Old Games: Encyclopedia Bombastica: Strider (NES)

Sweet! NES Strider was my jam back in the day (but I doubt it holds up very well).

I remember renting this and getting stuck at the start of the 2nd level until I finally discovered you could wall jump (no manual w/ the rental). I then went to defeat the game and loved it.

I never played the original, so this is perfect. Bonus points for Giancarlo.

Look at this guy!

Awesome !!

Everyday Jeff be Striden'!

The maaahhhhhhnnnnnnga?

Wow, really great music in this game. Reminiscent of the early Pokemon games but better.

I knew Giancarlo would be in on this. Always good to see more Bombastica.

man, those swimmy pixels. :(

Glad Jeff is seeing the error of his ways. NES Strider was awful.

Man, this game has got some collision problems. Not even invincibility frames when hit. I demand a Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden Bombastica next!

It might be a broken mess, but it is a charming broken mess.

Giancarlo Bomb dot com.

First Bombastica I've watched completely, I think. Enjoyed taking a peek at the olde Strider.

"That's where they hide the load time." <3 Brad <3

Even though I can read and speak some Japanese, I don't really ever chide someone on mis-pronouncing something...but boy does it grate my ears to hear someone say "Mang-ga".

Giancarlo Vanini-Vani-whatevayanameis, "New Guy". I'ma hitchu so hard Scooter gonna feel it son. Booom! Everybody in dis here Strider quick look mainga gonna get blap! blap! blap! blap!

Best Bombastica ever. I'd love to see more of these with everyone/multiple people in on them.

"Fuck video games forever!" -Jeff Gerstmann, 2014

I... I'm gonna go play this on my GBA now.

"oh nooo! fuck video games forever!" - Jeff Gerstmann

@sammo21 said:

I put a lot of effort into having my spoken Japanese sound as close to native as possible, and have been complemented numerous times because I don't have a 'foreign accent', but if I'm using Japanese words while speaking English I'll just butcher them because it's more comfortable. For example, when I'm not in 'speaking Japanese mode' I still prefer to pronounce Ryu as 'Raiyu', even though I know better.

I always liked the design of this game, but a lot of Capcom's early console ports were questionable on a technical level.

All a y'all are goin' doooown!

I can't lie... I flinched every time he said Maynga

Yes, the technical problems (clipping, horrible wall jumping, etc) were apparent to us as children. However at the time the NES Strider was very fucking cool. Like Jeff I was disappointed when I saw the "real" Strider was just a straightforward arcade game. At the time, there really wasn't much else on the NES quite like it. I disagree with Jeff about its length though. It really isn't much longer than the arcade game when you know what you're doing -- it can easily be beaten in about an hour.

@cale: When I was playing through the most recent Tomb Raider game it could be very painful. Lara is supposed to be an expert on Japanese mythology for her age but she can't decide how to pronounce Japanese words correctly, and by can't decide I mean she typically doesn't ever do it right. I was like...you can do better than that Crystal Dynamics...come on.

@kkotd Same here, mang.

I don't trust an Encyclopaedia Bombastica when the presenters and wearing trousers. This should be a Quick Look Throwback.

@sammo21: The Tomb Raider stuff was weird because there wasn't even any consistency to the mispronunciations. That stuff doesn't bother me for the same reason it doesn't bother me Japanese people constantly mispronounce English words. They are just saying whatever is most comfortable to them. What does bothers me is when someone who clearly has a decent command of Japanese language [which Lara did not] just puts no effort into their intonation/pronunciation when speaking in that language. I dunno why, it just strikes me as kinda brazen for some reason.

I never played this as a kid, but I think this actually holds up really well. The leveling system, skill progression, movement speed, and overall level design are way ahead of their time. I think I need to pick up a copy of this.

Strider is fucking rad.

ARCADE GAME MASTER RACE

This kinda looks like garbage...

Quick, who would win, in their prime? Faceas Clay or Mike Bison?

Until you actually enter "Um, actually it's pronounced.." mode then everything is cool.

You know, I remember renting this as a kid, and it was so shaky and flickery I though it was some kind of bootleg game. Then I noticed the Capcom logo and got really confused.

...

Strider would have made for a baller SNES game, probably.

@efesell: Yeah, I've been there when some otaku corrects a Japanese person's Japanese pronunciation. Cringe-inducing!

Giancarlo knows way too much about Strider for this to be a genuine bombastica.

Huh. I was expecting it to look less like shit the way they were talking about. Course then again all NES games look like shit to me. The SNES was the first valid console far as games being actually fun and actually pleasant to look at. Everything before that is just interesting from a historical standpoint.

@fuwano: On the other hand, if you're using the word manga, you're around people who know what manga is and you should probably bother to pronounce it correctly. Otherwise just say Japanese comic.

I've gotta resist Ebay while watching these Bombasticas.

A Strider bombastica with none other than Strider expert Giancarlo Varanini!? This is the best Saturday morning since Street Sharks ended.

I dunno, for a Japanese game I was expecting a lot more swastikas.

Anyone know what rss feed Bombastica's on under in iTunes now? Ever since they got their own section on the site, they no longer appear under the Features RSS or any of the other premium feeds.

If nothing else, this video got me to buy the new Strider, which I am enjoying a whole lot.

This game though? Well, it has LA in it, so that has to be worth something, right?

@themasterds: Are you 12 years old? Or just crazy?

Giancarlo is a cool dude

Striders: We've got a sword for that.