Ghostrunner 2

Don’t let the fast-paced motorcycle sections, larger levels or cyberspace fool you – Ghostrunner 2’s Jack is still very much the cyber-ninja bad-ass as in the previous game. Deflecting attacks, slicing through foes, parkouring through neon-lit environments, and one-hit kills are still part of the gameplay loop. The new abilities and rogue-like mode further add to the experience, even if there’s a lot of trial and error involved to progress forward.

General Mikiel – Strider

General Mikiel has no qualms about attacking from afar and then retreating when Strider approaches. And you can kind of respect that strategy but as a boss fight, having to chase him through several rooms before he finally hops in his tank and stands his ground? It’s…interesting, that’s for sure.

Cashing in on the retro console trend, Capcom has announced the Capcom Home Arcade. Built like an arcade stick and functioning as a plug-and-play system, it contains the company’s arcade titles from ’80s and ’90s in one convenient package. The Capcom Home Arcade will go on sale on October 25th for €230.

Manufactured by Koch Media, the device contains 16 classic titles. These include Alien vs. Predator, Captain Commando, Cyberbots, Darkstalkers, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, Strider, Final Fight, Capcom Sports Club, Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Ghouls and Ghosts, Giga Wing, ProGear, and Mega Man: The Power Battle. You can also look forward to lesser known games like Eco Warriors and 1944: The Loop Master.

Though emulated with FB Alpha, each title is produced from their classic CPS1 and CPS2 ROMS. The arcade stick also boasts Wifi for uploading one’s scores to a global leaderboard. In terms of experiencing the publisher’s classic arcade titles, the Capcom Home Arcade sounds like a good deal. Stay tuned for more information in the coming months on its emulation and performance.

Rather than talking about what’s in store for us in the future, though, let’s instead take a look back and talk about what have been some of the best ninja and samurai related games over the years. In this list, we’re going to take a look at fifteen such games. Given just how vast and popular this genre is, it goes without saying that this list isn’t going to be exhaustive by any means, so if we failed to mention any of your favourites, fire away in the comments section below.

Also note that just for the purpose of this feature, we’re clubbing samurais and ninjas together- we know they’re not one and the same. But you know, convenience and all. Also, this list is in random order and isn’t ranked, so keep that in mind as well.

Without further ado, then, let’s get right into it!

SAMURAI SHODOWN

Back in the days of the insane craze surrounding Street Fighter II, fighters were all the rage. Samurai Shodown came along and put an irresistable, samurai-centric spin on it. It wasn’t a revolutionary game, and it didn’t do anything that could be called unprecedented, but as those who have played it would gladly tell you, it was an absolute blast. With its dedication and focus on samurais, it’s a a game you simply must play if you’re a fan of the subject matter.

PS+ offerings on PlayStation 4 have so far largely been disappointing- which makes sense if you think about it, there really isn’t much on the console to begin with that can be given away for free. But next month, it appears that Sony will actually be giving away some pretty damn good games. NowGamer reports that we can expect Strider and Towerfall Ascension, two relatively great and recent PlayStation 4 games, to hit the service’s Instant Game Collection next month.

That would be rather good, and a huge improvement from what we get now. Co-incidentally enough, Microsoft’s renewed Games with Gold Program also begins in July, and it will be bringing similarly free games to Xbox Live on Xbox One as well. Competition, you see, is a great thing.

No word yet on what the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita games will be. Take this report with a grain of salt for the time being as we still need an official confirmation from Sony. Stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we will keep you posted.

After that, though, the series went dormant. The series’ iconic protagonist, Strider Hiryu, would go on to appear a number of other Capcom titles, most recently Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, where he made his first appearance as a 3D character and was voiced in English for the first time. As Super Smash Bros. taught us, crossover fighters are great tools for brand resurrection, and Capcom isn’t one to miss a beat when there’s money to be made.

"Thankfully, the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. References to Star Wars abound, and the game is as likely to skewer itself as it is some of the genre’s more over the top elements."

With that in mind, a new Strider game seemed all but inevitable. This time, development fell to Capcom’s Osaka studio and Double Helix Games. Capcom’s previous efforts to outsource its properties to Western developers have produced mixed results: Lost Planet 3 was an inoffensive, if forgettable, game and the less said about the disastrous Dark Void, the better. Strider fans need not be concerned, however. As they did with the latest incarnation of Killer Instinct, Double Helix steps up admirably, and the result is a great romp that doubles as a fantastic reimagining of the original Strider titles.

Yes, Strider is more of a reimagining than it is a reboot and many of the same story beats carry over from the 1989 title. That’s not to say that the game has much of a story, though. At the beginning of the game, Hiryu is dropped – via hang glider, no less – into Kazakh City and tasked with killing its leader, Grandmaster Meio. If you’re looking for narrative depth, you won’t find it here. This is a game filled with cheesy villains and bad Russian accents.

Thankfully, the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. References to Star Wars abound, and the game is as likely to skewer itself as it is some of the genre’s more over the top elements. At one point, one of the bosses tells Strider that he can’t possibly win because he has a gun, and Strider only has a knife. Later on, it introduces a boss as “The True Form” in large, bold letters. Strider is simply that kind of game, and it doesn’t care that you know it.

"These abilities are a great aid in combat, but they’ll help you get around in the game world, too. In a rather bold move, Double Helix opted to jettison the series linear, side-scrolling nature in favor of a Metroidvania approach."

Frankly, however, the game’s story doesn’t really matter; it’s just there to provide a reason for Strider to do the things he does. The real draw here is the action itself, and thanks to the game’s truncated opening, that starts the moment Strider hits the ground. The game is fast and fluid and you’ll be cutting through victims like a ninja wielding a plasma sword almost immediately. That’s not to say that Strider is an easy game – it’s not – but you’ve always got the tools you need for a given situation and the controls are extremely precise. If you die, it’s on you.

Still, things do start fairly simply. Hiryu begins the game with a basic attack, a heavy attack that can knock enemies into the air, and a jump. You’ll acquire a number of upgrades over the course of your journey ranging from kunai, which can be thrown at enemies, to special abilities known as Options, which can be activated at the cost of some of Hiryu’s energy for big damage, and in one case, a defensive boost.

These abilities are a great aid in combat, but they’ll help you get around in the game world, too. In a rather bold move, Double Helix opted to jettison the series linear, side-scrolling nature in favor of a Metroidvania approach. Naturally, this means that you’ll be doing some backtracking and certain areas will be closed off until you acquire the items necessary to gain access to them. Genre staples such as the double jump, dash attack, and a slide attack make an appearance, but with the added wrinkle that Strider is able to climb walls and cross ceilings naturally, which allows Double Helix to mix up the environments, and the manners in which you’ll traverse them, significantly.

"Strider’s combat is an absolute joy when you finally get everything figured out, and everything really comes to a head in the game’s mini-boss and boss fights. These are often the most extreme tests of your skill, and the game doesn’t pull punches with any of them. "

The real star of the show, however, is the Cypher, Hiryu’s plasma sword. Over the course of the game, you’ll gain access to different types of plasma, each of which allows you to unlock doors and activate switches within the environment and adds an additional effect to Strider’s attacks. The standard red plasma, for example, allows you to deflect (or reflect, if you time it properly) enemy fire, the orange plasma lights things on fire, and the blue plasma allows you to freeze your foes. Certain enemies can only be defeated by using the plasma that matches their color, which adds a quite a bit of depth to the combat, and you’ll often find yourself frantically switching between plasma types during combat as you try to find the best answer for a situation.

Strider’s combat is an absolute joy when you finally get everything figured out, and everything really comes to a head in the game’s mini-boss and boss fights. These are often the most extreme tests of your skill, and the game doesn’t pull punches with any of them. You might struggle against a mini-boss only to enter the next room and watch in horror as the game throws three of them at you as regular enemies, but the real treat are the actual bosses themselves.

There are quite a few of them and each is very well designed and a lot of fun, requiring you to master new patterns and mechanics. Unfortunately, the game forces you to fight many of the bosses several times. This is mitigated by the fact that each fight is legitimately different than the one that came before it, sometimes drastically so, and that the game will rarely ever ask you to fight a character more than twice. Still, it can be annoying to fight the same characters over and over again, no matter how good the fights are.

"The environments aren’t problem free, however. Some areas are overly frustrating due to a combination of platforming challenges and enemy placement, and I did get stuck in the environment twice, forcing me to reload a previous checkpoint both times."

Boss fights aside,  Strider does its best to mix things up. Kazakh City is an incredibly varied place, and over the course of the game, you’ll travel the city’s rooftops, descend into the sewers, infiltrate a military base, and explore secret laboratory, among other areas. The game looks fantastic, and all of these areas are modeled in bright colors and feature unique challenges that must be overcome if you are to progress.

The environments aren’t problem free, however. Some areas are overly frustrating due to a combination of platforming challenges and enemy placement, and I did get stuck in the environment twice, forcing me to reload a previous checkpoint both times. In addition, Strider sometimes grows a little too fond of its industrial corridors for its own good, but by and large, the environments are a lot of fun to explore, and you never know what you’ll see next.

The enemies that inhabit these environments are just as varied and colorful, and the world feels cohesive and real in a way few games manage. The most impressive visual trick is Strider himself, from the way he moves to the way his scarf changes color depending on which plasma type you have equipped to your Cypher. The game does have some odd visual inconsistencies – for example, characters’ mouths don’t move when they speak – but overall the visuals are very impressive, and Double Helix often uses them to convey elements of the game’s design in clever ways.

"Ultimately, “a different take” is pretty good way to describe Strider, especially given the series’ odd history. Double Helix has managed to straddle the line between a remake and a full-fledged reboot, and create something that is unique, while still feeling like a Strider title, and playing to the series’ strengths."

Sound design is a little more hit and miss. Some sounds, such as voices and Strider’s Cypher, occasionally seem a bit muffled outside of cutscenes, while everything else is often fairly loud and distinct. It’s a minor complaint, and everything sounds pretty good when the sound mixing comes together properly, which is most of the time.

Like most Metroidvanias, Strider isn’t necessarily a long game. I finished it on normal in a little over six hours. That number is probably closer to eight hours when you include my deaths, but I only managed to complete fifty-three percent of the game. If you take the time to find all of the hidden upgrades and collectibles, I would imagine it takes much longer, and fans of speed runs should rest assured that the game can be completed in significantly less time, if you know how.

Once you’re done with the main adventure, you can tackle the game’s challenge modes: survival and beacon run. Survival mode is about combat, and the game grants you a preset load out of abilities before turning you loose on wave after wave on enemies to see how long you can survive. Beacon run, on the other hand, is all about speed, tasking you with passing through a number of beacons as quickly as you can while avoiding enemies and environmental traps.Each challenge is scored, and there are leaderboards to challenge for the skilled and dedicated. The main game will remain the core, and likely only, draw for most people, but the challenges provide a nice change of pace for those who want a different take on the game.

Ultimately, “a different take” is pretty good way to describe Strider, especially given the series’ odd history. Double Helix has managed to straddle the line between a remake and a full-fledged reboot, and create something that is unique, while still feeling like a Strider title, and playing to the series’ strengths. It’s the kind of game that will appeal to old fans of the franchise and create new ones, and something tells me that this isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of Hiryu or Kazakh. Perhaps, then, the best word for Strider is “revival.” It was a tall order, but that’s what makes it successes so impressive. Mission accomplished, indeed.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Game Overview:

Strider takes place in the year Meio: 048 as our hero returns to fight against the oppressive ruler Grand Master Meio. The game features classical moves as well new ones to make this the true next generation iteration of Strider. The game also features futuristic buildings with daunting boss battles.

Strider is developed by Double Helix Games and published by Capcom. The game is now available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Check out the video walkthrough of Strider below and let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

For video game guides, tips and wikis, check out our gaming portal here.

Capcom and Double Helix have released a behind the scenes video for their upcoming 2D side-scrolling platformer, Strider. The video shows the development team working on the game going into why exactly Strider is making its return.

The video talks about how the Devil May Cry Collection led to Double Helix coming up with the idea of “rebirth of Strider Hiryu”, and several other members of the development team talk about several of their own personal experience during the development of the title. There is, of course, also plenty of gameplay footage in the video, and it looks pretty good, so you should check it out if you’re even slightly interested in the game.

Strider’s return has been in the works for a long time, but it’s now finally going to happen soon. The game releases on February 18th for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and the PC. Stay tuned for more updates.

Amazon, known more for its online retail portal than video games, has recently purchased Double Helix Games. You’ll remember them developing Killer Instinct on Xbox One as well as handling the 2014 reboot of Strider along with Capcom. Needless to say, we’re as perplexed by this development as you are.

In a statement to TechCrunch, it was stated that, “Amazon has acquired Double Helix as part of our ongoing commitment to build innovate games for customers.”

As of now, the deal includes employees and various intellectual properties though the exact financial deals are still unknown. Double Helix will continue to support its current projects and all of its staff will continue from their current office location. Interestingly, Double Helix is located in Irvine, California – the same location as Amazon Game Studios, which is working Android games for its upcoming games device.

Currently, Double Helix are busy with Strider, which releases later this year for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4 and PC.

Capcom Japan and Double Helix Studios is working to bring Strider to both current and next gen consoles in a big way. GamingBolt recently had a chance to speak to producer James Vance about working on the PS4 and Xbox One. This is especially with regards to differences between the two platforms since one unified memory and the other uses embedded memory.

“We are very excited to deliver Strider to PS4 and Xbox One consumers at the very beginnings of this next-generation of gaming. Both machines are extremely powerful, and have allowed us to realize our major next-generation goal of delivering a 1080P, 60FPS enhanced gameplay experience. As the generation proceeds, it will be very interesting and exciting to see how platform specific games utilize their respective architectures in unique ways.”

As for optimizing asset creation for 1080p resolution on the next gen consoles, Vance stated that, “The PS4 and Xbox One were on the development radar some time before they were announced to the public, and because the PC version of Strider is DirectX 11 compliant it was an easy decision to bring the game to next-gen consoles once the development kits became available. The majority of the next-generation optimization has focused on ensuring the game looks good at 1080P with improved models, lighting and shadows, as well as maintaining a silky 60FPS frame rate.”

Strider will be releasing later this year for the Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.