Well, as long as this horse is still being beaten, here's a post that I wrote recently on another forum.
I haven't read Malducci's post (where/which one is it?), but here's one way in which I agree with him: The pics going around with SGX Strider are not from the arcade, X68k, MD, etc etc.
Take a look here at the screenshots from these versions, and note the energy bar placement in the X68000 and MD versions:
http://nfggames.com/games/x68k/ Then let's compare one of those pics above with a similar spot in the arcade version. (Arcade on the left)
The pics from the magazine couldn't be from the arcade version (at least any one that was released.) Differences include: a telling gradient in the life bar of the "SGX" version, a score of 0 and a missing timer in the SGX version, differences in width of the vertical pole that Hiryu hangs to, and the fact that the resolution of the "SGX" shot seems to match one of the maximum resolutions of the SGX, 352 pixels. (I've cropped the Arcade pic down from 384 to 352 to show that the measurements align (like the space to the left and right of the score bar.)) I've also altered the contrast of the arcade version so that both pics would look as similar as possible.
All these pics are either mock-ups made on the real hardware [or a facsimile thereof], or the actual SGX game. We will never know which one until someone finds the ROM somehow. Anyway, I hope this will stop people jabbering about how they are arcade screenshots, or some other nonsense.
