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Game Corner [Bat-Month]: Batman Forever (Mega Drive)

Dr. K2 Comments

Since his first appearance in the pages of Detective Comics, Bruce Wayne/Batman has become a pop culture icon. September celebrates “Batman Day”, the perfect excuse to celebrate this grim and broody vigilante.

Released: 7 September 1995
Developer: Probe Entertainment
MobyGames Score: 5.8

Also Available For: Game Boy, Game Gear, MS- DOS, R-Zone, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

Quick Facts:
Though divisive, Batman Forever (Schumacher, 1995) made over $330 million at the box office and was accompanied by both toys and videogames. While Acclaim’s arcade tie-in was met with mixed reviews, it still fared better than the vastly different home console versions. Reviews criticised the clunky, digitised sprites, the obtuse and ugly environments, and unintuitive controls, resulting in what’s been called one of the worst releases for the Mega Drive.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Batman Forever is a 2D, sidescrolling beat-‘em-up that sticks pretty closely to the plot of the film (except Dick Grayson/Robin, looking decidedly more adult here, is already Batman’s partner). The game supports both two-player co-operative play and, bizarrely, competitive play, in which players can attack each other, which seems a terrible idea given how awkward this game is. Unlike its predecessors, which were simple brawlers, Batman Forever opts to lumber the player with fighting game mechanics not unlike the Mortal Kombat games from the time (Midway, 1992 to 1995). The game offers two control schemes, though option two is for those with a six-button controller (honestly, the recommended way to play this nonsense). By choosing this option, up makes Batman (or Robin) jump, up and left performs a somersault, and tapping and holding up when jumping executes a glide. While this helps reach out of the way areas, you’re locking into this animation and at the mercy of the awful level layouts. You perform a roll by double tapping left or right and hitting A, hold B to block, and attack with A, B, X, and Z. These see you firing rapid punches high and low, kicking, sweeping the leg, or performing a roundhouse kick or uppercut depending on your stance. Enemies generally attack one or two at a time, but you perform back attacks with the right button combinations (none of which are displayed onscreen). Button combinations also activate the many gadgets. While some are available from the start, others are only obtained by finding blueprints and Batman and Robin have unique gadgets as well as sharing weapons like the Batarangs and grapnel gun.

Sadly, the crippling fighting game controls are the least of this awful game’s worries.

While you can only pick two additional gadgets per level, you get unlimited ammo and can switch gadgets after clearing levels. Batman can perform his weird-ass cape morph from the film, erect a holographic decoy, and toss smoke and flash pellets to disorientate foes. Robin primarily utilises his bo staff, whacking enemies and using it as a shield, though he can also throw tranquilizer darts. While the jumping is finnicky and the glide is even worse, these aspects aren’t too difficult to get to grips with and can even be fun. However, you’ll run into a literal dead end seconds into starting the game as Batman and Robin must use their grapnel to get about. It’s not always immediately clear where or when you use the grapnel, or even how as even the six-button layout sees you hitting up and X with precision timing in the right spot. Occasionally, you may need to fire it while standing to swing over gaps but you’re more likely to be awkwardly leaping to handholds to fling yourself to higher platforms. Jumping down is even crazier as you must hold C and press down, making even the most basic movements needlessly complicated. Some elements of the environment are destructible, gifting partial or full med kits and extra lives, while riddles interrupt the gameplay when collected. Each enemy has a health bar that must be whittled down in janky-ass combat and all enemies must be defeated to progress as it’s the only way to open previously locked doors. However, this is also pointlessly convoluted as it’s not always clear where the exit is (it often appears as regular parts of the environment!) A counter showing how many enemies are left and an onscreen arrow pointing you to the exit would’ve been nice! While most areas are straightforward, the visuals don’t make exploration easy and areas you need to get to are often hidden behind the many foreground elements, compounding the issue.

Grappling and basic exploration is an uphill battle thanks to the confusing level layouts.

Mostly, you’ll just be wandering about digitised approximations of locations from the movie, beating up thugs to progress and smashing walls for goodies or secret areas. At first, you’re using the grapnel and drop down a lot but these elements fade over time, replaced by awkward jumps, annoying gliding, and obtuse puzzles. While clumsily grappling about the bank, you’ll rescue guards and end up fighting Harvey Dent/Two-Face’s goons on the extracted vault. As if the confusing, largely vertical layout of the circus wasn’t bad enough, you’re also battling a timer as you hop to hanging lights. While you can collect clocks to add additional time, you have around five minutes to search for goons to beat up, which drops rope ladders and opens the roof so you can disarm the bomb (in a cutscene). While exploring Two-Face’s warehouse lair, you must destroy crates to progress or grapple up to hanging crates to bypass water (or maybe it’s acid?) hazards, occasionally using them as platforms to get past larger bodies and struggling with the game’s large hit boxes whenever those crushing presses are onscreen. As confusing and unsightly as Arkham Asylum is, things really take a nosedive in level five, where you must search all over for levers to kick, which open trap doors to new areas. Many loop you back to an underground section, though, forcing you to clamber to background handholds (when the game decides you can grab them) to get back to where you need to be…only for platforms to drop as you’re on them and the whole tedious process to start again! By comparison, battling through and onto a subway train is far easier, even with the electrical hazards, but it’s equally aggravating to fling yourself around Nygma’s Claw Island lair to activate six of Edward Nygma/The Riddler’s pods. Between the awful controls, unintuitive combat, and confusing layouts, everything is overly complicated and tiresome, with even simple shit like fighting enemies on a descending platform being tedious chores.

Presentation:
Sadly, Batman Forever ends up being a product of its time as it opts to use the same technology and techniques as Mortal Kombat to present digitised sprites and pre-rendered backgrounds in an attempt to be innovative and groundbreaking. Unfortunately, it ends up being unsightly and confusing as the game loves to block your view with foreground elements. As impressive as these may be, they don’t equate to enjoyable gameplay as you’re left scrambling about trying to grapple or drop to new areas. Batman and Robin look awful, flailing about in standard fighting poses and jerkily executing the basic moves you’d see in Mortal Kombat. It’s such a shame as the game might’ve been somewhat tolerable if the developers hadn’t used this restrictive format and had used a more traditional beat-‘em-up style of play. Instead, combat is wild and unpredictable, with moves sometimes missing or passing through your target or being cancelled as the computer reads your inputs. While Batman Forever doesn’t include the game’s bombastic score, it does feature some digitised voice samples, though the story is entirely related through boring text rather than digitised recreations of the movie, or even sprite animations. The visual presentation relies heavily on shadow, which is pretty ironic considering how vivid the film was, with colour only coming into play at the circus (and even then, its muddy browns and oranges). While you sometimes see enemies burst from their prison cells or drums and the environment often changes, the level layouts are all over the place and difficult to navigate as it’s never clear where you have to go.

The digitised sprites and ugly visuals make for an unappealing and aggravating gameplay experience.

While the title screen is disappointingly basic and the ending is little more than a still image of Gotham City and some congratulatory text, Batman Forever does a commendable job recreated locations from the movie. The game starts in Arkham Asylum, which is actually a deep cut reference to the film’s original opening, where crazed inmates burst from their cells as players traverse a rusted walkway with the city in the background. Arkham Asylum is very gothic, dark, and claustrophobic, which is fitting but also makes for a confusing opening stage as dead ends are everywhere. Next, you head to the bank that Two-Face robs in the film. This level sees you fighting past desks, large windows, and potted plants, visiting each floor via the cylindrical lift on the outside, where the overly ornate Gotham City stretches to the horizon. As mentioned, the circus brings some colour to the game but also additional anxiety due to the timer and the vertical layout. You must grapple and jump to trapeze platforms, past clown cars and stage equipment and to the rafters and lights in search of baddies to beat to reach the bomb, which explodes in a still image if you fail. Two-Face’s warehouse is a disappointingly bland visual follow-up, comprised mainly of wooden crates and storage containers, until you reach the boss area and see Two-Face’s bizarre décor recreated. Level 5 was equally disappointing, being mainly the Ritz Hotel in the background and various tunnels and rafters, but the subway made up for it by having you fight through the dark tunnels and atop a speeding subway train. Level 7 takes place in Wayne Manor and the Batcave below, where you’ll see the Batcomputer, Batmobile, and Batwing in the background (with the latter two being sadly unusable). Level 8 starts on Claw Island and then shifts to inside the Riddler’s madcap lair, which rises from the background, forces up a narrow cylindrical shaft, and features various elaborate, overly complicated, technologically stuffed rooms full of monitors and question marks.

Enemies and Bosses:
A bunch of disposable goons are littered throughout Batman Forever, all of whom sport their own names and health bars. I don’t recall ever fighting more than two at a time, however, so you’ll be constantly backtracking and searching for any enemies you’ve missed to open the next area or level exit. Enemies largely share the same basic moves as Batman and Robin, and between each other, though there are some variations. This means enemies can punch, kick, and roll at you but they’ll also burst from the background, throw you, and wield various weapons. The Arkham inmates attack with knives (or possibly the rags of their straightjackets), batons, and tasers, pulling off fancier combos than either Batman or Robin, while Two-Face’s suited-up thugs carry pistols or high-powered shotguns. His gimp-masked brutes are more likely to grapple you, tossing you around with wrestling-style moves, or thrust a chainsaw into your crotch! The circus clowns wear comically oversized boxing gloves, performing jumping split kicks, and either vomit or toss paint, it’s not clear which. Level 5 debuts the Riddler’s bizarre minions, who teleport about, fire sticky goop overhead, and erect an energy shield to negate your attacks. Sadly, that’s about it and Batman Forever is very light on bosses. In fact, there are barely four bosses to worry about here. You fight Sugar and Spice before your first encounter with Two-Face (who goes wild with dual knives) and dispatch the Riddler’s holographic doubles before fighting him on Claw Island. The Riddler is surprisingly formidable, whacking you with his cane, stunning you, and using energy waves. He also transforms into a hulking form that stomps, shakes the ground, and cracks you over his knee before reverting to his normal form for the finale. Two-Face also returns in the finale, leaving himself open whenever he flips his coin or mocks you while also boasting an impressive and wholly uncharacteristic bicycle kick!

Additional Features:
There are three difficulty modes available in Batman Forever (“Easy”, “Normal”, and “Hard”), though I didn’t care to find out what’s different about them. The game also gives you the option to turn the music off (probably best given how awful the soundtrack is) and play alongside a friend. You can also enable friendly fire and battle a friend in traditional one-on-one fights in the “Training Mode”, where other characters are also available to play as. Players must collect blueprints to unlock additional gadgets, but I wouldn’t say it was necessary as they’re all pretty similar, and can find hidden areas if they care to experiment. Batman Forever features a handy cheat code to enable a level select and one-hit kills, though this strangely doesn’t apply to the final Two-Face or Big Riddler bosses.

Final Thoughts:
I was honestly dreading playing this game as I’ve played the SNES version before through emulation and am well aware of how frustrating, ugly, and overly complicated it is. I wanted to give it a good go, though, and was surprised to find it quite beatable…if you enable those one-hit kills. While I’m a big fan of Mortal Kombat, translating those fighting game mechanics into a sidescrolling beat-‘em-up never works and Batman Forever is no different. Every fight is a chore and a coin toss regarding whether your moves will hit or miss. There’s a noticeable delay between pressing buttons and performing actions, Batman and Robin are clunky, and the level layouts are all over the place. Batman Forever tries so hard to be ground-breaking and innovative, using digitised sprites and pseudo-3D, pre-rendered environments to appear cutting edge, and in doing so is one of the ugliest games you’ll ever see from this time. The digitised sprites look awful, especially Robin, and the environments are needlessly complicated by obstructive foreground elements, confusing layouts, and the bizarre fixation on having you defeat every enemy. I liked that the game tried to mix things up with the timer gimmick and the looping path and grapple mechanics could’ve been fun, but they (like everything here) were executed so poorly. You’ll need a guide to perform even the most basic functions, the game’s awful at telling you where you need to go and what needs to be done, and the sheer lack of bosses and story elements is laughable. Of all the Mega Drive Batman games, this is clearly the worst and that’s saying a lot as I couldn’t beat the other ones! I would say that things might’ve fared better if the developers had ported or adapted the action-packed arcade game instead, but that was a manic mess of a game as well so it seems a videogame adaptation of Batman Forever was doomed to fail no matter what format it found itself on.

My Rating:

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Terrible

Are you a maniac and somehow a fan of Batman Forever? Did you also struggle with the fighting mechanics and grapple or did you find them enjoyable? What did you think to the digitised spites and pre-rendered backgrounds? Which of Batman and Robin’s gadgets was your favourite? Did you also struggle to defuse the circus bomb? Were you disappointed by the lack of boss battles or did you find Big Riddler a fun surprise? How are you planning on celebrating Batman Day this year and what is your favourite Batman videogame? Whatever your thoughts on this version of Batman Forever, or Batman in general, please leave a comment below and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other Batman videogames for me to review.

Mini Game Corner [Bat-Month]: Batman Returns (Mega Drive)

Dr. KLeave a comment

Since his first appearance in the pages of Detective Comics, Bruce Wayne/Batman has become a pop culture icon. September celebrates “Batman Day”, the perfect excuse to celebrate this grim and broody vigilante.

Released: October 1992
Developer: Malibu Interactive
MobyGames Score: 6.4

Also Available For: Amiga, Game Gear, Master System, Mega/SEGA-CD, MS-DOS

Quick Facts:
Just as Batman (Burton, 1989) was accompanied by a smorgasbord of merchandise and videogames from Sunsoft, so too was the controversial (but nonetheless profitable) Batman Returns (ibid, 1992). While Konami brought their success with sidescrolling arcade brawlers to the widely praised Super Nintendo version, SEGA got wildly different games released for their consoles. Though echoing Sunsoft’s work on the Mega Drive adaptation of Batman, this version of Batman Returns was regarding as a forgettable brawler at best and a frustrating, unsightly release at worst and is largely seen as inferior to its Super Nintendo counterpart.

First Impressions:
Batman Returns borrows quite a few elements from Sunsoft’s Batman adaptation for the Mega Drive, featuring a nearly identical options menu and some similar gameplay mechanics, while expanding the scope and giving Batman more toys. While you cannot change the game’s difficulty, you can still set how many lives you start with (three, five, or seven) and can now pick between a few control presets. I mapped attack to the A button, jump to B, and Batman’s “Special Weapon” to C. Batman still throws punches but can also execute kicks depending on which direction you press on the directional pad (D-pad). Batman’s feet are so well armoured that they protect him from bullets and attacks so you might want to throw a kick to defend yourself. When jumping, you can tap B to shoot Batman’s grapple and swing from overhead platforms, though you can still fire it upwards while standing still and pressing up and A. If you tap or hold C in mid-air, you either flap or spread Batman’s cape, allowing you to glide across gaps. This is marginally more useful than Batman’s somersault from the last game, but it has an energy meter and, more crucially, level design so cluttered, ugly, and confusing that you never know if you’re going to glide into a bottomless pit! You can replenish Batman’s health by grabbing hearts, collect 1-ups (or earn extra tries by accumulating points), and appear to have unlimited continues. However, this also comes with two major drawbacks that crippled my run. First, if you die when fighting a boss, you respawn at a pre-set checkpoint, meaning the boss’s health is restored. Second, if you exhaust all your lives and continue, you are sent back to the beginning of the stage, which makes Batman Returns needlessly frustrating very quickly.

Ugly graphics, horrendous music, and clunky controls make this a chore to play through.

Batman has a bunch of Special Weapons he can use with C. Each consume ammo, replenished by collecting item-specific power-ups, and is selected from the pause menu. Batman tosses Batarangs, stuns enemies with smoke bombs, fires his grapple gun, disorientates them with a swarm of bats, or throws “super seeking” Batarangs. These last three are the most powerful and cost the most to use so they’re best saved for boss battles, though I also found myself forced to waste a seeker Batarang when a shaft was blocked by enemies above. There are five levels (or “Acts”) with three stages each. Each Act sees Batman pull up in the Batmobile and swoop into the scene but, while Batman is a far bigger sprite than before, he still has no idle animations. He’s also a far bigger target and, though faster, is very slippery and as ungainly as ever. It doesn’t help that the visuals are uncomfortably distorted and pixelated. Batman Returns may retain the Christmas aesthetic of the movie and recreate elements like the gothic architecture and Max Shreck’s cat-themed shops, but it’s painful to look at and listen to. While there are some fun effects, like slanted buildings, and stages are far bigger than in the last Mega Drive game, it’s no fun struggling with the clunky controls, constantly taking damage from enemies or spike pits, or falling down a bottomless pit or to the bottom of the stage because hazards are obscured by foreground objects. Though enemies don’t respawn, everything is too zoomed in and too big, making it difficult to see or know where you’re going, health is sparse, and bosses absorb a bunch of hits before being defeated. While it’s fun seeing the Red Triangle Circus Gang rendered as enemies, it’s weird that stone gargoyles spring to life and attack you and Batman’s again forced to endure some needlessly aggravating platforming challenges.

My Progression:
Although I was immediately put off by the graphics and music of Batman Returns, I found Batman more durable than in the last game and was quite enjoying seeing recognisable landmarks from the movie recreated, however ugly, in each stage. Oswald Cobblepott/The Penguin’s goons and maniacal fowls litter each stage, exploding upon defeat, and stages contain multiple mini bosses. You soon fight Selina Kyle/Catwoman on the rooftops, for example, struggling to avoid her lengthy whip and frustrated to find she’s invulnerable when cartwheeling about. Gotham City itself attacks you as well, with those giant, ostentatious statues flinging gears from the background, and the Penguin battles you in a bell tower, flying about on his comical helicopter umbrella and tossing missiles. At first, this was a bit of a chore, especially as you must grapple up, avoiding gargoyles as you go, if you die against him. But, on my second try, I found the Penguin could easily be cheesed if you stay in one corner and throw punches. Things fell apart in Act 2, however, where one of the Penguin’s brutes stalks about atop one of Shreck’s department stores and tosses giant letters at you. This bastard follows your movements, meaning I couldn’t figure out how to grapple up to him without taking damage and, when I did, he decimated me with his meaty punches and kicks. Technically, this is where my game ended as I was so annoyed by this that I resorted to inputting the stage select code (a chore in itself!) I used this to skip to the inside of the store, where roller-skating punks, knife-tossing temptresses, and bomb-tossing jesters await before giant windows and around escalators. I then got my ass handed to me in a rematch with Catwoman that I had no hope of beating, found the next section started with an insta-kill rolling hazard I couldn’t avoid no matter how hard I tried, and skipped to the Red Triangle Circus stage…where a simple jump over a pit proved too difficult for this heavy-ass Batman!

Unintuitive controls and awful enemy placement make this short game frustrating and tedious.

Honestly, I was glad to be done with the game, which was an assault on my senses and a far cry from the simple, arcade action of the SNES beat-‘em-up. While I couldn’t reliably get the stage select code to work to check out the game’s later stages, a longplay I watched revealed that Batman Returns is only about half an hour long in the right hands. It also turns out that you have to grapple over that pit in Act III and battle through the background cages, but I’m buggered if I’m going to endure this game again any time soon. But, for due diligence, the rest of the game sticks pretty closely to the movie once Batman’s finished swinging about the Red Triangle’s ferris wheel, circus tent, and colourful, hazardous train. Act 4 takes him into the sewers, which feature rushing water slides, gun-toting clowns, and a maze of pipes. This leads to the Penguin’s frozen lair, where Batman slips about on frigid, precarious, often sloped platforms, avoiding icicles and riding ice floats. While there are sadly no vehicle sections here, you do battle the Penguin at the end of each subsequent Act. He flies about in Act 3 tossing buzzsaws, blasts you with toxic sludge from a giant cannon before unloading with his machine gun umbrella in Act 4, and pilots his giant duck vehicle in Act 5, which displays battle damage as you attack. Finally, the dishevelled and maniacal Penguin hops about his lair, blasting with his shotgun-like umbrella while electrical bursts flare overhead. After he’s defeated, Batman battles Catwoman one more time as the credits roll, with her being mysteriously spirited away by cats to end the game.

Continue?
My expectations were low for Batman Returns after how disappointing Sunsoft’s efforts were with Batman and having played the SNES version (through emulation) in my teens. I’ve always known that the Mega Drive version is an entirely different game, which immediately makes it far less appealing, but the reality is so much worse. For everything the developers improved from the last game, there are a bunch of bizarre decisions that make Batman Returns just as bad, if not worse. Visually, the game is dreadful. It’s so muddy and pixelated and almost impossible to see Batman against the drab, overly complicated backgrounds. They’re fantastically faithful to the movie, but that just makes it worse as half the time I couldn’t see enemies or projectiles and most of the time I had no idea if I was gliding into a bottomless pit. I liked Batman’s array of gadgets, but their usefulness is negligible as you’re probably just going to save them for the bosses. Batman’s weird glide doesn’t get much play, thankfully, and the grapple is restricted to just reaching higher ground, but Batman’s still a clunky character with limited moves in his arsenal. As if the visuals weren’t bad enough, the game sounds awful, lacking both Danny Elfman’s timeless score and jaunty tunes to make the janky gameplay more tolerable. I probably could beat this one now that I know how to get around that pit, but I have no desire to come back to it, especially when I could just emulate the SNES version or even try out a Mega Drive conversion of that game. This was ridiculously disappointing, doubly so as there are no vehicle levels despite Batman Returns feature three Bat-vehicles! I’d be surprised if you thought this game was any good but let me know if you did in the comments. While you’re here, why not check out my other Batman-related content or pop over to my Ko-Fi to drop a donation to keep the site going?

Mini Game Corner [Bat-Month]: Batman (Mega Drive)

Dr. K2 Comments

Since his first appearance in Detective Comics, Bruce Wayne/Batman has become a pop culture icon. September celebrates “Batman Day”, the perfect excuse to celebrate this grim and broody vigilante.

Released: 27 June 1990
Developer: Sunsoft
MobyGames Score: 7.4

Other Versions Available For: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Arcade, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy, MS-DOS, MSX, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), PC, PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, ZX Spectrum

Quick Facts:
At the tail-end of the eighties, “Batmania” swept the nation after Tim Burton eschewed his camp reputation in favour of a hugely successful and influential gothic feature film. This blockbuster hit was accompanied by a slew of merchandise, including a fondly remembered (if challenging) NES title and a generally well-regarded arcade title. The Mega Drive adaptation was developed by Sunsoft, who crafted noticeably different games for each console. The Mega Drive Batman was praised for its visuals and soundtrack, but criticised for being far too short to be truly challenging.

First Impressions:
Batman is a 2D, sidescrolling brawler that surprisingly follows the plot of the 1989 classic quite closely. Before starting, you might want to dip into the “Options” menu and tinker with the settings, which allow you to set your maximum number of lives (three, five, or seven) and set the game to “Normal” or “Hard”. From there, you’re given five continues and a limited supply of Batarangs and dropped into it. Batman tosses Batarangs with A, punches goons (or kicks their shins when crouching) with B, and jumps with C. You can double-tap C to perform a somersault but it’s far too unreliable for precision platforming between small, moving platforms. By pressing down and C, Batman jumps down wherever possible but again, watch out as you don’t want to drop into one of the many bottomless pits! Holding B sees Batman block and pressing up and C fires his grapnel, which snags parts of the environment and lets you reach higher ground or scale shafts. You’ll get points for each enemy you defeat (with most going down in one hit) and can refill Batman’s health, ammo, and lives by collecting specific items (usually placed over bottomless pits). Batman also features two autoscrolling vehicle sections, one where you blast through Gotham City in the awesome 1989 Batmobile and another where you cut through the skies in the Batwing. In both cases, you blast enemy vehicles with B and fire a limited supply of missiles with A, which you’ll want to stock up on as they’re seriously overpowered!

Clunky platforming and limited combat handicap Batman even when he’s in his fancy Batmobile.

Things start off okay in Batman. The title screen’s nothing to shout about, the story is a wall of text over digitised images, Danny Elfman’s memorable score is absent, and Batman doesn’t even have idle poses…but he swoops down at the start of each stage and there are occasionally partially animated cutscenes recreating scenes from the film. Batman’s quite clunky and awkward, shambling about and struggling with the finnicky platforming sections. At first, this isn’t a problem as you’re just punching respawning thugs, but things turn frustrating and unfair at the Flugelheim Museum. Pits are strangely all over the place here, with you hopping to moving platforms or grappling up narrow shafts, often as enemies shoot at you or chandeliers drop from above. The Axis Chemicals stage isn’t much better, featuring collapsible pipes, toxic sludge, conveyor belts, and narrow spaces that make manoeuvring Batman’s bulky ass even more aggravating. Being able to crouch-walk or giving Batman a slide or even the wall jump ability from the 8-bit Nintendo game would’ve really helped with this. While Batman respawns on solid ground if he dies, you must restart the stage from the beginning if you exhaust your lives and use a continue, which also resets your score. Respawning or continuing also starts you with the lowest health, meaning you can be easily killed very quickly, especially in the Batmobile stage as the car is surprisingly fragile! There are no combos or throws here and Batman’s gadgets are painfully limited. You’ll want to save your Batarangs and Batmobile missiles for tougher enemies and bosses, but the former are stopped by the environment and the latter are limited. Grappling is equally restrictive at times, primarily being used to get to higher ground to leap over crates and tackle enemies on balconies.

My Progression:
Batman recreates the movie with surprising fidelity, marginally impressing in some areas while also being painfully basic in others. In the first stage, for example, Gotham City stretches off to the horizon and the foreground is occasionally dotted by cars or filled with rain and lightning, but the same shops and buildings loop endlessly. Axis Chemicals is a bit more interesting but also appears cluttered and confusing. It’s never clear which pipes will burst or which jumps lead to bottomless pits, and it’s disappointing that the game doesn’t use digitised stills to show Jack Napier’s transformation into the Joker (even the Game Boy game did that!) The Flugelheim Museum may be a booby-trap filled madhouse, but it eventually resembles the art gallery seen in the film, only to reduce the Joker and Vicky Vale to static sprites as you fight the Joker’s roided-up henchman. I really enjoyed the Batmobile chase, which switches to an isometric perspective and has you racing past the city. Sadly, the Batmobile is as ungainly as Batman and can barely weave between the Joker’s goon cars. When faced with the more formidable tanks, the Batmobile is shredded in seconds unless you either stay back or get under their bombs. Despite how limited the combat is and the respawning enemies, Batman is quite easy to get to grips with…until you’re faced with the ridiculous platforming, then you burn through lives pretty quickly as troublesome enemies await on narrow platforms and pits exhaust your continues. This happened to me in Stage 4, right after clearing the Batmobile section, where a slew of mimes made traversing the power plant too taxing and I finally ran out of chances after being kicked down the pit or roasted alive one time too many.

Undone by the frustrating platforming, I never got to see the Batwing or final Joker fight.

Since there are no cheat codes for Batman and limited continues, I tapped out at the power plant, which was very disappointing as the next stage ends with a boss fight against that overly enthusiastic sword-wielding Joker goon from the movie and is followed by the Batwing section. This autoscrolling shoot-‘em-up mirrors the Batmobile stage but is far more visually impressive, especially in the way the Batwing tilts while flying. In this stage, you gun down the Joker’s attack helicopters and destroy his comical balloons, before battling a more formidable attack helicopter. As in the movie, the game culminates at the Gotham cathedral, which is full of the Joker’s trigger-happy thugs, spiked ceilings, and overhead walkways to grapple to. There are more bullets than ever here, though they’re nearly impossible to see when fired, and Batman must also contend with another sword-swinging brute, more fire-breathing mimes, bazooka-carrying baddies, and endure rematches against reskinned versions of the previous bosses! Surviving this onslaught leads to a gruelling spike-filled tower climb and a final confrontation with the Joker. Whereas Jack Napier simply stood there firing shots and relied on the nearby turret, bazooka goon, and acid pit to do his dirty work, the Joker fires flaming shots from his comically large hand cannon and, bizarrely, summons lightning blasts to fire across the ground. Ironically, it seems he’s incredibly easy to beat if you have enough Batarangs or jump in to land punches over and over, and the ending is simply a digitised rendition of the Joker’s demise with a splash of text and the credit roll.

I remember playing Batman on the Amiga as a kid, and the Game Boy version was one of the first games I owned for the handheld, and I even had this for the Mega Drive during my early twenties. I sold it off but got it back when I started collecting for the system, hoping for a simple little brawler that wouldn’t be too taxing. At first, that seems to be exactly what Batman offers. It’s ludicrously basic, even for an early Mega Drive title, translating only the bare minimum from the movie and next to nothing of the plot. The developers didn’t even use the in-game assets to recreate moments from the film save for a couple of instances, and Batman’s arsenal is as limited as his mobility and combat. This might’ve been tolerable if it wasn’t for the awful platforming sections. Batman either jumps too far with his somersault or falls painfully short with his dodgy basic jump, easily dropping down pits as a consequence only to drop down anyway when he lands due to knockback! The grapple is next to useless except to reach higher ground and the respawning enemies (particularly those aggravating sliding goons!) are a constant headache. The vehicle sections are fun ways to break up the awkward action stages, but the Batmobile wasn’t much easier to control than Batman and I can’t imagine the Batwing was much better. Batman is a game that’s handicapped by lumbering the Dark Knight with cliché videogame gimmicks like pits and platforms, meaning it’s not much fun fighting the bosses as they’re just bigger goons with cheap-ass attack patterns. But what do I know? I couldn’t beat the game and it’s apparently really easy! Maybe you beat it and found it quite enjoyable. Or maybe you prefer a different videogame adaptation of the movie, perhaps the arcade version? Maybe you can think of a better or worst Batman videogame to mention in the comics? And maybe you can donate to my Ko-Fi to help support the site.

Game Corner [Sonic Month]: Sonic 3D Blast / Flickies’ Island (Mega Drive)

Dr. K2 Comments

Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on June 23 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Thus, in keeping with tradition, I’m dedicating some time to celebrate SEGA’s supersonic mascot.

Released: 8 November 1996
Developer: Traveller’s Tales / Sonic Team
MobyGames Score: 6.9

Also Available For: GameCube, PC, Nintendo Wii (Virtual Console), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, SEGA Saturn, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X

Quick Facts:
After Sonic became a pop culture icon, SEGA quickly capitalised with spin-off titles. However, costly add-ons for the Mega Drive meant there were in a tough spot when their expensive, cult classic SEGA Saturn, launched in 1994/1995. SEGA struggled to translate Sonic to 3D, leading to the cancellation of the ambitious Sonic X-treme. To fill the void, SEGA ported Sonic 3D, a game intended to be Sonic’s 16-bit swansong, resulting in some much-needed improvements to the title. Impressed by their work with Disney videogames, SEGA approached Traveller’s Tales to develop the game, which was created in just eight months. Inspired by Donkey Kong Country (Rare, 1994), the developers used the tried-and-tested isometric perspective to simulate a 3D environment. Sonic 3D was surprisingly praised for its gameplay mechanics and ambitious visuals, though many criticised the game’s easy difficulty and clunky gameplay.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island (as I’ve always known it) advertises itself as Sonic’s first 3D romp but is actually an isometric action game that’s basically a remake of the classic SEGA arcade game Flicky (SEGA, 1984). While many of the traditional Sonic mechanics and tropes remain, the new perspective and focus on rescuing Flickies significantly changes the usual gameplay, slowing the action and putting more emphasis on exploration. As ever, players collect Golden Rings to stay alive; 100 grant an extra life and players get a score bonus at the end of each level (or “Act”). There are no underwater sections in Sonic 3D so there’s no danger of drowning, and (thankfully!) no bottomless pits. Even insta-kill crushing hazards are few and far between, though players must avoid spikes, lava, and slippery ice. There are seven worlds (or “Zones”) to play through, each with three Acts (the third being a boss battle against Dr. Eggman), and no time limit (though, again, players get a time bonus upon competing an Act). From the main menu, players can tinker with the controls but they’re ridiculously simple: two buttons see you perform Sonic’s iconic spin jump to bop Badniks and hop to springs and platforms, while one sees you rev up and blast away with his Spin Dash. Both are quite irksome as Sonic 3D isn’t built for speed and Sonic slips and slides about even on stable ground, and the isometric perspective makes it tricky to judge the angle of your attack. Players can smash monitors to gain additional Rings, a near useless speed boost, an extra life, or a limited invincibility. There are also three shields to find that protect you from one hit: a regular blue shield, an extremely useful red shield that also makes you fireproof, and a gold shield that adds a super helpful homing attack to your jump to easily smash nearby Badniks. Players start with three lives and no continues, but can earn continues by collecting Sonic icons floating above springs; get ten and you get a continue.

Search all around for Flickies, using Zone gimmicks to rescue and safeguard the elusive birds.

Sonic uses boost pads, loops, springs, and special fans to twirl around like a tornado and smash pillars in Rusty Ruin Zone to reach other areas. You must also keep an eye out for cracked walls as these can be Spin Dashed into to access hidden areas. Sometimes, cannons blast you across stages; other times, pipes and teleports blast you across the surprisingly large maps. You’ll need all these gimmicks, and more, to hunt down the Badniks roaming the first and second Acts of each Zone. Unlike in other Sonic games, where bashing Badniks is somewhat optional, it’s mandatory in Sonic 3D as you must collect the Flickies each robot releases. Each Act has up to three areas in it, each with five Badniks (and therefore five Flickies) to find and bring to a Dimension Ring. Flickies trail behind you, giving you extra reach to snag Sonic icons, and are protected by your shields and invincibility, but you lose them if your trail is hit. You must then recollect the Flickies you’ve lost, which can be tricky as each has a different personality. The traditional blue Flickies actively fly towards Sonic or circle around; the pink ones are the same but fly in bigger circles; red Flickies don’t try to find Sonic and are hard to snag due to their large jumps; and green Flickies wander around at random, sometimes avoiding Sonic! Acts can be quite large and have many branching paths or sections, meaning you must often do multiple laps to find all the Badniks and Flickies, though the heads-up display helpfully keeps track of how many you’ve found. When you reach Panic Puppet Zone, the Badniks are empty so you must liberate Flickies from capsules, and every time you bring them to a Dimension Ring, you get a point bonus and activate a transport or path to another section. This mechanic is quite fun, on paper, and adds extra incentive to smash Badniks, but it can get frustrating running in circles looking for Badniks or if your Flickies get separated near dangerous sections. Sonic’s so slippery and sluggish that it makes precise movements difficult, to say nothing of jumps, attacks, and retrieving Flickies being compounded by the isometric angle.

The game’s simple difficulty is compounded by the awkward camera and clunky controls.

This is even more annoying in the many sections where players must jump, spring, or float to shifting or temporary platforms on angled slopes. It’s extremely difficult to angle Sonic correctly, causing you to constantly slip and have to retry, something even more aggravating when you must take a long route back around. Spikes jut from the floor or buzz along the walls, destructible stones reveal lava tiles surrounding shortcut tubes, the floor is often electrified or defending by land mines, and flames burst from the walls or up from lava. Sonic can hop to ballons (if you can angle him right) to avoid many hazards, or float about using floor fans, and high-speed tubes and teleports or hidden passageways will provide shortcuts. Often, areas are defended by turrets that fire laser bolts or rapid-fire projectiles. Some springs are buried beneath destructible snow drifts in Diamond Dust Zone, and you’ll bounce around like a pinball by Spring Stadium Zone’s bumpers and spring tiles. Diamond Dust Zone also features rushing water you must frantically jump across to avoid being pushed into icicles. Spear-like spikes jut from the floor, you’ll sometimes use wall springs or awkward jumps to cross gaps or hop to moving or temporary platforms (thankfully not that often, given the janky perspective), and you’ll be frantically seeking out a red shield in Volcano Valley Zone to safely cross lava and survive the many flaming hazards. Even when floor tiles open, you won’t fall to your death, at least, and the game is mostly pretty easy. It can be aggravating running around looking for Badniks and Flickies, especially in the more confusing Zones like Gene Gadget Zone, and hazards increase as you reach the endgame, but there are no cheap deaths in Sonic 3D. Still, the pacing can be very draining since the areas are so big, and the Badniks only pose a significant threat in Panic Puppet Zone, where you can largely ignore them.

Presentation:
I remember getting Sonic 3D for Christmas as a kid. Back then, I was super excited for it and really enjoyed the new graphical approach, especially as the game ambitiously sticks pre-rendered videos and imaging onto a Mega Drive cart. Unfortunately, Sonic 3D hasn’t aged very gracefully and Donkey Kong Country was never at risk of being surpassed by it. The game makes a bad impression right away, replacing the iconic “SE-GAA!” fanfare with a desperate scream, before treating players to one of the blurriest and most pixelated pre-rendered openings of the era. The pre-rendered stills used in cutscenes are much more effective, and Sonic 3D is one of the few classic Sonic titles to use story text and even dialogue for Sonic in its cutscenes. Players are then dropped into an isometric landscape that is a real mixed bag. On one hand, the environments are somewhat impressive and fun to look at, particularly the outer edges, but the checkerboard floor tiles are ridiculously basic and really distract from the pre-rendered environments. In this regard, the Saturn fares much better, bringing environments to life with much more detail. Sonic looks pretty good and still taps his foot impatiently when left idle, but his sprite is very blurred and indistinct, and he hobbles about like he’s on rollerskates most of the time. Miles “Tails” Prower and Knuckles the Echidna appear as cameos, performing their own idles, which is a nice touch (though Knuckles’s socks are the wrong colour…) and I liked that Dr. Eggman’s crafts show battle damage as you land hits and that the Flickies had distinct personalities. While Sonic 3D recycles some sound effects from Sonic & Knuckles (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994), which is a bit cheap, they’re some of the best, bombastic sound effects in the classic games and the excellent soundtrack, courtesy of Jun Senoue, more than makes up for it. The boss themes and the likes of Green Grove Zone and Panic Puppet Zone, especially, really stood out for me and I’m glad some of the game’s music was repurposed for Sonic Adventure (Sonic Team, 1998) as Sonic 3D has some of the best tunes in the classic games.

As colourful and ambitious as Sonic 3D is, the Saturn version is visually superior.

It’s thus a shame that the Zones are so painfully lacklustre. The action begins in Green Grove Zone, which is essentially just Green Hill Zone in a pseudo-3D style. There are loops, ponds, grassy verges, and hills and dips all around this simplistic sandbox that allows players to get to grips with Sonic 3D’s clunky controls and gameplay mechanics. Things improve with Rusty Ruins Zone, where you explore the ruins of an ancient civilisation, smashing pillars and spotting vases and suits of armour in the moss-encrusted brickwork. This Zone uses a unique mechanic where players must carefully manoeuvre Sonic as he spins like a top, trying not to bounce off walls and into the spinning maces, to break open new areas. Spring Stadium Zone is an isometric rendition of the classic pinball trope, with players being bounced around by bumpers and spring tiles. Balloons help get you to higher ground, spiral tubes blast you around, and there’s far more emphasis on vertical traversal. Diamond Dust Zone is a frozen landscape of snow, freezing cannons, slippery slopes, and rushing water. Sonic can be frozen into an ice cube, must avoid exploding snowmen, and will skid along uncontrollably on ice. Volcano Valley Zone is kind of an isometric interpretation of Lava Reef Zone, featuring painful lava all over, flame bursts, hidden tubes, and elevators you must activate with your Spin Dash. Gene Gadget Zone is one of Dr. Eggman’s mechanical facilities, featuring a mess of tubes and wires, propellers to float you across gaps, energy barriers to dispel with Flickies, and teleporters to disorientate you. Panic Puppet Zone is the heart of Dr. Eggman’s operation, as indicated by his gigantic statue which you must work your way into. Flickies are held in capsules here, conveyor belts must be reversed so you can progress, and there are many annoying slopes with moving platforms on them. Things end up very basic in the finale, which is largely a black void filled with sparkling tiles, and even the Special Stages are disappointingly simple as you just run along a blurring path, the Rings vanishing with no special effect, compared to the Saturn version’s polygon halfpipe challenges.

Enemies and Bosses:
Naturally, Dr. Eggman’s encased the local Flickies into robotic Badniks, the most useless and ineffectual to date! Their primary threat comes from the game’s isometric angle, which makes targeting enemies difficult unless you have the gold shield, as Badniks don’t even fire projectiles until late in the game! Anyway, we’ve got a pretty mediocre affair here, with some recognisable faces tossed in for good measure. The Snake, for example, resembles a Caterkiller; the Bug is not unlike a Motobug; and the Octopus turret is a bit like an Octus. While the likes of Hunter, Shell, and Scorpy have spiked appendages, these are little threat unless you’re at the wrong angle. Mouses are quite fast and tend to wander near hazardous floor tiles, Spiders spit projectiles (but also don’t contain Flickies), and the robotic puffer fish inflate themselves to skewer you, forcing you to properly time your spin attack. Some are less than useless, however, like a Charmy Bee lookalike, defenceless robotic penguins, crocodiles, and dragonflies, and pogo-riding rabbits. Honestly, it’s the various turrets, floor tiles, spikes, and wall defences that give you the hardest time as these cannot be defeated. Most Badniks just wander in a circle or stand still, making them easy targets, but it can be tricky retrieving their Flickies. Naturally, every third Act features a battle against Dr. Eggman. These take place in an enclosed arena with a handful of Rings, but can also contain environmental hazards, like spikes and lava, and the final fights also have multiple phases. Again, the biggest challenge here is getting the angle of your attack right as you can often only attack when Dr. Eggman descends in his craft. Jump too soon and you’re liable to take a hit; jump too late and you might just bounce off without dealing damage.

Angle your jumps just right to smash Dr. Eggman’s pre-rendered crafts.

In the first fight, Dr. Eggman circles the arena and drops a spiked ball that bounces around; you can ram him when he descends to retrieve it. In the second, he hides inside an armoured suit and tries to crush you with stone paws. You must hop to these to ram his cockpit while avoiding pellets from his belly cannon. Spring Stadium Zone sees Dr. Eggman frantically slap his craft’s spiked arms to the floor, making him very difficult to hit due to the deceptive angle. Although he drops exploding snowmen and his craft is protected by freezing appendages in Diamond Dust Zone, this boss is far easier as you’ll destroy his defences with each hit. Volcano Valley Zone’s boss is a bit trickier, despite Dr. Eggman being stationary, due to the travelling flames, the flames bursting from the pipes, and the lava. However, you can stand in one spot and spam your spin attack as long as you keep collecting a Ring. Gene Gadget Zone’s boss is a bit like Quartz Quadrant’s as you’re on a treadmill and must keep running to avoid the wall spikes, while also dodging projectiles, though you still ram his craft to win. Panic Puppet Zone concludes in a three-stage battle, with Dr. Eggman fleeing to lower levels and utilising different attacks each time. You must lure his arms to slam the floor in the first phase, dodge his flames in the second, and frantically avoid the ricocheting bullets in the third, targeting the shoulders of his craft each time and disabling each appendage in turn. If you collect all seven Chaos Emeralds, you’re taken to “The Final Fight”, where Dr. Eggman’s battlecraft uses five different attacks across a looping stage and can only be hit once per section, when it briefly moves forwards. First, you must avoid the lasers shot by his fingers; then, you must dodge dancing flames; then, avoid his slamming spiked hands; he rains missiles in the fourth section, and fires ricocheting projectiles in the fifth. As long as a you hit him each time, you can beat this in two loops, but don’t linger when moving to each section as you’ll lose a life!

Additional Features:
There are loads of Sonic icons to find in Sonic 3D, with many requiring all five Flickies to reach. Ten grant a continue, which aren’t really necessary, but it gives you something else to do as you’re playing. Many areas sport hidden paths, tunnels, islands, or sections containing goodies like extra lives or shields, and you’ll encounter Tails and Knuckles in almost every Act. If you give them 50 Rings, you’ll warp to a Special Stage to challenge for one of the seven Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic 3D offers perhaps the easiest Special Stage in the entire series! You must run across a winding bridge, avoiding mines and collect 50, 100, then 150 Rings to get a Chaos Emerald, which is ridiculously easy to do (though finding Tails and Knuckles can be difficult). Though you won’t unlock Super Sonic, the seven Chaos Emeralds allow you to play “The Final Fight” and see the game’s true ending. If you fiddle with the Mega Drive cartridge, you can legitimately to unlock a level select feature (though a traditional push button code also exists on both this and the Saturn version). When playing on the SEGA Mega Drive Classics (SEGA/D3T, 2018), you can use the Right and Left triggers to rewind and fast forward the game, create and load save states, apply filters and borders, and earn a couple of Achievements.

Official and unofficial re-releases offer additional features alongside the standard true final boss.

If you’re lucky enough to own a SEGA Saturn, Sonic 3D has some additional features. Obviously, this version benefits from improved visuals, particularly in the appearance of the Zones, including textured floors and weather effects. The Special Stages are also completely different, featuring new cutscenes and a polygonal recreation of the iconic halfpipe stages. This version also features an improved and remixed soundtrack, clearer and longer pre-rendered cutscenes, and limits you to collecting one Chaos Emerald per act. However, the most definitive way to play Sonic 3D must be the Director’s Cut ROM hack by Jon Burton. This unofficially official re-release adds a world map so you can replay any Zone or Act, a time attack mode, a level editor, and a password feature to save your progress. Collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds also unlocks Super Sonic when you collect 50 Rings, giving you the benefits of all the game’s power-ups, as well as a score attack mode after attaining 100% completion. Sonic is made faster, the camera is vastly improved, and Sonic only loses one Flicky at a time when hit. As in the Saturn version, you can only get one Chaos Emerald per Zone, Sonic icons are now simply collectibles rather than gifting continues, scrapped Badniks have been programmed back in, and the HUD now flashes to alert you when you’ve lost Flickies. While the game still has its flaws, this is easily the best and most enjoyable way to play Sonic 3D due to the many gameplay and graphical improvements and it really goes to show the potential the game had, and how little effort SEGA often puts into its ports and remasters of the classic titles.

Final Thoughts:
I have a lot of nostalgia for Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island. My Sonic fandom was at its peak when I first got it and I was consuming Sonic any way I could, so naturally I had to enjoy his newest and most ambitious release yet. And, yet, I remember being disappointed by it even back then. Sure, it uses “3D graphics”, but it limits you to playing as Sonic, the usual fast-paced, action-packed gameplay is gone, and the new mechanics can be laborious at times. The visuals are a mixed bag for me, with some aspects of the Zones being quite impressive and others being very bland. The size of the areas is impressive, until you realise how much backtracking and exploring you have to do, which just drags the game out as you’re shunted about the different areas. Sonic looks okay as a pre-rendered sprite but is so slippery and ungainly that he loses his trademark speed and it’s far too easy to take damage or miss your target due to the annoying angle. I’ve always disliked isometric games for this very reason and, while Sonic 3D isn’t too aggravating with this perspective, some platforming challenges are infuriating because you can’t properly see what you’re doing or where you’re going. I didn’t mind the scavenger hunt for the Flickies, and it was a fun, unique way to reinterpret Flicky (SEGA, 1984) and change up the gameplay, but it gets quite tedious after a while and Sonic 3D doesn’t offer anything to break up the monotony. I like that the game, and its Special Stages, are easy, but you can’t save your progress, so you have to do it all over every time, and it’s barely worth it to get 100% completion. Just about the only think worth mentioning about this disappointing title is the amazingly catchy soundtrack and the incredible work Jon Burton did improving its many flaws years after its release. It’s not a Sonic title I often revisit, and I wish SEGA would port the Saturn version, but Sonic 3D is okay if you haven’t played it before or in a while, just perhaps trying a little too hard to do something different and therefore losing what makes Sonic special in the process.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island? Which version did you grew up with, which do you think is superior, and have you ever played the Director’s Cut ROM hack? What did you think to the Flicky rescuing gimmick and isometric perspective? Were you also a fan of the soundtrack? Did you ever collect the seven Chaos Emeralds and see the true ending? Which Sonic spin-off is your favourite and how are you celebrating SEGA’s mascot this month? Let me know your thoughts on Sonic 3D in the comments, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other Sonic content.

Mini Game Corner [Sci-Fanuary]: Strider (Mega Drive)

Dr. K1 Comment

January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history: “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 to coincide with the birth of world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and 12 January being when Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000 was created. Accordingly, I dedicate January to celebrating sci-fi in all its forms.

Released: 29 September 1990
Developer: Capcom
MobyGames Score: 7.6

Also Available For: Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Master System, MS-DOS, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii (Virtual Console), PC, PC Engine.TurboGrafx-16, PlayStation, SEGA Mega Drive Mini, ZX Spectrum

Quick Facts:
Back when arcade machines were at their peak, Capcom were one of the premier names thanks, in no small part, to Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991). With Capcom’s popular and varied efforts cementing their legacy, they teamed with manga studio Moto Kikaku on the arcade Strider, its solid (if forgotten) NES port, and a manga adaptation. Director Kouichi “Isuke” Yotsui capitalised on the ninja fad of the era with Strider Hiryu, best known for his acrobatics and climbing abilities. This Mega Drive port was praised for sticking closely to its arcade roots, though Strider was largely relegated to cameo appearances even after a warmly received 2014 reboot.

The Review:
Essentially a remake and reimagining of the original arcade game, its ports, and its sequels, Strider is a 2D arcade-style hack-and-slash title. Players guide top assassin Strider Hiryu through five stages (set in the far-flung future of 2048) to assassinate Grandmaster Meio, who has established a dictatorial rule with his robots and cyborgs. Though he lacks any idle poses or victory animations, Strider is a visually impressive character, sporting a purple/blue/silver attire, a shock of red hair, and somersaulting about with his floaty jumps. Gameplay options are a simple as you could want, with Strider performing his aforementioned jump with either A or C and slashing enemies with his sword with B. You can crouch and attack, attack in mid-air, and press A and C or C and B together to performing a leaping attack. Strider clings to walls and ceilings with a pair of hooks to clamber up surfaces and shimmy over enemies. Pressing down and either A or C sees Strider slide under hazards, projectiles, and some enemies (though I always took damage if I hit an enemy) and you can extend the reach and power of your sword attacks with certain pick-ups. Others grant you an extra life or make you temporarily invincible (both of which you’ll desperately need!), restore some or all of your health or extend your health bar, or award points. You earn extra lives with a high score and you’ll get some temporary help from robot allies if you’re lucky. The Dipodal Saucer may weaken your energy bar, but it attacks with electrical blasts when you slash your sword to attack other enemies, the Terapodal Robo-panther fights alongside you on the ground, and the Hawk Robot circles above striking nearby enemies. You often grab these items by destroying robot drones and they nearly always land in precarious positions, meaning you’re likely to injure yourself grabbing them!

Run, jump, slash, and climb through and past enemies and obstacles alike.

Strider offers three difficulty settings and allows players to set the number of lives they start with. Each stage contains a few different areas to battle through, with the game being surprisingly generous with its checkpoints, and betrays its arcade roots by pitting you against a timer. This refills when you defeat mini bosses, but it can be quite tight to reach each checkpoint with the many hazards and projectiles in each screen. Strider may be nimble but he’s a very big, often slow target and it’s extremely easy to be hit in mid-jump or when sliding under projectiles. It doesn’t help that the enemies flood the screen, constantly respawning and swarming you, or that this slows the action with sprite flickering, screen tearing, and stuttering as the game loads each area. While fun to control on the ground and often tasked with outrunning explosions and other hazards, leaping across chasms or hopping to moving platforms, Strider is very finnicky when affixed to walls and ceilings. His controls go a bit wonky, he hangs there as an obvious target, and it’s very easy to simply slip or be knocked down one of the game’s many bottomless pits. Some stages feature a gravity gimmick, forcing you to battle on the ceiling and turning the sky into a hazard. Others have you hopping to flying platforms and hanging beneath them to avoid bombs dropped by the Ballrog battleship. Drill-like spikes, piranha-infested waters, unreliable springy platforms, explosive munitions, spiked walls, and hidden boosters that send you flying into the abyss are commonplace, so you must constantly be vigilant. While each stage is quite large and varied, they’re also paradoxically short and there are no bonus games to mix up the action, such as a sidescrolling shooter where you get to control Strider’s awesome, high-tech glider. Instead, you must settle for some bonus points at the end of the stage.

If there’s one thing Strider has going for it, it’s some bizarre and challenging bosses.

Although Strider often struggles with all the action and many enemies sport basic attack animations, the game throws loads of enemies in your path and they’re all annoying! From swarms of seemingly never-ending drones to cybernetic soldiers carrying pulse rifles, to spider-like robots and chicken-like mech walkers, the game’s enemies are relentless, constantly respawning and filling the screen with projectiles. You’ll also encounter many mini bosses and peculiar large mechanical guardians, with many littering the screen with flames or projectiles upon defeat. Stage 1 pits you against a theatrical wrestler who blocks your sword and judo tosses you overhead, a security robot traps you in an enclosed space and fires lasers that ricochet off every surface. A gaggle of onlookers turns out to be a large, sickle-wielding robot centipede whose back you must jump and cling to to pummel its head! Stage 2 has you battle a giant (but limited) mechanical ape (who bursts into hazardous flames upon defeat), desperately landing hits as he fires homing missiles, darts offscreen, and take out three kung-fu ladies to gain control of the Ballrog. While on the battleship, you’re sent flying around an antigravity chamber attacking the floating central control sphere, which is protected by smaller spheres and often sees you take damage without even realising it. A titanic mechanical dinosaur awaits in the jungle, which taxes the Mega Drive hardware and sees you using the high ground to attack its head and avoid its spiral flame shot and extendable claws. Most bosses return for a gauntlet in the final stage, with you battle the floating sphere, security robot, the mechanical ape (alongside constantly respawning but largely harmless Tyrannosaurs rexes), and the robot dinosaur (this time forced to time your jumps since there’s no platform). After besting the flying gunner again and being carried across a void by the robot centipede (and then destroying it again), you finally confront the grandmaster. This cloaked nuisance floats around an antenna, with a bottomless pit below and various projectiles to dodge. Luckily, you can grab some health here and there’s a chance you can stun-lock the grandmaster to make short work of him, but it’s pretty challenging since Strider’s such a huge target.

While visually impressive, Strider is handicapped by staying too close to its arcade origins.

While Strider initially impresses, with Strider slicing apart the title screen background, there is no pre-game story cutscene or context to be found. Interludes pop up between stages, featuring the bad guys mocking you and praising Grandmaster Meio, but the game’s surprisingly light on story considering how rich its visuals are. Indeed, while the music didn’t exactly wow me and many backgrounds were disappointingly sparse, resembling the plain voids often seen in Master System titles, there’s a fair bit happening in every stage. You start off in the vaguely-Russian city of Kazufa, battling past the twinkling city lights, searchlights, and towering, Byzantine-esque buildings which hide futuristic weapons factories. There are always platforms to hop to, cling to, or pull yourself up m, with many being slanted and sporting hordes of mechanical enemies. Turrets line the walls and ceilings, drones hover from above, and giant gears turn platforms as you progress. Stage 2 places you in the frigid Siberian mountains, where wolves and an avalanche force you into a robot factory, where large dynamos flash intermittently to turn everything black and fill the screen with lightning bolts. Upon scaling the mountain, Strider finds himself on the heavily armed, steampunk-esque Ballrog battleship, whose outer hull is defending but turrets and a massive, tank-like cannon that sends you flying it you don’t quickly destroy it. Strider must smash his way inside, running and then frantically wall jumping to avoid being crushed, before making his way to the control cockpit. Stage 4 takes a bizarre detour into the Amazon jungle, where Tarzan-like natives toss boomerang-like projectiles, swarm from bendy branches, and friggin’ dinosaurs stomp past! You can hop on the backs of Brachiosaurus to fend off flocks of Pterodactyls and avoid being torn apart in the dangerous waters below. As if that fever dream wasn’t surreal enough, the game ends with you storming the grandmaster’s main base on “The Third Moon”, a space station teeming with deadly hazards, defences, and sending you reeling with its gravity gimmick. You’ll hop to giant satellite dishes, desperately cling to slanted platforms, be jostled about in another antigravity chamber, and end up clambering up an antenna to face the big bad himself. The game’s ending is barely worth it, with Strider looking upon the destruction he’s caused and flying off victorious past an enemy roll call as the credits play, with the game offering no high score table for your efforts.

Final Thoughts:
I was really excited to get my hands on Strider, a very affordable and often visually impressive early title for the Mega Drive, primarily because of how cool the title character looks somersaulting about and slashing foes with his giant sword. Unfortunately, the game sticks a little too close to its arcade roots, throwing a timer, hordes of nigh-endless enemies, and a slew of unfair pitfalls and hazards at you. With limited lives and no continues, you’re probably better off taking advantage of some of the push button codes or even modern ports of the game, which include rewinds and save states. Still, I was impressed by Strider in a lot of ways. Strider looks great, the foregrounds, especially, are incredibly detailed and varied, and I enjoyed the cyberpunk aesthetic that permeates every area (except for that random jaunt into a prehistoric jungle…I don’t know what that was about!) Unfortunately, the game might be a little too ambitious as the Mega Drive struggles to render everything at an acceptable speed and consistency, slowing the action and assaulting you with flickering and stuttering. I loved the giant and creative mini bosses, but they were painfully limited and artificially made more challenging by restricting you to tight corridors where Strider’s hit box works against him. power-ups were few and far between and it’s way too easy to take damage when slicing through enemies, severely limiting the action. This means you can neither blast through the game at high speed or afford to take your time, as the clock and the enemies are always against you. I enjoyed the stage variety, though, and gimmicks like the exploding floors and walls, but many of the backgrounds were far too basic for a 16-bit behemoth like the Mega Drive. Honestly, you’re probably better off emulating the arcade version as at least then I assume you can keep pumping in coins to push through tougher sections, but this home console port is a little too unforgiving to be as enjoyable as it could be.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you ever play the Mega Drive version of Strider? Were you impressed by how close it was to the arcade version? What did you think to Strider’s appearance and sword attack? Which of the game’s bosses did you find the most ludicrous? Did you manage to clear the game legitimately? What are some of your favourite sci-fi-orientated videogames? Whatever your experiences with Strider, feel free to share them below, check out my other sci-fi and retrogaming content, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest other games for me to review.

Game Corner [Sci-Fanuary]: Ristar (Nintendo Switch)

Dr. K1 Comment

January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history: “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 to coincide with the birth of world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and 12 January being when Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000 was created. Accordingly, I dedicate January to celebrating sci-fi in all its forms.

Released: 26 October 2021
Originally Released: January 1995
Developer: SEGA
MobyGames Score: 8.2

Also Available For: GameCube, Game Gear, Mega Drive, Mobile, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable (PSP), SEGA Mega Drive Mini 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X

Quick Facts:
Back in the 16-bit era, mascot platformers were king thanks, largely, to the phenomenal success of Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991). During Sonic’s long and complicated development, a character who could grab objects was pitched but discarded for being too complex. Years later, SEGA revisited the concept, producing a prototype titled Feel, which went through many redesigns and focused more on platforming than Sonic’s fast-paced action. Though the upcoming SEGA Saturn hurt Ristar’s sales, it was praised for its colourful visuals and unique gameplay mechanics and criticised for its lack of innovation and unfair comparisons to Sonic. Despite plans for a sequel and being included in multiple SEGA collections, Ristar has been all-but forgotten, though he did get an unofficial comic strip in Sonic the Comic Online and there have been calls for a revival over the years.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Rister is a surreal and vibrant 2D, sidescrolling platformer that, despite some visual similarities to Sonic, emphasises slow, deliberate platforming. Players control the titular Ristar, a cock-sure shooting star who travels across six worlds (called “Rounds”) to rescue his father from evil space pirate Kaiser Greedy. Each Round has three levels (two platforming challenges and a boss battle) and hidden Bonus Rounds. There’s no timer, no high score table (despite players earning points for defeating enemies and collecting gems), and players can only skip to later Rounds with special trophies that reveal passwords. There are two control schemes available so I mapped jump to the A and Y buttons and grab to the B button. Unlike some mascot platformers, Rister doesn’t defeat enemies by jumping on them or using weapons. Instead, he grabs them with his stretchy arms (extending his reach further the longer you hold the button) and rams into them with a headbutt. While this is effective, it can be quite slow and clunky. Players can grab in different directions, and even diagonally, but you may find you miss your target and take a hit. Ristar’s health is measured, fittingly enough, by stars. You can partially replenish it by smashing treasure chests and collecting either a gold or a blue star, which also gift 1-ups. Other treasure chests contain gems for points and Ristar occasionally grabs items, such as a miniature statue of himself or a gemstone, to bypass traps or activate teleporters. Sadly, the combat isn’t very deep; you just grab and smash everything. Sure, you can cling onto enemies to avoid being sucked into a black hole or to resist the flow of water, but you can slam or throw enemies, which severely hampers Ristar’s abilities. He can also swim and, though he’s a bit slippery underwater, he’ll never have to worry about drowning, so that’s a tick in the plus column.

Use Ristar’s awkward grab to bash enemies, explore environments, and tackle troublesome challenges.

Ristar’s grab can also snag ladders, poles, overhead rails, and various other handholds to allow you to climb, clamber across gaps, and even wall climb…to a degree. This mechanic is very finicky and seems contrary to what the game wants you to do, so it’s good that it isn’t mandatory until Round 6. This Round also sees Ristar use anti-gravity sneakers to clunkily swim/fly about, though this is so limited that it’s more of a handicap. Round 5 sees him slide and ski down a snowy mountain, though this is a glorified cutscene, and ends with him tossing snowballs he builds with his idle pose at the boss, while Round 3 sees him pulling levers to activate or turn off furnaces. Each Round features a special Star Handle that spins Ristar around at high speeds. This ricochets him about to bounce up even spike shafts and clear vast distances, though you must angle him just right to get a “height bonus” and clear the level. Other Star Handles transport you to Bonus Rounds, where you have a strict time limit to navigate a brutal obstacle course and retrieve special treasure. You won’t lose health or lives in these stages, but it can be difficult finding and clearing them. Ristar can also smash certain walls or objects to either break them or topple them, create new paths and bridges, and must bash heavy moving platforms in Round 6 that’ll crush him with their massive hit boxes if he’s not careful. This Round also features multiple teleporters that transport Ristar to hazardous corridors where he either battles a mini boss, tosses missiles at cannons, or rips open the background to uncover gems. Very rarely, players red star power-ups make you temporarily invincible. Ristar also smashes enemy-spawning targets in Round 2, which largely takes place underwater and sees players grabbing bubbles to get higher, dealing with rising and falling tides, and fighting to avoid being blasted into a spike wall by the water current. Sadly, there are no autoscrolling sections where Ristar blasts through space to take out enemies like in its visual counterpart, Rocket Knight Adventures (Konami, 1993) and, while you get score bonuses and congratulatory text after each Round, you don’t appear to earn extra lives or continues and, with no high score table, the points are essentially meaningless.

Sadly, Ristar‘s few unique mechanics and vast potential go underutilised.

Ristar is a very slow game. Ristar plods about very lazily and only gets his ass moving when flying at enemies or bouncing around off a Star Handle. The bulk of the game involves jumping across gaps, spike pits, lava, or other hazards, hopping to platforms and using Ristar’s grab to scramble about. Some jumps can be very tricky since Ristar’s reach will just miss, forcing you to take longer or more dangerous paths or to struggle with his wall climb. In Round 1, you grab floating fluff or passing birds to get higher, reach into tree holes for goodies, and smash trees to light up the woods, though spores stick to you and, like the starfish in Round 2, slow you and then explode if you don’t shake them off. Round 3 sees you tossing Ristar statues into glowing spots to avoid being hurt and trapped by cages, and outrunning rising flames to test your platforming and grabbing skills, and you’ll also hold B to raise a pulley and reach higher ground in the factory section. Round 4 has an odd carry mechanic where you grab metronomes and deliver them to singing birds to open new paths, utilising fans and pincers and conveyer belts and defeating enemies before the can steal your item. This Round features a musical theme, with you being bounced about by drums and timing your grabs just right to navigate narrow spiked chasms, as well as flying along on zip wires and hopping past dancing guitars. Round 5 introduces a slipping gimmick where you must time your jumps off icy platforms to keep from looping around, destroy rocks in the underwater cavern, and again deal with Round 2’s rushing water gimmick. Round 6 is, fittingly, the most dangerous, featuring spiked mincers, the slipping gimmick, poles and handholds that switch positions every time you grab them, and an overhead ray that zaps you to the background and forces you to defeat enemies and grab handholds while obscured. Things get quite challenging quite quickly; Ristar has a big hit box and spikes and other hazards are everywhere, meaning things can get frustrating in later Rounds.

Presentation:
Visually, Ristar is one of the most impressive Mega Drive games. The colourful graphics, deep and detailed backgrounds, and vibrant presentation remind me of Knuckles’ Chaotix (SEGA, 1995), as do the wacky Round intro cards, story text, and sprites. Though one of gaming’s oddest characters, Ristar is full of life, sporting a determined frown, gleefully smashing enemies, yelping when hit, and blasting about when launched. Ristar sports a few idle poses that change in Round 4 and Round 5 to show him bopping along to the beat and struggling with the heat, respectively. The game’s story is very simple (and changes depending on your region) but is beautifully brought to life by both text and large, partially animated sprite art. Despite the title screen drawing immediate comparisons to Sonic the Hedgehog, Ristar is like a mish-mash of Sonic, Rocket Knight, Gunstar Heroes (Treasure, 1993), and Disney’s various 16-bit titles with both its gameplay and visuals, though oddly promoting precision platforming rather than fast-paced combat, perhaps to better showcase the stunning, cartoonish visuals and bizarre environments. While there’s no ending cutscene, stills showcase the ending and key moments during the credits and Ristar busts out a fitting victory pose upon defeating each boss and clearing the game. It’s a shame that his enemies aren’t as interesting, with players mostly smashing boring coloured Orblets, Unfortunately, Ristar can’t duck or look up, has no other combat options, forms, or power-ups, and his hit box is quite large. This is compounded by the odd decision the delay between grabbing health-restoring stars and Ristar’s health being restored, meaning you can grab a star and die before it’s added to your tally! As visually impressive as the game is, though, I was disappointed by the less than memorable soundtrack that cheaply recycles sound effects from Sonic 3 & Knuckles (SEGA Technical Institute, 1993/1994) during the final boss battle.

Ristar excels in its colourful, cartoonish visuals, though not in its gameplay.

Though Ristar plays things safe regarding its level themes, each Round is a kaleidoscope of colours and visuals and often depicted as obstacle courses that test your jumping and grabbing, so combat is often secondary. Planet Flora is your typical, grass-themed intro stage, featuring a sprawling valley in the background, bushes you can pass through (and which enemies pop out of), vine-themed handholds, birds flocking by, and Venus fly trap platforms that snap your heels! You venture into the roots of the forest and through a dark wood, with some impressive lighting effects in the boss arena, before heading to the decidedly Atlantis-themed Planet Undertow. You explore (and destroy) ancient ruins and swim through a coral cave (with no fear of falling debris), trashing machines to stop the current. Planet Scorch features a flashing hexagonal floor, an active volcano in the background that rains explosives, and furnaces that you (and enemies) can toggle on. After bypassing the rising flames and outrunning the screen-filling fire wall, you venture into the sweltering furnace and hop across lava pits formed when Orblets activate special bombs. Planet Sonata starts with a fantastic retro sci-fi aesthetic, with Jetsons (1962 to 1963;1985 to 1987)-style futuristic buildings and flying cars, before transforming into a musical-themed stage, featuring flutes, drums, musical sheets, and even a theatre stage for the boss battle. Planet Freon opts for a snow theme, sporting a glowing aurora borealis in the background, sliding Ristar about, and dropping you into a crystal cavern full of waterfalls and frozen frog statues, Planet Automaton is a hazardous robot factory full of spikes, grinders, and teleporters, with robotic nasties being built or guarding each corridor. Finally, Castle Greedy is a surreal alien landscape full of bonkers alien tech where a little spy camera follows you about at the start and you confront the suitable theatrical Kaiser Greedy in his fantastical throne room. There’s a lot to look at in Ristar’s worlds and the colours certainly pop, but I felt a strange absence of gimmicks for each area as the developers relied more on traditional platforming rather than innovative mechanics, best seen when Ristar’s skiing section is relegated to a cutscene rather than being playable.

Enemies and Bosses:
There are a handful of oddball enemies to smash your starry head against in Ristar, with the most common being the various coloured Orblets. While many of these are harmless unless you bump into them, floating about and generally acting as a nuisance or a handhold, others hang from branches in cocoons, endlessly spawn from metallic pots, briefly electrify themselves, or are surrounded by spikes or flames. Each Round also features unique enemies; though most simply hop or jump about, like Planet Flora’s weird rabbits and lizards, the chunky birds swoop at you and perform a torpedo attack. Planet Undertow is patrolled by fish, frogs, electric eels, and seahorse that’ll endlessly attack until you destroy the spawn point. Large, squid-like crustaceans also appear, taking a few hits to put down, and the first projectile-firing enemies appear in the form of that large enemy and the aggressive lobsters that pop up. Planet Scorch features a nasty vulture who grabs you and a slug-like enemy that emits flame bursts, while Planet Sonata is populated by robotic enemies themed around birds and musical instruments. There are purple pipes that must be destroyed to stop them spitting projectiles, dancing robot birds that toss minions, and large robotic woodpeckers that peck you with their beaks. Planet Freon sees spiked fish in the waters, strange, bulbous aliens floating about in water rings, and mechanical baddies that drop icicles. Planet Automaton sees these weird, Slinky-like robots on the walls that spit projectiles and duplicate when hit, UFO-like robots that float by and fire a laser spread, and weird robot poles with two large, spiked fists, alongside missile-firing cannons and the biggest assortment of coloured Orblets yet! Sometimes, you’ll battle a mini boss or a wave of enemies to finish the first level of a Round, such as Planet Flora’s giant snake that popes from holes in the background and the literal waves of Orblets that rain down in Round 2. Planet Sonata sees you battling three robot woodpeckers controlled by a bird maestro, Planet Freon pits you in a snowball fight against a strange, rotund little alien, and Planet Automaton forces you to run a gauntlet of robotic bosses, smashing a bouncy trashcan-like mech and forcing a large battle robot back against the wall with precision hits.

Though innovative and challenging, the bosses aren’t enough to salvage the game.

Naturally, each Round ends in a boss battle, with bosses changing colour as you deal damage and often spawning Orblets as projectiles or distractions. The mischievous imp Rhio possesses Planet Flora’s elder and compels him to float around conjuring snowflake-like projectiles. You must dodge these and smack him to knock Rhio loose and attack, watching for the miniature tornados he conjures. The aggressive hammerhead shark Ohsat darts in from either side of the screen in Round 2, causing rocks to fall and eventually left floundering when each hit you land drains the arena’s water. The mole-like Adahan attacks in Planet Scorch’s volcanic depths, popping from the ground claws first and kicking up dirt. After a few hits, the fight switches to a freefall section where you must hit him as he bounces off the walls, which can be tricky due to Ristar’s janky grab mechanics. Awaueck rains musical notes that are hard to dodge and is only vulnerable when you knock him from his perch. The strange ice monster Itamor tosses bouncing balls and emits a freezing breath, but the mini boss appears to help you by providing hot soup to toss into Itamor’s maw and melt him from the inside out. The battle robot Uranim tosses junk from offscreen before battling you in an enclosed arena. You must smack him a few times to knock him over and then lure the pincer-like tentacle to hit him to cause damage, watching for his jump and ricocheting projectiles. Kaiser Greedy’s right-hand, Ionis, pilots Eyebar -555, a mechanical snake in Round 6 that boasts a boomerang projectile, machine gun and blaster arm, and ricochet bolts. Dodge all this and hit his shield a few times to dislodge Ionis and deal some real damage. Kaiser Greedy then trumps this by floating and teleporting around his throne room, tossing Orblets, firing a lightning bolt, and conjuring an insta-kill black hole! You must anticipate where he’ll be to grab and attack in a very small window, and hold onto any Orblets to avoid a sudden end, in this ridiculously tough finale.

Additional Features:
Ristar offers two difficulty settings, “Normal” and “Hard”, with “Hard” mode reducing your total health to just two stars and “Normal” gifting you four. Beyond that, there isn’t much else on offer here unless you’re playing the Japanese version, which features a different story and some passwords that enable a stage select, time attack, invincibility, and other effects. If you play the Game Gear version, you’ll have a slightly different experience, both graphically and in terms of the bosses and mechanics, while this version allows you to rewind the action and create save states. If you’re playing the version included in the SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (Backbone Entertainment, 2009), you’ll get an Achievement if you collect five yellow stars, though there are oddly no Achievement specific to Ristar in the SEGA Mega Drive Classics (SEGA/D3T, 2018) collection.

Final Thoughts:
I’ve been enamoured by Ristar for years. As a kid, I was always intrigued by screenshots in gaming magazines and I always wanted to own it based on my love of 2D mascot platformers but never saw a copy in the wild and a decent copy can be quite pricey. Thanks to modern re-releases, Ristar is more accessible than ever…but, sadly, that doesn’t mean it’s really worth your time. The game looks absolutely gorgeous and goes a long way to show what the Mega Drive was capable of with cartoonish, vibrant 2D sprites. Ristar looks fantastic and his worlds are unique and colourful, though sadly lacks memorable gimmicks as the developers prioritised platforming and Ristar’s unique grab mechanic. This is an interesting gimmick, but one that doesn’t live up to its potential. I just wanted Ristar to do more, perhaps throw or slam enemies or something a bit more dynamic than just grabbing handholds and bashing enemies. The gimmick is sadly underutilised and Ristar lacks the speed and action to complete with, much less usurp, Sonic, with Ristar being slow, far too big a target, and far more limited compared to his peers. Ristar is also incredibly challenging, with numerous spikes and hazards sapping your health and continues and so much trial and error that I’ve no idea how people beat it without rewinds and save states. It’s only a short game, but later Rounds are almost unforgiving with their obstacles and tough mini bosses, and it’s not like the ending is worth your time. The bosses were a highlight, for sure, being big and well animated and making you use Ristar’s grab in different ways. It’s just a shame this innovation didn’t translate to the core gameplay to let Ristar chain together grabs, swings, and attacks, which we’d see SEGA arguably do better in Sonic Unleashed (Sonic Team, 2008). In the end, while Ristar impresses with its visuals and beautiful stages, there’s just not enough meat on the bones for it to stand alongside other mascot platformers. I’m glad I finally saw it through, but I’d much rather playthrough Rocket Knight Adventures or Sonic 3 & Knuckles than this one, which is a shame as it had so much potential.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Do you think I’m being too hard on Ristar? How do you think it compares to other action platformers? What did you think to the grab mechanic and Ristar’s visuals? Did you also struggle with the late game difficulty curve? Which of the bosses was your favourite and would you like to see Ristar make a comeback? What are some of your favourite sci-fi-orientated videogames? Feel free to share any memories you have of Ristar in the comments, support me on Ko-Fi, and then check out my other sci-fi content.

Game Corner: Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Nintendo Switch)

Dr. K2 Comments

Released: 14 March 2018
Originally Released: 23 July 1993
Developer: SEGA
Also Available For: Mega Drive, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable (PSP), Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X

The Background:
Ninjas were a big deal back in the day, whether they were mutated turtles, rainbow-coloured fighters, or mysterious assassins. Ninjas and videogames went hand in hand, resulting in titles so challenging that they defined a generation of players. Eager to have a piece of that pie, SEGA saw notable success with Shinobi (SEGA, 1987), a difficult but enjoyable arcade title later refined for home consoles. Director Noriyoshi Ohba aimed to make the sequel a technical showcase for the then-new Mega Drive hardware, one purpose-built for home consoles and which became notorious for including unlicensed appearances by pop culture icons. A widely praised release, The Revenge of Shinobi (SEGA, 1989) is now regarded as a classic of its generation and inspired not just a semi-recurring comic strip in the United Kingdom, but also a third game. Originally scheduled for release in 1992, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master was vastly overhauled when the developers were dissatisfied with the original version, leading to a lot of content being cut and replaced with new mechanics. Though largely seen as being much easier than its predecessor, Shinobi III impressed with its refined gameplay mechanics and visual presentation, with many seeing it as the best of the classic Shinobi titles. This positive reception (and the lack of copyright issues compared to its predecessor) no doubt contributed to Shinobi III having a lucrative lifespan beyond the Mega Drive as the game was included in numerous SEGA collections, converted to 3D, and added to the Nintendo Switch’s online service in 2018, which eased the pain of how expensive an original copy can be.

The Plot:
When Neo Zeed returns under the command of the mysterious Shadow Master, the legendary Shinobi, Joe Musashi, fights to end their sinister bio- and cybernetic research.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master is the last of the Shinobi titles released for the Mega Drive and, like its predecessor, is an action/platformer with a strong emphasis on projectile-based combat. Like in the last game, players take Joe Musashi through multiple levels (or “Rounds”), each with at least three stages, though this time there are only seven Rounds. As before, there are four difficulty settings to choose from, with the harder settings dramatically reducing your total life count, and players can continue their game a handful of times if they exhaust all their lives. Unlike in The Revenge of Shinobi, however, Shinobi III’s control scheme is locked to a preset that maps your jump to A, tosses shuriken with B, and activates your “ninjitsu” magic with Y. You can still set how many shuriken you start with, however, and you can still pull off a somersault by pressing A at the height of your jump. Press B when somersaulting to unleash a shuriken spread to take out multiple enemies or press down on the directional pad to pull off a flying kick. As before, Musashi can assume a “defensive pose” to deflect incoming projectiles, but this is now done manually by holding B and you can even do it while crouching and crouch-walking. Shinobi can also dash by quickly tapping left and right, dramatically speeding up the action, wall jump by…jumping off walls…and cross gaps and hazards or navigate stages while clinging to ceilings, pipes, and such by holding B. Various goodies are found by smashing crates, ranging from health-restoring hearts, rare extra lives and ninjitsu replenishments, to additional shuriken and the ever-annoying time bomb. Musashi is far faster and more versatile this time around, moving at a swifter pace and boasting a few additional tricks to make combat and gameplay smoother. It’s still tricky pulling off his somersault and the wall jump can be finicky, but I found Shinobi III far more forgiving than its predecessor and focusing more on action than platforming.

Musashi is faster and more deadly than ever, to say nothing of a master rider and surfer!

Players can once again collect “Power-Ups” to boost Shinobi’s attacks, adding his deadly sword to his melee attack and block and transforming his shuriken into flaming projectiles. Players also gain points for every enemy defeated and item collected, and the end of Round score tally also adds points depending on if you used your ninjutsu magic or your remaining health. By pausing the game, players select which ninjitsu technique to use with Y, with each functioning exactly like The Revenge of Shinobi: Jutsu of Ikazuchi temporarily protects Shinobi with an electrical shield, Jutsu of Kariu summons flaming pillars to damage all enemies, Jutsu of Fushin enhances your jumping speed and height, and Jutsu of Mijin has Shinobi self-destruct (costing him a life) to destroy enemies. Only one of these can be used per life but you gain additional uses by finding items, though I found less use for them this time around as Shinobi is largely grounded and the game encourages you to wall jump and spider-walk to clear gaps. Musashi gains two additional abilities, the first being a horse and the second some bitchin’ surfin’ skills! Round 2 sees you racing across a marsh-like field on horseback, jumping obstacles and taking out enemies with your shuriken or ninjutsu. Round 4 has you surging across the water, jumping off ramps to collect items and avoid mines while defeating waves of enemies, with both instances functioning like autoscrolling shooter. Round 6 also sees you in freefall down a canyon, forcing you to hop to falling boulders to keep from dropping to your doom, while many stages force you to clamber to higher levels by finding surfaces to cling to (which isn’t always obvious).

Though more forgiving, some new gimmicks and refined mechanics add to the challenge.

Shinobi III is much more challenging, overall, than its predecessor, throwing far more enemies and hazards at you but with the caveat that most stages keep you quite grounded and I found extra lives a touch more plentiful. Bottomless pits are commonplace, of course, and many times platforms will either be temporary or will require time bombs to destroy so you can progress, but insta-kill hazards are limited to crushing spikes rather than lava pits. Sometimes, you must time your wall jumps and spider-walk to avoid electrified walls and ceilings; others, you cling to or run across conveyers to progress. There are instances where you ride platforms either across a zig-zag-like track or directly upwards, with Round 2 featuring a vertical autoscroller that’ll see you crushed or left behind if you don’t pay attention. Round 3 dumps you in a disgusting, bio-organic nest where the sticky ground slows your movement and Round 4 sees you hopping to sinking barrels around an oil rig, leaping to firmer ground before you drown. Round 5 mimics a similar stage from The Revenge of Shinobi in that you can somersault over chain-link fences but, this time, you must also avoid hidden mines that eventually explode under your feet! Toxic goop, electrical sparks, and support beams hanging under Neo Zeed’s fancy blimp all make traversal an issue in their own way. Round 7 takes you inside the blimp, where drones attack as you ride a precarious moving platform, while the final area of this stage features platforming and skill-based challenges so troublesome that no enemies are required! As if tricky jumps weren’t bad enough, Round 6 puts you in a mist-filled pagoda where spikes jut from the ground and another damn door maze awaits! This was much simpler to figure out compared to the one in The Revenge of Shinobi (I simply guessed the route by taking the high ground), though made more challenging since enemies respawn each time you looped around!

Presentation:
Although Shinobi III is visually very similar to its predecessor, there have been a few improvements between the games. Musashi still doesn’t have an idle pose, but his sprite is much bigger, more detailed, and versatile thanks to his expanded move set. He now grabs the hilt of his sword when powered-up, cuts a mean pose when surfing, and blood splatters whenever he or his enemies take damage! While many sound effects are unchanged from The Revenge of Shinobi and enemies still explode in spectacular fashion, the soundtrack is overall inferior to the last game. Obviously, I have more nostalgia for The Revenge of Shinobi so I’m naturally biased towards that game, but Shinobi III really disappointed in its tracks, and in the less visually interesting enemies (especially compared to the beta version). However, larger enemies (such as samurai and various mechs) do appear more often, almost as mini bosses, and you’ll face far greater numbers and waves of enemies, with no visible slowdown or performance issues. I liked that the bombs now had a visual timer, the additional weather effects (such as rain, wind, and parts of the environment reacting to these elements), and the greater depth added to the backgrounds. Stages are far more detailed, lively, and have many more instances of parallax scrolling, making for a technically more impressive title. This is best felt in the expanded introduction (featuring a larger, more impressive, animated interpretation of Musashi), the new map screen, and the detailed artwork that pops up after you clear a Round. The game also features more story text at the start and end, and even end credits this time around (though there’s only one ending in Shinobi III).

The visuals and gameplay are vastly improved over the last game, resulting in a more impressive title.

Things start with a visual bang in Round 1’s dense forest, with grass and leaves rustling in the wind, which leads into a dank, dark cave filled with waterfalls and rippling water. I loved the marsh lands and docks that rush past in Round 2 and 4, respectively, which see clouds, kites, and tanks in the distance. The cyberpunk-like city of Round 2, the industrial factory/oil rig of Round 4, and the cybernetic research area seen in Round 5 were all worlds above the visuals offered in the last game, with foreground elements (mostly trees, pipes, and other machinery) bringing each area alive and never being too intimidating in how cluttered they were. While Round 6 was mostly relegated to a grey canyon, I loved the sense of speed as you fall to certain doom, though the night sky and full Moon are done far better in Round 7, where thick clouds rush past. Rounds 3 and 5 impressed me the most, however. Round 3 takes place in an ominous, high-tech bio-weapon facility where Neo Zeed’s bizarre abominations and brain-like experiments slumber or burst free from captivity. This leads to a revolting sewer where Neo Zeed dispose of their toxic waste and experiments, meaning the surfaces are teeming with sticky, biological sludges and malformed monsters lurk. Round 5 takes the military base from the last game and sets it against a raging inferno and explosive oil drums, then sees you slashing through another high-tech factory, this one with molten metal bubbling in the background and ominous, vaguely familiar mechanical dinosaurs waiting to be activated. The final battle occurs in a bizarre, cyberspace-like environment that really messes with your mind, while additional lighting effects and environmental details add a level of polish to the Shinobi formula that keeps it both traditional and bizarre and better showcases the Mega Drive’s power.

Enemies and Bosses:
Neo Zeed’s forces are once again primarily comprised of ninjas and soldiers, though these are noticeably cybernetically enhanced. Ninjas drop from trees, somersault over you, toss shuriken, and fly about on bat-like wings, as before, and come in different colours to indicate when you’re getting closer to the big bad. Larger samurai guard the tunnels in Round 1, slashing an energy wave and cutting with their large katana, though these are defeated as easily as the regular ninjas. The soldiers still fire machine guns, but now use mortals rather than grenades and there are no Marines bolstering their ranks, though red-clad female assassins still pop up. Ninjas now ride futuristic hoverbikes, pilot mechs, and are joined by odd, blowpipe-firing figures and floating kabuki-style warriors who emit flame bursts. Crawling brains and sludge monsters attack in the depths of Neo Zeed’s laboratory, soldiers wield laser rifles, shields, and boomerang-like projectiles, and mutated bugs, laser turrets, and persistent drones also await your presence. Steam bursts from vents, enemies crawl on ceilings like spiders, and more mini bosses appear during your playthrough. These include the return of the agile and Shadow Dancer (who now rains spears while jumping around), a gauntlet against an army of mutated brains as toxic goop bubbles nearby, large mechs that dash and attack with rapid-fire pulse cannons, and Karura, a lance-carrying bird man who attacks as you plummet in Round 6 and becomes invulnerable when seen as a whirring blur of feathers. You’ll also take on another supercomputer, though this one zaps you with an electrical field and fires explosive shells into the arena. Round 4 ends with a two-phase battle against an intimidating mech boss that begins as little more than a giant cannon in the water and soon takes to the air and requires you to blast away its cannon and shield before attacking its main body.

Some bizarre and gigantic bosses set the stage for the game’s formidable final challenge.

The first boss you face is another giant samurai, one mutated to sport four arms (two holding katana and two wielding a spear). Though you can’t hop to the high ground and this guy can dash, it’s easy enough to jump over him, use your somersault attack, or roast him with Jutsu of Kariu. Shinobi III takes a turn into the bizarre and macabre in Round 3, which sees Musashi targeted by a gigantic, malformed blob of mewling flesh while navigating the sewers and then facing off with the ghastly abomination. It lumbers in from the right or emerges from the disgusting ground, tossing chunks of flesh or swiping with its deformed hand, and noticeably degrades as you deal damage to its drooping eyes. While Shinobi III opts not to tow the line between parody and copyright infringement with its enemies and bosses, the developers couldn’t help but include an appearance from Mechagodzilla in Round 5. This gigantic, impressively detailed sprite emerges from the darkness and plods about in the background, breathing fire and raining debris. After destroying its head, it’ll unleash a barrage of projectiles from its chest, making this a tricky encounter even though touching it doesn’t hurt you. Round 6 ends with a rematch against Neo Zeed’s big boss, a squat, masked, demonic figure who whips his hair. This time, the fight occurs in a dark room full of doors that the masked fiend emerges from, tricking you with a duplicate. Though the fight is noticeably easier, it can be tough picking the right one and he becomes more aggressive, flinging a spread of darts after enough hits. This time, the final battle is against the Shadow Master, which is a two-phase affair fought in a psychedelic environment. The Shadow Master is super-fast and aggressive, leaping about, tossing kunai, teleporting, rushing at you with a sword, and delivering an explosive hit. After enough damage, he powers up and tosses energy projectiles, a flurry of blasts, and a charged shot from his arm.

Additional Features:
While Shinobi III is quite a challenge even on “Easy”, you can make things even more difficult by selecting harder difficulties, thus limiting your lives and continues. While you can accumulate points, there’s still no high score table to put your name on, though the “Options” menu has been expanded to include sound effects and voices. As in The Revenge of Shinobi, you can grant yourself unlimited shuriken with a simple trick but, even better, Shinobi III features an invincibility cheat activated by playing certain songs in the right order. Not that you really need that when playing this version of the game as the Nintendo Switch offers rewind and save state features to cut the challenge off at the knees. Finally, if you’re playing the version included in the SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (Backbone Entertainment, 2009), you get an Achievement for finishing the first stage without a continue and, in the SEGA Mega Drive Classics collection (SEGA/D3T, 2018), you get an Achievement if you beat any level without tossing a shuriken.

The Summary:
I never grew up playing Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, so I don’t have the same level of nostalgia for it as for The Revenge of Shinobi. However, this did everything I’d expect from a sequel: it took what worked in the last game and expanded upon it. The visuals are greatly improved, with Joe Musashi being much faster and tighter to control. His additional moves and abilities were a welcome inclusion, mitigating my difficulties at mastering his somersault and adding an extra layer to the platforming and jumping challenges. I appreciated the added emphasis on fast-paced, hack-and-slash combat and the autoscrolling sections, which nicely broke up the gameplay and served as fun distractions. While the soundtrack was disappointing and I wasn’t blown away by the enemies, the bosses were a big step up from the last game. There are more of them, for starters, and the developers shied away from ripping off pop culture characters for some gruesome, intimidating, and fun affairs that better test your skills as a player. I did find the ninjitsu a bit wasted here, however, and it was a shame Musashi didn’t gain new magic or power-ups to use, but the visual variety offered by the stage design more than made up for it. I appreciated that the game veered more towards the surreal and science-fiction to try and mix things up, and that you were rewarded for playing well in stages. There are few cheap deaths and hazards here, and the game does get very challenging when you’re presented with small platforms, temporary ground, and tricky jumps. I can see this being aggravating on original hardware, but this version of the game makes it a breeze even without the invincibility code. Ultimately, while I would probably still choose to play The Revenge of Shinobi due to my nostalgia for that title, Shinobi III was a worthy follow-up that vastly improved almost every aspect of its sequel, making it equally good in my eyes.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

What did you think to Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master? How do you think it compares to The Revenge of Shinobi and what did you think to Musashi’s new abilities? Were you also disappointed by the soundtrack and the lack of new ninjutsu magic? What did you think to the new bosses and how bizarre some of them were? Did you enjoy the autoscrolling sections and manage to beat the game on original hardware? Which Shinobi game is your favourite? Let me know your thoughts and memories of Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master in the comments, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Shinobi reviews.

Mini Game Corner: Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (Xbox Series X)

Dr. K1 Comment

Released: 29 May 2018
Originally Released: 1 December 1990
Developer: SEGA
Also Available For: Mega Drive, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable (PSP), Xbox One, Xbox Series S

A Brief Background:
Back in the day, for a while there, ninjas were the latest craze, appearing as mutated turtles, rainbow-coloured fighters, or mysterious assassins, especially in videogames, where the challenge of ninja-based titles defined a generation of gamers. SEGA’s bid to get involved in the fad resulted in notable success with Shinobi (SEGA, 1987), a taxing but praised arcade title that was improved for home consoles. While its Mega Drive sequel, The Revenge of Shinobi (SEGA, 1989), was met with widespread praise, Shinobi’s first sequel was actually an arcade release just like the original game. Boasting improved graphics and teaming Joe Musashi with a canine companion, Shadow Dancer (ibid) released the same year as The Revenge of Shinobi and was largely praised, despite some aggravating mechanics. While a port was released for the Master System in some territories, the Mega Drive version was noticeably different, adding additional gameplay gimmicks while also being far more faithful to the arcade title than Shinobi’s previous home conversions. Well received at the time and standing the test of time as another classic title for the 16-bit powerhouse, Shadow Dancer was often included in subsequent collections, including the SEGA Mega Drive Classics collection that added a few quality of life mechanics to the game.

The Review:
I was all ready to do one of my regular lengthy reviews about Joe Musashi/Shinobi’s quest for revenge against the Union Lizard ninjas, only to find that Shadow Dancer adheres a little too closely to its arcade roots and therefore is too short to warrant a longer review. Like in the original arcade title, players run, jump, and toss shuriken though five levels (referred to as “Rounds”, with three stages each (the third being a boss battle). Players won’t need to worry about their health here as Musashi once again keels over and dies if he takes a single hit, though he can bounce and bump off enemies and some hazards so it’s only attacks that kill him. Like in The Revenge of Shinobi, players can set the game’s difficulty level, changing the title screen and increasing the number of enemies while decreasing the player’s continues, and will rescue hostages in each stage. Male hostages add to the player’s score, with a final tally adding additional points once a Round is cleared, while female hostages upgrade Musashi’s attacks and see him fling flaming projectiles and throw flaming kicks rather than using his sword for close-quarters combat. Players can add an additional challenge by disabling the shuriken (a death sentence if I ever saw one) and can pick from four different control types. I chose Type B, which mapped the jump to the A button, shuriken to the X button (with no rapid-fire option available), and Shinobi’s patented ninjutsu magic to the B button. Like in the original Shinobi, players are assigned different ninjutsu for each stage and only get one use per stage, earning a point bonus if they finish without using their magic. Musashi can conjure flaming pillars, whirling tornados, and a meteor storm to destroy all enemies, which is handy when you’re swarmed by ninjas. You’re also playing against a three-minute timer (though I always had plenty of time) and can occasionally collect extra lives by finding Union Lizard tokens.

Cut down repetitive ninjas alongside Shinobi’s near-useless canine companion in this challenging quest.

Though he lacks his somersault and shuriken spread and more versatile ninjutsu magic from The Revenge of Shinobi, Musashi can still duck, avoid projectiles using crates and boxes, and hop to higher ground or over fences by holding up and pressing the jump button. This is useful for evading enemies, finding hostages, and getting around some hazards and obstacles, though some enemies can follow you. The game’s big gimmick is the large white canine who fights alongside you. By holding the attack button, players charge a meter and, when released, Yamato pounces upon nearby enemies, distracting them so Shinobi can attack. If players don’t time the button press correctly, Yamato takes a hit and temporarily reverts to a useless puppy, though this mechanic was nowhere near as useful as it could’ve been. I found Yamato often wouldn’t attack and just yapped away uselessly. It would’ve been nice to see him have a more versatile move set, like giving you a jump boost, activating levers, collecting power-ups, or acting as a health bar of sorts so Shinobi can survive one measly hit! As ever, you must avoid bottomless pits and raging waters, though there are some interesting gimmicks that make Shadow Dancer stand out. Round 1-2 features a fun earthquake that splits the screen, for example, Round 3-2 takes place entirely on a rising elevator, Round 4-2 sees the environment and enemies obscured by sporadic shadows in a neat effect, and Round 5-1 is a multi-room gauntlet against swarms of the game’s toughest enemies. Shadow Dancer is incredibly unforgiving at times thanks to its one-hit-kill mechanic, with enemies circling and bouncing you around or knocking you down pits. However, you can hold the Left Trigger to rewind the game, hold “Home” to create or load a save state, and use the Right Trigger to fast forward the action. As in the original arcade Shinobi, a Bonus Round breaks up the action between Rounds. In this section, you frantically toss shuriken at ninjas as Shinobi dives from a skyscraper, earning additional points to claim a few more extra lives depending on how many you kill off.

Some cheap, weird-ass bosses block your path in this bizarre adventure.

Musashi battles a handful of enemies in his quest for revenge. Mercenaries fire laser pistols, taking cover to avoid your shuriken, while their larger commanders shield themselves and toss their shields at your head or shins. Four different coloured ninja grunts regularly throw punches, stab with knives, or carry spears. The claw-handed Iron Claws leap in and roll about, frog-like Geckos crawl around the environment, and an attack helicopter takes shots as you scale the Statue of Liberty. Colourful, nimble ninja also teleport in, wielding dual katana and somersaulting about, slashing at you and attacking in large groups, deflecting your shots and being tougher to kill depending on their colour (with black being the worst!) Each Round ends in a battle against the big bad Sauros’s “Aides” (though, ironically, the titular Shadow Master isn’t amongst them) not unlike those of the original Shinobi. Each appears in a flash of lightning, has a health bar, is fought in an enclosed arena, and players must fight without Yamato or Musashi’s powered-up attacks. Stomper is a giant, distinctly beetle-like samurai who, like Shinobi’s Ken-Oh, spits fireballs that are tricky to dodge. This is compounded by his massive hit box, the debris he rains down, and how tricky it can be to hit his helmet. Mirage is a nimble dominatrix who leaps off screen and tosses large buzzsaws, which she also uses to shield her vulnerable head. At the end of Round 3, Sauros brings a brick wall to life. This screaming monster randomly spawns across the background and attacks by extending and dropping its hands towards you, which are pretty difficult to avoid. Round 5 sees you battle Blade, a spinning, pentagram-like Catherine Wheel that circles your falling platform and tries to roast you, though you can easily spam your shuriken when it stays still. After battling past Sauros’s gauntlet, you face the main man reptile himself in a pretty anti-climactic confrontation. Sauros simply sits on his throne and spawns black ninjas to distract you, eventually detaching his helmet to rain fireballs into the throne room. This is your chance to attack the glowing orb that is his weak spot but be sure to position yourself between the flames!

A visually impressive but lacklustre and unfairly difficult arcade port.

Shadow Dancer looks pretty good, being about on par with The Revenge of Shinobi and featuring large, well detailed sprites. While Musashi doesn’t show much personality, Yamato helps add some visual variety, which the sprites need as there is only a handful of enemies and they’re constantly recycled. Things get off to a decent start with an impressive bit of sprite animation and story text. Each Round is introduced with a big, but partially obscured map and sees Shinobi leap into action, and players are initially dropped into a desolate, seemingly post-apocalyptic city. The background is in flames, the buildings are wrecked, ninja burst from the windows, fire spews from the sewers, and debris falls from the sky! Round 2 sees you first traversing a partially destroyed bridge and then battling across disused railroad tracks, hopping to a rail cart and over fences, while Round 4 takes place in a desolate cavern that tests your platforming skills. Although Round 5 is a largely unimpressive warehouse, Round 3 sees you scaling the Statue of Liberty, hopping up girders and supports, and taking a lift to the torch, with Lady Liberty and New York City in the background. The music is pretty upbeat and fitting for the action, though there’s nothing as memorable as in The Revenge of Shinobi, and players are treated to a bit of partially animated sprite art and ending text upon completion. This version of the game offers filters to recreate the good old 16-bit days, screen borders, a mirror mode for an additional challenge, and two special challenges. If you complete the first two stages without using your magic, you’ll get an Achievement and if you can beat a stage with Yamato in his puppy form, you’ll either earn another Achievement if that’s the first Challenge you completed or be one step towards another Achievement.

The Summary:  
Wow, I was so disappointed by Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi. I think I must’ve gotten the game confused with the far superior third game in the series as, while the game looks about on par with The Revenge of Shinobi, this is more like a visually improved version of the original, notoriously challenging arcade Shinobi. Joe Musashi lacks all of his improved moves and versatility from Revenge in favour of a cute canine who’s criminally underutilised. I barely used Yamato he was so useless, and it says a lot when your 16-bit, arcade-perfect videogame lacks mechanics that were included in the 8-bit port of Shinobi! Shadow Dancer would offer a decent challenge if not for the archaic and unfair one-hit-kills, which strangely carry over from the arcade version despite them being eliminated in other home console Shinobi games. While the game looks great and it can be fun searching for hostages, it’s pretty barebones, with only five Rounds and extremely limited ninjutsu magic, meaning you’re more likely to rely on your shuriken. Enemies were also painfully recycled, lacking any of the character and personality of those from The Revenge of Shinobi, and the plot is strangely bonkers, focusing on a lizard man with a ninja army? I’m not sure what the titular “secret” of Shinobi was supposed to be or why the game is called Shadow Dancer when that enemy doesn’t even appear, or why SEGA didn’t feel fit to enhance the arcade title to be more in line with the improvements made in The Revenge of Shinobi. If you’re going to play Shadow Dancer, this version is probably the best way since you can exploit the rewind and save state features, but this was a disappointingly hollow experience that didn’t do justice to what the Mega Drive – or the franchise – was capable of.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi? How do you think it compares to the arcade version and other 16-bit Shinobi titles? Were you also disappointed that it included one-hit kills and greatly limited your options? What did you think to Yamato and how useful did you find him? Which of the bosses was your favourite and what do you think the “secret” of Shinobi was? Which Shinobi game is your favourite? Let me know what you think about Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi in the comments, send me some coppers on Ko-Fi, and go read my other Shinobi reviews.

Game Corner: The Revenge of Shinobi (Mega Drive)

Dr. K5 Comments

Released: 2 December 1989
Developer: SEGA
Also Available For: Android, Mega/SEGA-CD, Mega-Tech, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portable (PSP), Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X

The Background:
Back in the 1980s, ninjas were a big deal. Mysterious, agile, swift-footed martial artists tossed shuriken and took movies, comic books, cartoons, and videogames by storm. We had everything from silent assassins working for the US government, mutated turtles, a slew of rainbow-coloured warriors, and games so iconic and so challenging that they defined a generation of players. SEGA saw considerable critical and commercial success with Shinobi (SEGA, 1987), a tough but rewarding arcade title later refined for its home console conversion. For the sequel, director Noriyoshi Ohba wished to showcase the then-new Mega Drive hardware through a more story-driven title, one better suited to the home console market. Thus, Shinobi gained a life bar and was purposely given a steep difficulty curve to encourage player experimentation. To balance things out, Shinobi was given a finite magic system to help in trickier situations, as well as a handy double jump for improved platforming. Of course, the game became notorious for including unlicensed appearances by major pop culture icons, leading to numerous revisions and graphical tweaks to avoid a lawsuit! One of the defining Mega Drive experiences of my childhood, The Revenge of Shinobi has stood the test of time as a classic of its generation, impressing with its visuals and gameplay variety as much as it frustrated with its mechanics and difficulty curve, and even directly inspired a semi-recurring comic strip here in the United Kingdom. The Revenge of Shinobi has had a tumultuous life post-Mega Drive, occasionally omitted from retrogame collections in favour of its sequel, though a remaster did briefly appear on digital stores (alongside some Trophies and quality-of-life features) in 2012.

The Plot:
When the criminal organisation Neo Zeed murders Joe Musashi’s master and kidnaps his bride-to-be, Musashi once again dons his Shinobi garb and sets out to rescue her.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
The Revenge of Shinobi is a sequel to the arcade, ninja-themed run-and-gun (more of a “walk-and-gun”, I suppose) Shinobi and, like its predecessor, is an action platformer that sees players guide Joe Musashi, the titular “Shinobi”, across eight stages (billed as “Rounds”), each with three parts (referred to as “Scenes” in the manual and comprised of two action stages and a battle against the game’s “Power Villains”). The Revenge of Shinobi incorporates a “continue” feature, limiting players to three continues per game, and allows players to choose from four difficulty settings (with the hardest settings limiting how many lives they have) and four control schemes. Personally, I prefer “Type 2”, which maps Musashi’s attack to the A button, jump to the B button, and “ninjitsu” magic to the C button. You can also customise how many shuriken Shinobi starts with, and I’d recommend setting it to the maximum amount as you’ll be chucking a lot of throwing stars in this challenging title. Musashi’s primary attack is to throw ninja stars, which he can do while walking, crouching, or jumping. When enemies get close, Musashi strikes with his Oborozuki blade or a kick, with most enemies literally exploding after just one hit. Musashi has a decent, if clunky jump that players can use to hop over simple obstacles (walls, crates, and junk cars) or onto moving platforms, but he can also perform a somersault to reach higher ground or flip over chain-link fences. Unfortunately, this somersault is extremely finnicky to perform as, rather than simply tapping B twice, players must awkwardly press B at the height of their jump, meaning the somersault is effectively useless in restrictive locations like hallways and interiors. This also means you can’t hop halfway across a gap and then activate the somersault; if you try this, you’ll plummet to your death. It’s worth pulling this move off, though, as you can press A when somersaulting to fire a spread of shuriken, though this quickly depletes your stock. Luckily, players can break wooden crates for more shuriken, health, and even extra lives. However, you must watch out for sneaky (often unfair) timed bombs that can whittle down your health or send you down a bottomless spit thanks to the game’s aggravating knockback.

Power up Musashi’s attacks or utilise his devastating ninja magic to clear out enemies.

Musashi can also collect “Power Packs” to increase the speed and power of his attacks, gaining his sword and changing his shuriken to flaming projectiles. When walking or crouch-walking while powered up, Shinobi holds his kunai before him to reflect projectiles, which is a handy feature. Defeating enemies and clearing stages also adds to your high score, with Musashi’s life bar increasing by two when players reach 100,000 points and earning extra lives whenever they clear a Round or reach first 50,000 and then 100,000 subsequent points. Pausing the game lets you select one of four ninjitsu techniques to use with the C button, with each having different pros and cons. Ikazuchi, the “Art of Thunder”, surrounds Shinobi with an electrical shield to protect him from damage and even seems to hurt enemies, though it fades after too many hits. Kariu, the “Art of the Fire Dragon”, summons great plumes of dragon-like fire to damage all enemies. Fushin, the “Art of Floating”, increases the speed, height, and length of your jumps and somersaults, allowing you to easily cross gaps. Though it lasts until the Scene ends and can be used alongside other ninjitsu, it can be unwieldy. Finally, Mijin, the “Art of Pulverising”, sees Shinobi self-destruct, costing a life but dealing big damage to enemies and bosses. You can use each ninjitsu twice per life and can earn additional uses by finding rare ninjitsu items in crates; if you perform the somersault attack, you may also find hidden items scattered through the environments. Unlike in the original game, there are no quasi-first-person sections in The Revenge of Shinobi and no hostages to rescue. You simply move from right to left, taking out any enemies and crossing deadly gaps, until you reach the exit or defeat a boss. However, you must occasionally step on switches to open doors or clear a path, crouch-walk through hidden passageways, Fushin-leap across gaps, and ride moving platforms or chains to bypass instant-death hazards.

A challenging title made all the more tricky thanks to some clunky controls.

The Revenge of Shinobi starts out quite fair, demanding little from players than to avoid projectiles and hazards, but quickly becomes a challenging title. Players must avoid being skewered by bamboo spikes, crushed by sliding crates, and scorched by bursts of fire. Molten steel, raging waters, and bottomless pits will cost you a life and you must also take care to not be sucked out of Round 3’s air locks. Fushin comes in handy when tackling Round 2’s waterfall, where you hop to dropping logs and high platforms, and your jumping prowess is tested when you hop to and from Round 5’s bridge avoiding speeding red cars. When in Round 3’s military airfield, players must somersault over the chain-link fence to avoid or take out the armed guards stationed there, while Round 5 sees you hopping to moving laser turrets to scale Neo Zeed’s skyscraper headquarters. When navigating the pier Scene in Round 7, you must hop to rubber dinghies, then avoid the massive turrets stationed in a similar Scene in Round 8. Some stages, like Round 2: Scene 2 and Round 6: Scene 1, see you using the rooftops to avoid enemies and pits, while Round 6: Scene 2 sees you ducking and jumping over hazards while plodding across a speeding train. While you’ll encounter enemies popping from hidden doors as early as Round 2: Scene 2, Round 8: Scene 2 presents a frustrating door maze, where you must choose the correct path, battling every enemy faced in previous stages, and thanking the gaming gods that The Revenge of Shinobi doesn’t have a timer and that online guides are a thing! Still, the game’s difficulty can be daunting at times. Musashi and his enemies have quite large hit boxes and Shinobi is a bit clunky to control, especially when jumping. You can’t scroll the screen up or down, making it easy to be blindsided by enemies; though, on the plus side, enemies don’t respawn. Those damn bombs also become a massive headache as you progress, to say nothing of enemies that deflect your shuriken or disguise themselves as nuns!

Presentation:
Although The Revenge of Shinobi was an early title for the SEGA Mega Drive, it’s still very impressive from a visual standpoint. Joe Musashi may not have any idle poses, but he strikes a dramatic pose with each ninjutsu, collapses in defeat when killed, and assumes a more aggressive stance when powered up. While the basic ninja enemies aren’t much to shout about, the samurai are far more detailed and I liked the agility of the Pink Dragon enemies, who fall to their knees after taking a few hits rather than exploding like Shinobi’s other enemies. These explosions are ridiculously fun and I liked how some enemies wield swords or other weapons that deflect your projectiles, forcing you to alternate between high and low attacks. While some stages can be a bit bland or cluttered at times and the game lacks the colourful, visual “pop” of the Mega Drive’s most popular titles, there’s a lot of detail in every area. Round 1: Scene 1 transitions from dusk to night, for example, waters rage in Round 7 and 8 (with the latter also including rain effects and a lighthouse in the background), and there’s some minor examples of parallax scrolling at work. The game’s introductory scene features a large, partially animated sprite of Sonny Chiba Musashi deflecting some shuriken and a still image of him holding his murdered sensei as the game’s plot appears in text. Between each Round, you’re treated to a world map that shows your progression and the game’s sound effects should be readily familiar to anyone who’s played the Streets of Rage trilogy (SEGA/Ancient, 1991 to 1994) since those games copied them, and some graphical elements, wholesale from The Revenge of Shinobi. The game is also a licensee’s nightmare, depending on which version you play, as Musashi encounters enemies clearly inspired by John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) and bosses either inspired by or blatantly ripping off Doctor Robert Bruce Banner/The Hulk, the T-800 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Bruce Wayne/Batman, and Godzilla! It’s surreal encountering these enemies, even if you’re playing a version that recolours or alters their sprites, as they’re decidedly at odds with he game’s more grounded aesthetic.

There’s some decent visual variety and crazy moments, but it can be cluttered at times.

To be fair, though, The Revenge of Shinobi may start out rather mundane and traditional, with Musashi exploring a bamboo forest and guarded pagoda before hopping to the nighttime rooftops, he’s soon storming a well-armed military airfield, awkwardly navigating the claustrophobic interior of a steampunk-like airship, and somersaulting through the neon-drenched skyline of Chinatown. Equally, while his enemies start out as simple ninjas appearing in puffs of smoke or from hidden doorways, he’s soon taking on assassins disguised as nuns and dodging laser blasts from automated turrets. While the game’s soundtrack is practically burned into my memory, particularly the intro music and opening Scene, it is disappointing that The Revenge of Shinobi repeats a few of its tracks, especially considering the variety packed into each Round. This can also be a double-edged sword, to be fair: the train Scene, for example, starts off in a really bland tunnel and then jumps to the extreme with a cluttered and confusing background (though I liked seeing passengers mingling in the carriages). I enjoyed the chaos of the steel mill, however, and the busy bridge (despite how difficult it can be to avoid enemies and cars and not plummet to your death), and especially liked the detail in splashing waters in the pier Scenes. These effects were far more effective than in the waterfall Scene, where it can be difficult spotting enemies and even Musashi’s sprite due to the clashing colours. While the game strangely lacks an end credits sequence, there are two endings depending on how quickly you defeat the final boss and whether or not you rescue Naoko. I also liked that the Power Villains changed colours to visually indicate that you were dealing damage (though sound effects also helped with this), and how they dramatically exploded upon defeat, with some even breaking apart for added effect. While the game performs pretty well, never taxing the Mega Drive’s hardware too much, there can be some instances of slowdown and sprite flicker when a lot of big, moving sprites are present.

Enemies and Bosses:
There are only a handful of enemies in The Revenge of Shinobi, but the game eventually mixes and matches their combinations and offers palette swapped variants who are a bit tougher and more aggressive in their attacks. One of the most common enemies you’ll face are Neo Zeed’s ninjas (or Omote), who appear in a puff of smoke or from behind hidden doors or even flying about on bat-like wings! These guys can jump, somersault over you, and toss shuriken of their own, but explode in one hit. They’re bolstered by samurai (or Kabuto), who deflect your shuriken with their katana and have a long reach, and attack dogs that pounce at you. Neo Zeed’s reach extends to the American military, meaning you’ll often face off with soldiers armed with rifles, tossing grenades, or stationed behind machine guns. These guys can also lie on the ground and come in pairs to fill the screen with machine gun fire and are often accompanied by “Gunners”, the Rambo-esque brutes that carry flamethrowers. Kasumi (who win top price in the Elektra Natchios lookalike competition) fool you by disguising themselves as nuns and then leaping with a flying kick and sai in hand. The game’s Bruce Lee-like martial artists also utilise flying kicks, while the White Phoenix enemies have incredible reach with their spinning, bladed nunchaku. I really liked the Pink Dragon enemies, robed dancers who elegantly spin around, deflecting your shuriken, and take multiple hits to defeat before crumbling to their knees rather than exploding (a detail not mirrored by the Kasumi). These enemies eventually start mingling and you’ll encounter them all in Round 8: Scene 2, which can be especially aggravating as their projectiles and sprites take up screen space and box you in. It’s also worth remembering that the Gunner’s flames and the many bombs you encounter linger onscreen for a few seconds, so you must either take your time or execute a somersault to avoid damage. Hazards like jet flames, pits, molten steel, turrets, and lasers are also present, though you can use some of these to help upwards in some Scenes.

Some totally legal cameos pop up alongside the colourful and bizarre bosses.

Each Round ends with a battle against a “Power Villains”. The first, the Blue Lobster, is a large samurai who shields himself and has fantastic reach with his Masamune-like blade. However, by utilising the arena walls, you can avoid his attack and execute the somersault spread to whittle him down. Next, Shinobi encounters the super agile Shadow Dancer in a kaleidoscopic nightclub. This guy is essentially a supped-up Omote but he’s quite challenging as he can only be damaged when on the ground, fires a shuriken spread, and turns pitch-black near death to make him even harder to spot! Round 3 pits you against a heavily-armoured super computer, protected by ceiling lasers, that can only by damaged by targeting its exposed brain. At the end of Round 4, you battle the “Master Attacker” in the junkyard. This hulking brute tosses cars and debris, has a shoulder charge, and turns out to be a kamikaze robot, but you can again use the high ground and somersault attack (or Kariu) to damage him. Next, you’ll clamber over a massive, missile-carrying vehicle, attacking the red orbs when they pop up and avoiding shots, the blue spark that travels across the ground, and falling to your death. Round 6 sees you ambushed by Spider-Man and Batman (or a spider-like ninja and a menacing vampire) in a two-stage battle. Spidey crawls along the ceiling firing webs and descending on a web line (that also makes him invulnerable), while Batman swoops at you and is surrounded by bats (though these, like Spidey’s webs, can be destroyed). As if that wasn’t bonkers enough, either Godzilla or a fire-breathing Brontosaurus await in Round 7’s final Scene. Either way, you must again use the high ground to attack the beast’s head, watching for its atomic breath and large tail, and hopping from one side to the other to avoid damage. Finally, Shinobi battles “The Boss” for Naoko’s life. This squat, kabuki-like crime lord is mostly stationary but protected by a mane of impenetrable hair that he whips and flings at you. You must stay close, firing at his exposed belly, and utilise Ikazuchi (since all other magic seems ineffective) to outlast his attacks and finish the fight quickly, otherwise Naoko will be crushed!

Additional Features:
As mentioned, there are multiple difficulty settings in The Revenge of Shinobi. So, if you somehow find the game too easy on “Easy”, you can give yourself a harder challenge by limiting how many lives you have. There’s no real benefit to this other than bragging rights, though, as the ending you receive relies solely only how first you defeat The Boss and if you can keep Naoko from being killed. If the game proves too challenging, you can set the shuriken count to 0 in the game’s “Settings” menu and wait a few seconds for the number to change into an infinity symbol, granting you unlimited projectiles. Hidden extra lives can also be farmed in some Scenes, though there’s oddly no high score table to aim for (you must record your score in the manual like some kind of caveman!) If you’re lucky enough to still own the seventh-generation remaster, there are twelve Achievements/Trophies to obtain, with one being awarded for using all ninjutsu attacks, one for beating the game without a continue, and others for oddball tasks like deflecting ten attacks or falling down a waterfall. Other modern re-releases are oddly missing Achievement support but do come with save states and, often, rewind features, which make this challenging title far easier and much more enjoyable to playthrough.

The Summary:
Like many kids back in the day, I’m sure, The Revenge of Shinobi was an essential title in my Mega Drive library. This was probably the most challenging game I owned back then, yet I kept it and often revisited it time and again despite often running into a brick wall around Round 7. Years later, I picked up the remaster for the PlayStation 3 and finally finished the game for the first time, and I’m still a bit regretful that I ended up selling that console and losing that version of the game. Thanks to re-releases, The Revenge of Shinobi is more accessible than ever but there’s something magically nostalgic about revisiting it on original hardware. The game holds up pretty well, especially the soundtrack and some of the sprite work. It can be clunky at times (Joe Musashi is very slow and his jump, particularly his aggravating somersault, are difficult to master) and the environments lack a lot of the detail and variety you’d expect from later Mega Drive titles, but I appreciate that the developers tried to make each Scene stand out in their own way. I still get a thrill hearing that Round 1: Scene 1 beat kick in and laugh every time those blatantly ripped off enemies crop up, and I love how Musashi can hop behind chain-link fences and bolster his attacks with ninjutsu magic. The Power Villains are all large and suitably impressive, testing your jumping skill and forcing you to think about when and how best to use your ninjutsu, while the stage variety always keeps you on your toes. I may not enjoy the bridge, train, or many of the platforming mechanics and that damn door maze might’ve driven me mad, but I’m glad that the game tried to be a bit ambitious and mix things up. It’s a shame that the developers didn’t rejig the first-person-esque sequences for the first game or the hostage rescue mechanics into mini games or gimmicks for some Rounds, and that the screen area is unnecessarily restricted at times, but this is still a classic mega Drive title. It was undoubtably surpassed by its sequels, but there’s a special kind of magic to the Revenge of Shinobi that still gives me the feels to this day and I’m always glad to boot it up again, though I admit this blatant nostalgia is the reason it gets an extra fourth star as the awkward controls, slow pace, and difficulty curve do bog it down.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Was The Revenge of Shinobi a staple of your Mega Drive library back in the day? How do you think it compares to the first game, and its sequels? Which of Musashi’s ninjutsu attacks was your favourite and did you also struggle with his somersault attack? What did you think to the stage variety and the soundtrack? Which version of the game did you own and what did you think to the crazy bosses? Did you ever defeat The Boss and rescue Naoko? Which of the re-releases is your favourite and would you like to see a Shinobi collection released for modern consoles? Share your memories and opinions on The Revenge of Shinobi down in the comments, go support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Shinobi reviews.

Game Corner: Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (Nintendo Switch)

Dr. K3 Comments

Released: 11 June 2024
Originally Released: 23 September 1994
Developer: Konami
Also Available For: Mega Drive, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

The Background:
The success of Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991) saw anthropomorphic mascot platformers become a popular trope throughout the nineties, with a superpowered earthworm, an intergalactic adventurer, and a gun-toting jackrabbit making a rocket pack-wearing possum seem normal! The brainchild of Nobuya Nakazato, the man behind many Contra titles (Konami, 1987 to present), Rocket Knight Adventures (Konami, 1993) was one of the most popular and celebrated Mega Drive titles. Despite a port for the Super Nintendo being allegedly cancelled, Rocket Knight Adventures was followed by two sequels the very next year: one exclusive to the Super Nintendo and the other this notoriously expensive Mega Drive-exclusive title. Although not as well-regarded as its predecessor and seen as inferior to its Super Nintendo counterpart, Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 was praised for its colourful gameplay and tweaked rocket pack mechanics. Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 inspired a six-part story in Sonic the Comic (1993 to 2002) but the franchise was dead in the water until Climax Studios attempted a revival in 2010, to mixed reviews. However, the game, the other 16-bit Rocket Knight titles, finally received a modern re-release with this Re-Sparked! collection, a widely praised release that came with some fun bonus materials and quality of life features.

The Plot:
When King Gedol’s lizard forces invade the kingdom of Zephyrus and rogue Rocket Knight Axel Gear kidnaps Princess Cherry, Sparkster searches for seven magical swords to oppose the Gedol Empire and best his rival.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Just like the other 16-bit Rocket Knight games, Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 is a 2D, sidescrolling action platformer. However, unlike the original game and its similarly titled Super Nintendo cousin, there are no run-and-gun elements to Rocket Knight Adventures 2 as Sparkster’s sword has been robbed of its sword beam. This significantly impacts the primary gameplay as you now rely on Sparkster’s bog-standard sword swings, which can fall a little short at times. You attack with Y and jump with B, executing a jump sword swing and clinging to poles using Sparkster’s paws and tail when you jump to them. Unlike in the other games, Sparkster’s rocket pack charges automatically and has different levels of effectiveness depending on how full the meter is. As long as the meter’s at least partially full, you can press A to rocket dash in the direction you’re facing, diagonally to take out turrets, and upwards to get higher. If you press A without a direction, Sparkster spins on the spot to attack enemies and, when the rocket pack is fully charged, Sparkster spirals in a “Screw Attack” (no relation), travels further, and bashes through destructible blocks and walls. While waiting for the meter to charge does take a lot of agency away from the player, it charges pretty quickly and you have far more control over Sparkster off a upwards boost, which greatly aids with reaching platforms. Sparkster can still ricochet off walls to get higher, though this is still underutilised, in my opinion, with Rocket Knight Adventures 2 focusing more on traditional platforming. Players still collect gems for points, though this time there are two types: regular blue ones and red ones that kick-start a slot machine for additional gems, health (now apples and chunks of meat), extra lives, or a rocket pack that instantly sends you flying in a Screw Attack. Naturally, these can all be found in the game’s stages, too, and you receive a score tally after clearing each stage for bonus points.

Sparkster’s sword is nerfed but his rocket pack and mech game are stronger than ever!

Sparkster can also grab the new power-up icon that gifts him a flaming sword to increase your attack power, though you’ll lose this when hit or advance to the next stage and I can’t say I noticed a significant difference, especially as many enemies die in one hit. Rocket Knight Adventures 2 has seven stages and four difficulty settings, with players only seeing the true ending by beating the game’s harder difficulties. Sadly, the shoot-‘em-up stages from the other two games are gone, replaced by three sections where you control Sparkster’s giant mech, the SparkRobo. Two of these are Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robot battles with Axel Gear that are similar to that one boss from the first game, and the other is a sidescrolling autorunner where you blast enemies from the sky using the SparkRobo’s rocket punch (Y, which can also be charged) and jump over bombs tossed by enemies on the ground (also with Y). Sparkster doesn’t ride any minecarts or miniature mechs here and only has to deal with one autoscrolling section, where players dispatch enemies, destroy or jump to crates, and hop between train carriages to avoid a nasty spill. Spikes, flame plumes and lava, and insta-death traps are still present, however, with quicksand swallowing you, moving platforms ridden past spikes, and even a sand twister tossing you about atop a pyramid in Stage 2. This stage has a higher and lower path, which you may wish to switch between for different rewards and dangers, while Stage 5 features many switches to open doors, doors guarded by projectile-firing gargoyles, and conveyer belts. Stage 2’s pyramid gimmick differs from the Super Nintendo version, featuring a race from rolling balls and false doors that loop you back to the outside until you find the correct path. You’ll also cross lava on moving platforms and by clinging to overhead pipes, which gain destructible spiked hazards and even Gedol henchmen by Stage 5. Stage 3 sees Paeli, leader of Gedol’s lizard ninjas, bombard Sparkster and the blocks of the stage from his airship. This destroys the ground and forces you to take high-speed tubes up to the top of the ship to destroy barriers and drop the ship from the sky.

Presentation:
Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 is a bit of a mixed bag, visually, something immediately evident from the lacklustre title screen (simply the game title against a moving sky background). This does pan down into the opening cinematic and mech battle against Axel Gear, however, a fight you can skip if you wish, which causes you to miss a collectible and displays an absolutely garish secondary title screen. Unlike in the Super Nintendo game, stage intros are back but they’re far less visually interesting than in the first game, and every sprite has been redesigned to give it a more anime flair. Although I miss the cute, squat Sparkster of Rocket Knight Adventures, he looks pretty good here and is far more animated. He bops about as if itching to get going, his rocket pack is almost constantly aflame, and he stands heroically when left idle. Sparkster also squeals when hit, reacts when piloting the SparkRobo, has more animation frames, and displays more personality than on the Super Nintendo thanks to Rocket Knight Adventures 2 including more pantomime-like, sprite-based cutscenes. These are similar to those of the first game, seeing Sparkster leap into action when Axel Gear kidnaps Princess Cherry and advance between stages, with elements from previous stages (such as Stage 1’s train) appearing in others. Unfortunately, like the Super Nintendo title, Rocket Knight Adventures 2 cannot live up to or surpass the original’s soundtrack. Things are jaunty enough, for sure, but nothing stuck in my head like the main from the first game. Interestingly, Rocket Knight Adventures 2 does replicate the slowdown from the first game, with the frame rate noticeably dipping when Gedol’s forces drive vehicles or too many sprites and explosion effects appear at once.

The visual overhaul is great for Sparkster but not so much for the enemies and environments.

Perhaps most unforgivably, Rocket Knight Adventures 2 appears far blander than the first game and its Super Nintendo counterpart. Stage 1’s forest section is disappointingly subpar compared to the first game, with the ground being a far more basic block of sprites and the background having little to distract you, even when the overgrown ruins creep into play. The train section adds some spice and variety, for sure, but it paled in comparison to the Super Nintendo title. Similarly, while both games include a desert, they’re rendered very differently. Stage 2 has a neat shifting sand and heat shimmer effect in the background, but its pyramid is blockier and more akin to ruins, making it far less visually engaging than SEGA’s competition. Stage 3 took place atop the pyramid’s ruins and in an airship, which was, again, a far cry from the steampunk-style battle craft from the first game, even with its fake doppelgängers of Princess Cherry and larger, blade-like propellers. Stage 4 was like a poor imitation of a similar city stage from Rocket Knight Adventures; sure, the SparkRobo looks cool (if a tad goofy), but the city lacks the detail and appeal of the first game. Things pick up in Stage 5, which takes place outside and inside King Gedol’s heavily fortified castle-cum-weapons factory. The background is a bit busy at times, but I liked all the moving parts, alternate routes, and the danger brought on by the turrets. While the mech battles against Axel Gear are in bland, dark caverns, you battle him in a traditional swordfight against a grandiose background and confront King Gedol in his opulent throne room. If you find all seven “Keys to the Seal” swords, you’re also treated to a great sprite-based cutscene of Sparkster becoming “Gold Sparkster”, a form he retains for the end credits and loses when he returns the combined magical sword in the game’s ending.

Enemies and Bosses:
Instead of fighting pigs or wolves, Sparkster tackles the lizard forces of the Gedol Empire, whose infantry leaves a lot to be desired. Sure, armoured lizard-men spontaneously appear from boulders or even gems, but it takes a long time before they attack with swords. In Stage 1, for example, they might get the drop on you, but they just charge at you while unarmed; they don’t even lose their armour when defeated, making them far less satisfying to kill. By Stage 5, they’re hiding in large, snake-themed turrets and you’ll battle more formidable forces, such as gun-toting lizards (who oddly explode when defeated) and sword-wielding snakes whose body parts can hit you. Gedol’s forces drive steampunk-style vehicles in Stage 1, flailing their buzzsaw-like arms and forcing you to strike and rocket to safety, and pilot chicken-like mech walkers and float on balloons in Stage 4. Their forces are bolstered by some robotic enemies, such as annoying spiked balls that home in on you in Stage 3 and the returning robotic owls who can screw up your jumps. Interestingly, not only are bosses far weaker when playing on the easier difficulties, but you’ll miss some additional screens and mini bosses if you play on “Easy”. Stage 1 sees you battle a disturbing living plant that can only be damaged by rocketing into its face, which it protects with its extendable arms. You’ll also get an assist from some possum helpers when facing an ugly-ass lizard, with the two of you bouncing about an enclosed arena and the boss tossing bombs or rolling into you. A sentient plume of lava awaits in Stage 2, one that spews a flamethrower and controls the lava and forces you to the rail above to rocket into is face. Finally, there’s a large, robotic lizard face that hounds you throughout Stage 5, dropping spiked enemies, summoning lightning walls and lizard minions, and screwing up your traction with a conveyor belt.

Large bosses can cause a headache with their wide-reaching attacks and limiting your attack window.

The first true boss is a variation of the Raccoon Robot enemy from the first game, this time integrated into a train. You must rocket away from its wide-reaching ball arm and avoid its projectiles, quickly striking the weak spot on the front of the train and dashing to safety as the arm flails wildly, which is quite taxing as the arm covers almost the entire screen and the projectiles can catch you off guard. Stage 2 ends with a gigantic, armoured snake whose only weak spot is its torso. You must dodge its claw arm, which it’ll fire out to reel you in and vigorously shake you, then chase it to the background. While hiding back there, it bursts its long, extendable tail, bursting from the ground and swishes it about, though you’ll also have to watch when it leaps across the tomb. King Gedol’s second-in-command, Paeli, is fought on the roof of his airship and seems to be a sorcerer or genie or something. He fires a flaming shot that both hurts and shrinks you, transforms into a genie-like form, then bursts into harmless miniatures that rain down as bombs and apples. One of these miniatures sparkles, so that’s your target; hit him and Paeli runs around in a panic like Captain Fleagle for you to deal real damage to him. Near the end of Stage 5, tall, spindly robots stomp about, spinning their long, stick-like arms, tossing bombs, and firing lasers. They’re easy enough to take down, even with the rails, conveyers, and enemies nearby, but you’ll then fall into a small arena and battle two of them. One fires pellets, lasers, and spins its arms but, upon defeat, is replaced by its green brethren, who leaps to the ceiling dropping bombs and drops to the floor to be finished off.

Match your skills against Axel Gear then power-up to Gold Sparkster to depose King Gedol.

As in the other Rocket Knight titles, your most persistent foe is the rival Rocket Knight Axel Gear, who you fight in a mech battle at the start. Though this is optional, you’ll miss a Key to the Seal sword and learning the SparkRobo’s controls for later on. You must avoid Axel’s punches and hold A to block when he throws a shot or a projectile. Though you don’t get a projectile attack, you can throw uppercuts with B or Y or hold one of these to charge a straight punch. While this battle is much easier than the top-down mech fight from the Super Nintendo game, it’s no less tedious. Axel constantly guards and backs away and there’s a noticeable delay between button presses that can catch you out. While you don’t necessarily have to win this first mech fight, you will have to in Stage 4. However, to get to this rematch you must race through the streets and avoid Axel’s missiles, hitting them back at him to cause him to flee to his mech. Best his mech (with patience and persistence) and you battle Axel in a sword fight. Axel summons lightning walls that you can ricochet off otherwise they’ll hurt you and Axel again sports the same attacks as you, rocketing about, spinning as a flaming dervish, and swinging his sword. He does tend to hover about doing nothing, leaving himself open, and drops the final Key to the Seal upon defeat. With all seven, Gold Sparkster gets a permanent rocket charge and is much faster, which is very useful in the final fight with King Gedol. This is a two-stage affair, with the lizard king blinding you with a flash and charging lightning bolts from above or spawning a meteor shower. You can only attack him during this charge animation and, after enough hits, he transforms into a gigantic form that takes up the entire background! In this phase, King Gedol fires eye lasers that travel across the floor, walls, and ceilings, ricochet about, or randomly fire in all directions. You must dodge these and rocket into the gemstone that appears on his forehead to finally put him down for good.

Additional Features:
Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 has four difficulty settings that fundamentally change the nature of the game, altering the length and challenge of the stages and changing the ending depending on how hard a challenge you set for yourself. You can further adjust the game’s difficulty from the main “Options” menu, changing how many lives and continues you play with. The game also includes a password feature, allowing you to skip to later stages and easily acquire all seven Keys to the Seal. These magical blades are hidden in each stage, sometimes in plain sight and sometimes requiring a bit of exploration to find. You’ll need all seven to play as Gold Sparkster and get the best ending, encouraging a replay or two (though be sure to take out Axel’s mech at the start for the first sword!) This Re-Sparked version also comes with the American and Japanese versions of the game, boasts an awesome anime opening, allows you to apply filters and borders, and negates even the hardest difficulty with a rewind and save state feature. The collection also comes with a boss rush, advertisements and concept art, the box art and manual, and the entire soundtrack for all three games. Those playing the PlayStation 4/5 version can also earn nine Trophies, one for clearing the first five stages, one for beating the game on any difficulty, one for unlocking Gold Sparkster, one for achieving the true ending, and one for beating the boss rush.

The Summary:
I’ve played Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 before thanks to the magic of emulation, but never got past the first stage because, as a big fan of the original and an avid Mega Drive collector, I always wanted to own a physical copy of the game. It took a while, but the Re-Sparked collection finally made that a reality, only to present me with a game that’s visually inferior to its predecessor and Super Nintendo cousin in many ways. While Sparkster looks great and there are some interesting effects in some stages, the environments just seem far blander and far less engaging compared to the other 16-bit titles. Honestly, the game made a bad impression from the start and never really recovered; the rocket gameplay is much improved, but the main enemies lack animation frames and personality. The locations lack the steampunk trappings of the other titles and are far more generic which, coupled with the bizarre downplaying of the rocket pack and ricochet gimmick and removing Sparkster’s sword beam, means Rocket Knight Adventures 2 is just another colourful platformer. It’s fun enough, for sure, and some stages have interesting gimmicks, such as zipping through the airship and piloting the SparkRobo, but where are the flying sections? Where’s the quirky humour? Where’s the memorable music? The bosses were decent enough and I liked that you face more of them on harder difficulties. The one-on-one with Axel Gear is probably the best version of that fight, it’s just a shame you have to sit through another tedious mech battle to get to it. Rocket Knight Adventures 2 is also far too linear at times and felt the easiest of the three 16-bit titles, with King Gedol being the simplest of the final bosses and the hardest part being tracking down those hidden swords. In the end, I enjoyed Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 but nowhere near as much as I wanted to. It fails to live up to its predecessor, lacks the visual punch of the Super Nintendo title, and was a disappointing experience after years of pining for it.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Do you think I’m being too harsh on Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2? How did you think it compared to the first game and the Super Nintendo sequel? What did you think to the new rocket pack mechanics and the lack of sword beam? Were you disappointed to see the flying sections removed? Did you ever find all the Keys to the Seal and unlock Gold Sparkster? Would you like to see a new entry in the Rocket Knight series? Tell me what you thought to Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 in the comments, support me on Ko-Fi, and go read my other Rocket Knight reviews.