‘Underrated’ is a term too often applied recklessly, but for Rocket Knight Adventures , a series that struggled to reach global stardom despite Konami’s three-pronged stab, it’s appropriate. Its initial entry resides in the upper echelons of everything 16-bit and is one of the finest titles on the Mega Drive. Yet, Sparkster, despite hitting all the right notes for an anthropomorphised gaming hero of the '90s, inexplicably underperformed at market.
The Re-Sparked collection features Mega Drive entries Rocket Knight Adventures (1993) and Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (1994), as well as Sparkster for the Super Nintendo (1994). Additionally, there are a wealth of options and bonus features on board in the form of art museums, music players, boss rush modes, CRT filters, wallpapers, rewind features, and save states. Emerging from Konami’s most celebrated development period, Rocket Knight Adventures — the series debut — is godly.
Everything in its assembly, from aesthetic to mechanics to its dazzling stage variety and incredible music score, hits exactly right. It's unquestionably the best of the three, and remains a salient example of how to hone an action-game experience with boundless invention and zero fluff. Set in a fantasy kingdom that fuses traditional castles, knights, and princesses with giant steampunk machinery and smog-spewing, oil-caked towns, intrepid Sparkster is tasked with recovering a fair maiden from the clutches of Axel Gear — his knight.