The eponymous main character is an opossum knight who fights an army of yellow wolves and robots. He is armed with a sword that can fire energy bolts and a rocket pack that allows him to fly short distances. The gameplay remains mostly the same as in Mega Drive games, with the most notable change being the addition of a short-distance rolling dash. One major difference is that the game's final level depends on a difficulty player selected. On easy, the game culminates with battle against Axel Gear, but on normal, the story continues with Sparkster fighting the leader of the Wolves on the next level. On hard difficulty, the game continues beyond that, with the true final stage.
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Didn't really like this game that much.
Compared to the original it feels like it's throwing way too much stuff at the wall, the level design feels sparse and haphazardly thrown together with no sense of flow or connective tissue, they're going for like a Sonic-esque thing where there's multiple paths through the levels but it doesn't really feel appropriate for Sparkster's moveset which tends to be very stop and go.
The bosses also feel much less thought out this time around with it mostly just being a matter of throwing yourself at them and hoping you kill them before they kill you.
Another slight against this as a sequel to RKA is how the aesthetics just aren't nearly as nice - the colors are much more garish this time around and the level themes aren't as cohesive as they were in the original.
I made it as far as the robot fight against the rival knight before I gave up on the game, the shmup section took a huge hit and despite this game's overall faster pace it was sluggishly slow compared to the equivalent bits from the original, just the thought of having to go through the whole thing every time I die to the RNG robot boss fight fills me with dread.
It's a fine enough game I guess, if you've never played the original you might get more enjoyment out of it than I did, but as it is I think I'm fine with not touching Sparkster again for the time being.
Compared to the original it feels like it's throwing way too much stuff at the wall, the level design feels sparse and haphazardly thrown together with no sense of flow or connective tissue, they're going for like a Sonic-esque thing where there's multiple paths through the levels but it doesn't really feel appropriate for Sparkster's moveset which tends to be very stop and go.
The bosses also feel much less thought out this time around with it mostly just being a matter of throwing yourself at them and hoping you kill them before they kill you.
Another slight against this as a sequel to RKA is how the aesthetics just aren't nearly as nice - the colors are much more garish this time around and the level themes aren't as cohesive as they were in the original.
I made it as far as the robot fight against the rival knight before I gave up on the game, the shmup section took a huge hit and despite this game's overall faster pace it was sluggishly slow compared to the equivalent bits from the original, just the thought of having to go through the whole thing every time I die to the RNG robot boss fight fills me with dread.
It's a fine enough game I guess, if you've never played the original you might get more enjoyment out of it than I did, but as it is I think I'm fine with not touching Sparkster again for the time being.
Unlike Sparkster Sega Genesis, Sparkster SNES recaptures the gameplay of Rocket Knight in a meaningful way, and the new Roll in his moveset just gives you an extra grip of control in your whacky movement. There are some insta-kill hazards that are incredibly frustrating, like in stages 2 and 8, (and one random spike that insta-kills in stage 5 despite no other spike in the game insta-killing)but outside that you have plenty of room to just zip around and roll around to recalibrate and it's just a good time. Goofy concepts are still here too, the ostrich level moving at extremely high speeds had me laughing the whole time. Music in this game is solid too. Also shoutouts to the music level where not only do you get to play a piano for a bit, but your rival can play too!
I could keep going but this is a goofy good time that I would consider the true successor of the first game. Just like Aladdin, the SNES versions of multiplats continue to be king.
I could keep going but this is a goofy good time that I would consider the true successor of the first game. Just like Aladdin, the SNES versions of multiplats continue to be king.
With the amount of hype people give this game, I was kind of expecting it to play like RKA1 but better. Which, in some senses it does, but in others... On the one hand, the addition of rolling does make movement feel a bit smoother (though I forgot about it a solid 80% of the game until it was required) but going out of charge attacks feels way stiffer for some reason. Like you kind of just stop dead in your tracks if you don't hit anything (which you did in RKA1 but it felt different, not sure how to explain). Also, the concepts in this game are far less ambitious than RKA1 – the closest it got was with the bird level, which reminded me a lot of the cool minecart level from RKA1, but with a less cool boss fight. But it feels less cohesive here, going from the desert pyramid level to the music land level (where you do one of the penultimate fights from the original game for some reason?? I was really expecting them to leave it for, I don't know, the last level?). They also took away the flying sections from 1, which I personally liked a little. It's still a fine game, just feels a bit weird to call it an improvement on RKA1. Then again, I haven't played the Genesis version of Sparkster so I'm not sure how much better/worse that game is compared to this one.
compared to the genesis version of sparkster i definitely think this game feels a lot more like a continuation of rocket knight 1 because mechanically and visually it definitely feels more aligned with that game and feels like a bit more of a proper sequel, but honestly i still feel like this game has one major shortcoming and its some of the level designs. the amount of random instakills from getting squashed by obstacles in some of these platforming levels was so annoying and it alone brought this game down a little for me. at the same time though one thing i will blame myself for that probably wouldve made this playthrough go a little more smoothly was the fact that you had a second air dash type move that you could cancel your jetpack boost with and that was a really cool mechanic that i didnt even know existed until halfway through the game and it was the reason i missed like several 1ups and gems along the way, so i fully take the blame for being stupid and not trying out all the buttons. i do think everything else in this game was pretty fun though. when things arent instakilling you the levels are pretty fun to go through. a little easy at times especially considering they give you 5 continues but overall not a bad game to follow up the first rocket knight with, i could see myself trying this one out again to improve at it and not die as much. they also killed it with the music in this version too, all around they just know how to make good music for these games
Definitely the superior game with the name "Sparkster". The jetpack mechanic is more in line with how it originally worked and the adorable opossum also seems to have gotten his sword slash projectile back for good. There's also some really solid visual FX going on as soon as stage 1 with the reflective water and stones transforming into wolf soldiers.
For the first three quarters, the game also captures a sense of speed quite unlike any other super Nintendo game with how fast you can zip through levels. In addition to the jetpack boost, Sparkster also has a sort of roll dodge which can help players stay airborne even after the boost is over.
There are some caveats though. The back half of the game is kind of bad. Stage 7 kicks off with a semi decent vertical shmup section (remember...it's Konami. Surprisingly there are no fire snakes to contend with) but ends in the worst mech fight out of the entire series. It's an RNG fest through and through...if you don't believe me watch a speedrun. Even they manage to get killed here from time to time and to this day I don't think there's a proper strategy.
Stage 8 isn't as bad, but it does have a lot of slower/pace breaking sections. That big mode 7 missile you have to duck under at the start is pretty cool the first time you see it...but not the tenth. The final boss (at least on normal) also seems to be pretty rng heavy, but at least he won't just spam a bunch of crap that you can barely avoid if at all.
You can only access Stage 9 by playing on hard (kind of an idiotic and pretentious design choice). It's a straight shot followed by an ironically easy "true" final battle, but at least it has an actual pattern.
At the end of the day, neither sequel is really as good as the original game which is lightning in a bottle. Still, if you're willing to forgive that the last couple stages were probably rushed to meet a deadline, there's a great time to be had here.
For the first three quarters, the game also captures a sense of speed quite unlike any other super Nintendo game with how fast you can zip through levels. In addition to the jetpack boost, Sparkster also has a sort of roll dodge which can help players stay airborne even after the boost is over.
There are some caveats though. The back half of the game is kind of bad. Stage 7 kicks off with a semi decent vertical shmup section (remember...it's Konami. Surprisingly there are no fire snakes to contend with) but ends in the worst mech fight out of the entire series. It's an RNG fest through and through...if you don't believe me watch a speedrun. Even they manage to get killed here from time to time and to this day I don't think there's a proper strategy.
Stage 8 isn't as bad, but it does have a lot of slower/pace breaking sections. That big mode 7 missile you have to duck under at the start is pretty cool the first time you see it...but not the tenth. The final boss (at least on normal) also seems to be pretty rng heavy, but at least he won't just spam a bunch of crap that you can barely avoid if at all.
You can only access Stage 9 by playing on hard (kind of an idiotic and pretentious design choice). It's a straight shot followed by an ironically easy "true" final battle, but at least it has an actual pattern.
At the end of the day, neither sequel is really as good as the original game which is lightning in a bottle. Still, if you're willing to forgive that the last couple stages were probably rushed to meet a deadline, there's a great time to be had here.
[played on the SNES9X emulator]
While I absolutely love the Mega Drive Rocket Knight games and have replayed them quite a few times, I've rarely revisited Sparkster's outing on the SNES. All that time away from it made me think the game wasn't very good, but after going through it again, I rediscovered how great it is!
A key aspect of this series is the movement, and Sparkster SNES especially excels here! It's very similar to the original Rocket Knight Adventures, although lacking the risk vs reward mechanic of the regular sword attack doing more damage compared to the beams it shoots, as they deal the same amount here. However, there is a fantastic new move that more than makes up for this loss: the rolling. By pressing the shoulder buttons, Sparkster will do a fiery roll, manuevering himself in the air and allowing him to get out of the typical free-fall. This adds a lot of strategy, as you can also use it as an attack, meaning you can either be super risky or roll out of danger after landing a hard-hitting rocket boost to the enemy. It's a fantastic addition that really increases the gameplay depth, even though it seems fairly small.
Excellent movement would mean nothing if the level design wasn't suited for it, but fortunately this game's levels are! Each stage is quite varied, and they offer a lot of options for how you want to tackle them, whether that's taking your time with the platforming or rocketing through without a care in the world. In particular, I really love how open the second stage can get, and how many paths are available. The rest are fairly linear, but they still use Sparkster's kit effectively. There's also a few levels where you don't do as much platforming, like Stage 3's robo-bird riding and Stage 7 becoming a space shooter, but they end up feeling like fairly nice changes of pace more than anything. Each level's also incredibly well-paced, with very little downtime but also enough time to flesh out the various gimmicks.
The game also looks and sounds fairly nice! Konami's 16-bit games almost always excelled in these categories, but Sparkster especially so. A lot of the soundtrack is lifted from the Mega Drive sequel, and it all sounds really good with the Super Nintendo's sound hardware, although I still prefer how they sounded on Sega's machine. Sparkster's also an incredibly good-looking game, with smooth animations, colourful sprites, detailed backgrounds and some really neat graphical effects.
Although with all that said, a few criticisms come to mind. Some of the boss fights near the end-game (particularly Stage 7's boss and one of Stage 8's minibosses) are a bit tedious to fight, as the former's a massive difficulty spike and the latter's got way too much health for it's own good. There's also a lot of slowdown, which isn't as big an issue if you use the right settings on an emulator, but can be a little annoying since most of it happens during regular gameplay.
Despite these small blemishes, Sparkster's a damn good SNES platformer! It brings the Rocket Knight formula over to Nintendo's system really well, and even improves on things the Mega Drive games did. I'm so glad it'll be getting a second chance in the Resparked collection, which also seems to be adding a Boost Mode that removes the lag! Once that's out, I'd say that'll be the best way of playing this one. Regardless, this game (as well as the MD duology) are worth playing any way you can!
While I absolutely love the Mega Drive Rocket Knight games and have replayed them quite a few times, I've rarely revisited Sparkster's outing on the SNES. All that time away from it made me think the game wasn't very good, but after going through it again, I rediscovered how great it is!
A key aspect of this series is the movement, and Sparkster SNES especially excels here! It's very similar to the original Rocket Knight Adventures, although lacking the risk vs reward mechanic of the regular sword attack doing more damage compared to the beams it shoots, as they deal the same amount here. However, there is a fantastic new move that more than makes up for this loss: the rolling. By pressing the shoulder buttons, Sparkster will do a fiery roll, manuevering himself in the air and allowing him to get out of the typical free-fall. This adds a lot of strategy, as you can also use it as an attack, meaning you can either be super risky or roll out of danger after landing a hard-hitting rocket boost to the enemy. It's a fantastic addition that really increases the gameplay depth, even though it seems fairly small.
Excellent movement would mean nothing if the level design wasn't suited for it, but fortunately this game's levels are! Each stage is quite varied, and they offer a lot of options for how you want to tackle them, whether that's taking your time with the platforming or rocketing through without a care in the world. In particular, I really love how open the second stage can get, and how many paths are available. The rest are fairly linear, but they still use Sparkster's kit effectively. There's also a few levels where you don't do as much platforming, like Stage 3's robo-bird riding and Stage 7 becoming a space shooter, but they end up feeling like fairly nice changes of pace more than anything. Each level's also incredibly well-paced, with very little downtime but also enough time to flesh out the various gimmicks.
The game also looks and sounds fairly nice! Konami's 16-bit games almost always excelled in these categories, but Sparkster especially so. A lot of the soundtrack is lifted from the Mega Drive sequel, and it all sounds really good with the Super Nintendo's sound hardware, although I still prefer how they sounded on Sega's machine. Sparkster's also an incredibly good-looking game, with smooth animations, colourful sprites, detailed backgrounds and some really neat graphical effects.
Although with all that said, a few criticisms come to mind. Some of the boss fights near the end-game (particularly Stage 7's boss and one of Stage 8's minibosses) are a bit tedious to fight, as the former's a massive difficulty spike and the latter's got way too much health for it's own good. There's also a lot of slowdown, which isn't as big an issue if you use the right settings on an emulator, but can be a little annoying since most of it happens during regular gameplay.
Despite these small blemishes, Sparkster's a damn good SNES platformer! It brings the Rocket Knight formula over to Nintendo's system really well, and even improves on things the Mega Drive games did. I'm so glad it'll be getting a second chance in the Resparked collection, which also seems to be adding a Boost Mode that removes the lag! Once that's out, I'd say that'll be the best way of playing this one. Regardless, this game (as well as the MD duology) are worth playing any way you can!