Out of all of the platformers that I have played from the Sega Genesis, naturally, Sonic manages to be my favorite ones that you could choose from, but the original Rocket Knight Adventures is a VERY close runner-up, because it is genuinely a fantastic game. Despite how incredibly difficult it was, along with how it does that typical Konami Best Ending shit from back in the day that I really don’t like, I managed to have a lot of fun with it regardless, with it’s fast-paced and really fun platforming, wonderful visuals and music, a constant energy that just won’t let up, and mixing up the gameplay with instances of shmuping (it’s a word now) and fighting people in giant robots, making for what I would consider to be one of the best games that you could ever play from the system all together. And thankfully, many people back then were also a big fan of it too, with the success of this game leading to not just one, but TWO new games released just one year later, with the first of these being Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2…… or just Sparkster for people in the west, because “lol, get fucked, America”.
Naturally, after I had finished the second game, I was very excited to get to the second game, but at the same time, I was kinda worried about it too. I had seen several reviews of it floating around on here that said that the game was bad, and just from a few screenshots that I had seen, it didn’t look quite as impressive as what we got in the previous game, leading me to grow suspicious. Of course though, I ended up going into with an open mind like I always do, and now that I have beaten the game, I am saddened to report that this game isn’t anywhere near as good as the original game…….. but I still liked it, so that’s good. It’s a good game all around, carrying the same spirit and energy as the original, but it has much more frustrations to go along with it as well.
The story is pretty much the same as the original game, where after the defeat of Devontidos Empire in the previous game, the world remains at peace for a long time, until the evil Gedol Empire rises in its place, taking over the land and having Axel Gear kidnap Princess Cherry once again, so it is up to Sparkster to set off once again to defeat the empire and save the princess from her ultimate doom, which is about as much as I would expect from a sequel in this series. The graphics are pretty good, having a lot of the same charm, color, and personality from the original game, but it does look a little more generic in comparison, and that makes me sad, the music is pretty good, having plenty of energetic and fun tracks to hear all throughout, but I would say it just falls short of the original game for me, and the gameplay/control is almost on the same level as the original game, except it doesn’t quite feel as fun to go through, while also bringing that difficulty back in a less than pleasant way.
The game is yet another 2D action platformer, where you take control of Sparkster once again, go through a set of six different stages through plenty of different environments, from grassy plains to industrial fortresses, slice and dice your way through plenty of different enemies with either your trusty sword by itself or with your trusty rocket pack, gather plenty of fruit along the way to heal yourself, along with plenty of gems for some extra surprises along the way, and take on plenty of bosses that range from being either relatively difficult, to ridiculously difficult, which feels like it fits in well with everything else going on here. Those who played the first game will be able to jump into this one immediately, blazing through and slicing dudes just like they were able to before, but not with some noteworthy hindrances holding them back, even if the game is still good as a whole.
Not much was done to change up the formula from the original game, which is definitely for the best, if you ask me. Ya run, ya jump, ya slash things, ya hang onto stuff with your tail, and ya kill a poor defenseless tree that was just minding its own business before you showed up: it’s all the same great stuff you have come to expect. In terms of what is actually new though, the only two new things that you will find will be a slot machine, which will activate whenever you collecting 10 gems or more, and based on what it lands on, it can give you plenty of fruit to help you out, or even drop bombs on you, because this game is an asshole, and right alongside that, we now have new collectibles that you can get, known as the Keys to the Seal, which can be found in every level of the game, even in the opening intro level. These don’t do much, but they do count towards getting the best ending of the game, so if you want to get that best ending, make sure to look around as much as you can to find them all.
Aside from that though, it all plays pretty much how you would expect to see a game like this play, and many of the trademark elements that made the original so great, such as boosting around on your rocket pack, slashing through dudes, and overcoming satisfying challenges, are all accounted for here, and for the most part, it works pretty well. However, if I have to be honest, something about the way this game feels to play is kinda….. off when compared to the original. It’s not bad by any means, but it does feel like the game puts less focus on fast, skill-based platforming, and more so on getting past some very precise obstacles, especially in later parts of the game, which when combined with the level design for a lot of these levels, makes trying to get a handle on it somewhat of a challenge. Needless to say, this game is a lot harder than that of the original, which was already pretty hard to begin with, so you will definitely need to bring your A-game when it comes to getting through this title.
Not to mention, some of the levels that you go through in the game, or some of the sections that you go through, just aren’t that fun to play at all. For instance, in the third stage, you spend most of the time trying to go up these tubes at the bottom of this ship in order to find all of the pillars on top to defeat all of the enemies, and while this may not sound like that much of a big deal, there are bombs that are constantly being thrown down on you that will not only hurt you if you don’t react fast enough, but will also destroy the terrain below you, meaning that you have to be quick on your feat in order to survive and get this shit done quick, even if it isn’t quite clear on what takes you where and how you are supposed to go about this. Right alongside that, there is also this one part in Stage 5 where you will be going through these hallways filled with buttons, while all of these metal fists are being shot towards you, with you needing to hit the buttons in order to stop the fists momentarily. That in itself doesn’t sound too bad, but these buttons are pretty spread out, and there are barricades all throughout this hallway, meaning that if you aren’t lightning fast, you will get pummeled by these things, to the point where there will be, like, a million of them flying at you at once.
And on top of all that, all of the ridiculous and bullshit parts and the different way the game plays, this game also continues that WONDERFUL tradition Konami loves to put in these games where you have to play the game on the hardest difficulty in order to get the best ending. This is also on top of having to find those Keys of the Seal I mentioned earlier, so if you really wanna get the best ending to fully complete this game, you will need to be quick on your feet and exploring all over the place, which I didn’t bother doing, because I don’t feel like this type of game fits that kind of gameplay element. Mix all of that with the fact that this game takes away features from the original, such as the different types of stages (with one exception), and you have a game that falls real short of its predecessor, and that does make me sad, even though I still ended up having a good time with it either way.
Overall, despite all of those frustrating and dumb elements I just mentioned holding the game back, RKA 2 is still a decent enough game to play through, one that gives you enough to work with and have fun with on some of the lower difficulties, and plenty of challenges that are satisfying to overcome on the higher difficulties. I would definitely recommend it for those who LOVED the original game, as well as those who do love old-school platformers in general, but for everyone else, there isn’t much reason to play this one if you didn’t really get into the original, as this one probably won’t change your mind either. Ah well, hopefully the next game will be able to prove to be a worthy successor to what came before it, but I guess we will just have to wait and see about that in due time. Until then, here is a picture of the first boss of the game…………. is what I would say, if this site would let me show the picture... average Backloggd moment.
Game #615
Naturally, after I had finished the second game, I was very excited to get to the second game, but at the same time, I was kinda worried about it too. I had seen several reviews of it floating around on here that said that the game was bad, and just from a few screenshots that I had seen, it didn’t look quite as impressive as what we got in the previous game, leading me to grow suspicious. Of course though, I ended up going into with an open mind like I always do, and now that I have beaten the game, I am saddened to report that this game isn’t anywhere near as good as the original game…….. but I still liked it, so that’s good. It’s a good game all around, carrying the same spirit and energy as the original, but it has much more frustrations to go along with it as well.
The story is pretty much the same as the original game, where after the defeat of Devontidos Empire in the previous game, the world remains at peace for a long time, until the evil Gedol Empire rises in its place, taking over the land and having Axel Gear kidnap Princess Cherry once again, so it is up to Sparkster to set off once again to defeat the empire and save the princess from her ultimate doom, which is about as much as I would expect from a sequel in this series. The graphics are pretty good, having a lot of the same charm, color, and personality from the original game, but it does look a little more generic in comparison, and that makes me sad, the music is pretty good, having plenty of energetic and fun tracks to hear all throughout, but I would say it just falls short of the original game for me, and the gameplay/control is almost on the same level as the original game, except it doesn’t quite feel as fun to go through, while also bringing that difficulty back in a less than pleasant way.
The game is yet another 2D action platformer, where you take control of Sparkster once again, go through a set of six different stages through plenty of different environments, from grassy plains to industrial fortresses, slice and dice your way through plenty of different enemies with either your trusty sword by itself or with your trusty rocket pack, gather plenty of fruit along the way to heal yourself, along with plenty of gems for some extra surprises along the way, and take on plenty of bosses that range from being either relatively difficult, to ridiculously difficult, which feels like it fits in well with everything else going on here. Those who played the first game will be able to jump into this one immediately, blazing through and slicing dudes just like they were able to before, but not with some noteworthy hindrances holding them back, even if the game is still good as a whole.
Not much was done to change up the formula from the original game, which is definitely for the best, if you ask me. Ya run, ya jump, ya slash things, ya hang onto stuff with your tail, and ya kill a poor defenseless tree that was just minding its own business before you showed up: it’s all the same great stuff you have come to expect. In terms of what is actually new though, the only two new things that you will find will be a slot machine, which will activate whenever you collecting 10 gems or more, and based on what it lands on, it can give you plenty of fruit to help you out, or even drop bombs on you, because this game is an asshole, and right alongside that, we now have new collectibles that you can get, known as the Keys to the Seal, which can be found in every level of the game, even in the opening intro level. These don’t do much, but they do count towards getting the best ending of the game, so if you want to get that best ending, make sure to look around as much as you can to find them all.
Aside from that though, it all plays pretty much how you would expect to see a game like this play, and many of the trademark elements that made the original so great, such as boosting around on your rocket pack, slashing through dudes, and overcoming satisfying challenges, are all accounted for here, and for the most part, it works pretty well. However, if I have to be honest, something about the way this game feels to play is kinda….. off when compared to the original. It’s not bad by any means, but it does feel like the game puts less focus on fast, skill-based platforming, and more so on getting past some very precise obstacles, especially in later parts of the game, which when combined with the level design for a lot of these levels, makes trying to get a handle on it somewhat of a challenge. Needless to say, this game is a lot harder than that of the original, which was already pretty hard to begin with, so you will definitely need to bring your A-game when it comes to getting through this title.
Not to mention, some of the levels that you go through in the game, or some of the sections that you go through, just aren’t that fun to play at all. For instance, in the third stage, you spend most of the time trying to go up these tubes at the bottom of this ship in order to find all of the pillars on top to defeat all of the enemies, and while this may not sound like that much of a big deal, there are bombs that are constantly being thrown down on you that will not only hurt you if you don’t react fast enough, but will also destroy the terrain below you, meaning that you have to be quick on your feat in order to survive and get this shit done quick, even if it isn’t quite clear on what takes you where and how you are supposed to go about this. Right alongside that, there is also this one part in Stage 5 where you will be going through these hallways filled with buttons, while all of these metal fists are being shot towards you, with you needing to hit the buttons in order to stop the fists momentarily. That in itself doesn’t sound too bad, but these buttons are pretty spread out, and there are barricades all throughout this hallway, meaning that if you aren’t lightning fast, you will get pummeled by these things, to the point where there will be, like, a million of them flying at you at once.
And on top of all that, all of the ridiculous and bullshit parts and the different way the game plays, this game also continues that WONDERFUL tradition Konami loves to put in these games where you have to play the game on the hardest difficulty in order to get the best ending. This is also on top of having to find those Keys of the Seal I mentioned earlier, so if you really wanna get the best ending to fully complete this game, you will need to be quick on your feet and exploring all over the place, which I didn’t bother doing, because I don’t feel like this type of game fits that kind of gameplay element. Mix all of that with the fact that this game takes away features from the original, such as the different types of stages (with one exception), and you have a game that falls real short of its predecessor, and that does make me sad, even though I still ended up having a good time with it either way.
Overall, despite all of those frustrating and dumb elements I just mentioned holding the game back, RKA 2 is still a decent enough game to play through, one that gives you enough to work with and have fun with on some of the lower difficulties, and plenty of challenges that are satisfying to overcome on the higher difficulties. I would definitely recommend it for those who LOVED the original game, as well as those who do love old-school platformers in general, but for everyone else, there isn’t much reason to play this one if you didn’t really get into the original, as this one probably won’t change your mind either. Ah well, hopefully the next game will be able to prove to be a worthy successor to what came before it, but I guess we will just have to wait and see about that in due time. Until then, here is a picture of the first boss of the game…………. is what I would say, if this site would let me show the picture... average Backloggd moment.
Game #615