Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2

From Sega Retro

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Sparkster title.png

Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Konami
Developer:
Sound driver: Konami/Vampire Killer
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP 		¥8,8008,800 T-95103
Sega Mega Drive
US 		T-95166
Sega Mega Drive
EU 		T-95166-50
Sega Mega Drive
DE 		DM 109,95109,95[4]
Sega Mega Drive
AU
Sega Mega Drive
KR 		GM94016JT

Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (スパークスター ロケットナイトアドベンチャーズ2) is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Konami for the Sega Mega Drive. It is a sequel to Rocket Knight Adventures. Even though the intro screen refers to it as Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, it was only referred to as Sparkster on the North American and European packaging.

The game stars an opossum named Sparkster who carries a sword and jetpack on a mission to stop King Gedol from taking over the Kingdom of Zephyrus and kidnapping Princess Cherry.

Story

After being rescued by Sparkster in the first game, the Kingdom of Zephyrus comes under attack once again. This time from the Gedol Empire which is led by King Gedol. In addition to this, Sparkster must also confront his rival, Axel Gear, who was sent by King Gedol to kidnap Princess Cherry, the cousin to Princess Sherry.

Gameplay

The game plays similar to its predecessor. The player can jump B, attack with a sword A, and use a rocket pack to fly short distances C. The button layout can be configured. The projectile emitted from the sword has be removed. When running into walls when using a jetpack the player will rebound if there is enough momentum left. Unlike the first game, the jet pack meter charges quicker and automatically, leading to more opportunities to use the jetpack.

Collecting six secret swords will transform Sparkster into Gold Sparkster, a superpowered form Sparkster. Gold Sparksters attacks are stronger and the rocket pack charges faster. Transforming into Gold Sparkster is necessary to view the true ending.

Moves

Sparkster blast.png
Sparkster corkscrew.png 		As a Rocket Knight, Sparkster gets to utilize some very cool equipment. The rocket pack on his back automatically charges up when it is not in use; it has two different "levels," enabling different moves with each. Players can see the amount of power the rocket pack has charged up at the top of the screen. It charges whenever you are not using it, and as I When your rocket pack is charged to its fullest, the rocket gauge will start blinking orange. Press C and any directional button to utilize the rocket blast for either level of charge. After using the rocket, it'll have to recharge to be able to be used again. Sparkster can go off in one of the eight directions, and cannot be controlled while rocketing. He can also rebound off walls, floors and some objects if there is enough momentum left.
Sparkster buzzsaw.png Similarly controlled by the use of the rocket gauge, by not pressing any directional button with C, Sparkster will perform a buzzsaw cut with his sword, harming any enemy it touches and breaking certain objects. The attack itself has poor range compared to the normal sword, but does hit twice. It also grants invincibility from almost all enemy attacks, with noteable exceptions such as the instant kill laser in stage 5
Sparkster firesword.png If the player finds a small circle with a flame in it, they can grab the power-up and use it to enable the flame sword. This version of the sword deals twice the damage as Sparkster's regular sword, but is lost when Sparkster takes any damage.

Items

When Sparkster has collected 10 Blue Gems or a Red Gem (which count as 10 Blue Gems), the Item Roulette starts to play; at the top right-hand corner, players can see how many Gems they have collected and watch the Item Roulette spin. Then, once an item has been selected (entirely at random), the item is dropped from the sky, and Sparkster can pick it up like normal. Items received from the roulette disappear after a short time.

Blue Gem: Used for collecting towards the Item Roulette
Red Gem: 1x Red Gem = 10x Blue Gem. An instant Item Roulette play.
Flame Orb: Puts Sparkster's sword aflame. All attacks are stronger.
Rocket Pack:Touching these will automatically engage the rocket pack.
Bomb:Causes damage. Each takes off one half of a Heart.
Apple:Restores one Heart.
Roast:Restores all Hearts.
Sparkster Head: 1-Up.
Life Canister: Restores two and a half Hearts of giant mech's health (The Gedol Empire only)

Levels

Sparkster zebulos.png Level 1 - Kingdom of Zebulos
Sparkster desert.png Level 2 - The Golden Desert
Sparkster flyingairship.png Level 3 - The Flying Airship
Sparkster empire.png Level 4 - The Gedol Empire
Sparkster realm.png Level 5 - King Gedol's Realm
Sparkster castle.png Level 6 - Castle Gedol

Versions

Sparkster is not optimised for 50Hz PAL regions.

History

Legacy

A game known only as Sparkster was also released on the Super NES but is a different game, designed by a different staff, starring the same Sparkster character. Later a sequel just called Rocket Knight was released for the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade and PC.

Sonic the Comic included "Sparkster" comics strips, indeed based off Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, with the hero going against King Gedol's plans. The single story arc was called "Last of the Rocket Knights!" (issue #53 to issue #58). It's one of the few comic strips in Sonic the Comic that is based off 3rd party game.

Trivia

  • In a video from Sega Video Magazine in Japan, the beta form of the game is shown. The differences are that the title screen has a completely different tune, Sparkster's face icon is different, the forest (stage 1-3) theme plays in the beginning of the level, and some other sprites such as the diamonds are different.
  • In each stage, the game sacrifces half a palette for for the the diamonds and Sparkster's icon, despite these also being covered by Sparksters palette. Perhaps this was done to avoid these change to gold after becoming Gold Sparkster. However, Gold Sparkster only makes a very brief appearance.
  • This is perhaps the only game where a secret item is hidden in a skippable opening scene

Production credits

  • Planning: Lucky Jet
  • Direct and Design: Tat
  • Character Design: Y.T
  • Design: Shiori S., Noboru Shirasu
  • Special Thanks to: Furukawa, Keita Nose
  • Main Programmer: Lord Unreal
  • Super Programmer: Masanaka Takahashi
  • Ultra Programmer: Hanaten Returns, Yasuo Tsurugai
  • Sound Programmer: O.Kasai, Akiropito
  • Sound Design: Chiruchiru Yamane, A.Yamaoka
  • Package Design: M.Yoshihashi, Y.Nozawa
  • Supervisor: Yutaka Haruki
  • Producer: Tomikazu Kirita
  • Special Thanks: All Konami Staff

Magazine articles

Main article: Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

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Print advert in GamesMaster (UK) #23: "November 1994" (1994-10-20)
also published in:
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Print advert in Joypad (FR) #36: "Novembre 1994" (1994-1x-xx)
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Print advert in MAN!AC (DE) #1995-02: "02/95" (1995-01-11)
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Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
88 №36, p124-126
78 №156, p78-79[2]
87 №6, p15
91 №25, p78-80[8]
85 №46, p114-115[9]
80 №60, p48
88 №38, p64-65
90 №25, p48-52[10]
Sega Mega Drive
 86
Based on
8 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
40
[11]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
65
[12]
Consoles + (FR)
88
[13]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
78
[2]
Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U
75
[14]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
72
[15]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
78
[16]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
94
[17]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
83
[18]
GamePro (DE) PAL
60
[19]
Games World: The Magazine (UK) PAL
87
[20]
Joypad (FR) PAL
91
[21]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
76
[22]
Mega Force (FR) PAL
85
[23]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
77
[24]
Micro Kid's Multimédia (FR)
75
[25]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
91
[8]
Player One (FR)
85
[9]
Play Time (DE) PAL
78
[26]
Secret Service (PL)
80
[27]
Sega Magazin (DE)
78
[28]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
80
[29]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
88
[30]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
56
[31]
Supersonic (FR)
90
[10]
Todo Sega (ES)
83
[32]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
83
[33]
Video Games (DE) PAL
77
[34]
VideoGames (US)
80
[35]
Sega Mega Drive
 78
Based on
29 reviews

Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2

Mega Drive, US
Sparkster-RocketKnightAdventures2 MD US Box.jpg
Cover
Sparkster-RocketKnightAdventures2 MD US cart.jpg
Cart
Sparkster md us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, EU
Sparkster-RocketKnightAdventures2 MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
Sparkster-RocketKnightAdventures2 MD EU cart.jpg
Cart
Sparkster-MD-EU-Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, JP
Sparkster-RocketKnightAdventures2 MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
Sparkster MD JP CartTop.jpg
Sparkster md jp cart.jpg
Cart
Sparkster md jp manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, KR
Sparkster MD KR Box.jpg
Cover
Sparkster MD KR cart.jpg
Cart

References

  1. ↑ File:SegaMagazine UK 11.pdf, page 80
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 File:CVG UK 156.pdf, page 78 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CVG UK 156.pdf_p78" defined multiple times with different content
  3. ↑ File:GamePlayers US 0710.pdf, page 10
  4. ↑ File:MAN!AC DE 1995-02.pdf, page 100
  5. ↑ Ultimate Future Games, "December 1994" (UK; 1994-11-01), page 132
  6. ↑ Computer & Video Games, "December 1994" (UK; 1994-11-15), page 148
  7. ↑ Ultimate Future Games, "January 1995" (UK; 1994-12-01), page 106
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 File:MeanMachinesSega25UK.pdf, page 78 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega25UK.pdf_p78" defined multiple times with different content
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 File:PlayerOne FR 046.pdf, page 114 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:PlayerOne FR 046.pdf_p114" defined multiple times with different content
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 File:Supersonic FR 25.pdf, page 48 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Supersonic FR 25.pdf_p48" defined multiple times with different content
  11. ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 195
  12. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "October 1994" (JP; 1994-09-08), page 19
  13. ↑ Consoles +, "Octobre 1994" (FR; 1994-xx-xx), page 124
  14. ↑ Electronic Games (1992-1995), "October 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 88
  15. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "October 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 42
  16. ↑ Famitsu, "1994-09-23" (JP; 1994-09-09), page 38
  17. ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 11 November 1994" (US; 1994-1x-xx), page 136
  18. ↑ GamePro, "November 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 100
  19. ↑ GamePro, "Oktober 1994" (DE; 1994-09-30), page 46
  20. ↑ Games World: The Magazine, "December 1994" (UK; 1994-10-28), page 15
  21. ↑ Joypad, "Octobre 1994" (FR; 1994-xx-xx), page 92
  22. ↑ MAN!AC, "11/94" (DE; 1994-10-12), page 71
  23. ↑ Mega Force, "Octobre 1994" (FR; 1994-xx-xx), page 96
  24. ↑ Mega Fun, "11/94" (DE; 1994-10-19), page 75
  25. ↑ Micro Kid's Multimédia, "Décembre 1994" (FR; 1994-1x-xx), page 72
  26. ↑ Play Time, "12/94" (DE; 1994-11-09), page 109
  27. ↑ Secret Service, "Listopad 1996" (PL; 1996-11-01), page 69
  28. ↑ Sega Magazin, "Dezember 1994" (DE; 1994-11-17), page 26
  29. ↑ Sega Power, "November 1994" (UK; 1994-09-29), page 48
  30. ↑ Sega Pro, "November 1994" (UK; 1994-10-06), page 64
  31. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 87
  32. ↑ Todo Sega, "Enero 1995" (ES; 199x-xx-xx), page 50
  33. ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 25
  34. ↑ Video Games, "11/94" (DE; 1994-10-26), page 92
  35. ↑ VideoGames, "November 1994" (US; 1994-1x-xx), page 90
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