Strider: Death to Soviet Kazakh!
[ Company: Capcom | Year: 1989 | Grade: B- ]
Strider (Genesis)
Strider gets no respect. Despite being one of Capcom's biggest 16-bit hits and the winner of EGM's coveted Game of the Year award, Strider has barely been seen or heard from in the last two decades. Here he is in one of the best 2D platformers of all time, years before he starred in a PlayStation sequel and, most recently, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Despite being all but an afterthought to Capcom, many fans still have hope that Strider Hiryu will be back for another exciting adventure. In the meantime, here's the third episode of the 32 Game Endings of Christmas!
Previously On Strider:
Strider tells the story of Hiryu, a member of an elite-class of ninja-like agents trained in espionage, sabotage and assassinations. His weapon, the Cypher, is a plasma sword that whips across the screen so fast your eyes can barely see it. In this adventure he has been tasked with infiltrating the Grandmaster's capital at the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.
What should have been a straight forward mission has become anything but routine, thanks to robotic animals, dinosaurs and a flying ship carrying three Chun Li lookalikes. Now Strider Hiryu is face to face with his biggest threat yet, the sinister Grandmaster himself. And just to raise the stakes even higher, this final boss has decided to have the showdown at the top of the country's tallest building. Prepare for what promises to be one epic battle between good and evil.
How It Ended:
After finally defeating the Grandmaster, Strider Hiryu stands at the top of the tower and looks down at the city exploding all around him. In the distance the Grandmaster's evil emblem is ripped apart piece by piece, making way for a new
Only fools are enslaved by time and space!
government. Despite the smell of bombs and destruction in the distance, peace has finally come to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. They said it couldn't be done, but all it took was a trained ninja-like assassin to brutally kill the country's elected leader. That's just how peace works in 2048.
Strider Hiryu's work is done here, he can go back to where he came knowing he enacted change the Kazakh people can believe in. He makes a run for it, opening his powerful hang glider and blasting off into space. That's right, space. Because apparently Hiryu is able to breathe without oxygen, that's how much of a
Don't ever speak to me about Strider Returns!
badass he is! He dips back and forth while watching all of the bad guys he killed pass before his eyes. When he finally sees the Grandmaster, Strider Hiryu takes a sharp left and slams right into the side of his home planet. We see a massive explosion, followed by eleven years of waiting for a true sequel.
How It Should Have Ended:
Instead of picking up and flying to a whole other planet, Strider Hiryu should have stuck around to see the ripple effect that was caused by his actions. With the evil dictator out of the way, the real heavy lifting came when the citizens tried to rebuild their civilization and draft a new government. They reached out for help from neighboring countries, but years of hostility (and a global recession) have made that it hard for anybody to trust the Kazakh people. With the government in shambles and a skyrocketing unemployment rate, this newly liberated country reverted back to what they knew best: Starting wars and oppressing their own citizens. But don't think of this as a sad ending, because it sets up Capcom to make endless Strider sequels where Hiryu has to clean up the mess he started.
