Ristar – The Shooting Star

Overview

Evil space pirate Kaiser Greedy has forced the seven leaders of the planets in the Valdi system to obey him. The people of Planet Neer call for a hero, and the Star Goddess Oruto grants their wish, sending one of her children, Ristar, to the peoples’ aide.

Our hero – Ristar – must traverse the levels by jumping from platform to platform, and using his stretchy arms to grab enemies, posts or bars and either dispatch them or propel himself.

The game takes place across six levels, split across two stages and a boss fight. The last boss is fought when all six levels are clear.

Comment

Ristar was released late in the Mega Drive’s life. As such, it really is a showcase of what a developer can do when the know the hardware, but the game arrived at a time when the Playstation was out in Japan and due later in the year in Europe. As such, the game wasn’t as widely appreciated as it deserved.

Visually, the game is a real treat on the eyes. Rich colour palettes, detailed sprites, parallax backgrounds and some lovely effects make the game mesmerising to play. The music is also clear, bouncy and fitting.

The gameplay also matches the maturity of the host system. Similar game mechanics to the usual platform suspects, played at a controlled pace, with the added twist of grabbing onto objects that allow the player to progress through the levels.

This is a beautifully crafted game, but the slower pace coupled with the fact it’s yet another platform game may put some people off. We don’t think that should put you off playing a very enjoyable and well-rounded game.

Notes

Ristar’s original character – a rabbit – was put forward during early Sonic The Hedgehog game design discussion. Needing more speed, for when Sonic rolls like a ball, a hedgehog was chosen instead. Ristar originally used his rabbit ears to grab objects, but as the game was developed this was dropped. However, there is a rabbit on the first level that uses it’s ears to attack.