The original Rygar for arcades was quite possibly one of the most mindless and messy games that I have ever played. While it wasn’t completely terrible, it primarily just consisted of you holding right and sometimes the jump button, going through way more levels then there needed to be with no variety added into the mix to make the game more fun or tolerable, especially after about 20 or so of these stages. Thankfully, however, they decided to give Rygar a second chance at life with an NES game, but, instead of just making a simple port of the original arcade game, they decided to completely change the game around, making something completely unique while keeping a bit of what was present in the original arcade game. Needless to say, this change was very beneficial not just for my own enjoyment, but for the game as a whole.
I myself knew about this version of Rygar way before I even knew about the arcade original, back when I worked on a video that was centered around the game. When I first saw it, I had wanted to check it out, considering how it combines different game genres together, which I have always been a fan of when games do that, and considering it was on one of my favorite old-school systems, it made me wanna check it out even more. And so, after almost a full year since that video (an appropriate amount of time, I would say), I decided to give it a shot, and I’m glad I did, because I found it to be pretty good. I wouldn’t say it is a must-play title for the system, as it does have several issues, but for what we have here, it is a massive improvement over the original arcade title, and it was enjoyable for the hour or so that I spent with it.
The story, from what I could tell, is basically the same as the original arcade game, except, of course, practically no info is given to the player in the game itself, the graphics are good, providing several unique environments to travel through, although a good number of the enemy sprites do look pretty… weird and off, the music is ok, with a good number of tracks to listen to, but none of them are really all that memorable, and they do tend to blend in with each other more then not, the control is very good, with no real issues in terms of your main attacks and commands, but when it comes to interacting with other objects involving a grappling hook or crossbow, that’s when things tend to get a little wonky, and the gameplay is familiar in plenty of areas, but inventive for the time by taking a lot of these elements and combining them together.
The game is an action-adventure platformer mixed with RPG elements, where you take control of Rygar himself, travel through plenty of areas filled with deadly beasts, take on said beasts to gain EXP and increase your health and attack to take on even stronger foes, gather plenty of health items and important key items to help you progress through plenty of areas throughout the game, and take on fearsome, yet simple and annoying, bosses along the way. What makes this game special amongst the rest is how it takes plenty of familiar elements seen on this system, those being platformers, adventure games, and RPGs, and combines them all together to make a unique experience. Nowadays, there are MANY different games that take multiple game genres and combine elements from them together, and yeah, this wasn’t the only game on the system to combine elements together, but it still very refreshing to see one of these kinds of games on one of these systems.
Yes, the combination of all these elements is very appealing, and it works well, but how is the game itself? Well, like I said, it is pretty good. There isn’t too much complexity to it, with you just needing to get from Point A to Point B a lot of the time, but there is enough room to move around in for exploration and experimentation, even if said exploration may not lead to anything that substantial rather then just finding an old man. Not to mention, with the items that you get later down the line, you do get more opportunities for exploration and experimentation, which is always appreciated, with you needing to return to previous areas in order to progress in some cases. Other then that though, there isn’t too much else it has going for it, so if one were to play this game and get bored pretty quickly, I wouldn’t blame them really.
However, with a game like this around this time, there is bound to be issues, and while Rygar doesn’t have too many issues, one issue that plagues the entire game, aside from the lack of originality of the world, would be a severe lack of polish. With the way this game executes a lot of ideas, naturally, not everything is going to be as fine-tuned as one would hope for, and there are plenty of instances throughout the game where you will run into issues with hitboxes, especially against surfaces in the top-down sections, the weight of attacking your enemies feeling off, how you approach using several of the items you get, and the lack of mobility in certain situations, especially when you are surrounded by a giant group of enemies, and trust me, this will happen on several occasions. It feels as if this game needed a little more time in the oven before it could be baked to a crisp perfection, being able to properly handle everything that it presents to the player without snapping in half. For what we have here, it is functional enough, but even still, I can see where there is room for improvement.
Overall, despite a lack of originality in the world and characters, and a lack of polish, Rygar is still an interesting experiment of a game for the NES, and a definite improvement over the mindless, lackluster original arcade game that it was based on. I would definitely recommend it for those who are looking for something to do to kill an hour, and for those who somehow liked the original Rygar game, but other then that, it isn’t a title that you need to jump on immediately, but it is somewhat worth it when you do. Especially to see some of the weird-ass enemy designs in the game, looking like they crawled right out of the mind of some demented teenager.
Game #325
I myself knew about this version of Rygar way before I even knew about the arcade original, back when I worked on a video that was centered around the game. When I first saw it, I had wanted to check it out, considering how it combines different game genres together, which I have always been a fan of when games do that, and considering it was on one of my favorite old-school systems, it made me wanna check it out even more. And so, after almost a full year since that video (an appropriate amount of time, I would say), I decided to give it a shot, and I’m glad I did, because I found it to be pretty good. I wouldn’t say it is a must-play title for the system, as it does have several issues, but for what we have here, it is a massive improvement over the original arcade title, and it was enjoyable for the hour or so that I spent with it.
The story, from what I could tell, is basically the same as the original arcade game, except, of course, practically no info is given to the player in the game itself, the graphics are good, providing several unique environments to travel through, although a good number of the enemy sprites do look pretty… weird and off, the music is ok, with a good number of tracks to listen to, but none of them are really all that memorable, and they do tend to blend in with each other more then not, the control is very good, with no real issues in terms of your main attacks and commands, but when it comes to interacting with other objects involving a grappling hook or crossbow, that’s when things tend to get a little wonky, and the gameplay is familiar in plenty of areas, but inventive for the time by taking a lot of these elements and combining them together.
The game is an action-adventure platformer mixed with RPG elements, where you take control of Rygar himself, travel through plenty of areas filled with deadly beasts, take on said beasts to gain EXP and increase your health and attack to take on even stronger foes, gather plenty of health items and important key items to help you progress through plenty of areas throughout the game, and take on fearsome, yet simple and annoying, bosses along the way. What makes this game special amongst the rest is how it takes plenty of familiar elements seen on this system, those being platformers, adventure games, and RPGs, and combines them all together to make a unique experience. Nowadays, there are MANY different games that take multiple game genres and combine elements from them together, and yeah, this wasn’t the only game on the system to combine elements together, but it still very refreshing to see one of these kinds of games on one of these systems.
Yes, the combination of all these elements is very appealing, and it works well, but how is the game itself? Well, like I said, it is pretty good. There isn’t too much complexity to it, with you just needing to get from Point A to Point B a lot of the time, but there is enough room to move around in for exploration and experimentation, even if said exploration may not lead to anything that substantial rather then just finding an old man. Not to mention, with the items that you get later down the line, you do get more opportunities for exploration and experimentation, which is always appreciated, with you needing to return to previous areas in order to progress in some cases. Other then that though, there isn’t too much else it has going for it, so if one were to play this game and get bored pretty quickly, I wouldn’t blame them really.
However, with a game like this around this time, there is bound to be issues, and while Rygar doesn’t have too many issues, one issue that plagues the entire game, aside from the lack of originality of the world, would be a severe lack of polish. With the way this game executes a lot of ideas, naturally, not everything is going to be as fine-tuned as one would hope for, and there are plenty of instances throughout the game where you will run into issues with hitboxes, especially against surfaces in the top-down sections, the weight of attacking your enemies feeling off, how you approach using several of the items you get, and the lack of mobility in certain situations, especially when you are surrounded by a giant group of enemies, and trust me, this will happen on several occasions. It feels as if this game needed a little more time in the oven before it could be baked to a crisp perfection, being able to properly handle everything that it presents to the player without snapping in half. For what we have here, it is functional enough, but even still, I can see where there is room for improvement.
Overall, despite a lack of originality in the world and characters, and a lack of polish, Rygar is still an interesting experiment of a game for the NES, and a definite improvement over the mindless, lackluster original arcade game that it was based on. I would definitely recommend it for those who are looking for something to do to kill an hour, and for those who somehow liked the original Rygar game, but other then that, it isn’t a title that you need to jump on immediately, but it is somewhat worth it when you do. Especially to see some of the weird-ass enemy designs in the game, looking like they crawled right out of the mind of some demented teenager.
Game #325