… Urobolos, the Iron Ruler! (Uroboros or Ouroboros should be the appropriate name, but there is that funky r-l substitution going on.) For some reason a bunch of politicians turn into this big snake with a scythe. Jump straight up and hit him on the head while he is forming, then when he comes at you, leap over him. If you have both your bots he should die here, otherwise ride around on his back hitting him on the back of his head. END OF LEVEL. B. Stage 2 - Siberia This is probably my favorite level. Amazing background scenery as Strider is escaping Eurasia. First, exhaust your sword power-up or you'll only get points at the next canister. Then go to the right while slashing wolves, jump up on the 'rock formation' where you'll see a canister. Without stopping, pick up the sword power-up and jump to the right. You will see you are approaching the entrance of a cave as you land. Immediately slide right into the cave or else a door will close and you will be stuck fighting wolves until you can blast it open again. Inside the cave you will face Mecha Pon, a giant robotic monkey that should have made it into Strider 2--or better yet replaced the robopanther! Just walk up and hack the crap out of this big waste of metal. As soon as he dies, leap directly into the air and grab the roof of the cave, moving right. If you don't you'll find that Mecha Pon's head explodes covering the floor with fire and shooting fireballs in the air. Once into the vertical shaft, you'll have to dodge a few wall climbing robots. They are very fast and it is easier to learn their pattern then to react to their appearance. The first will be on the left and will not be moving--jump to the right side of the shaft and kill it. Keep ascending for another kill, then jump back to the left to kill one on the right. Then back to the right side to kill one more before you reach the top. This next room is hard to describe. There are a few guards here who will take occasional shots at you. Of primary interest is a sort of Ferris wheel, but each cart (it isn't really a Ferris wheel) is a small gray metal platform with a canister on it. Seems alluring, but watch out--some of the platforms have spikes on them. You can land on them but you can't jump against them or through them and it is easy to get smashed into the ground by them. If you stay on a small platform in the center of the wheel, you can jump on and off the rotating platforms and score all the power-ups. Nothing really great here, but there are enough life-ups here to give you 5 units (that is, if you had four upon completing the last level.) Take a platform to the top and jump to a red girder at the top of the room. You will quickly find yourself outside, ready to face the assassin that the Master has sent for you. His name is Solo, and the real problem with him is that he tends to fly away the moment you swing at him. I generally tend to let him land, then time my jump so I miss his attack and have a good swing at him. Best method is to have lots of bots and let them dispose of him. Incidentally, if you don't kill him, he will follow you around the level. After disposing of him, RUN down a big hill filled with land mines. When I first played this game my instinct was to try to jump away from the land-mines. Just run past them, you are faster than they are, and you'll need the speed. Like the jump in level one, wait until the last moment and hurl yourself over the gorge. If you miss, you will probably die, though there is a small chance you will encounter a barely visible platform of ice that you can occasionally leap back off of, clinging desperately to the other side. This trick rarely works, because you still need to find a way to flip up onto the cliff, and it is rather tough. Best thing to do is just make the jump in the first place. Once on the other side, you'll be facing more wolves. You'll notice a metal structure above you, but you can't do anything about it yet. Keep moving right, taking out wolves as you go. Near the end you'll find a canister with a robopanther in it. I personally wouldn't use it, but that is your call. As you approach the canister you'll note a metal beam ascending to the left. Above are several dipodal mechanoids (two legged robots not unlike the ED-9000 (or whatever it was called) in Robocop) and taking them out on this scaffolding may prove difficult. To add to the difficulty, every few seconds lightning streams through the structure. You will need to learn where these 'strike' points are to avoid the lightning. Because the mechanoids can only attack by leaning forward, if you get behind them you can easily dispose of them. I have found it easiest to jump on to the ascending beam so that I am hanging from it and take out the mechanoid to the lowest left. Then I can leap straight up and take out the one above it. You'll also find an extra life here. Jump up again to take out a third robot. Jump up yet again so that you are on a small platform with a ramp leading down. If you want to take out all the mechanoids, that is fine by me, but I am going to proceed on to the next scene. Go down the ramp (avoiding the lightning) a short ways and you'll see another ramp going up (facing the opposite direction) with a mechanoid under it. Leap across taking out the other mechanoid and go to the top of the ramp. Here begins the most annoying part of the whole game, the helicopter scene. No amazing tactics here. Take as many bombs out as you can before they hit you. They're actually worth points, so have fun. Your goal here is to jump on to three helicopters at higher altitudes. If this sounds like a cheesy Atari game, you have some idea how I feel about it. It is nearly impossible not to get hit since the bombs change directions constantly and they take several hits to kill. Watch out for the propellers of the airship above, as bombs are sometimes hidden behind them (ouch!) At last you will come to a platform where you can see the bombs dropping out of chutes. Leap up and go past them (to the left). You will need to leap over two turbines and then on to what appears to be a white flap/rudder sort of apparatus. Stay on the right hand side until it is high enough to reach an inclined platform to your right. Leap on to this (you will be hanging from it) and crawl to the right until you see a gun turret. Take this out before standing up. Do not proceed on to the deck of the ship, but walk back down the incline. Almost immediately you will see three girls (not unlike the three assassin girls in Warriors of Fate), they are the Kuniang M.A. Team (don't ask me what this means), and I have no good strategy for beating them in a fair fight. Instead, stay down on the incline and slash their feet as they fly by. Cheap but effective. A less cheap way, and the one I suspect Capcom intended, is to get past them and into a small control cabin. They can't get in there, but you can slash out--a little better than chopping at their feet? After you kill the girls and the pilot, the level is over. If you're in need of some sick humor you can chase the pilot off the ship, making him jump to his death. END OF LEVEL. C. Stage 3 - The Balrog Flying Fortress This is another fantastic level--very fast and furious! You find yourself on the deck of the Balrog with large rotating gun turrets facing you (very much like the one on the airship you just conquered). There are four of these turrets and you should note that they also raise and lower, temporarily putting them out of your range. After you have destroyed two you will be met by a descending column of flying mini-turrets. These mosquemen-like cannons are well armored and will be a pain in your side for the rest of the game as they fire those same orange balls you saw in level one, and these buggers will follow you around. Stand to one side and take them out as they descend, then continue to the right until you see a large cannon. Slide under it avoiding its fire and strike to the right exposing the interior of the ship. The room you are dropping into is the bomb room and seems to exist solely for loading and transporting bombshells. This room can be taken many different ways, however you should note that immediately to your right (from the large cannon) and down there is a sword power-up. To your left there are several bomb depositories--behind one of which is the famous hidden panda. There are also lasers mounted on the ceiling so be careful! Throughout the room are several conveyer belts with mini-platforms on them. If you want, take out those bombs to the left, but your goal should be a conveyer belt at the bottom moving right. You will note a hole in the floor--if you are quick and drop down through the right side, you will land on a small structure hanging from the hull of the battleship, and suspended there is a full-life power-up. The reason I have requested speed should you make this departure from your primary goal is that shortly after dropping through the hole another column of those floating turrets will be after you. Don't bother destroying them. Jump to the hull and move quickly to your right so as to avoid their fire. You will come to another breach in the hull, leaving you where you would have been had you kept to the conveyer belt and continued moving right. Here there is another diagonal conveyer belt…actually two. The first is descending to where the breach in the hull is, and it is carrying bombs. If you land on these you will suffer. Pick up the V-ism power-up and destroy everything you can. Your goal is the conveyer belt going up and to the right. As you reach the top jump up to the ceiling, hauling yourself up to another room where you will be confronted by two more of those bipodal mechanoids. Since you'll probably still be in V-ism, destroy them with ease. Even without V-ism, they are really no threat at all. The real threat is the moving wall which could easily turn you into a very thin Strider. Jump to the wall and climb like you've never climbed before. You will note an ascending army of those floating turrets but don't pay attention to them now. As the walls get really close, start jumping from one side to the next and at last haul your rear up onto yet another main deck. This appears to be a helicopter loading pad, and a new shipment has just come in for you! Yes, it is the 'Frog Robot' (not my name). Basically a pumped version of the Dipodal Mechanoid. This comes with an extendible spear like projection (though it is on a chain and can extend the length of the screen, as well as firing homing missiles out its back-side (eek!) Duck down and take him out while also facing a horde of floating turrets. If you do not have any bots and you are playing on the arcade version, you'll probably take a hit, but don't worry coz there is a life-up not far away. If your on the PSX, you'll probably take them all out. I'm unsure of the reason for this discrepancy. Travel to the right but do not jump across the hole. That is a launch-pad to your death. If you want to try it out, be my guest, but only quick reflexes will save you. Instead, descend down the hole and jump to the underside of the platform on the right. Scale as far as you can to the right and you'll automatically drop down on a canister--this is the life-up I promised you. Now jump to left, don't walk because the mechanism you see there is another launcher. Now you are going to face a rather difficult fight with the flying turrets and some more of those guards from the bomb room, however be aware that these are a little brighter. The guards here will also use the rocket launcher on their guns with deadly accuracy--be ready! Run down to your right and break the door down. You'll come on one of those extendible drill barriers. Leap over it and dispatch another swarm of those turrets while dodging those rocket launchers from the guards. Rather tricky. Jump up and take out the laser cannon. You'll proceed down a hallway and see two arrows, one facing up and another down. When you traverse this, the gravity will invert. Take this opportunity to take out your ceiling based enemies and be happy that the guards are too stupid to think of looking up there. Keep on right, again taking out the laser and slash any guards who get in your way. Along this hallway, if you chose to wait around you'll see something very odd. Some sort of weird metal tubes will start floating up from the floor and down from the ceiling. If you want you can stand back and keep blowing these up for points. I have no idea what these are or if they are supposed to hurt you, but they are such an oddity I thought them worth mentioning. You should now have reached a shaft going down. This is your first gravity core to destroy. Enter and proceed either to your right or left. You'll notice the gravity is very strange here. At your extreme left or right (at the vertical walls) you are safe from the gravity core, but anywhere else you will be pulled into its field. At the bottom is a life-up, so if you need it, use it. Otherwise you might wait until you are hit--though it hardly matters, there is a full-life recharge not far away. To kill the core, just get in its orbit and keep slashing. I've tried different strategies, some more successful than others. On the callus emulation I've had luck being near the bottom, getting sucked in, then being deposited where I can jump back at it for a few more hits. On the PSX you can kill this with only one orbit, and the bottom seems a good place to start, you don't even need to jump. After the core has been destroyed, the ship will begin to explode--the perfect time for you to make your departure. A doorway at the bottom will be open. Depending on how you landed, you may have enough inertia to leap over to another one of those small scaffolding-like structures dangling from the hull. If you are uncertain, don't try it. Just as easy to hang from the ceiling and hand- walk your way over to the scaffolding, drop, and completely refill your health. Either way, the level is almost over. Keep to the right and climb up another launching pad where a pirate looking guy (eye-patch, hook-hand and a peg leg) is whipping people off his escape-helicopter. Obviously he's the leader. Jump up on his craft being careful not to be whipped, or hell, don't be careful and just jump in and beat him up. He dies easy. Stay on the helicopter (since there is no where else to go) and fly to safety. END OF LEVEL. D. Stage 4 - Amazon This level may seem like a bear to the initiate, but it is in truth the easiest level in the game. In fact, you can beat it in under a minute. Nonetheless, it provided much anxiety for Striders of yesteryear. First off, you need to decide at the beginning of this level if you need a bot, coz that is the power-up in the canister at the base of the hill you are standing on. The problem, if you take it you will be facing a pit-trap. Not an inescapable one mind you, but if you can avoid it, why bother. If you chose to avoid the trap, just run past it. If not, pick up the item then start leaping as fast as you can to the right as the ground under you will crumble away. Also note that leaping back after the ground has collapsed will not work because the floor of the canyon will become covered with the exploding spores which appear over this entire level. From here, leap to the tree in the center with two branches extending in either direction. As you wait here, flying mosquemen will show up carrying goodies. In order they are: Sword power-up, bot, v-ism, life-up. Although there is no guarantee these will show up before time runs out, it is worth waiting at least for the sword and I recommend the v-ism. Leap to the right and take out the amazons there and the spore with your extended sword. Leap to the right again grabbing the tree, then leap left to make the green branch above. get on top of the branch and head left--it will bend under your weight. Before it descends to far, jump to the left toward another green branch so that you are hanging from that as well. If you have bots you can harmlessly hand-walk to the left letting them exterminate the savage women. If you're in V-ism, just take out the women the manly way--as an invulnerable sword slashing assassin! Jump up to the next branch, and then there is a short branch/platform above that. Jump to the right from here--the result will land you grasping momentarily to a green branch, jump right again and you will be on a non-bending branch. Go right until you see a green branch above you, jump right twice in rapid succession and you will be at the summit. Take out several exotic beauties swinging from branches here and rush down the hill to your right, never mind the giant ball borrowed from Raiders of the Lost Ark. When you see a bit of green, jump to the right, and encounter three more mistresses of the wild. Kill them all (coz your just that kind of guy), and take the full life-up. There is also a panther power-up here, but I won't recommend using it. Head to the right on a green vine and drop down into the Jurassic. To your left is a V-ism power-up, but there is a good chance as you go to grab it, a Triceratops will appear and hit you--a bad thing if you have the panther. Grabbing this though will virtually ensure you can beat the level without a scratch. With or without the V-ism, proceed right taking out dinosaurs of many kinds. The only thing you can't kill are the big Brontosaurus (that's right, we're back in the Fred Flinstone period of tail-dragging cold blooded dinosaurs!) You can ride the Triceratops just like the Amazons, but your better off sliding along the ground. If you walk on top of the Brontos, be prepared for a mass attack of Pterodactyls, but that doesn't matter if you are in V-ism. What is critical is you take the second bronto--that is, using his height to get access to a green branch you'll see above just past a small lake (well it is really just a hole in the ground with some terribly rendered and murky water. Before I get ahead of myself I'd like to bring your attention to two things. One, the piranhas you'll see here and elsewhere do not hurt at all, but they do look funny hanging off of Hiryu. Second, and far more important, here is where you can nearly triple your score on Strider, especially if you have an optimized Hiryu with bots in the lowest positions. Go to the first hole in the ground (the one that isn't a lake) and just kill dinos as they roll in. Kill the fish too. Kill anything that had a mother or a father or graced the air, earth or waters with its feeble attempt to live! Them bodies are worth points, and when it comes to saving the world, you might as well dally here to ensure you actually have a little more than fame after the job is done. Plus, there is nothing funnier than Strider the dino hunter. By now if you've played a perfect game you should have about five lives. You can burn all but the last here letting time run out so you keep your bots and all your health units. Might want to leave one in reserve if you aren't a champion Strider player, but either way you'll have two or three times more points than a perfect game of Strider. When you've decided your ready to save the world instead of hunt dinos, proceed up to the green branch. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT jump down to the ground. While the boss you will be fighting is not particularly difficult, the programmers here must have felt very cruel because a vine/branch on the ground nearly cripples any chance of you taking this boss the fair way, so dodge a couple aerial fire-balls and get ready to destroy Lago, the Mecha T-Rex. From your position it is just a matter of whapping this big-boy on the nose. If you have bots, they'll probably kill him before you even have a chance. So what do you do if you're on the ground? The general pattern is to leap straight up as he thrusts his claw at you, hitting him on the nose/jaw, then hit him again when he leaps, dodging his strange fireballs. But this is incredibly difficult here because of the RETARDED branch on the ground. I've lost nearly perfect games because I accidentally ended up here, so just DON'T go down there. Stay up in the tree. END OF LEVEL. P.S. After this level, learn that the amazons only fought you because the master brought ancient monsters from the sky, apparently scaring the bejezus out of them--somehow I just couldn't sleep at night thinking those women were all bad ;) E. Stage 5 - The Third Moon This is the hardest level, but if you follow my instructions you will find you can easily defeat all the obstacles put before you, though with a few rough spots. Start by killing the Frog Robot (making sure to destroy the homing missles), then jump up on the satellite dish and eradicate the spiderbot. There will also be two mosquemen that appear--typically one carrying a sword power-up, and sometimes the other carrying a bot. Collect these and get ready for some fast-paced action. Hop up to the second level of the satellite dish then carefully jump straight up to the third-flipping yourself on top. The next move is tricky. Run down, jumping right onto a sharp incline. Proceed rapidly to the top taking out another frog robot. There will be an army of floating turrets behind you so speed is essential. Destroy any homing missiles the frog robot got off and quickly proceed right going down yet another sharp decline. Before you reach the end (and plummet to your death) jump to the right (while swinging your sword--consequently taking out a guard) so you are hanging from a floor. Drop down next to another guard and destroy him. You will probably note some heavy gunfire in the process--this is coming from a Russian gunner directly above you and identical to the one you encountered in level one. This time you'll have to take him on for real, though if you have gotten this far, you already have an advantage. Proceed to the right down a slope (you'll see a canister at the bottom--its another panther power-up). As you proceed to the bottom you'll notice a canister appears in the area you just left, not entirely sure why it does not appear immediately, but it is a bot power-up. Depending on your needs you may wish to collect it before getting the panther (if you want the panther.) From the bottom you should see a short platform above you. Jump on to it from the right hand side taking out the guard. As you attain the platform a heavy stream of gunfire should pour down from above. With great caution you need to approach this barrage and get as close as you can. You are targeting the edge of a platform directly above you. Jump straight up then jump straight up again and nail the gunner. The room should now be a lot safer. It is also possible that as you perform this maneuver, your bots will destroy the gunner before you make the second leap. Good old bots. Dropping back down you will need to confront a column of flying turrets. Take them out as before and proceed right. Moving from bottom to top you will find a mechanoid, a soldier/guard, a frog robot and then another mechanoid. Take some caution with the frog robot as his missiles can circle back through the wall and hit you while you are climbing. The only safe thing to do is to kill it with your bots. When you destroy the last mechanoid you may wish to drop down to the previous level as a squad of those turrets will drop down. From the previous level (which extends farther) you can easily dispatch them. Then jump up again and proceed right. Incidentally, before we leave this room I'd like to note it is really quite spectacular. Though there is no reason to do so, you can climb up on the satellite dish above the Russian gunner. It will only bring about the attention of those turrets, but it is a spectacular view and more than I think any other company would have put in their game in 1989. As you enter the next room you will note immediately that the gravity has switched. I will still refer to the bottom of the screen as the bottom, but understand that you will fall 'up'--often to your death. This is, incidentally, the hardest single part of the game; a part unmastered by many Strider players and I do not claim to know the best way to avoid its many perils. Before proceeding further you will be attacked by another wave of turrets. Destroy them then jump to your right. Do NOT walk down or enter the hole at the right--if you enter there you will be facing the three Chinese ninja again, and here there are no short-cuts or secrets which will keep them from parting you with your life. If you somehow manage to beat them, you will be rewarded with a bot power-up. A very poor trade. Instead, as I have instructed, leap over this hole and you will be facing a spider bot. Destroy him and proceed walking/running to the right (don't grab the ceiling here and attempt to hand- walk across--you will be facing both flying turrets, soldiers and robot spiders with only one hand to swing, and one hit will drop you into space.) You will be running toward the top of the screen (down a slope), and where it ends you must make a dangerous leap to the right onto a small bit of ceiling, from which you must leap right immediately, landing on one of those drill beams. There will be many of them coming out of the right wall and your best bet is to madly leap from beam to beam, first leaping right, then more toward the bottom of the screen (again, this is upward for you). Note that you will also be facing a squadron of turrets at the same time. Perhaps there is a way to eliminate them while taking minimal damage, but the best solution I have found is to run! This is really not an easy thing to describe and despite much practice, I've never got it down to a fine art. If you have the stage select option open on your PSX, give this area your attention until you can get through it with no more than two hits. As you reach the bottom you should probably reward yourself for clearing that room, but don't celebrate yet because you're entering a gravity core chamber and there will be turrets following you, but if you are fast they will miss you (though if you go to the extreme right outer edge--again, the vertical wall--the turrets will try their best to scare you, firing shots directly over your head.) Wait for the core to pass while taking out a spider robot. Run to the bottom picking up a life-up, then kill another spider. From here destroy the core in the same way as the former, but be careful so as you are not dropped straight down a bottomless shaft. Once destroyed, this room will explode like in the Balrog. Climb down the tunnel, moving to the right side where you can drop to a platform. You will need to do this quickly because yet another group of turrets will be after you. Collect the contents of a canister here that is hopefully a life-up but will probably be points. Drop down into the next room where you should meet another Novo. Unlike before, its lasers will strike you if you aren't fast. When its deadly beams are almost upon you, jump straight up, then press down so as to drop from the ceiling (otherwise you'll be hit up there!) You will need to do this two or three times. Afterwards, pick up the sword power-up on the left side and proceed right--you've got some serious killing to do. There are three mechanoids outside as well as your buddy Solo. No special strategy here though if you are short of bots, Solo will not be fun. Kill them all and jump to a small platform where you'll use that sword power-up you collected to kill the frog robot to your right. Again, watch out for its spear projection and guiding missiles. Jump to the right after that it is gone and take on Mecha Pon yet again as well as a gray T-Rex (versus the red ones in the previous level.) These two are no threat at all. Note, you can keep Pon off you with a single strike while getting to kill as many dinos as you want as they will be replenished as long as the great cyborg monkey lives! After this you will again be fighting Lago. If you haven't figured this out by now, everything you did before is coming back, but with no special cheats--a very nice touch on the part of Capcom. Again, the basic strategy remains the same--but if you didn't learn it the first time you must learn it now. Strike while he is extending his claw and while he is jumping. Repeat this pattern until he falls. You have now earned the attention of the master. Again the uroboros creature will appear, ride his back as you cannot destroy him yet. Above him you will hear the voice of the master: "I shall raise the city up to the sky and rid the Earth of all creatures. I shall create a race to fill the Earth. All sons of old gods, DIE!!" (I think this explains all the tubes filled with 'humanoids' in Strider 2) Ride the serpent to the Master's domain. Keep striking the head of Uroboros until you see it flash--then you know it is vulnerable. Get as far up on the head as you can as you may very likely fall to your death when it dies if you are not far enough up on the monster. Once the Iron ruler is no more you now have the arduous task of killing the Master. No easy task, unless you have five health bars and bots! There is a full life-up above you and to the right, while above you and to the left there is a sword power-up. This should be enough to take the Master down, though you may expend your last life unit doing it. Simultaneous death will be rewarded by victory. The Master's basic strategy is to lob green lightning at you that materializes into creatures such as wolves, pterodactyls or those harmless fish. The lightning itself will definitely hurt you. Once you finish off the Master, Hiryu is apparently hurled back into the Earth's atmosphere and it is unclear how he survives, though we see him landing (via his glider) on the back of a whale, the earth saved! 5. Arcade (Callus) vs. PSX version 
I have read several reviews which state these two versions are identical, 
however real Strider enthusiasts will note several differences (most of which 
are small) and I believe worth mentioning.  Despite these differences however, 
the PSX version of Strider Hiryu 1 remains the truest legal version of Strider 
available for purchase.  For comparison to the arcade I have utilized the 
emulation for Callus which I believe to be arcade perfect.  I would like to note 
at this point that the Callus version (though free) is not a legally viable 
option unless you own the original arcade and I am in no way recommending this 
as an alternative to the PSX version.  I would also like to add that while 
Callus has allowed many the opportunity to revisit long lost favorites, this 
really undermines Capcom if you also aren't supporting their games--so go out 
and buy the thing!

Anyway, let's get down to business.  The two games are graphically identical, 
and the game engine is identical.  What is different is some very slight 
tinkering, most of which should please the Strider fan.  First, and most 
noticably is the altered soundtrack.  I'm not talking about the re-mix (which is 
great at times and disappointing at others), I'm talking about the soundtrack 
for the third (Balrog) and fifth (Third Moon) level.  Both on Callus and to the 
best of my memory, in the arcade, these two levels used the same theme which 
appears in level one.  I have never heard the music used on the PSX version 
before--ever.  I know it was not in the arcade I played.  Is it possible there 
was a 1.01 edition which upgraded the game slightly adding new music to these 
levels?  I have no idea, but I do know I never played a Strider game with that 
music.  I'd appreciate feedback on this one.  My take on this is rather 
negative--I think the music is anti-climactic when you dispose of the Master…and 
that is the part where I most expect a rush from the soundtrack.

Speed:  The PSX version is quite a bit faster than the arcade.  To demonstrate, 
just look at the end of level 1 when you destroy Uroboros.  The explosion is 
very smooth and fast in the PSX version--this is not true on Callus and I am 
sure the arcade did not look this smooth.  We didn't see this kind of speed 
until Capcom's next board--the one which ran Alien vs. Predator and Super Street 
Fighter 2.  Strider just moves a lot faster in the PSX game, and I for one am 
really elated by it.  Definitely adds a new level of excitement to a classic.

The Bomb/Helicopter sequence:  This is of course an area of the game I have 
always been critical of, however the PSX version adds a new level of 
frustration.  In the Callus version you are given a moment or two to get on to 
the airship before bombs start hailing out of the chutes.  In the PSX version 
you are given no reprieve, and you are best to just stay on the helicopter until 
the first wave has passed.  This is extremely dicey and I rather prefer the 
earlier (and nicer) version.

Difficulty:  For some reason or other, the difficulty (independent of game 
level) is different between the arcade and the PSX.  Above I've mentioned the 
bomb/helicopter sequence, but there are other places too that the difficulty is 
either much harder (the gravity reverse hallway on Balrog) or easier (the 
gravity core on the Balrog).  These differences were even noted by Strider 
Ishmael who hasn't seriously played the game in years.  Situations I've noticed 
include the cyborg gorilla that dies with almost no hits at all.  Again, the 
gravity core can be killed in one orbit, instead of the mandatory two that was 
always required.  Why this was changed for the PSX version I am really clueless, 
and would rather take the two orbits if the helicopter sequence would be reduced 
to its normal difficulty level.  One possibility is that with auto-sword 
swinging, Strider is just doing twice as much damage, but the monkey is 
literally dying in ONE second.  That is too fast!

The 'green snot' glitch:  Since I've never heard anyone else mention this glitch 
I've given it this rather functional but ugly name (you'd think I'd name it 
after myself or something!)  I'll save the description of this highly secret and 
sought after glitch for the secrets section, but will say here that it does NOT 
appear in the PSX version, which again supports my suspicions that the PSX 
version has been cleaned up a little bit.

In conclusion, the PSX version is not identical to the arcade, but beyond the 
soundtrack I am really not disappointed with any of the differences I've seen so 
far, and some I am quite happy about.  Definitely very playable, and for most 
gamers will be indistinguishable from the original.

6. Secrets and Glitches

Not a lot to list here, though some have taken a long time to find.

Hidden Panda:  Is this really a secret anymore?  This little guy is to the left 
in the 'bomb room' on the Balrog.  Just blow up all the bombs and there he is.

Reverse-bug:  As noted in Rigel Di Scala's FAQ, there is a bug in the arcade, 
though not one I have noticed very often as I simply don't get hit by too many 
Amazon axes.  Strangely, after repeated testing I have found I can't get the 
Amazons on the PSX to throw their axes at me (at least, not at a level it would 
hit me while walking.)  The glitch itself causes Strider to begin walking in the 
opposite direction the joy stick was being held when he was hit.  There is a 
place in the arcade they would dependably throw their ax and they won't do it 
here.  My guess is that the axes were removed so as to eliminate the glitch, but 
to my consternation, I have actually seen them throw an ax but only when I was 
no where near them and couldn't even try to get hit by it!  Someone please e-
mail me on this one.
 
Getting past the barrier:  Mentioned before in level one.  It is possible to get 
past the last 'beam barrier'.  I am not sure how I did it.  A quick jump to the 
left and I made it over there before the beam reached the top.  My reward?  I 
got to die.

Two-in-one bot trick:  This is the most useful glitch (or sneak) in the game.  
You need two bots, then open a panther canister without picking it up.  Lose one 
or both bots and then pick up the panther.  Your big friend will be on one or 
even -no- life units.  If you can keep him until he turns back to bots, you get 
both bots on one life bar.  If you are careful you can typically achieve this on 
level one giving you a nearly indestructible Strider.  This, as far as I know, 
is one of the best all-round cheats in the game. 

Triple your score:   OK, that is an approximate.  I found this secret back in 
1990 or so and amazed my friends with it, signing my high score  'GOD'.  The 
secret is to utilize time outs and expend your excess lives in the amazons 
killing dinosaurs which are worth TONS of points.  While seemingly barbaric and 
having nothing to do with saving the world, this will earn you a far higher 
score than can be obtained through normal game play.

Green-snot glitch:  Completely worthless and only in the arcade version.  If you 
have both bots on the last level, immediately upon destroying the Uroboros and 
attaining the Master's level, swing your sword and there will be a large green 
colored platform like object--but it explodes almost instantaneously.  In fact, 
you only see it because it is exploding.  This glitch is only for confirmed 
Strider lunatics, so I don't expect to be hearing much feedback on this one.  
Still, it remains a good index of the original game.  Kudos to anyone who can 
figure out what the object is--I can't!

Infinite sword power-up:  Only available in the PSX version.  Play through once 
and you get this option.

Stage select:   Only available in the PSX version.  Play through once and you 
get this option.

Level 0 in Strider 2:  Though well documented, if you play through the PSX 
version of Strider 1 and save your game while doing the same for Strider 2, 
Level 0 on Strider 2 will become available.  Unfortunately this is the poorest 
level in the game.

Select Strider color:  Again, complete Strider 1 through once on the PSX and you 
can select his color next time you play.  Unfortunately most of these palettes 
are very bad, including one somewhat reminiscent of Dan.  Now if I could just 
play Strider through AS Dan, that would be fun!

7. Strider 2

This FAQ is not really about Strider 2, however I thought it worth mentioning 
because even with only a few days of intense game play, I can hardly separate 
the two in my mind.  Strider defined what games should be in 1989, and while I 
doubt it will be heeded, I can think of no better action game for the new 
millennium.  In every sense, Strider has been improved while also being a remake 
of Strider 1, not the sequel.  Like the first game, this need not be a quarter 
eater (though I am a long ways from mastering the last level--if that is 
possible!), as practice and creativity can defeat opponents which once seemed 
nearly impossible.  I have beat levels one through three without continues 
(though not in sequence as I am not that good yet) and nearly beat level zero 
without continues as well.  Level four also seems as though it can be mastered 
with patience.

But Strider 2 is more than just a remake of the game in its themes and moves, it 
also embraces the same furious kamikaze approach that was a hallmark of Strider 
1.  You can at times annihilate your opponents with mad dashes and crazy stunts 
that no sane man would try (Strider Ishmael has compared my playing style to one 
under the influence of crack!)  This game is all about adrenaline, but it is 
also all about smart game-playing.  There are times to hold back and wait out 
your opponent--it isn't just mad hack and slash.

Most impressively, I think Strider 2 has done something new with its 3-D 
backgrounds.  While game-play is still roughly 2-D, you are playing in a 3-D 
world.  People in the background can still shoot you, and with your sword boost 
activated, you can shoot them!  But that isn't half of it.  The worlds you move 
through are stunningly recreated such that these places really live and breath.  
As you take the second gun turret on the castle in the second level, you can see 
behind you a stunning view of all that you have traversed in your adventures.  
Elsewhere you will find yourself dangling from cliffs of ice or jumping between 
air cars as you battle for your life.  I have always been prejudiced to 2-D 
games because I feel they offer the best game-play, but here we see the best of 
both world, and not with cheesy and unconvincing polygon rendered backgrounds 
that are two bright and colorful to ever exist in the same world as Strider.  
Instead everything that has made Capcom's 2-D games (from side scrollers to 6 
button fighters) brilliant has been put into a world that only 3-D graphics 
could make possible, and while the technology is not new, this is the best 
application I have seen of it to date.

I didn't really mean to do a promotion for Strider 2 in this FAQ, but I felt 
that simply ending with Strider 1 left a bad taste in my mouth.  Strider 1 is 
after all an 11 year old game, but Strider as a video game hero, and an idea of 
Strider as a video game concept is still strong and still has (I might add) a 
unique identity.  No other game has ever emulated what was captured by Strider 1 
until Capcom's recent sequel, and they have captured it with the greatest 
accuracy.  For this reason I feel the need to strongly endorse this sequel, 
having waited so long for it, as well as praising Capcom for their commitment to 
this 11 year old idea. 

8. Legal
 
Strider, Strider Hiryu, Falchion, and all other related names/trademarks are 
copyright/trademarked Capcom Co., Ltd. Playstation is copyright Sony Computer 
Entertainment Inc.

This document is copyright Chris Moon 2000 and cannot be reproduced for profit 
in any form. It can be freely distributed over the internet as long as it is 
unaltered and is only distributed on free (i.e. non-subscription) sites. If you 
do choose to post this document on your site, please email me to let me know.