Rocket Knight Adventures is one of my favorite games on the Genesis. It's just a top-notch action-platformer on a console filled with top-notch action platformer, with blisteringly fast gameplay, large-scale bosses, impressive skills, and a typically peppy 90s Konami soundtrack to tie it all together. It's such a polished and complete package and you'd be hard pressed to find someone doesn't absolutely adore it.
The sequels, on the other hand, are a bit more divisive. Konami decided to release sequels to Rocket Knight Adventures on both the SNES and the Genesis, and despite both being called Sparkster, they're entirely different games with the only real similarities between them being a few shared music tracks. Neither of the Sparkster games are better than Rocket Knight, but whether or not they even live up to the original along with which one's the stronger showing tends to be subject to a lot of debate.
So what do I think? Well, I think SNES Sparkster is a worthy sequel that can go toe to toe with its predecessor at its best, and Genesis Sparkster while a fine platformer on its own merits is a bafflingly misguided misunderstanding of what made the original game so fun. And I want to talk about why these games managed to go in such drastically different directions despite their similarities.
Mechanics: One thing that I think both versions of Sparkster manage to nail is Sparkster's defining fast-paced movement, though they each do it in different ways. Genesis Sparkster is the only game in the trilogy where your rocket boost fills up automatically, allowing you to boost a lot more often. There's also two levels of boost so if you let it fill up all the way, you can let out two boosts in a row. It's different from the other games but I'd be hard-pressed to call it a downgrade, Sparkster's movement is still super fast and responsive and boosting through each stage still feels incredibly satisfying.
That being said, SNES Sparkster has my favorite movement mechanics in the trilogy. For the most part, it plays like the original game where you hold down the attack button to charge your boost. However, it feels like your boost charges faster, and propels you faster and farther, which gives the game a much more frenetic pace. On top of that, Sparkster for SNES adds the ability to roll left and right to break out of your fall, quickly dodge obstacles, and even deal chip damage. I absolutely love the roll mechanic, it's super intuitive to use and gives the player more control to counter the game's far faster pace. It actually feels like a proper evolution of the Rocket Knight formula and not just a sidestep like in the Genesis version.
And beyond the movement, Genesis Sparkster adds a bunch of changes and new mechanics that feel unnecessary at best and detrimental at worst. This is the only game in the trilogy where your standard sword slash doesn't create a shockwave, so you need to go right up to enemies to actually land a hit, which is most likely gonna get you hurt yourself. The only truly valid option for combat here is the boost, which in turn makes Genesis Sparkster feel a lot more limited in terms of combat. Then there's the roulette mechanic, and hoo boy. So, by collecting ten gems, you'll trigger a roulette wheel that will drop a bonus item on your head. Sometimes, this would be something helpful like a sword upgrade or a health pick-up. Other times, it'll drop a harmful bomb on your head that you can barely avoid without split second reaction timing. Who thought this was a good idea? Sparkster for Genesis is actively punishing you for exploring for gems, and that's especially problematic because its level design is a lot more explorative.
Level Design: Genesis Sparkster's level design is probably its weakest aspect. There's also five proper stages here, but they all absolutely drag, to the point where I'd call this the longest game of the trilogy despite having only the least amount of stages. RKA's levels tend to feel really dynamic, flowing seamlessly from one setpiece to the next, never ending where they start, and never leaning on the same idea for too long. Sparkster's levels are a lot blockier and less naturalistic, and tend to repeat the same setpiece or miniboss over and over again. The gimmicks at play in RKA are often quite fun, like the minecart stage, those waterfalls you can jump in and out of, or the solid shmup bits. The gimmicks in Sparkster, on the other hand, tend to drag the pacing to a halt, whether it's dealing with a confusing pipe maze in the airship stage, several autoscrolling bits that discourage you from using the boost, or an incredibly clunky and unresponsive mech stage.
If Rocket Knight Adventures is an action-platformer in the vein of Contra
or Gunstar Heroes, Genesis Sparkster feels like it's trying to be a
Sonic game. The one thing I think Genesis Sparkster's levels have going for them is that they're a lot more focused on exploration, often having multiple routes, secret areas with items and pickups, and even some collectibles, like in a Sonic game. Of course, the roulette gimmick made me not want to explore, and the levels themselves are too pace-killing to run through like a Sonic stage, so it leaves Genesis Sparkster feeling pretty unfocused as a result. Konami also tried to introduce a Chaos Emerald analog in the seven swords hidden around the game, which in turn unlocks a Super Form for Sparkster you can use on the final boss to make him easier. I actually kinda like this concept, but the hiding places for these swords are pretty hit-or-miss. While the ones hidden within the stages themselves are fairly cleverly placed, the other half of them are hidden behind boss fights, one of which is a skippable intro cutscene.
Boss Design: Rocket Knight Adventures has some of the best boss fights on the Genesis, but I admit, they can drag a little long at points. While neither Sparkster game comes even close to topping the sheer spectacle of RKA's best encounters, they do at the very least tend to not take nearly as long. However, that is a bit of a double edged sword. The bosses in Genesis Sparkster are generally pretty massive pushovers, with barely any health that you can easily shred with just one or two spin attacks. They're also just generally a lot smaller in scale, and feel less impressive as a result. SNES Sparkster is once again an improvement, with its bosses having just the perfect amount of health so that they feel like a proper challenge without feeling like they're dragging on. And while none of them are all that spectacular, they're certainly quite big. The very first boss in Sparkster is a giant robot that crashes its head through the hull of the airship you're in, and many later bosses shake things up with multiple phases.
The one sticking point in both game is the obligatory mech fight. Rocket Knight Adventures's mech fight wasn't spectacular or anything, but it was a fun and fairly short change of pace going into the game's final stretch. The mech fights in both versions of Sparkster are probably the low points of their respective games, though the Genesis version is still somehow worse in this aspect. Despite Genesis Sparkster using roughly the same mechanics as RKA's mech fight, it feels like the odds are stacked more against you here. Axle's mech has a missile launcher to keep you at a distance, and while you have a long range attack, good luck charging it up when Axle keeps interrupting you. It's not an exactly hard fight, but with how hard it is to get close for a punch, these mech fights drag. And the worst part is that if you want to get Gold Sparkster, you're gonna have to do it twice, once in the prologue and a once during the actual boss fight in Stage 4.
Sparkster for SNES's mech fight has a unique top-down perspective and plays more like rock-em sock-em robots. It's a lot faster and more responsive, but it's also absolutely brutal. Sparkster SNES is probably the hardest game in the series on its own, but this fight alone just solidifies it. Once again, it feels like the odds are stacked against you here. Axle's mech has way more health than you, and he can enter a rage mode that's borderline impossible to properly avoid. You can try blocking, but blocking too much will cause your arms to break and leave you vulnerable anyway. So yeah, even if I think the SNES version generally has it better here, neither of the Sparkster games really nailed the boss fights, and I think that's the core reason why RKA is still considered the best of the trilogy.
Visuals: I'll be quick here because I do think all three Rocket Knight games look pretty good, but I think RKA still looks the best and does a lot more to push the Genesis in some cool ways. This ties into what I said about the level design, RKA's levels look a lot more natural and organic, while the Sparkster games have a noticeable blockiness to them. This isn't as bad in the SNES version of Sparkster though, there's still a lot of really impressive scenery and neat visual setpieces, especially in the pyramid with all the shifting tiles and weird moving platforms. And the fact that Sparkster can move as fast as he does with as little slowdown as there is makes this quite the impressive title on the console. Genesis Sparkster, on the other hand, looks noticeably cheaper with its visuals, with flat coloring that makes it look more like a Master System game than the late era Genesis title it already is. Keep in mind, we got Contra Hard Corps the same year and the difference is night and day. I also wanted to bring up Sparkster's redesign which I'm admittedly a bit split on. I think his animations are a lot more fluid in both of the sequels, but as a whole, I do prefer the chubbier, more animalistic original design.
Music: The music is another area where I think both games knocked it out of the park. I mean, it's a Konami game from the 90s, of course the music is going to slap. Both Sparkster games share the same main theme, and it really feels like the quintessential Rocket Knight motif, it's heroic and heart-pumping in a way that really suits the character. They also lean more into the rock than the synth/baroque fusion the original game had, which I honestly kind of prefer. Genesis Sparkster's soundtrack has some pretty weak boss themes, but the level themes are pretty stellar across the board, with the highlights being the Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 5 themes. It's not a half bad soundtrack, even if it's probably my least favorite of the trilogy.
However, once again, I think SNES Sparkster reigns supreme. By 1994, Konami had well and truly mastered the SNES's sound hardware, and their go-to soundfont has this distinctly punchy and energetic sound to it. Games like Pop'n Twinbee: Rainbow Bell Adventures, Ganbare Goemon 2, and Gokujo Parodius took advantage of it to great effect, and it breathes so much life into the SNES Sparkster OST. Lakeside is an easy contender for my favorite Rocket Knight track period, and Steelworks, Bird, Submarine, Shooting, and the Final Boss theme are all standouts as well. It might even be my favorite soundtrack in the trilogy, it's so damn good.
Conclusion
As you can see, I think the SNES version of Sparkster manages to outclass the Genesis version in pretty much every way. Even the things that the Genesis version does well like the movement and music are done even better in the SNES version. I don't know if we'll ever know which version was intended to be the proper sequel to Rocket Knight Adventures, but all I can say is that I think the SNES Sparkster manages to capture the appeal of the original a lot more. It may not seem as fresh on the surface, but it iterates on the formula in some really smart ways and can stand on its own as one of the most fun action platformers on the console. While the Genesis version isn't a bad game or anything, it's a noticeable downgrade, most of its new additions make it worse, and on a console filled with some of the best action-platformers of all time, it feels nowhere near as special.
Sparkster SNES: 4/5 Stars
Sparkster GEN: 3/5 Stars
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