Strider (Arcade)

Prerelease Info

Tile Viewer#

There's code at 0x71E10 (offset is for the strider set in MAME) that would enable an extra option, "CHARACTER", on the test menu if input 0x04 was held down before the menu popped up. Unfortunately, 0x04 corresponds to 1P Coin, and both 1P and 2P Coin inputs are disabled in the test menu. Put the following code in MAME's strider.xml cheat file to change 1P Coin to 1P Start:

  <cheat desc="Fix Full Test Menu Access">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mw@071E16=0040</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mw@071E16=0004</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

From there, just choose "CHARACTER" to access the tile viewer menu. Pick "OBJECT" for sprites, "SCROLL1" for the game's font, "SCROLL2" for the foreground tiles, and "SCROLL3" for background tiles.

Controls:

• Up: Scroll down.
• Down: Scroll up.
• Left / Right: Scroll through available palettes.
• Button 1: Toggle vertical flipping.
• Button 2: Toggle horizontal flipping.
• 1P Start: Toggle between a simple and complex tile display.
• 2P Start: Loads the next level's palette group.

Unused Graphics#

The Amazon enemies have their left breasts exposed in the stored graphics. This is covered in the actual game with a separately-stored green leaf sprite. Add the code in strider.xml to check it out.

What appears to be graphics for a test tileset. Includes every possible surface type and hexadecimal 16×16 blocks.

32×32 tiles for a logo of "The Falcon", the name with which the game was first revealed in western gaming magazines. In an interview with game planner Kouichi "Isuke" Yotsui, he explained that this title was initially chosen because Capcom USA wasn't convinced with the Strider name until they changed their minds later.

Put the following code in the striderj.xml cheat file to replace the normal title screen logo with this one:

<cheat desc="Restore old title screen">
    <script state="on">
      <!-- repoint the tilemaps to the old ones-->
      <action>temp8=maincpu.md@5cac</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@5cac=cd9de</action>
      <action>temp9=maincpu.md@5cf0</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@5cf0=cdac2</action>
      <!-- the lower half tileset is a bit off, need to remap it a bit -->
      <action>temp0=maincpu.mb@5cbd</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cbd=24</action>
      <action>temp1=maincpu.mb@5cc3</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cc3=4a</action>
      <action>temp2=maincpu.mb@5cc9</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cc9=70</action>
      <action>temp3=maincpu.mb@5ccf</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5ccf=96</action>
      <action>temp4=maincpu.mb@5cd5</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cd5=bc</action>
      <action>temp5=maincpu.mb@5cdb</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cdb=e2</action>
      <!-- also, the loops are one too small, which results in missing the last tiles on the bottom of both the upper and lower half-->
      <action>temp6=maincpu.mb@5cb5</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cb5=10</action>
      <action>temp7=maincpu.mb@5cf9</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cf9=4</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.md@5cac=temp8</action>
      <action>maincpu.md@5cf0=temp9</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cbd=temp0</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cc3=temp1</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cc9=temp2</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5ccf=temp3</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cd5=temp4</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cdb=temp5</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cb5=temp6</action>
      <action>maincpu.mb@5cf9=temp7</action>
    </script>
  </cheat> 

Unused Sounds#

Seems to be an alternate version of the intro tune for Stage 4.

These music tracks do not exist in the ROM, but have unique IDs and track names in the Output Test. They all point to Track 00, the Stage 1-1 music. A Stage 3 cutscene track and an ending credits track were eventually recorded for the Sega Genesis and Sharp X68000 ports. A time running out song was recorded for the Sharp X68000. The sharp X68000 would get an arrangement of the Genesis credits song for the Name Entry screen.

Various utterances and grunts from Hiryu that aren't used in any version of the game. Curiously the 83 is the version used in the Japanese version of the Genesis port.

Unused Text#

Two pieces of text giving the full names of the game's programmers can be found in the game memory.

The first is at 0x0039AA:

Porgrammed by Yamauchi & Komatsu

The second starts at 0x004542:

Programing by

Tae       Komatsu
Toshihiro Yamauchi
Toshihiko Miki

In the credits, these three are listed as "TAE 250R", "T+MARUCHI", and "MIKKUN" respectively.

Text exists for a Scroll Test (like the one found in Ghouls 'n Ghosts) but there's no known way to access it.

Text starts at 0x00407D in memory.

     SCROLL TEST
   1. SCROLL
   2. MAPPING
   ENTER A SHOT
   EXIT  C SHOT

     MAPPING
   1. SCROLL1
   2. SCROLL2
   3. SCROLL3
   ENTER A SHOT
   EXIT  C SHOT

     SELECT STAGE
   1. STAGE1
   2. STAGE2
   3. STAGE3
   4. STAGE4
   5. STAGE5
   ENTER A SHOT

Regional Differences#

In the Japanese sets, Hiryu makes a "Hah!" sound every time he swings his sword. This sound is not used in US sets.

Revisional Differences#

The earliest Japanese and US sets (labeled in MAME as Japan and USA, B-Board 89624B-2) are missing many pieces of music, with Stage 1-1's music used in their place. This mostly affects the 3rd and 5th stages.

The version found in Capcom Arcade Stadium seems to be based on the later sets (labeled in MAME as Japan Resale Ver. and USA, B-Board 89624B-3), since it features all the missing music from the earlier sets.