If there was ever a perfect case of not understanding the assignment, this was it. Strider Returns is an absolutely terrible non-canon sequel to the first Strider game. Now, that prequel had its issues on the Sega Genesis, they involved the frame rate at certain times. This return from Strider brought back the frame rate issues and it's like the devs decided "how about we don't fix it? How about we just make the lag even worse?"
So, what ends up happening in this platforming game is whenever you jump, the game slows down. When you slide, the game lags. When you kill an enemy, yep, the game lags. If you jump straight up in the air, and grab onto a tree branch, like in the first level, the game LAGS! Pretty much, if you do anything, the game can't handle the epic action it has to show on screen. As an extra bit of annoyance, the first level starts with a beginner's trap, where a seed on the ground grows, and then shoots up an egg that explodes into projectiles. So, if you walk into that seed thinking it won't hurt you, whoops, you'll take a hit.
As for the soundtrack, oh my. It ranges from terrible to mediocre, outside of the ear worm that is the intro song. Hell, I'd even dare say that the first level happens to have the worst song of them all, so what a way to make a first impression on players.
The story is simple. You rescue Strider Hinjo's girlfriend from the boss in the previous game, who was supposed to have died. Somehow, he returned. And that's no typo, you are not in control of Strider Hiryu. You control a different character this time. In the options menu, you can choose the type of sword Hinjo uses. Sweep or Original, and I suggest going with "Original" since I find that to be slightly more efficient when attacking enemies than the default "Sweep" option.
This game's level design is straight up garbage. You can pick up projectiles to throw at enemies but I found myself ignoring these most of the time. Why bother? They're usually weak projectiles anyways. The first level makes sure you get used to the lag. And since this game can't handle basic platforming tasks without having a mental breakdown, the second level introduces electricity to the mix! Yeah, have fun jumping around while trying to dodge vertical bolts of electricity while moving around slowly due to the poor framerate. Woo!
Later they mix it up with, wait for it: horizontal bolts of electricity. Genius. The real twist is that you face the boss, Grandmaster Meio in level 2, but that's not the final battle. No, that's later. Between levels, you get cutscenes that have mediocre voice acting, and the sprites are recycled from the first game. Very lazy and uninteresting. After these two levels, the level design improves, moving into mediocre territory. It really doesn't matter because moving around generally just feels bad due to the aforementioned framerate. Do you like having small projectiles thrown at you in a parabola pattern? Well, you better get used to it. That's a gimmick this game likes to use a lot.
If you lose enough lives for the Game Over screen, you get a little cutscene with Meio taunting you, and then the girlfriend character is shown. Old school stuff, really, it's meant to make you think "come on, you're not gonna leave the hot girl behind, are ya?"
There are numerous recycled gimmicks from the first game, and none of them are really given an interesting twist. Like the big enemy that makes you orbit around it in a circle, forcing you to wiggle the D-Pad around to face the right way as you try to slash it. Or Solo, he comes back in this game too, with the exact same gimmick of running away just a little bit if you try to hit him. There's also an annoying time limit with each part of a stage, which really doesn't help in the Alien Depths stage (4), where it's easy to take the wrong path.
If you defeat Meio the second time, be careful! He explodes into orbs that can hit you one last time, so if you had only one bar of health left...you're screwed. That's a nice middle finger from the devs right there. You're not done with the game yet, either, you still have to go find your girlfriend to escape the ship with her.
It's really not worth your time to rescue her. This Strider game is rightfully treated like a black sheep in the family. Graphically, it's not the ugliest game you'll look at. The gameplay is where this drops the ball, big time, and without even a soundtrack that's worth looking for, there's no reason to give this game even a merciful 2 out of 5.