As some of you probably know, a new Strider game is on the way. While I have a handful of reservations about it—it’s coming from developer Double Helix (Silent Hill: Homecoming), which doesn’t exactly have the best track record—I think I’d be happy with a mediocre game so long as it retained the series’ insane music.
I played Strider on Sega Genesis so much as a kid that its tunes just became another matter-of-fact aspect of life that slowly crept into the background. Is music supposed to sound like this? Well, it does now, kid.
Beyond the relatively straightforward and safe opening track were bonkers jams like this:
And who could forget this absolutely mental ditty from the Amazon stage?
The music in the NES game is definitely more in line with Capcom’s offerings of the time, but I’ll never forget the cacophony of madness blasting from that rowdy Genesis sound chip. Here’s the full arcade version for good measure. Let’s all agree that, whatever Double Helix ends up delivering, it won’t be acceptable unless the soundtrack makes us question reality itself.
For the curious, the latest trailer for the 2014 Strider:
subhumanzoids 
The 2013 version is clearly based on my actual life. It’s like I was looking into a mirror, and then I cut the mirror in half, because fuck things I can easily cut in half (which is everything).
As a kid, I remember seriously thinking the Genesis music was broken, like it was missing some sound channels or something.
Haha, that’s what the Amazon song sounds like especially. Also, I love the ridiculous sound effects, and always used to do impressions of the amazon enemies.
I think there’s at least a 50% chance I shared this with you back in the day, but there was actually a PC Engine CD-ROM version of Strider, with a CD audio soundtrack. It’s not as “interesting” as the Genesis version, because it doesn’t sound like anything is broken, but it’s cool if you’re into things that sound like arranged versions of Strider soundtracks.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dw0wwl2kxlj6961/Strider%20OST%20-%20PC%20Engine.zip
Thanks for uploading this, I’m about to blast it!