200: Leander

Number 200
(9 points)
Leander
1992: 56

It's not Strider, and it's not Japanese, but the inspiration of both on Leander is hard to ignore.

It's a platform game, and the basic task is generally to collect an item and find the exit gate. To make this easier, you can collect money to buy upgrades to your weapon (a Strider-like sword) and to your armour. It's the kind of platforming action that was commonplace on the consoles at the time, but was rarely so slick on computers. When released as Galahad on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, it added nicer backgrounds, simultaneous music and sound effects, and most importantly, the ability to slash your sword while crouching, something sorely lacking in the Amiga version.

I do enjoy a good platform game, and Leander is a real treat for Amiga fans, especially if you use a two-button controller as the game was surely one of the earliest to offer that option. Incidentally, Wikipedia led me to a YouTube video by the game's programmer which explained that he put in a cheeky anti-hacking method. Basically, if the game detected an attempt to circumvent copy protection, a platform in level 1-4 became part of the background, making progress impossible. His claims that it took a lot of effort to bypass are apparently a little embellished, however, and most of the cracked versions in the TOSEC work fine. I chose the 4-disk version because nothing was removed in order to patch the game.

Recommended TOSEC disk(s):
Leander (1991)(Psygnosis)(Disk 1 of 4)[cr CPY][t +8 LGD]
Leander (1991)(Psygnosis)(Disk 2 of 4)[cr CPY][t +8 LGD]
Leander (1991)(Psygnosis)(Disk 3 of 4)[cr CPY][t +8 LGD]
Leander (1991)(Psygnosis)(Disk 4 of 4)[cr CPY][t +8 LGD]