Alright I'm on record, ON THIS WEBSITE, as being a Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (Not Sparkster) defender. Maybe I was a little hasty on that.

Not completely. This game is fine and the whining I was reacting to was the kind of thing Gamers do when they don't have a great articulation of their actual issues where they just list differences. Like for example, the jetpack works differently in this one. But being different isn't inherently making it trash or anything. That's a separate decision, which was also made. Okay that was mostly a goof too.

The jetpack, like everything else, really hits on something I can only call the enSonicification of RKA here. Sparkster himself is drawn just a bit COOLER here, even if there's definitely a cartoony edge to a lot of his animations. The jet dash being so at-will, automatically charging, and not actually bouncing if you hit a surface head-on lead to him feeling way more competent by default. The dash isn't a super-powerful measure to be deployed with a lot of consideration and skill anymore, but a thing you can do constantly without losing much control. You're agile as hell. You're COOL now!

The other Sonic thing is that the levels are now much more open and much more themed. Grass level, desert level, and so on. There's less of a narrative to it. You fight a living tree thing that punches you in the first level because it was just a boss they thought of. How is it working for the lizard kingdom? No idea.

I am much less of a fan of Genesis Sonic than most but really my problems here are just that the checkpoints are kinda frustrating and the level design isn't quite up to snuff. Whatever. It's a perfectly fine game.

While it's an alright game on its own merits, as a sequel to Rocket Knight Adventures, it just feels "off" in just about every way aside from the OST (which is still peak).

Visually, this looks more like a generic fantasy action/adventure that can't measure up Disney-meets-Steampunk aesthetic the first game had going on. That's not to say the game looks terrible by any stretch, but it's a noticeable step down from what we got with RKA.

Mechanically, there's a lot of changes that just don't make much sense. Why is there a random slot machine gimmick that may rain bombs down or a (mostly useless) rocket boost when I'm in the middle of trying to cut up some lizard samurai? Why is Sparkster's sword gimped? I do like the idea of having the jetpack charge automatically up to two tiers (presumably doing more damage if you let it charge twice), but the level design really stops complimenting the mechanic altogether at several points. (You really don't want to use it during autoscrollers or some of the tight corridors in the last stage for example)

There are a couple things Sparkster does a bit better than the previous game, though- oversized mechs and exploration. While the mech fight with Axel isn't nearly as fun (and has to be done twice for the best ending with literally no difference between bouts), you do get a whole stage dedicated to running around a scorched city with it and this was a nice change of pace. Secondly, to get the best ending, you need to acquire several hidden swords throughout the course of the game. The only real issue with this is that most players are bound to miss the very first one since you're locked out of it if you skip the opening the cutscene. (Spoiler- getting them all lets you turn into Not-Super Sonic at the end)

Difficulty is kinda all over the place compared to RKA, which had a gradual curve. The first four stages of the game are pretty easy, save for the hidden sword in the desert. It then becomes Konami hard in stage 5 with several gotcha moments (IE a giant insta kill laser that drops in without warning and a bunch of random ass crushers at the last leg of the stage) and dick-ish enemy placement. Mercifully, you don't lose your progress with the swords if you continue but continuing is very limited on normal (just twice). It's just worth slogging through to see the final boss, though. It's actually pretty awesome and I'm not going to spoil it.

While it may be the second worst of the small spattering of Rocket Knight games, it's still worth playing. Just don't go in expecting the same level of polish as RKA- that game was like lightning in a freaking bottle and I don't think it could ever be replicated.

This game makes the decision of having Sparkster's rocket pack constantly charging, which actually feels kind of inspired - in the original there was rarely a reason to not be charging the rocket during downtime, so I like that change here where it's simply a matter of releasing the automatic charge rather than having to charge it yourself.

Unfortunately every other aspect of Sparkster's moveset in this game has been absolutely gutted in favor of having you constantly zipping through the levels with the rocket, the walking speed is abysmally slow and just generally jumping, using your sword and hanging from tightropes just doesn't feel good to do at all.

It genuinely feels like a bootleg knock-off of the original - like, you know, it kind of tries to replicate all the stuff from the original game, but it was made in a sweatshop so they barely work and everything feels off since they couldn't actually replicate the nuances of the mechanics?

I couldn't stomach playing it for more than a few minutes.

NOTE: This is a review of the Genesis version of the game, which is a completely different game from the SNES version, which I will review next.

Going from playing Rocket Knight Adventures to this feels like a complete downgrade. The game looks like a Java mobile port of the original and plays so stiffly compared to the smooth Donkey-kong country-like RKA.

The boost attack, which was the main selling point of the original, feels really weak and inconsistent. In the original, most enemies would die to it in one hit. Here you just bounce off most enemies, which makes you not want to use it. Even when you try to use it for platforming, it is quite horrible as sometimes you will bounce off surfaces and other times you won't. Having your main mechanic be inconsistent like this is not good.

Levels are just bad. No proper design, just go from left to right while shit is thrown at you. The last couple of levels were abysmal and soured my taste even further. Cool setpieces the original were known for are drastically reduced. The robot boxing match setpiece played worse than the original and every other setpiece included is not fun at all.

I don't know how the visuals were messed up this badly. RKA was one of the BEST looking games on the Genesis. Here it looks like a megadrive launch title. It's seriously off putting if you're playing this right after RKA.

If you liked the original RKA and wanted a sequel, please skip the Genesis version of Sparkster and go play the SNES version that actually feels like a sequel.

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

In a slew of mascot platformers that came out during the 8 and 16-bit era, I'd like to think that Sparkster was pretty good. It had a lot of charm and personality, it looked nice, and the music rocked. It had a unique gimmick in going fast and while it was hard as hell at first, gaining a grasp of the rocket mechanics was a core part of the game I enjoyed.

That being said, the game has a slew of old platformer crust to it, like randomly spawning enemies (sometimes cruelly), drab or repetitive boss fights, and level design that often is on the fringe of greatness but borders on frustrating more often than not with a lot of gimmicks that involve waiting around. Sparkster it at its best GOING FAST.

This game is fine. I have a lot of fond memories of it smashing my face against it as a child, but it's rock solid. A shame we never got any more games in the franchise.

definitely not a bad game but its odd to me how much of this game just feels like a step down from rocket knight 1. the entire time i couldnt help but think that this game felt like it should have been the first rocket knight when you compare the visuals, level designs, and mechanics with the actual first rocket knight game. it just makes me wonder what happened here to land on this being the sequel to rocket knight. again, i do think this game is a decent amount of fun and i dont regret sitting through and playing it, but it just feels like theres some essence of the first game removed here that just confuses me how this could be the sequel to such a unique and fantastic platformer that somehow came out before this one. i will say though that ost went crazy so at least they got that right

Sparkster, my man. We gotta talk about your obsession with replacing my hedgehog-shaped heart.

You ever wish you grew up with something instead of looking at it through the lens of a jaded 30-year old who's played every piece of trashware and who-gives-a-shit release that had been readily available to them to emulate for the last two decades? You start wondering why they made the introduction fight with your rival skippable, when it's required for the golden ending due to the chaos emerald-laced sword you pull out in the cutscene afterwards, which goes along with the other six swords you're supposed to find later. Two of those swords just being things given to you, either from another fight with your rival or from some run amok stick figure mech in the final stage that sticks it into the ground for you and goes "hasta la pasta" as it heads off to Cucamonga to chill with the big wooden mannequin from Dynamite Headdy.

You ask yourself why the stage where you control your giant mech rampaging through downtown enemy territory is arguably the lowest point of the game. Why do the dumb little chicken walker mechs that the lizard soldiers use take so many rocket-propelled fist punches, thus enabling the auto-scrolling gameplay to become an act of juggling like a Tekken match? Why does Axel Gear in his already-repaired mech feel the need to show up in the background, and sometimes aim behind you where you can't interact with his giant flaming bowling balls and awkwardly punch them back to his ugly face and continue the segment? Why must we rematch in a rock'em sock'em robots bout again where I bait your projectile, and quickly run up and uppercut you in the jaw as you stare in amazement at my ability to block? How many times must we teach you this lesson old man?

Sparkster seems to have gotten a bit more jaded just like me, he's not quite as jovial and happy to be the hero like in Rocket Knight Adventures and has adopted a determined demeanor and a strut that could challenge a Belmont. He now refuses to use projectiles, because he has bought into his own hype and believes that all he needs is a sword and an expensive jetpack he bought at the Possum Boutique that automatically fills his meter. He's developed a gambling problem and started pulling slot machines full-time with all that jewelry he's acquired, and will continue doing so even after a bomb lands on top of his skull out of thin air. His overbearing hubris that has stacked on top of him after defeating the evil swine will surely be the end of him, but not if I can help it! I'll be the one to guide him to safety through the corridor-infested journey of his, and we'll surely take down the confusing mess of an airship layout that is his enemy's getaway vehicle and save the princess!

I still believe in him, for he is the coolest. Godspeed, hero boy.