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PlayStation Basement #19 - Night Striker

This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on January 5th, 2019. It has been edited slightly for formatting.

Welcome to the future. Though this year we’re going to be seeing replicants hunted down by blade runners and battles with mutant espers in Neo-Tokyo, I’m still reviewing odd and overlooked PS1 games in the PlayStation Basement every Saturday in this future world. As always, I’ll be using a nine-point scale where 9-7 is Good, 6-4 is Neutral, and 3-1 is Bad.


The first game of the future is Night Striker, originally developed and published by Taito for Japanese arcades in October 1989 (oh hey, that’s when I was born!). The game was ported to Sega CD, PlayStation, and Saturn in 1993, 1995, and 1996 respectively, all only in Japan. The ports were not done by Taito themselves. Though the Saturn version contains some extra levels and a cool opening movie, this is the PlayStation Basement, so I’ll be reviewing that version. This game is a cyberpunk shmup in the style of Space Harrier. It takes place even further in the future than our own future world that we now live in; this game will happen in 30 years from now in 2049.


The cover art to Night Striker is just awesome. I love the colors used, the metallic chrome of the car, the lights of the city, and the game’s logo. The cover gets me really pumped for the game, whenever I look at it.



The graphics in the game are awesome as well. The game is all 2D with scaling sprites, just like Space Harrier, Out Run, Thunder Blade, and other games, usually by Sega, from that time. The environments look nice; from factories to cities to strange temples, these settings jump from Akira-esque urban sprawl to surreal emptiness. The player and enemies don’t have a ton of animation, but they look cool and fit the theme well. I love the huge, gritty explosions in this game too. Night Striker really looks the part.


Night Striker sounds the part too. The music is by the legendary Taito in-house band, Zuntata who have made some of my favorite music, especially in video games. Zuntata, an electronic progressive/post-punk band in the style of Yellow Magic Orchestra, also worked on RayStorm, Bubble Bobble, Psychic Force, and Darius II. The music they have supplied here contains some of my favorite tracks of theirs. Each stage type contains a different theme, all within that synthpop/city pop style of anime OVAs and American pop stars from the late 80s.  The sound effects of Night Striker are much more subdued, but they get the job done. I kind of like the muffled quality, as it helps bring out the musick as it soars high over the city.



Night Striker is a fast and short game. The game has you rush through a stage, fend off enemies, dodge hazards, and defeat a boss. Even the bosses don’t last long, and once they are down, it’s off to pick the next stage by choosing to head left or right in a short tunnel. The stages (city, suburbs, sky, temple, sea, tunnel, and factory) are each down a few times in the large layout of levels but with different specifics to each location. Every playthrough of Night Striker can be different by choosing a different path.



The end has the player’s flying car destroyed and a smaller craft (motorcycle, glider, etc.) piloted in its stead. These levels are the fastest ones. Once the final boss you ended up at is downed, the bittersweet ending, written in very poor English, is revealed, and that’s it. There are no extra modes other than a very odd ability to watch a replay of the last level played.


I like Night Striker a ton, though it is very, very short and very, very easy. You can complete the game in around 20 minutes; I beat it on my first try also. Despite this, I love the sounds and the sense of speed, neon lights rushing past as another enemy robot is blown to ashes. I do wish there were some extra modes, even the ability to view endings after receiving them, but, alas, it’s all flash and nothing more. And that’s totally fine.

Night Striker receives a Good (9).


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Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

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