[Johnny Undaunted]

Anyone who's fan of Strider probably heard about a so-called unreleased SuperGrafx version of the game. Apparently it was meant to be an overly ambitious port of the game, so ambitious, that it led it's lead programmer into a coma (or suicide, depending on which version of the story you believe). And as a result, Capcom decided to pay tribute to the programmer by having Hiryu throw a teddy bear in Ken's background in Street Fighter Alpha 2.

However, I've also heard various arguments agaisnt rumors and the fact such as:

A) The original Arcade version of Strider actually had a teddy bear in one of the stages. So the Hiryu throwing a teddy bear animation may

B) Capcom (or more appropiately, NEC Avenue) never officially announced a Supergrafx version of the game apparently. The only place where such a game was listed on a DieHard Gamers' Club and a gamestore owned by GameFan (incidentally, it was in GameFan where I've first heard the story about the teddy bear).
This is according to the following page (see Secret #25).
http://nfg.2y.net/games/pce/

C)The SuperGrafx version of Strider was developed by NEC Avenue (as noted above), not Capcom (who licensed the game to NEC to port it). It would seem odd that Capcom would pay a tribute to someone who wasn't even an employee of them.

D)The Supergrafx died out before it could establish itself in the market. Game developers were more than content to stick with the PC Engine and it's CD-ROM upgrade, so not many people supported the platform. If a Supergrafx version was ever planned, it was most likely cancelled due to the failure of the Supergrafx than anything else. Eventually, NEC released a PC Engine version of the game which ran on the Arcade Card.

E) I did a search with Google.co.jp and never found any information regarding such version of the game from any Japanese site. Considering the Supergrafx was only sold in Japan, I'm pretty sure Japanese sites would've more information on such a version of the game than western sites.

So what's your opinion on all of this. Basically, I think it's all a bunch of bullshit and that a Supergrafx version of the game was never planned in the first place.

[ArnoldRimmer83]

I personally feel the story is false as well. Especially the programmer committing suicide. It has a very strong urban legend vibe, and sounds ludicrous. Also I've never actually heard this programmer's name, which should probably be a tipoff that its a legend.

[Smeg]

I think I've got an old magazine with a screenshot of the supposed SuperGrafx Strider, but it's a Die Hard ad as you've already stated. That's all I ever saw of it.

[Tongueman]

[Beeshu]

Sort of brings to mind the PSX Strider graphically, but my money's on it being all myth.

[NFGman]

I feel I should point out that I've since updated that article to reflect the fact that several Japanese mags ran a half dozen screenshots of a Strider that didn't appear to be the Arcade version - tho it's hard to tell from the blurry scans I was sent. It could have been anything, but at least the game wasn't entirely the creation of DieHardGameFan.

It would have been interesting to see how good it was considering the SGX' superior Ghouls n Ghosts vs the MegaDrive version of same. Though if they'd stuck with the max 8Mb cart size it probably would have equalled - but not excelled - Sega's conversion.

[Beeshu]

I kind of want to make reference to that PSX Strider they made some time back, but frankly I haven't played it and don't recall anything of the one in question.

[Smeg]

[Beeshu]

[AirRaid]

[Li Wang]

You know, I swear I vaguely remember reading a rumor in Gamefan that 3 or 4 leaked prototypes of the game had been sold in the hundreds range. I've never found that issue again, so maybe I just imagined it at some point. But if they did fabricate that, maybe it's where the other rumors of prototypes of the game started.