Regarding Osman, there’s a striking sentence in its Wikipedia article which I have not been able to find much–or anything–about:
The game’s bizarre plot supposedly mocks director Kouichi Yotsui’s experience at Capcom after Strider.
Their summary of Osman’s plot is
It is the late 22st century, and the world has come under the control of a single federal government. One day a new threat known as Abdullah the Slaver appears, causing widespread terror and panic. The fear in men’s hearts incites the abandonment of all economic activity. The federal government, which is the foundation of capitalism and modern civilization, has become nothing less than an insidious idea that corrupts the foundations of society itself.
It destroys the idiosyncrasies and variations among national viewpoints, stifling them in the name of “freedom” and its own internal ideals.
There are perhaps hints regarding this period in Yotsui’s life here
Yotsui’s team developed their game with the idea that it was a “competition” with the other two projects (Masahiko Kurokawa’s consumer version and Tatsumi Wada’s manga), and that theirs was “most important”[4]. Although there was tension over the long hours he demanded from his team, Yotsui felt that if they would just do as he instructed, they would be fine, and was unsurprised when their game ranked first at a game show.[4]
Nevertheless, Yotsui’s Strider Hiryu ran behind schedule[4]. Yotsui believes it underperformed in the sales department[10], noting that rumors within Capcom attributed its poor sales to that delay[4]. He left Capcom not long afterward. In an interview several years later, Yotsui confided when asked about the popularity of Strider that he “never felt that Strider became successful”, but that he always felt that he and his team were “in the middle of creating a very interesting game”.[13]
and
Osman elevated the gameplay of Strider Hiryu to a new level[4] and bears a noticeable and striking resemblance to its predecessor[4][16]. Despite this, Yotsui remembers being “tired” during its development, calling Osman “self-parody” and intentionally “kind of strange”[4]. It did “alright” in Japan but fared worse overseas[16].
But I don’t get much out of that aside from him probably blaming marketing and upper management for forcing the game–well, both games, ultimately–out before he felt they were ready, and holding back some of his ideas. In other words, the usual game designer complaint.
