1989 was a hell of a year for video games and pop culture. This week, we pay homage to one of the hottest, most memorable games to hit arcades that year: Capcom's Strider (Strider Hiryu if you're nasty). Featuring a nimble ninja battling through a futuristic version of Cold War Eurasia armed only with a laser sword capable of slicing through everything in its path, Strider made a real impression on arcade-goers in 1989.
But there was more to Strider than just a rad coin-op machine, and this week's episode digs into the grand plans Capcom devised for the franchise—it spanned beyond arcades to home machines and even print! None of those other efforts had nearly as much impact as the arcade machine, though, and the world is about to get a pleasant reminder of its greatness in a few weeks with Sega launches the Genesis mini—which, yes, puts its solid, system-selling port of Strider front-and-center.
In other news that probably only I care about, I'm growing to like the digital paint tools I've been using for my past few cover illustrations. They're not a perfect substitute for real ink and paint, but the fake waterbrush tools available on iPad have turned out to pretty good at simulating different effects. So much for authenticity! It's all fake from here on out.
Retronauts Episode 242: Strider
MP3, 43.7 MB | 1:34:21
Direct download | Retronauts on iTunes | Retronauts on Libsyn
Episode description: Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Shane Bettenhausen paraglide into Kazakh S.S.R. to profess the glory of a game that remains indelibly cool even 30 years later: Capcom's Strider.