All the home computer ports' manuals include the same written prologue, which offers a very different story from that of the coin-op, playing up the communist imagery already present in the original: "Strider" (Hiryu is never used as his name) is said to be on a mission to infiltrate the Russian Red Army in order to return enemy secrets back to his superiors. The first stage is referred to as "Red Square", where Strider battles out "KGB attacks". After showdowns in the snow-capped peaks of Siberia and the southern lowland jungles, Strider seems to receive new instructions, as he must return to Red Square to defeat the "Grand Master of the Red Army" in order to protect the "future of the western world".
In-game cutscene, on the other hand, remain unchanged from the original, except for the ending which has been rewritten: The game is revealed to be a simulation Hiryu entered as a test to prove his skills before the real invasion. Hiryu is praised for having successfully completed it, something no one believed was possible, and are certain his skills will come in handy once the true invasion starts. Funnily enough, the programmers recycled the images from earlier cutscenes, leading to Ton Pooh and General Mikiel congratulating his enemy for his success.
In-game cutscene, on the other hand, remain unchanged from the original, except for the ending which has been rewritten: The game is revealed to be a simulation Hiryu entered as a test to prove his skills before the real invasion. Hiryu is praised for having successfully completed it, something no one believed was possible, and are certain his skills will come in handy once the true invasion starts. Funnily enough, the programmers recycled the images from earlier cutscenes, leading to Ton Pooh and General Mikiel congratulating his enemy for his success.
The Amiga and Atari ST versions were the first two to be released out of the six home computer ports, and since they possess the highest graphical power and capacity, the ones closest in content to the original game. Having no access to the Arcade game's source code to work with, both conversions were programmed basically from scratch, with their sole programmer John Prince writing them based on "lengthy playing sessions" and gameplay videos.
The graphics for both versions were created by digitizing the backgrounds and sprites from the Arcade board itself onto an Amiga, which were then transferred to an Atari ST with the "Degas Elite" art package and touched up by hand. These graphics were later ported down for use in all the 8-bit home computer ports.
The Atari ST is slightly inferior in graphics and sound and comes packaged in two disks, but both versions are otherwise virtually identical.
The graphics for both versions were created by digitizing the backgrounds and sprites from the Arcade board itself onto an Amiga, which were then transferred to an Atari ST with the "Degas Elite" art package and touched up by hand. These graphics were later ported down for use in all the 8-bit home computer ports.
The Atari ST is slightly inferior in graphics and sound and comes packaged in two disks, but both versions are otherwise virtually identical.
The ZX-Spectrum port was coded by Chris Brunning, who produced the source code on an Atari ST, which was later assembled using an in-house Z80 assembler package and later transferred, alongside graphics and maps, to the ZX Spectrum with an Atari development system.
Due to the much limited memory space when compared with the original, and since Brunning wanted to include as many of Hiryu's acrobatics as space permitted, a compromise was reached to reduce the original six angles of incline to only two, which led to the extra work of redesigning the mapping on each stage. In order to fit the still-large maps, they were further split into smaller sections and then compressed individually. This way, each section contained a small duplicate of the previous "sub-map" which expanded as the following area was approached, overlaying the old area without the need to stop the action.
Strider was produced for both the 48K and 128K Spectrum models, the latter of which includes in-game music. While still far from the original, the Spectrum port is very fluid gameplay-wise, featuring a Hiryu who moves and jumps far quicker than in the other conversions.
The Amstrad CPC version appears to be a port of the ZX Spectrum, except it features colored sprites and a drastic decrease in gameplay speed.
Strider was produced for both the 48K and 128K Spectrum models, the latter of which includes in-game music. While still far from the original, the Spectrum port is very fluid gameplay-wise, featuring a Hiryu who moves and jumps far quicker than in the other conversions.
The Amstrad CPC version appears to be a port of the ZX Spectrum, except it features colored sprites and a drastic decrease in gameplay speed.
The Commodore 64 version sports big, high-quality sprites and colors when compared with other games in the platform. As explained by programmer Paul Cole, they tried to get visuals close to the original but in doing so stretched the computer to its limits, and the gameplay suffered as a result.
Unlike the other ports which maintain the same overall appearance, this port stands out with its use of an unique, starkly different look. Background objects and map structures are created using a very simple style, with a much more angular sprite set devoid of any details. Due to the computer's even more limited memory space, some of the bosses who do appear in the other ports turn out missing here as well, notably first boss Ouroboros in Stage 1 (which ends after defeating Novo instead) and Stages 3 and 4 ending after killing a generic enemy. The Anti-Gravity Device is also missing, replaced instead by a six-way laser panel.
Unlike the other ports which maintain the same overall appearance, this port stands out with its use of an unique, starkly different look. Background objects and map structures are created using a very simple style, with a much more angular sprite set devoid of any details. Due to the computer's even more limited memory space, some of the bosses who do appear in the other ports turn out missing here as well, notably first boss Ouroboros in Stage 1 (which ends after defeating Novo instead) and Stages 3 and 4 ending after killing a generic enemy. The Anti-Gravity Device is also missing, replaced instead by a six-way laser panel.
The MS-DOS port for personal computers is based off the ZX Spectrum version, except with slightly better sprites, in color and with all cutscenes restored. The game was programmed to support both EGA and CGA display modes.