Knights are a common choice for a protagonist in an RPG, but what if—and hear me out—what if we juice them up… with rockets. In 1993 Sega decided to combine both in a dual shoot-em-up and scroller type game featuring a little opossum named Sparkster.
The game is called Rocket Knight and features a fantastic colorful and detailed setting that really highlighted the graphical capabilities of the Sega Genesis. Right from the intro the effects and layering are impressive, and this level of quality is present both in cutscenes and in the playable stages. Rocket Knight boasts of being not only a flashy game but also one with meticulous game design and mechanics that create a unique experience for a wide range of players.
As a rocket knight, Sparkster does not hesitate to play both his roles. The game alternates between a platformer and a shoot-em-up semi regularly. The player begins the game as a 2-D platformer, defeating pig-like enemies on the way to the castle where Sparkster’s liege Princess Sherry awaits. However, after the completion of this first level boss, Sparkster activates his jetpack and begins the shoot-em-up auto-scroller portion of the game.
In some occasions the game even combines both aspects, such as in stage three, where carts propel Sparkster forward while the player is still in “platformer mode”.
Rocket Knight is constantly changing, creating a fast-paced and unique experience.
Despite all of the action the game manages to present different, appropriate challenges for each level of player. I was able to experience this first hand because… I suck at Rocket Knight. On the other hand, my husband speed ran the game and shared his experiences. (Thanks for the screenshots!) The differences between how I approached the levels and he zoomed through them felt almost like playing a completely different game.
Sparkster is outfitted with every tool he will ever use right from the start. His sword and jetpack are immediately available and while no direct instructions are issued, the stage design itself serves as a tutorial. On my first run through the first level, I encountered a ledge just high enough that Sparkster could not jump over it. This is one of the few areas in the game that can only really be reached one way. I was not able to walk back or go forward… forcing me to learn to use the jetpack.
Each intro stage cleverly teacher the player how to engage with the level’s mechanics in a “safer” environment before testing them on those same mechanics later. Alternatively, an experienced player can approach the platformer stages with their new skills already honed, taking new paths and clearing them much faster. An example of this is the usage of i-frames in combat portions of the game. Sparkster is given several invincibility frames for every attack he lands on an enemy. For a casual player these frames allow a brief respite from the unrelenting boss rush, while a veteran can learn to take advantage of them to complete bosses in a fraction of the time or avoid big damage. Another is managing and optimizing the "rocket gauge" which depletes upon usage of the sword as it requires the attack button to be held in order to charge it. Aside from making the game approachable this also awards it with ample replayability value.
Rocket Knight teaches through playing and tosses the player into the fray from the start. Properly combining everything you have learned throughout a stage is imperative to completing the rapid-fire boss fights and crossing the changing game environments, forcing the player to learn without holding their hand or interrupting their immersion.
Finally, this would not be a review without assigning an arbitrary numerical value to the playing experience, so I rate Rocket Knight a cool Jet-Packed-Marsupial out of ten!
(Just for fun: Here's a quick 9 second preview of one of the aforementioned speedruns.)
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