Strider

About

Strider is a fast-paced platformer where you play as Hiryu, a high-tech ninja with a plasma sword and a knack for acrobatics. Navigate five distinct stages filled with traps, enemies, and tight time limits. Use cartwheel jumps, wall climbs, and slide moves to dodge obstacles and dispatch foes. Collect power-ups that boost your attack range, health, or summon robotic allies like flying hawks and saber-toothed tigers. The game’s precision-based controls demand quick reflexes, with a health gauge that can be expanded but easily drained by mistakes or expired timers. Known for its punishing difficulty and fluid mechanics, Strider remains a cult classic among platformers. Its 1989 release set a high bar for tight gameplay and visual flair, with stages ranging from snowy wilderness to jungle ruins and a floating battleship. Players can tackle it solo or challenge friends in competitive multiplayer modes. Currently priced at $4.49 on IndieGala, it’s a budget way to test your skills against a legacy of pixel-perfect action.

Storyline

Strider is set in a dystopian future in the year 2048, where a mysterious dictator known as the "Grandmaster" rules over the world. Hiryu, the youngest ever Super A Ranked[2] member of an organization of high-tech ninja-like 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.