Yessir!!!  I soooo wanted this game on the VC and now it's here (well, will be next week)!

Now all I need is NES Strider on VC and I'll be complete!

f---ing rights. Best goddamn game evar.

This is one of those NES classics that I missed out on and have always wondered what it was like.

Was there a Strider for NES??  All I remember is the Genesis version.  All 16 megs of it or whatever the silly spec was they used to hype it at the time

Adam, I highly recommend River City Ransom, one of my all-time favorite NES games.  As for NES Strider, don't be fooled by this cover, the game is awesome.

Yes, there was:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/strider_/screenshots

However, it was an adventure game where Hiryu had HP and collected equipment and keys.

River City Ransom was always one of my favs.  But since I wasn't willing to put up with the ridiculous save passwords, my brother and I usually played the whole game in one sitting.  Of course, that could take a while if you liked to kill hundreds of baddies over and over to buy all the cool items.  VC's save states will make this game even better.

The NES version was the best, imho. Sure, it was buggy as hell but it ruled. I've been trying to imagine what a current generation remake would be like ever since I got Strider 2 for the PS1. I'd want it to be in 2.5D like S2 but have the leveling up/ item collection of the NES Strider. Oh, if only Capcom gave a sh*t about their old franchises.

Man, I've always wanted to try out the PSOne Strider 2, yet it somehow passed me by back then.  Maybe I'll browse eBay for it; it comes with an arcade port of Strider 1 as well, doesn't it?  Bonus!

As for River City Ransom, I'll likely pass on the VC release - I picked up River City Ransom EX for the GBA just a few months ago after all.  But what I am amped about is the upcoming Super Dodgeball Brawlers for DS:

http://ds.ign.com/articles/866/866155p1.html

The music in the video is fraggin' sweet. :)

Well, that's what you'd think until you play Strider 2. S2 is leaps and bounds and double-jumps beyond that sloppy mess. And don't even think about putting it on your custom firmware PSP. The thing has about a 5 minute load time, per load. I don't have a clue why. Strider 2, on the other hand, is a dream on the PSP.

Just a note in case you find a copy of Strider 2. Each disc of my copy is misprinted with the label of the opposite game. I'm not sure if the same goes for every copy printed but I'm sure there are others out there. Both discs play fine, though.

You're not missing much.  The PSX version is buggy as hell.  I can't tell you how many times it crashed on me.

The music may be cool, but the gameplay looks incredibly slow.  I know this is how the NES one was, but I'd still like to see some progress.

I forgot... NES Strider AND Faxanadu on VC would make me complete.

I used to play (and beat) Strider on the NES routinely. It was a very glitchy game, but there wasn't much else to compare it to, and I didn't know about glitches when I was a kid. I thought those problems were challenging gameplay elements to be mastered. When I replayed the game again, about 6 years ago, I realized it was put together poorly.

Strider on the NES is more akin to Symphony of the Night, since areas can be (and must be) revisited.

To me the character movement looks like it's even slower than on the original NES version.  This could be one of those slow accelerated running fields like in Kenya on the NES game, but the throwing looks slow too.