Rocket Knight Adventures
Developer: Konami
Systems: Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo
Rating: KA (Kids to Adults)
Genre: Action/Adventure
Released: 1993
Released in the early 1990's, during the height of the 'cute mascot' era, Rocket Knight Adventures is a 2D adventure game starring a sword-wielding possum named Sparkster, on a quest to, (as all games back then did) save the princess.
I rented this little gem back in.. I think about 1996? I was 10 or 11 years old at the time, and found myself every day in elementary school constantly looking up at the clock, eager to get home and pop this cartridge into my Genesis & play some more. I ended up purchasing the full game shortly later at Funcoland (Now known as Gamestop)
Developed by Konami, Rocket Knight Adventures was released on both the Sega Genesis & Super Nintendo. (I am covering the Sega Genesis version in this review)
On his quest, Sparkster travels through green plains, medieval castles, underwater caverns, flying battleships, dreary cities, factories and outer space.
Sparkster's main enemy of the game are an army of pigs. You can easily dispatch them with your sword, (which humorously strips the pigs to their underpants) in addition to your sword, Sparkster's jetpack can be used to charge at enemies at high speed, or spin in a ball (much like Sonic)
Sparkster's jetpack helps him reach high places, by shooting him straight up or bouncing him back and forth between walls. (His jetpack runs on fuel that quickly runs out though, so you will need to recharge quite a bit)
The soundtrack is great, featuring an exhilirating tune played during the flying segments, thrilling music playing during the boss battles, but my personal favorite was in the city stage. It's one of my favorite tunes from the 2D era of gaming.
Another highlight of the game are the boss battles. The developers went all out in these, with some truly larger than life enemies to fight. My two favorites were an intense chase against a robot train in level 2, and a 'rock-em sock-em robots' style battle against Sparkster's evil doppelganger, Axel Blade in level 5.
Rocket Knight Adventures is not an easy game. If you're like me, you will get the game over screen a lot. And continues are limited. While you can adjust the difficulty settings in the options menu, the final stages of the game and the 'true' ending can only be accessed on 'normal' and 'hard' modes. This makes beating the final boss even more satisfying.
Rocket Knight Adventures is one of my favorite titles from the 16-bit era and one I played alot in my childhood. I easily put it next to Super Mario World & Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in terms of quality. Unfortunately, the series did not take off. A sequel was released, but didn't live up to the original. Sparkster quickly faded into obscurity, among the likes of Aero the Acrobat and Gex.
The game has found a cult following in recent years, with a complete-in-box version of the game demanding some high prices on eBay.
If you haven't played it yet, I strongly reccommend checking it out. You will not be disappointed.
