Strider

The controls of Strider consist of an eight-way joystick and two action buttons for attacking and jumping. The player controls the protagonist Strider Hiryu, a ninja whose main weapon is a tonfa-like plasma sword known as a "Cypher". He can perform numerous acrobatic feats depending on the joystick/button combination used. Pressing the jump button while Hiryu is standing still will cause him to do a regular vertical jump, while pressing the jump button while pushing the joystick left or right will enable him to do a cartwheel jump.

Hiryu can also slide under or through certain obstacles and enemies by first crouching down and then pressing the jump button. As well as his sliding move, both jumps can also be used to destroy weaker opponents. Hiryu is able to latch onto certain platforms, and climb across walls and ceilings using a metallic hook. While running down a sloped surface, Hiryu can gain enough momentum to allow him to do a longer cartwheel jump than usual.

In a dystopian future in the year 2048, a mysterious dictator known as the "Grandmaster" rules the world. Hiryu, the youngest ever Super A Ranked member of an organization of high-tech ninja agents known as the "Striders", is alone tasked with the Grandmaster's assassination. Hiryu begins his mission by infiltrating the Grandmaster's capital at the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, a Federation referred to as Eastern European which became the Imperial Capital of the Russian Empire by the year 2048.

The arcade version of Strider was part of a three-way project conceived in a collaboration between Capcom and Hiroshi Motomiya's manga studio Moto Kikaku, which also included the Strider Hiryu manga by Moto Kikaku's Tatsumi Wada that was published in Kodansha's Comic Computique anthology in Japan, as well as the NES version of Strider. Kouichi Yotsui, director of the coin-op Strider (who is credited as Isuke in the game), was chosen for his experience with the CP System hardware while working as a background designer on Ghouls 'n Ghosts. The three projects were developed independently of each other.

According to Yotsui the franchise was conceived as a multimedia collaboration between video game company Capcom and manga collective Moto Kikaku, the two companies having previously collaborated on the video game versions of the manga Tenchi wo Kurau. Moto Kikaku produced the manga version, while Capcom developed two separate video game versions, a coin-operated video game and a console version for the NES. All three works share common plot elements, while featuring their differences as well. He further said it was he who "pushed for a ninja concept" as they were leaning towards an action game, a ninja setting would've been convenient.

In the United Kingdom, Strider was the best-selling arcade game for three months during early 1989 (between February and April). In Japan, Game Machine listed Strider on their April 1, 1989 issue as being the third most-successful table arcade unit of the month, outperforming titles like Ninja Gaiden.

Strider opened to critical acclaim, particularly for its gameplay, graphics, diverse music, and voice samples. The original arcade game received positive reviews from critics upon release. The Games Machine called it "THE platform and ladders game to be seen playing at the moment." Your Sinclair called it "brilliant" and "a real epic" with "some imaginative stuff" in the game. Commodore User praised the "high definition graphics, brilliant movements and good old-fashioned blasting action" along with a "bit of tongue-in-cheek political" content.

U.S. Gold and Tiertex later produced the licensed sequel Strider II, released in North America as Journey from Darkness: Strider Returns, while Capcom developed the unrelated Strider 2 for arcades and PlayStation in 1999–2000. A planned reboot by Grin was cancelled in 2009, before Double Helix Games developed the 2014 reboot for consoles and PC.

Outside the series, Hiryu became a recurring crossover character in the Marvel vs. Capcom games, appearing in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), Ultimate Marvel vs.