Rocket Knight Adventures

"The most underrated game. Ever."

A long time ago back in 1995 I got this game for Easter and right away I began playing and 7 years later I still find myself playing it constantly...

Story 6.5/10
The story is another princess kidnapping but if you look beyond that they have a good story involving ancient starships. A pig emperor is trying to get his grubby hands on the Pig Star, however he needs the princess because she knows how to access the Pig Star. He hires a bounty hunter named Axel Gear (your rival) to kidnap her and that's where the game begins. You are Sparkstar the rocket knight and you are also tracking down Axel Gear to avenge your mentor. It would have scored higher but it's still a princess kidnapping.

Sound 7/10 The sound is more than decent but it is not brilliant. Sparkstar's voice is very annoying but the music on the final level is quite catchy. The pigs make funny noises when you slash them. the final Boss music is kind of anti-climatic but the final level music more than makes up for it.

Graphics 9/10 Very good for there time some enemies in the game such as the Train boss in level 2 are very detailed.
The backgrounds are above average. My biggest gripe is that the lava in level three looks like tomato soup. Axel gear's gun that he fires at you later in the game looks very cool even today. Level five looks like an industrial war-zone when you are in the sky.

Control 10/10
Control is tight. One odd thing is that you have two jump buttons you can also charge your energy attack and charge at foes. If you hold the charge button too long you will turn jet black,(no pun intended).

Gameplay 10/10
One word and that word is Woah. Basically you run from level to level causing harm to pigs, the bosses range from trains robots and a giant fish. In some places you will fly using a fuel cell and put that jet pack to use. The game can be easy or it can be hard.The Children difficulty level is pretty easy while hard is well insane. I don't know why people call this a sonic rip off as it is not anything remotely like Sonic.

Overall Score (not an average)10/10
This game was released in Konami's Golden age of 2-D games along with Contra and the Ninja Turtles If you find this at a used game store and you're Genesis is alive and well buy it,unless you have something against 2-D side scrollers.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/03/02, Updated 11/03/02