Ristar: The Overshadowed Shooting Star

Time for another one of my "Oldies but Goodies" review! Today we're gonna be taking a look at one of my personal all time favourites, "Ristar". Some of you who are like me and came from the age of gaming whereas we had to blow on our video games to make them work may remember the little Shooting Star in this excellently executed little game for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive, while others may have noticed it up for download on the Wii's Virtual Console. Now unless you're like me and still own a working cartridge of this game, I highly recommend downloading this gem. This is just personal opinion but I believe that had it not been for the Blue Blur (You all know who I'm talking about) we'd've seen a lot more adventures from Ristar. What makes it such a great game though?

First off, how many other games do you see floating around that have a Shooting Star as the main character? Uh huh. Thought so. The character Ristar in itself is enough to garter immediate attention. Wikipedia has it that Ristar (Formerly known as "Feel" in prototype stages prior to release) was actually a character prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog who ended up taking on a character of his own and eventually ending up in his own game. However the character came into being though, he's still an awesome little guy.

His story is a little generic however. Evildoer by the name of Kaiser Greedy intends to take over the galaxy, enslaves the populaces of various planets in the Valdi system, also manages to enslave the "Great Hero" (A.K.A. Ristar's Father), Ristar is awakened from his slumber after receiving a distress message from those being enslaved, etc. Keep in mind though that this was from the days when story actually didn't matter a whole lot in video games. What we were after back then was the game play.

Speaking of the game play, this game has it. Simplistic controls for reaching, grabbing and jumping coupled with expertly designed levels for the time made this game primo! Some complained that the game moved too slowly, but again this was because they'd had a taste of Sonic. Genesis gamers wanted speed at this point. Ah, and while we're on the subject of the gameplay and Sonic, I believe this might be a good place to interject a bit of trivia. If any of you have heard of the game "Sonic Unleashed", then you're probably familiar with Werehog Sonic's arm stretching ability. Some say that his abilities were a callback to Sonic's prototype character Ristar's main ability of extended reach.

Now, let's move on to the graphics in this game. They are nothing short of choice, my friends! Some of the graphics are so well done that if I hadn't known it was a Genesis/Megadrive game I would have sworn up and down it was a 32X game! The palettes were expertly chosen and blended to give it a very high quality feel! The level designs are really eye popping and creative as well, especially on levels/planets Sonata, Flora and Greedy's Castle! It definitely ranks one of the best for graphics on the Genesis, hands down.

Speaking of the levels, this game showcases some nice gimmicks and puzzles in relation to Ristar's unique abilities. For instance, using "Star Poles" to swing around on at high speeds to get to higher ledges, move to the next level, oreven go to a secret level if you find a hidden star pole to swing on. There are also several pulley systems, moving objects/platforms you could swing from, etc. Gimmicks galore, but very well done ones!

Ah, but there isn't a lot to even the most artsy and well designed level without an excellent background music track, now is there? Well this game definitely has that covered. While boss battle music could use some work, in-level music is very engaging, well done and very fitting to each level its placed. Planet Flora's music has a very upbeat, tropical feel to it while planet Freon has a very fitting, somewhat Christmasy and bell-like tune. Also, if you listen well to the music in part two of Planet Sonata, you'll hear this game's version of one of my favourite 50's instrumental songs called "The Happy Organ", originally by Dave "Baby" Cortez. So far I think I'm the only one who has picked up on this, but... then again, most gamers don't listen to oldies and doo-wop music like I do.

Anyway, in short, Ristar is one of the best games out there for the Sega Genesis, no questions asked. Superb graphics, excellent gameplay, sweet level design, fitting and awesome music, the works. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna give Ristar a whopping 7 out of 7 Chaos Emeralds. Now go play it! God Bless!