Helios

Helios is a chopper-like boss machine from Strider II. It is named after the god and personification of the sun in Greek Mythology.

Models

Helios

Helios is a small flying vehicle employed by the Alien Terrorists, referred to as a "giant metallic flying fortress"^[1]. It appears as the boss of stage 1 in all the home computer versions of Strider II and the Master System port.

Helios appears as a compact, all-white flying vehicle with two large thrusters behind. It appears to be driven by a robot of sorts, visible in its cockpit. Helios' pattern is simple: it flies around and shoots homing missiles at Hinjo peridically. When hit, Helios has the tendency to fly away and remain out of reach for a while before descending and attacking again. Because of this and the Hinjo-bot's limited mobility, this battle tends to drag for a while.

Its sprite was slightly altered for the Master System port, adding in more details and elements to it.

Helios II

Helios II^[1] is a larger flying helicopter faced as the final boss of stage 2 in all home computer versions (except for the Commodore 64, where the original Helios is used instead) and the Master System port, and appearing as a mini boss in the Game Gear port.

Helios II is a gold-colored helicopter, much larger than its predecessor and manned by two human-like soldiers. The vehicle is so large it remains mostly off-screen for most of the fight. Despite being an upgrade, Helios II attacks in the same way as the first Helios, simply shooting homing missiles at Hinjo and flying away when hit, only to eventually fly back and resume its attack.

In the Master System port, Helios II now remains close to the ground and attacks by constantly shooting both missiles and pellets from the machine gun on its front, making for a more involved fight. In the Game Gear port two Helios II are faced as mini bosses before the stage's end. They appear in a much smaller and compact form, and attack by flying around shooting missiles and machine gun fire at Hinjo.

References

Strider II / Returns
Hinjo
Equipment: Cypher • Climb Sickle • Gyro laser • Rotun shield • Shurikens Moves: Slide • Cypher Attack • Elite Mechanical Combat Unit
Stage Enemies
Alien Terrorists • Automatons • Wall Crawler • Wolf • Aliens • Turbo Wasp
Bosses
Helios • Energy discharging skulls • Alien Mother • Milsoma • Podulous • Inferno • Waspini • Anti-Gravity Device • Laser wall panel Terrorist Leader • The Master
Locations
The Forbidden Forest • Castle Metropolis • The Hive • The Alien Depths • The Master's Prison Ship
Related Articles
Lexia • Striders