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In the year 2048, a dictator known as the Grandmaster rules the world with an iron fist. Under his rule, the world has become a living, breathing nightmare. Because of a massive population explosion, starvation and constant war has reduced the world to rubble. As a result, the environment has fallen to pieces, generating new diseases and creating genetic mutations. The place we once called home has become a vile cesspool of crime, drugs and human experimentation. Corrupt politicians have absolute power; companies devote their time to committing large-scale crimes and destroying any means of hope. Anyone that opposes these baddies or the Grandmaster is met with severe penalties and repercussions. The world has become a void of darkness...

A single warrior has arisen from the depths of the overwhelming tyranny and corruption. As the surviving member of the now-destroyed group of expert assassins and warriors, the lone Strider has vowed to stop the Grandmaster and all the horrifying things he has created using a powerful plasma blade known as Cypher.

As the sequel to the classic Arcade game, Capcom's Strider 2 will have you assuming the role of Hiryu -- the remaining warrior of the defunct clan of ninjas. Spanning three missions filled with side-scrolling platform gameplay, you must hack and slash your way through enemies, scale walls, run and crawl around and scale various walls to achieve victory. Additionally, there are times you must balance yourself on the ceiling as gravity is nonexistent.

Keeping the original Strider's gameplay intact while adding 3D backgrounds, each level has a time limit -- in order to succeed, you'll have to overcome enemies and boss characters in a rather quick manner; if not, you will suffer gruesome consequences. Along the way, you will encounter power-ups that increase the Cypher's attack range and add valuable life to the health meter. Also, there are helpful allies that will attack enemy troops. Needless to say, these items go a long way in overthrowing the vile Grandmaster.

The original Strider has been included with the package as an added bonus for those who never played it or wish to relive their Arcade glory days.

Strider, released in Japan as Strider Hiryu is a 1989 side-scrolling platform game released for the CPS arcade hardware by Capcom. It became one of Capcom's early hits before Street Fighter II, revered for its innovative gameplay and multilingual voice clips during cutscenes (presented in Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish and English).

In the game, the player takes control of Strider Hiryu, a ninja-style warrior who must defeat a legendary being known as Grandmaster Meio. Meio has observed Earth from his dwelling in a far off galaxy, and has created a space station (known as "The Third Moon"), between Earth and its original moon in order to rule earth and continue observation.