Strider II

"Strider, athletic commando and ultimate warrior returns! This time his mission is to cut through 5 hazard-packed levels in order to reach the evil Grand Master and save the Earth from destruction. This time there will be NO LIMITS... NO MERCY... NO SURRENDER! "

Strider II is the first sequel of the original coin-op, designed by British company Tiertex and released in 1990, 9 years before Capcom's own official sequel. The game is better known for its Genesis port, and its alternate North American title Strider Returns: Journey from Darkness. Assuming the role of a nameless Strider simply known as "The Warrior" (later identified as Hinjo), the player travels through five stages (Forbidden Forest, Castle Metropolis, The Alien Depths, The Rooftops and the Master's Prison Ship), overcoming obstacles and enemies on the path to reach the stage's end boss.

Strider II and its ports are well known and despised for their poor quality, something even the creators admit: graphics are washed out and darker, a stark contrast with the colorful world of Strider; gameplay is centered around trial & error, something even the design team admitted was a mistake; and the experience is often marred by the fake difficulty, mostly from the overly aggressive hordes of enemies that crowd the areas and the non-intuitive stage design.

With the release of Capcom's own Strider 2, this game has been removed from official continuity.