Even though the Game Gear wasn’t a runaway success I really have to hand it to Sega for the amount of support they threw behind it. They created a significant amount of original software for it based on their most popular franchises, and the house of Sonic even managed to directly port some of their best titles from their more powerful home console. I was surprised to see that they even brought over their often overlooked late released platformer Ristar. This is one of my favorite games on the Sega Genesis, and I couldn’t wait to see what the scaled down version would look like. I was downright shocked to discover that, even though it shares the same name and cover art Sega re-designed all of the stages for this one. It’s basically an entirely new game. So how does it compare to the home release? Quite favorably actually.
The story is pretty similar to that of the original game. Some bad guy aptly named “Greedy” has launched attacks on various planets. Unfortunately the great hero is nowhere in sight, but in his stead comes Ristar to defeat and conquer these evil forces. Yeah it’s extremely basic, but it’s perfectly fine and even features a snazzy introductory sequence to set the tone. Ristar himself is an anthropomorphic star with arms and legs. This was released back in the day when each mascot character needed their own gimmick, and Ristar’s is his ability to grab on to enemies as well as various elements of the terrain. You can use grabbed objects to swing on, and our colorful protagonist uses his grip to slam into foes in order to defeat them. Aside from this gimmick Ristar is a pretty basic platformer. New to the series is Ristar’s ability to collect stars in each level which function similarly to Mario’s coins or Sonic’s rings. Picking up one hundred of these grants you an extra life, and you’ll need all that you can get because this is a fairly demanding and challenging game.
Although the stages share common themes with those from the Genesis game the levels are all new. Platforming is slightly more difficult here, and the stage designs are more maze-like. In addition this game focuses more on allowing you to use items than its 16-bit counterpart. You can pick up spears dropped by enemies which, when thrown, stick into the wall thus allowing you to spring jump off of it. Other enemies drop hats which can be thrown used as a projectile attack. This game focuses more on alternate routes with more technical obstacles, and I really enjoyed the increase in challenge here. The only gameplay aspect I found to be a downgrade when compared to the original release is the boss encounters. These felt rushed and for the most part uninteresting. The final boss is pretty neat, but the others are a little disappointing to me. I like the approach Sega took with this Game Gear version as compared to the original release.
With that said there are some things I don’t like in this formula. I found myself getting stuck and being forced to re-tread through hazard-laden areas over and over because I missed a jump or failed to grab on to something. Swinging in general is always a gamble because it’s tough to tell how high or low you often need to go. When his swing is charged to max Ristar can briefly fly, but he bounces off of all obstacles that get in his way. This causes some of the more intricate passages difficult to reach, and it’s easy to get stuck for the duration of his flight. The controls tend to be a bit non-responsive because you need to wait for Ristar to complete his grabbing animation before you can do it again. This makes scaling walls difficult even when you get the timing down. My least favorite level design element is that you sometimes need to carry items from one area of a level to the next. It isn’t easy because you can’t grab anything when Ristar is carrying anything. These sequences are most often frustrating and should have been re-worked.
I’m absolutely impressed with the graphics in this game. While they’re a far cry from the Genesis version this is still above and beyond anything I thought the Game Gear was capable of. The backgrounds are highly detailed and some even feature a fair amount of animation. Ristar, as well as the enemies, each feature a significant number of animation frames. It’s really impressive, and in some sequences the action moves almost as fast as in Sonic the Hedgehog. This is a vibrant, detailed, and all around charming looking title. The soundtrack doesn’t fare quite as well, but it’s still pretty good. Ristar’s signature style is intact in each of the tracks, and the composers did a great job of down sampling much of the music. Unfortunately it’s still pretty limited given the hardware, but by system standards it’s a very good soundtrack.
This is almost a completely new game despite its name. Sega put some real tender loving care into this version, and it’s a really impressive effort. This is just perfect for fans of the original title because I would almost consider this to be a sequel. It might have its problems, but Ristar is still a shining super star and is definitely one of the best platformers available on Sega’s battery munching handheld system.
