Yeah, its always a pity the only CPS2 stuff that seems to get released is Street Fighter games (or super rarely Darkstalkers). A real CPS2 collection would be amazing.
Anyway. More progress on my Capcom run today. After much grit and determination (and plenty of hestitation) I finally gave in and started Strider Returns for the Mega Drive and Master System. Krusty sums the games up best:
Seriously, this is the worst Capcom related game I think I've ever played (and I've played a whole ton of them). First off, the Mega Drive version:
The controls are utter garbage. Feels like there is a ton of input lag and over animation when you do anything. And the game feels like it runs in slow motion, so it basically feels like you have no control over Hiryu. So that's already basically ruined the game. But wait, it gets worse...
The level design is garbage and utterly forgetful. The mini bosses are bloody annoying, every last one of them... remember guys like Solo, the mecha Gorilla etc. from the first Strider? You won't find anything like them here, even when some returning faces like Solo, Grandmaster and that weird gravity device show up again they all feel woefully inferior to the original game. Its rather insulting the game is called Strider "2". Thankfully Capcom retcon this piece of shit out of existence when the game finally gets a real sequel years later. Anyway, back to the game... Graphically its ok I guess. Unremarkable but inoffensive. Music is mediocre with nothing standing out. The only thing I can praise is the voice samples between levels - those are really impressive - unlike other games (include Capcom's own Street Fighter 2 ports) these voices are insanely clear and crisp. Thankfully the game is pretty short, so at least you don't have to suffer for too long. Though its worth noting the Grandmaster final boss is just the second level boss made slightly harder. Which somehow fits perfectly in this game, nothing like lowing expectations further! Oh, and many later levels are pretty big and mazelike, but completely unfun to explore, unlike the linear but insanely well designed levels from the first arcade game. Oh, and I gotta mention these hideous lazer beam things you have to dodge in stage 2 a ton. They are incredibly slow, and push you back if you get hit. Good luck not smashing the cart trying to get by them!
Now the Master System version. It follows the MD version mainly but strips everything back as the MS can't handle the MD game as is. Less enemies are on screen at once, levels are mercifully smaller (bar 3 and 5 which are still pretty mazelike). Remember when I mentioned the iconic bosses from Strider 1 above? They are all completely absent here bar the gravity device thingy. Yes, even though the Grandmaster taunts you between each stage you never fight him. So who do you fight? The first two levels you fight some sort of helicopter boss (and you though DMC2's 'copter sucked), level 3 you fight a Military garbed T Rex with a rifle and sunglasses (at least I think that's what that thing was), level 4 is a giant wasp and the final boss is some dude in a trenchcoat (I'm really not making this up!)
Hilariously enough the controls feel better than the MD one. They still suck, but suck less than its big brother. The lazer beams are way faster now so are much less annoying. Interestingly, due to the restrictions of the controls, your main stationary attack is shurikens, not your Cypher, as you have to be moving, jumping or climbing and attack to use it. Your Cypher is also hilariously overpowered, you can run into bosses spamming it and win (for example, the third boss). Oh, and when your climbing walls, if you jump from one side to another, any enemies attached to the walls will blow up for some reason. Who knows.
So yeah, its awful. I'm not touching the Game Gear version (despite owning it) as I imagine it'll be a worse version of the MS game on a smaller, squished screen. I shudder to think what the computer ports were like (I only touch the console ports).
Its not all fun yet though, next up is the hilariously bad PC version of Mega Man produced by Hitech.
And with this, its interesting to look back on Inafune's plan to farm out their games to foreign studios a few years back. This of course almost completely failed as almost all the games sucked (I'll stick up for Grin because I personally loved their take on Bionic Commando). This approach was basically what Capcom did in the late 80's/early 90's with US Gold, Hitech and other studios letting them make licensed games/sequels to their properties (US Gold almost produced a licensed sequel to Street Fighter, but Capcom saw sense and put a stop to that!)
Thankfully Capcom seems to be back on top producing some fantastic games and have several other awesome looking games on the horizon. Can't wait for Mega Man 11 this Fall :)
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