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Can someone explain to me why there are two different games named Strider 2? There is the Genesis game called "Strider II" and there is the PSX game called "Strider 2". I never understood that. Why wasn't the PSX one called "Strider III"?
Also, how good is Strider 2 for PSX. Does it hold up well today in terms of gameplay and graphics? I saw a copy for fairly cheap and I might pick it up. :)
Strider 2 for Genesis wasn't made by Capcom, it was by U.S. Gold and it isn't that good from what I hear... as to why it exists only Capcom and U.S Gold know that answer for sure ;)
Genny S2 wasn't that good, but at the same time, it wasn't that bad. I picked it up anyway though, out of principle. :)Quote:
Originally posted by Werewolf
Strider 2 wasn't made by Capcom, it was by U.S. Gold and it isn't that good from what I hear... as to why it exists only Capcom and U.S Gold know that answer for sure ;)
"Strider 2" for the PSOne is a great game if you ask me. And it still looks pretty good, sprite characters over 3D. Some people say its not true enough to the Original Strider, but whatever. The game is still loads of fun and has some nice replay value if you go for better letter grades on the levels.
Thanks. I think it looks pretty decent.. I also like it when games have replay value and NiGHTS-style letter grades.. so maybe I'll get it. Thanks for the info. :)Quote:
Originally posted by Clash_Master
"Strider 2" for the PSOne is a great game if you ask me. And it still looks pretty good, sprite characters over 3D. Some people say its not true enough to the Original Strider, but whatever. The game is still loads of fun and has some nice replay value if you go for better letter grades on the levels.
Oh yes, Strider 2 for the PSX is awesome. It has a great sense of style to it.
Don't forget to NOT use the infinite continues. Limit yourself to 3, it'll make you enjoy the game longer.
I bought the Genesis Strider 2 by U.S. Gold and it's not too bad. It did have some AWFUL voice acting though, maybe even on par with Rygar's. Strider 2 on PSone is great though, good clean fun.
Sadly, the only Strider I ever owned for a limited amount of time was the NES version. Was that before or after the Arcade?
I just got done playing Strider 2 on the PSX. It wasn't until then that I remembered that the games are on the wrong discs. IE- Strider is on the disc with Strider 2 on the cover, and vice versa.
Yeah, I've wondered about that. What happened? :wtf:
jeremy: is that normal for strider2? my copy is the same and i though i might have got a stupid collectors copy.
It's normal. At least I think it is. I got the game the day it was out and wondered what the fuck the deal was. My guess is that the games were just pressed on the wrong discs in the factory or something. I don't know if it was fixed in later pressings of the game, if it got any. If it was, or wasn't, just buy a second copy and sell it on ebay as SUPER-RARE VERSION OF STRIDER 2.
It's normal. Everyone I've talked to about that game got a copy like that.
Heh, the US Gold hack really had no right to bear the Strider name to begin with. I'm sure Capcom didn't want to consider Strider Returns part of the series when naming Strider 2.Quote:
Originally posted by sggg
Can someone explain to me why there are two different games named Strider 2? There is the Genesis game called "Strider II" and there is the PSX game called "Strider 2". I never understood that. Why wasn't the PSX one called "Strider III"?
As for the PSX Strider 2: I'm not terribly fond of the game, but if nothing else, it's worth it for the pretty much spot-on port of the arcade Strider.
Yes, a pressing mistake in the factory is indeed what happened. 1 had 2's label and 2 had 1's label. Capcom put out a statement about it shortly after Strider 2 shipped. I was caught a bit off-guard myself when I popped my my Strider 1 disc and Strider 2 booted up... :confused:
Been a while since I played Strider 2 on PSX - how long is the game, and is there a save feature (at least a temp save if you need to turn the game off)?
The game takes about 15 mins. to plow through if you use the unlimited continues. There's a save feature, but it's only there so you can unlock the second ninja dude to play as. I can't remember his name though.
which hands down is the best version of strider...Quote:
Originally posted by BerringerX
Sadly, the only Strider I ever owned for a limited amount of time was the NES version.
after...this much like bionic commando was redesigned for the home system due to the lack of processing power...Quote:
Was that before or after the Arcade?
Bionic Commando for the NES was freaking awsome.Quote:
Originally posted by Videodrone
after...this much like bionic commando was redesigned for the home system due to the lack of processing power...
Still is.
Strider II on Genesis looks, sounds, and plays like a fanmade hack job. The backgrounds here are rather bland compared to the appealing locales of the first game. Some serious threnody serves as the BGM here.
That's probably why Capcom calls their own sequel Strider 2. The US Gold one is a false start.
Stirder 2 on psx is based off the arcade game. And I loved it, save for the last boss. The game slows down to a crawl in some spots, (not much of a problem for 90% of the time) but worst of all, this effects the controls because the game doesn't respond to your controls when you press buttons and often this means getting hit when you could have sworn you pressed the buttons in time. It's really annoying. The arcade ran on slightly better hardware so the port is faithful up until that point in the game where the slowdown kills the controls.
I personally loved strider 2's style. It was fast, faithful more to the newer strider (mvc strider) than the old school strider who couldn't dash or dash jump or wall jump or anything fancy like what you expect from ninjas. The environments weren't limited to what can be onscreen at any 1 point in time (so it was a lot free-er in how you attack and where you attack from because you could maneouver much quicker) and the controls were tight enough to avoid anything an enemy throws at you. (unlike in strider 1 where if you make the jump from the wrong point and it is too late to change, you will get hit whether you like it or not)
The only other thing was the stupid magic projectile attack that comes out of the sword when he is in turbo mode. They should never have allowed that move. It's too cheap.
I just want to comment that I am amazed that you guys like Strider 2(PSX) as much as you do. I found that so many people had gripes with it being too easy, and thought it sucked because of that. I personally found it to be extremely fun despite it being too easy and the over all lack of unlockables. It is still a great way to kill 15 min.
1. Strider 2 is fucking hard. It's only "easy" if you continue 53 times. Getting through the whole thing on one credit is almost Mars Matrix difficult. Almost.Quote:
Originally posted by ShineAqua
I just want to comment that I am amazed that you guys like Strider 2(PSX) as much as you do. I found that so many people had gripes with it being too easy, and thought it sucked because of that. I personally found it to be extremely fun despite it being too easy and the over all lack of unlockables. It is still a great way to kill 15 min.
2. There are a couple of things to unlock, including a new character and a hidden level.
3. The game is in no way 15 minutes. The first Strider was around 20-25 minutes long; Strider 2 is easily double that length. After almost two years of play, if I can finish a level in 5 minutes I'm laughing.
4. If you like ranked gameplay, this game is the king. If you can get a star rank on every level, you are a genuine ninja gamer.
Anyway...
Strider Returns on the Genesis is clearly the result of a lost drunken bet somewhere. Everything about the game screams "Eurojunk", in the worst Amiga shareware tradition. Even the story from the instruction manual is shameful:
"This guy is like a bad habit, he just won't go away. Now this Evil Master dude and his legions of nimrods are poised above the planet in a space station, ready to make the planet one big black hole. Not only that, those blasted automadions (space slang for funky robot type guys) have captured Lexia (Not the car, the babe!) and are holding her prisoner aboard their space station.
Don't it just make your blood boil? Doesn't it make your skin crawl? Does it make your face turn red with anger? Is there steam coming out of your ears? Hold on, get a grip! We've been in this kind of fix before. Okay, okay, you're right, probably not this bad. But hey, this is a video game. There's always a good guy around somewhere. Get with the program!
It just so happens, that on the island of Moralos (you remember the secret base of the famous Striders) there is just the guy you're looking for. The most pumped up Strider of them all, Hinjo, is just waiting to punch these guy's lights out. Go ahead, grab that control pad and give it a shot, sound like a piece of cake... Wrong! This baby's not your every day space walk in the park! Strider's back and the fun is about to begin. Rumble on, Strider Dude!"
Seriously, I hope somebody was executed for that, Medellin style. But it's not a Strider game. It's just a horrible trick played on us by the the shadowy masters of whatever criminal organization runs Acclaim, Major League Baseball and the Russian Mafia.
Strider 2, on the other hand...not quite as memorable as the first, but it's one of the best playing action games you'll ever lay thumbs on. Imagine Hiryu from Marvel vs. Capcom in his own 2D side scroller. The whole thing is about dashing through the levels without getting touched, racking up as much score as you can.
For what you'll pay for it, it's a must own, and the fact that it comes with an arcade perfect version of the original (complete with the ability to save high scores) just sweetens the deal. Play it, master it, feel like a gaming superstar.
:lol: Strider :lol:
Thanks for posting that. That storyline description is amazingly awfull, yet hillariously bad.
Rumble on, Strider Dude!!!!! :p
Umm.. are we talking about the PSX Strider 2? The one from Capcom? I'll admit I haven't played my copy in a a year or so but I don't remember it being to difficult. As for the hidden level that was unlocked after beating the first game, which was much harder than the second, so I never got unlock it, and the secret character I thought was just Strider with a different costume and a few tweaks to his abilities. I guess I'll play it again.Quote:
Originally posted by StriderKyo
1. Strider 2 is fucking hard. It's only "easy" if you continue 53 times. Getting through the whole thing on one credit is almost Mars Matrix difficult. Almost.
2. There are a couple of things to unlock, including a new character and a hidden level.
3. The game is in no way 15 minutes. The first Strider was around 20-25 minutes long; Strider 2 is easily double that length. After almost two years of play, if I can finish a level in 5 minutes I'm laughing.
Chester: Try playing it without hitting the continue button.
i agree 88, i for the most part am a bigger fan of all the "water-down" NES home version of their arcade counter-parts: bionic commando, strider, ninja gaiden, rygar...Quote:
Originally posted by 88mph
Bionic Commando for the NES was freaking awsome.
Still is.
I'd just like to add I was able to finish Strider without continuing. I thought it was difficult, but not overly so.Quote:
Originally posted by StriderKyo
1. Strider 2 is fucking hard. It's only "easy" if you continue 53 times. Getting through the whole thing on one credit is almost Mars Matrix difficult. Almost.
I should play it tonite to see how horrible I do.
Like I said earlier......
Quote:
Originally posted by FighterX
Don't forget to NOT use the infinite continues. Limit yourself to 3, it'll make you enjoy the game longer.
Strider 2? You can get through that whole game without continuing? The first one's no big deal - you can stroll through the game and just let the ourobouros kill everything for you, as long as you know where everything is. On ly the jumps on the last level present any real challenge.Quote:
Originally posted by Kidnemo
I'd just like to add I was able to finish Strider without continuing. I thought it was difficult, but not overly so.
I should play it tonite to see how horrible I do.
But 2 on PS? If you can get all the way through - especially that last level, then you sir are a gaming ninja. I can do the levels individualy without continuing (except the last one - I usually have to continue once or twice), but not the whole game through.
It is difficult. If you can do it on 3 credits, you rock.Quote:
Originally posted by ShineAqua
Umm.. are we talking about the PSX Strider 2? The one from Capcom? I'll admit I haven't played my copy in a a year or so but I don't remember it being to difficult.
Strider 2 on psone. The polygon one, thats the one I can finish without continuing.Quote:
Originally posted by StriderKyo
Strider 2? You can get through that whole game without continuing? The first one's no big deal - you can stroll through the game and just let the ourobouros kill everything for you, as long as you know where everything is. On ly the jumps on the last level present any real challenge.
But 2 on PS? If you can get all the way through - especially that last level, then you sir are a gaming ninja. I can do the levels individualy without continuing (except the last one - I usually have to continue once or twice), but not the whole game through.
It is difficult. If you can do it on 3 credits, you rock.
I should see if I have my save game still, 'cause I think you got little emblems or something after each level.
I considering getting PS1 Strider 2 a bonus for buying Strider 1. Strider 1 is one of my favorite games and it was easily worth buying for full price. Strider 2 is missing something the original had but it's still a damn fine action game.
This collection is one of the best deals you can find on the PS1. My Mega Drive version is now obsolete but I'm keeping it for the cool box.
Agreed.Quote:
Originally posted by 88mph
Bionic Commando for the NES was freaking awsome.
Still is.
Then you kick ass, good sir. How long did that take you?Quote:
Originally posted by Kidnemo
Strider 2 on psone. The polygon one, thats the one I can finish without continuing.
I should see if I have my save game still, 'cause I think you got little emblems or something after each level.
Like a week and a half I think...playing a couple hours each night.Quote:
Originally posted by StriderKyo
Then you kick ass, good sir. How long did that take you?
I always remember Strider 2 as being sooo much easier than the first one.
All I remember about the first game is getting killed by the stupid mecha-gorilla.
That's depressing, man. I've been at it intermittently for over a year and I can't do it. *lowers head in shame*Quote:
Originally posted by Kidnemo
Like a week and a half I think...playing a couple hours each night.
I always remember Strider 2 as being sooo much easier than the first one.
I have faith in you!Quote:
Originally posted by StriderKyo
That's depressing, man. I've been at it intermittently for over a year and I can't do it. *lowers head in shame*
You can do it!
*shakes fist*
just an fyi... US Gold also put out Strider 2 as a European/Australian SMS release
I remember him and that stupid "klanging" noise that he made. I didn't know if I was fighting a gorilla or a giant bell.Quote:
Originally posted by Kidnemo
All I remember about the first game is getting killed by the stupid mecha-gorilla.
Everything StriderKyo said in rebuttal to ShineAqua is right on the money... although Strider 2 is even more difficult than Mars Matrix in my opinion. Finishing it with one credit is damn hard, and it's about 50 minutes long.
Shameful is an understatement. That story makes me want to gag. Capcom should've sent someone in to US Gold's offices with a ruler to rap some knuckles. What's the deal with Hinjo? US Gold can't even get his name right for fuck's sake. :confused: Whoever at Capcom decided to give US Gold the right to make this travesty should have been sacked.Quote:
Originally posted by StriderKyo
Even the story from the instruction manual is shameful:
Just imagine if Street Fighter III were produced by US Gold (Eidos) rather than Capcom. :wtf: *cringe* I don't even want to, considering how perfidious their PC port of SF II is.
My thoughts exactly. It's like those fake Super Mario NES games out there - the sprites may look like Mario, but you can tell that it's just not right. Real sprites on top of some hack's attempt at a game. Strider II is a bad game, I'd give it a 5/10. I'd give Strider a 9/10 and I've yet to play Strider 2.Quote:
Strider II on Genesis looks, sounds, and plays like a fanmade hack job. The backgrounds here are rather bland compared to the appealing locales of the first game. Some serious threnody serves as the BGM here.
I'm good at both striders and managed to do them both in 1 credit. (lots of practice though)
They are both about the same difficulty to me except that I found the last boss of no.2 to be harder than the last boss of 1. strider 1 boss has less health and you have powerups to help you right at the last stage, while strider 2 gives you those stupid turbo homing projectile things which wrecks the gameplay. (Can't remember but I think you may get a worse rating for it?)
And those mecha gorrilas are fucking easy man.
All you need to do is mash the button really fast and they don't even get to youch you. Same thing with the mecha dinsaur which you can only barely reach. (they go into hitstun with each hit, so just keep mashing)
There's also an ED-209-like mech which is taken out the same way. As long as you mash that button like no tommorow and are fast enough, any hit you take will gradually come back to you later on. (like when you lose a bit of health in final fight but know that there's an upcoming chicken) Health is usually lying around as a reward for those who can survive those areas where the enemies are slightly at an advantage or are cheap.
This is why I think no.2 is more fun than no.1 because in 1 all it came down to was mashing the buttons but you never did it an any interesting way or using much tehcnique like in no.2. (provided you don't chicken out and use that cheap turbo move)
While no.1 was harder in a more old school way (you memorise what is coming up and just respond early), number 2 felt more like a pure action game where the ai can sometimes change habits and so you must respond accordingly to it's dynamic behaviour at the time. (not to say that the behviour wasn't unpredicable in 1, but that there was more open strategy in 2 which allowed you to take them down in varying ways.)
If capcom make a strider 3 I will be really happy if it follows a more free-flowing style like number 2 over the restrictive style of number 1. At it's heart I wish strider were more a fast paced action game rather than a faithful old school test of knowledge of levels and 'upcoming and cheap', surprise attacks. number 2's levels just offered more variety and made me feel like I was on the move, scaling castle walls, jumping around on cars at insane heights, outsmarting mercenaries armed with deadly weapons using primitive swords techniques, and avoiding pitfalls with skillful jumps while being attacked by multi headed dragons after infiltrating high security areas to find out the secret weapons.
Number 1 felt like the guy was just walking along slowly and these sprites would just pop out of nowhere and just happen to walk into your sword. Number 2 showed that the ninjas could dash and actually haul asses all over the place and make time. The gameplay in 2 was just better.
Well I'd hope the gameplay would be better in two, it had around a decade to see improvement.
Yeah but sometimes games of the past still have better gameplay than the recently released sequels. Time can decieve people into thinking gameplay is progressively better and more fun based on when the title is released and how new it is..
I still consider all the final fights after no.1 crappy for example.
That's because they were. Although 3 was decent thanks to the super moves.
Strider 2 was money, I just thought that his turbo move and the one where he jumps in the air and swings his sword 587 times were way too cheap. No way is it easy though, not if yu do what these other guys suggest and limit yourself.
Oh yea, Strider Hien is the mad note...
LOL. It took me a few minutes to figure it out.Quote:
Originally posted by Dolemite
Yes, a pressing mistake in the factory is indeed what happened. 1 had 2's label and 2 had 1's label. Capcom put out a statement about it shortly after Strider 2 shipped. I was caught a bit off-guard myself when I popped my my Strider 1 disc and Strider 2 booted up... :confused:
I went back and played Strider 2 (psx) and it is harder than I remember, buy then again I was just hacking away randomly as I went through. That and I usually just keep my special attack on the whole way through, and I didn't this time. Oh and I'm off to bed.
Heh, see, that may explain why some people find the game "easy" - you know unlimited boost isn't the default, right? It's like playing a shooter with unlimited bombs.Quote:
Originally posted by ShineAqua
That and I usually just keep my special attack on the whole way through, and I didn't this time. Oh and I'm off to bed.
I really hope you guys who can win this on one credit without difficulty are messing with the options - difficulty down, more starting energy, unimited boost, whatever - and not doing all 6 levels. Otherwise my ego can't handle it. Certain parts in this game are just freaking hard. Even knowing the patterns, I'll still usually take a hit or two, and over the course of the stage it adds up.
Nope no cheating. Just shitloads worth of practice. And it is not just a case of knowing a pattern that never strays, like it is in other games. There are like "random choices within patterns" to make the ai seem like it was thinking and choosing and making decisions. So knowing how to react on-the-spot comes into play too. Short arcadey games are all like this. It took me far longer to win super ghouls and ghosts on unlimited credits (because of the strictness) than it did this on 1 credit. I will admit to needing to use the level select to train myself enough to get good enough to acheive a 1 credit win of all levels though. (a luxury you never get in an arcade.) I advise using the level select and practicing each level to perfection and focusing on each one in isolation of the rest of the game. That way once it is mastered there should be no excuse for screwing up when you decide to try to beat the whole game in 1 credit.Quote:
Heh, see, that may explain why some people find the game "easy" - you know unlimited boost isn't the default, right? It's like playing a shooter with unlimited bombs.
I really hope you guys who can win this on one credit without difficulty are messing with the options - difficulty down, more starting energy, unimited boost, whatever - and not doing all 6 levels. Otherwise my ego can't handle it. Certain parts in this game are just freaking hard. Even knowing the patterns, I'll still usually take a hit or two, and over the course of the stage it adds up.
This is what I did with final fight gba on the hardest difficulty on 1 credit I think. You needed to know where the ambush points were on each level and memorise them as these were the main parts that make it so hard in the first place. Once you know everything about them and where they are triggered, then it's just a case of going through the motions.
Of course it still requires much skill and fast reflexes because no matter how you react, the enemies are still going to have a small room of random behaviour within thier pattern, but you at least know how to avoid the cheap parts in each level where the designer's have pretty much decided "it's time for you to die" and have decided it;s ok to bombard you with cheap enemies and hairy situations. (I find much pride in being able to escape the knifemen ambush without dying for example. This might seem impossible to any normal gamer who would accept a death and a new full health bar to take them on without being angry at themself. If you lower your standards to continuing over and over again without punishment, you'll feel cheated to yourself in the end anyway.)
Strider 2 is a decent game. The art is smashed by the pixel/scaling, and the flow of levels isn't as good as part one (due in part to the loading). *-neo
Which part is the knifemen ambush? Is it on mission 4?Quote:
Originally posted by GameHED
I find much pride in being able to escape the knifemen ambush without dying for example. This might seem impossible to any normal gamer who would accept a death and a new full health bar to take them on without being angry at themself.
Either way, yeah, I definitely haven't put in enough practice. I've only just dug it out again because of this thread, but I hadn't really played it since august or september.
But I totally know what you mean about the randomization - certain bosses are just totally unpredictable. That's cool, it keeps things fresh. But even some of the ones that are predictable, like Scarabee or Caduceus seem impossible to beat reliably without taking a hit.
I left everything on defualt when I played.Quote:
Originally posted by StriderKyo
Heh, see, that may explain why some people find the game "easy" - you know unlimited boost isn't the default, right? It's like playing a shooter with unlimited bombs.
I really hope you guys who can win this on one credit without difficulty are messing with the options - difficulty down, more starting energy, unimited boost, whatever - and not doing all 6 levels. Otherwise my ego can't handle it. Certain parts in this game are just freaking hard. Even knowing the patterns, I'll still usually take a hit or two, and over the course of the stage it adds up.
Though I think when I practiced I gave myself a couple of extra guys. It's been so long I don't remember.
But I know you can doooo eeeeiiiitt StriderKyo!
Well, I decided to try and get the game. Thanks to everyone for your input and impressions. It has me itching to play the game.
One thing I did notice that that the reviews for this game I found on the internet were among the worst reviews I ever read. It sounds like most reviewers just played the game with unlimited continues and then called it too easy. :wtf: It was pretty annoying. So, I am thankful for all the comments here which illustrate that the game is good and challenging if you don't cheat. ;)
Oh yeh, and good luck StriderKyo. You can beat the game. ;)
lol no the knifemen ambush wasn't a thing in strider 2 just an example in ffadvance of "an area that the designers knew was cheap and which would kill you, but only gave you a small chance of survival in.". But I wanted to illustrate that often if you managed to get past that with barely any health remaining, you almost always get rewarded afterwards with a chicken to replenish health. In the later stages they hide these behind pillars though.My point being that although some areas are cheap and you can't avoid everything, there is just enough health to be reasonable to be able to survive it all in 1 man. It's not like: if I stay alert I should be able to avoid absolutely everything and not get hit. It's more like: I WILL get hurt in this area no doubt about it, I just need to manage my health and ensure I know where the bonus health is and cut the head of the snake before it does too much damage and I die too early that I never got a chance to hurt it.
There are moments in strider 1 when if you maanged to build up enough health and are consistant enough throughout the whole level, even taking a hit won't mean much to you because so long as you win and mash the attack quick enough (there are times when you have small windows of opporunity so that speed of button mashing really does determine how much strength you will inevitably lose/avoid) you will get the reward of another energy capsule. The last boss in strider 1 is a great example, you WILL get hit, but its up to you to use each opporutinty before you lose too much health. (wasting opporunities to damage someone is almost as bad as taking a hit)
It's like a race to sap each other's health off first, rather than some kind of duel where you have to avoid and defend. This is it. He has a limited health bar, you have a limited health bar, and whoever is faster and/or has the most health, wins the battle.
my logic is this: there is no real excuse for dying so long as you maintain the consistancy throught the whole level and build up strength. If you've got 5 blocks of health by the time you get to the boss, even making mistakes won't kill you. bosses have a very limited amount of health and when you consider the speed with which you are allowed to attack at in this game, (millions of sword swipes a second :D ) they aren't really that mean for being hard to hit. Take the gravity boss for example. Many people will be disheartened to learn that taking damage is actually mandatory. There is no way you can kill it in 1 revolution, even if you are a really fast button masher. It's just been designed that way to hurt you before you can kill it. (maybe for dramatic tension? If a impressive enemy never gets a chance to hurt you, where's the fun in that?) ..But as a gamer; realising this ahead of time, you should have heaps of health by the time you get up to that boss and knowing that it IS possible to kill it in about 3 revolutions, you shouldn't fret. Survive that without dying? Collect even more health and continue with same man. (there's no excuse toward the end of that level with the gravity enemy, to have any less than 2 health bars imo)
So a lot depends on how consistant you are from the beginning of that level, because like in an rpg, you may need to build up health for areas where some hits are mandatory. This is an important aspect because some enemies will hit you "for free." If you were crap enough to set up a situation where by the time you get there you only have 1 block left, you shouldn't really expect to live or survive that level in 1 man because of your earlier inconsistancies.
I still can;'t beat the last boss without at least taking a hit, it's just the way they intended it. But see, that's OK! they give you health for free in that area, so there's no excuse not to have him dead before he saps you from health. if you only have 3 blocks of health, you can easily beat him, just go get that extra health after the first 2 hits.
5 blocks? you may kill it without even needing those free health! 1 block? you're dead! You shouldn't have screwed up with inconsistancies in earlier areas. (but when you die your new man will have at minimum: 3 health bars) This boss requires that you get hit first at least once, so that you can counter attack him with a more fierce flurry of attacks while you are invincible from the first hit.
You just need to get into position where he is reachable. You're button mashing speed will determine the time you can kill him in. If you're slow, prepare to have to take another free hit from him. If you're fast? you will kill it without it killing you.
...so for areas that are cheap and mandatory in strider 1, those are the areas I was reffering to. Where the designer;s have decided they can damage you and kill you outright by putting you in situations that you may have little actual control over, but which allow you to manage the damage done to you so that it is just survivable and you can still survive in 1 man. (but WILL in all probability have to take a hit based on the ambush and cheapness level.)
And in the case of the giant apes, they don't have any invulnerable parts to the body so they are REALLY easy. I was actually surprised they were a problem for some people. Really, all you need to do is take the initiative and mash the button before they even get a chance to hit you. No need to get into a special position yourself or anything fancy like that. Just get in range and mash away. Same logic for anything in the first game. My original reasons for preffering the second stirder game was that they made it a little more "active" than that by letting you dash and slide and wall jump and double jump around the screen like crazy, making the game feel more like you are in control of the technique you will use to kill things.