In the land of wacky critters starring in their own video games (ie; the 16-bit era) there were a lot of subpar games - your Awesome Possums, your Bubsy Bobcats - but one stood above those other 3rd party games - an Opossum, strapped to a Rocketpack!
The Rocket Knight Sparkster lives in the world of Erehwon - A Steampunk land where sorcery live alongside giant robots. Sparkster's weapons of choice are a sword and his Rocketpack - which has a unique boost system which you must recharge before use.
Rocket Knight Adventures, Megadrive
Using the Rocketpack, Sparkster can boost around the level in short bursts, using it to reach high areas, or to spin against some giant screws to plug holes. Being an Opossum, Sparkster can also climb trees using his long tail - where he can slide down branches and gain some extra momentum.
One of the big things about Sparkster was the bosses - there are a lot of them - and they're all pretty damn crazy and huge. It's similar in a way to Treasure's classic Gunstar Heroes, bosses come thick and fast, and continue to get bigger as the game progresses. One boss involves Sparkster fighting against his evil-doppleganger in giant Goemon-esque Robots!
The first game was released only on the Genesis as Rocket Knight Adventures - a great game with a bit more cuteness to it compared to the later games. In this game Sparkster can shoot flames from his sword, giving the game a sort of platform based shooter vibe. It's filled with huge bosses and excellent platforming as you fight the evil Pig invasion and get that the ol' Princess back.
Sparkster, MegadriveSecond was Sparkster - So why a Sparkster Collection and not just seperate releases? Well the series has a bit of an odd twist in the middle - while the first game was only released on the Megadrive, Sparkster was released the Megadrive and SNES - however, both games were completely different!
Sparkster on the Genesis took a different route to the original - still similar but instead had more freedom to move around a level, more action based - very Sonic styled. Sparkster doesn't shoot flame from his sword anymore, now relying on his Rocket Pack - which can now boost at any time, or can Super Boost by holding out longer. You can boost while in the air unlike the original, so you can just boost all around the level with no problems - it automatically refills too! It's honestly my favourite of the lot, but many prefer the style of the other two - I'm just more of a Sonic fan.
Sparkster, Super NintendoSparkster on the SNES is one of the best looking games available for the console - which is saying a lot - with some fantastic graphical effects for the time (transparencies and all that), the usual giant bosses, and a much richer colour palette. Despite being on the other console, it has far more in common with the original than the Megadrive version - Sparkster has his fire sword and his limited Rocketpack power - but the levels have been made to better suit more control with it.
A Sparkster Collection on the XBLA could please all fans of the series without the need to confuse the fans and players of the game - include all 3 games for 800 Microsoft Points - makes it easy and makes it seem like a bargain - and will get more people to buy it.
Since Sparkster, the Rocket Knight was not seen again officially until very recently - in the upcoming "New Track and Field" for the Nintendo DS - which is filled with some classic Konami characters. He couldn't even muster as a character in Konami Krazy Racers on the GBA - but now that Sparkster will appeared in a real form for the first time in 13 years, it might be the best time to bring back his classic games to downloadable services.
Get on it, Konami and Backbone Entertainment! None of this Gyruss and Rush 'n Attack crap - let's get some quality unaltered software on the platform! Admittedly there is no actual evidence of Backbone having Super Nintendo emulation technology (That I can recall anyhow) - their emulation has been purely SEGA and Arcade based - it still would be nice to have all 3 games bundled together as a celebration of classic Konami platformers.
