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If there is any game that's endeared itself to its fans over the years, it would have to be Strider. If you've played the game, you probably know why. Personally, it's my favorite Capcom series (yes, even more so than the Ghosts 'N Goblins series). Capcom themselves released three games in the series: the original arcade game, which was known as Strider Hiryu in Japan and just Strider everywhere else - this is the game that was ported to the Genesis, which is the version a lot of people remember (it also made it to the PC Engine Duo, Sega Master System and various home computers as well); an NES game that also simply went by the name Strider but was not a port of the arcade game, but was rather a fairly involved quest/adventure game (the original arcade game was all action); and Strider 2, which was released in arcades (in Asia, anyway) and for the PlayStation (that version came bundled with the original Strider arcade game on a seperate disc). Also, sometime in the early '90s, Capcom licensed out Strider to U.S. Gold and Tiertex, who created the most godawful disgrace to the name Strider ever: Journey From Darkness: Strider Returns. That game was so bad, we won't mention it again in this article.

As I'm sure you know, every popular game gets cloned at least once. Strider was no exception. At least the game that was made turned out to be a good clone. It was called Run Saber, and it was created by the Hori Electric Co., Ltd. and distributed in the U.S. by Atlus for the SNES. Seeing as how the SNES had no Strider games, Run Saber's release was definitely anticipated by SNES-owning Strider fans... the ones that knew about it, anyway. What made it a bit different from Strider was the few extras that it had. For example, you could pick from two characters: Allen (Thunder Saber) and Sheena (Ice Saber). Both Sabers have the ability to use magic. Allen launches a fire dragon, and Sheena a storm of ice crystals. You could also play two players simulatenously, a la Contra. Both Sabers also have a spinning buzzsaw attack. You couldn't do any of that in Strider. Gameplay was almost exactly identical to Strider - you could cling to any surface and climb (or travel along the ceiling), and both used energy swords that could be powered up.

Unfortunately, Run Saber didn't make anywhere near the impact that Strider did. It came and went with very little fanfare, and stayed lost for many years. After a while, Strider websites started mentioning Run Saber with increasing frequency, in some cases touting it as the ultimate Strider clone. Run Saber was actually more of a Strider game than Journey From Dar... wait, I promised I wouldn't mention that travesty again. At any rate, Run Saber was pretty good. Sure, the game has a few flaws - enough so that Strider remains the superior game, regardless of the extras that Run Saber has - but it's still better than most of the action games that came out for the SNES. It may not be the lost Strider, but for those of you with an SNES that want Strider-like action, this is the next best thing. The ROM is, of course, readily available for download if you search for it. If you like Strider at all, you owe it to yourself to at least check it out.