Amazoness

The Amazoness (アマゾネス) is a minor stage enemy and character from the first Strider and most of its ports. The character is named and based on the Amazons of Ancient Greek mythology.

An all-female tribe of warriors that live in a secluded and unexplored area of the Amazon^[1], in a village where they carry out their own culture^[2] isolated from civilization and the rest of the world. It's due to this isolation that Grandmaster Meio decides to conduct an experiment to see if he could make them worship him as a god by bringing in great and powerful creatures^[3]. And he succeeded, the Amazoness worshipping him as a god after he revived the ancient extinct dinosaurs^[1][2] and brought them to dominate over the forest of the region^[2]. They appear to have eventually learned to tame the Triceratops, as they are used by the Amazoness to move around the forest area.

Being followers of Grandmaster Meio, they act hostile towards Hiryu, attacking him relentlessly^[1][2]. It is only after Hiryu destroys Meio's creation, the even more powerful mechanical dinosaur Lago, that the tribe stops their attack. One of them, presumably the tribe's leader, even sides with him by revealing the existence of the Grandmaster's base, the Third Moon.

Information

Appears in Stage 4 (Amazon)

A tribe of women from the Amazon manipulated by the Grandmaster^[4]. They are seen wearing a two-part suit, with an exposed breast covered by a giant leaf, and sporting their hair in a mohawk. They use either a small axe or a boomerang as their weapon of choice^[4]. The Amazoness attack in large groups, rushing Hiryu from every angle and only stopping to throw their weapon at him. Some of them instead swing on vines to make a quick approach and attack. In the riverside area they can also be seen riding atop Triceratops, something Hiryu can do after he eliminates the rider.

The axes are used either to attack Hiryu at close range, or are thrown in a straight trajectory while swinging on vines or riding the Triceratops. The boomerangs fly in more random patterns, usually arching back and returning to their owner. Thanks to their high numbers, the Amazoness' projectiles come from all angles and provide a challenge to avoid unscathed.

Design Notes

The Amazoness speak in what appears to be gibberish, but they were originally meant to speak Swahili. This was scrapped when Capcom objected at the idea, considering that depicting someone as primitive looked like discrimination.^[5]

Their character sprite has the left breast exposed, a fact which is covered in-game by a separate leaf sprite. This was a late-development change: pre-release screenshots published in late 1988 issues of Gamest^[6][7] show the uncensored sprite, but their February 1989 preview shows the leaf-covered sprite, the writer referencing this change and calling it the "Amazoness self-regulating version"^[8]. The label art from the game's OST also uses an outdated screenshot showing them uncovered. For the Mega Drive port, the Amazoness sprite was edited so as to cover up the breast with some cloth, in turn removing the now-unneeded leaf sprite.

Designer Masanori Kondo sketched an unused Amazoness enemy for Strider 2. Unlike the original design, this Amazoness was a tall, dark woman with strong features, said to be a wild design "buzzing with the smell of earth", and wielding a primitive spear.^[9]

Gallery

An Amazoness using a Triceratops as steed

In-game portrait

PC Engine port portrait

Amazoness art by Akiman

Unused Strider 2 Amazoness

Screenshot from the October 1988 issue of Gamest, showing the uncovered sprite

Same screenshot

Screenshot from the December 1988 issue of Gamest, still showing the uncovered sprite

Screenshot from the February 1989 issue of Gamest, first time they cover the sprite

Label art from the Strider Hiryu OST, also showing the uncovered sprite.

Trivia

• Gamest magazine ranked the Amazoness 30th in their list of the top 30 video game girls of 1990^[10], sharing the spot with Ptolemy from The Fairyland Story, Princess Prin Prin from Ghosts 'n Goblins and Nancy from Chase H.Q..

References