Oh the 90's… A time when every video game publisher had to have it's own hip,anthromorphic animal mascot.
From the more popular ones like Sonic the Hedgehog, to the god-awful one like Bubsy the Bobcat, some rather cool ones were unfortunately lost in-between.
One of those is Sparkster, the Rocket Knight. A sword-wielding, armoured Opossum with a jetpack was Konami's way of attempting a mascot cash grab. And you know what? He was pretty damn awesome. His debut Genesis/Mega Drive venture "Rocket Knight Adventures" is regarded by some as a classic, even making it's way on the That Guy with the Glasses top 25 Genesis titles.
It wasn't the most revolutionary platformer to exist, but it was tight, colourful and fun. It genuinely stood out during a period of time where a sea of generic 2D platformers flooded all the home consoles. It also helps that it was designed by Nobuya Nakazato, who also happened to be involved in making the three most badass Contra titles: Alien Wars, Hard Corps and Shattered Soldier.
In some sense, Nakazato's touch can be felt in the Rocket Knight games. That trigger-happy craziness that pervades Contra can be found here, albeit nowhere near as challenging. But that's one of the things that does separate Rocket Knight from the pack. Once you complete RKA, it's Genesis sequel "Rocket Knight Adventures 2: Sparkster" or it's Super Nintendo spin-off, "Sparkster" you genuinely feel like you've worked to complete the game. There's just the right amount of challenge. You don't want to throw your controller into the TV and you don't want to give up in boredom, it keeps you playing as much as it can. Like a good game should!
I also forgot to mention the presentation of the game. It's pretty, the backgrounds are varied and well-done, the characters are neat-looking and cool, and Sparkster himself looks like a badass. It's a far-cry from many shit games. In fact, it’s right up there visually with the Speedy Blue Hedgehog himself, it’s that pretty.
Unfortunately, I'm more than certain that many of you have never even heard of this fantastic gem before reading this, I'd also hope you'd want to play it. Fortunately, you can. This is an article about reboots after all...
Here comes Climax Studios, the guys who gave you a pair of pretty awesome Silent Hill games and a shitty God of War clone that was supposed to be a tie-in with the Ghost Rider film. But we'll only acknowledge the first two.
Judging from the rather pretty screenshots above, Rocket Knight looks like a worthy follow-up to it's classic 16-bit predecessors. I'm generally excited and you should too. No word yet on when it's coming out or how much it'll cost, but it's set for early 2010 and will most likely be priced in the $10 range.
In the mean-time, if you can find yourself a copy, go play one of the three originals, they're pretty damn awesome. I promise to keep you all updated on any future updates for Rocket Knight and you will most definitely see a review on the day of it's release. Yes, I'm that excited.
Keep an eye out in the coming weeks.
- Kyle K.
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