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Subject: On Evidence, and the existence of SuperGrafx Strider
A long, long time ago I wrote an article called 101 Secrets of the PC Engine, and it contained a lot less than 101 things about the PC Engine that most people didn't know. It's not exactly a serious article, as you might expect from something called 101 secrets with only 42 secrets. 
One of the secrets, specifically number 25, talks about a game shown in many breathless previews and mail order ads, but which was never released.
Strider, a rather decent game from Capcom, for NEC's SuperGrafx console.
![[Image: http://nfggames.com/games/pce/strider.png]](http://nfggames.com/games/pce/strider.png "http://nfggames.com/games/pce/strider.png")
Arcade screenshot
Now, the SuperGrafx (SGX) was a bit of a failure. Designed to supersede the all-conquering PC Engine (which was the #1 console in Japan between the Famicom and Super Famicom) it only had five games released for it, and as these things often do, it has a special place in the minds and hearts of players and collectors around the world.
So take a game people love, and a platform that disappeared as soon as it was released, and you end up with a ceaseless rumour mill that never fails to trap the unwary. If you read secret #25, you'll see a few links to such rumour debunking by some very knowledgeable people. I consider myself one of them, but not everyone agrees.
Anyway, no one has ever actually seen SuperGrafx Strider, except perhaps people inside NEC Avenue (the company tasked with writing the PCE port), so for all intents and purposes I maintain that it never actually existed. It was never shown at a tradeshow, no screenshots were ever released, and if it weren't for a handful of magazines talking about it (and showing screenshots of an unreleased arcade prototype in place of actual SGX images) no one would ever know it was even being considered. No magazine ads, no cover art, nothing. It was a fanciful thought from inside NEC, seemingly abandoned before it ever became reality.
Recently someone discovered a c.1994 scan from Edge magazine, where the magazine's representative was shown a release version of Strider for the PC Engine Arcade Card. Now, this was a RAM expansion card that allowed much more elaborate games to be loaded from CD. It didn't increase the power of the system in any way, so all the games still ran on the seven year old PCE hardware.
Unfortunately, it doesn't really add anything new to the debate.
Basically, this doesn't add anything new. PCE mags from the era all said it was in development. It was announced at launch. That a programmer who was there said as much three years later doesn't really change anything.
And the thing is, even if the game did exist, it wouldn't be that awesome. The SuperGrafx version wouldn't have had the new cut-scenes, CD soundtrack or extra stage offered by the Arcade Card version. The SGX hardware only offered an extra graphics chip, so twice as many sprites and parallax backgrounds, it'd still be hobbled by a lack of storage. The 8 megabit size touted by NEC would be exactly half the size of the arcade version.
Best I can figure all of this fervour, excitement, logic-leapin', arguin' and recappin' is to determine once and for all if one twenty year old game might actually have been slightly better than another. Bragging rights for consoles long dead.
One of the secrets, specifically number 25, talks about a game shown in many breathless previews and mail order ads, but which was never released.
Strider, a rather decent game from Capcom, for NEC's SuperGrafx console.
Arcade screenshot
Now, the SuperGrafx (SGX) was a bit of a failure. Designed to supersede the all-conquering PC Engine (which was the #1 console in Japan between the Famicom and Super Famicom) it only had five games released for it, and as these things often do, it has a special place in the minds and hearts of players and collectors around the world.
So take a game people love, and a platform that disappeared as soon as it was released, and you end up with a ceaseless rumour mill that never fails to trap the unwary. If you read secret #25, you'll see a few links to such rumour debunking by some very knowledgeable people. I consider myself one of them, but not everyone agrees.
Anyway, no one has ever actually seen SuperGrafx Strider, except perhaps people inside NEC Avenue (the company tasked with writing the PCE port), so for all intents and purposes I maintain that it never actually existed. It was never shown at a tradeshow, no screenshots were ever released, and if it weren't for a handful of magazines talking about it (and showing screenshots of an unreleased arcade prototype in place of actual SGX images) no one would ever know it was even being considered. No magazine ads, no cover art, nothing. It was a fanciful thought from inside NEC, seemingly abandoned before it ever became reality.
Recently someone discovered a c.1994 scan from Edge magazine, where the magazine's representative was shown a release version of Strider for the PC Engine Arcade Card. Now, this was a RAM expansion card that allowed much more elaborate games to be loaded from CD. It didn't increase the power of the system in any way, so all the games still ran on the seven year old PCE hardware.
Unfortunately, it doesn't really add anything new to the debate.
Quote by Edge Magazine:"Originally, work began on a SuperGrafx version back in 1990," claims Kimihisa, "but this console proved too expensive for consumers and didn't sell very well. Game publishers didn't support it much either, so we decided to make a standard PC Engine version instead. It's only recently that we decided to make use of the new Arcade card to improve the conversion." Needless to say, the game looks superb running on the old PC Engine.
Basically, this doesn't add anything new. PCE mags from the era all said it was in development. It was announced at launch. That a programmer who was there said as much three years later doesn't really change anything.
And the thing is, even if the game did exist, it wouldn't be that awesome. The SuperGrafx version wouldn't have had the new cut-scenes, CD soundtrack or extra stage offered by the Arcade Card version. The SGX hardware only offered an extra graphics chip, so twice as many sprites and parallax backgrounds, it'd still be hobbled by a lack of storage. The 8 megabit size touted by NEC would be exactly half the size of the arcade version.
Best I can figure all of this fervour, excitement, logic-leapin', arguin' and recappin' is to determine once and for all if one twenty year old game might actually have been slightly better than another. Bragging rights for consoles long dead.
BLEARGH
This post was edited on 2011-08-24, 11:53 by NFG.Edit reason: Removed a bunch of rubbish. Sorry Sam.