It’s kind of funny in modern times to look back on all of the mascots that never quite made it. You have the terrible ones like Bubsy, what I call the ‘forgettables’ like Aero the Acrobat, and those that starred in fantastic games but were just unlucky. Ristar is one of the unfortunate ones. He starred in only two games; one on the Sega Genesis (the topic of this review) and a watered down version for the Game Gear. After failing to make waves due to being released so late in the system’s life span Ristar has been relegated to brief cameos in other Sega games. Personally I would love to see Ristar be given a second shot because the Genesis title is a lot of fun and quite charming. Today I’m here to keep the memories alive by revisiting Sega’s lost mascot platformer.
Ristar’s story is simple like that of so many other side scrolling action games. You play as the title character who must save several planets from an oppressive ruler who has enslaved everyone. Ristar is the son of a hero who has been captured, and so naturally he’s just perfect for this task. The game outlines the scenario quite nicely through an opening movie that’s surprisingly well done. As with most other side scrolling platform games of its era Ristar is based around one central gimmick.
In this case your character, Ristar, can reach out and grab on to objects and enemies. This comes into play in several ways; after grabbing on to an enemy Ristar can fling himself into them as a means of causing damage, and he can use momentum from swinging on environmental elements to reach new areas. The ability to grab on to things is just as important as Sonic’s ability to run fast, and so if this doesn’t interest you then you probably won’t enjoy Ristar. You’ll be using the grab feature a lot so it’s best to get acquainted with it early on. Sega did manage to create some unique obstacles that require you to use it in creative ways. I was pretty impressed.
What makes Ristar so interesting is that by Sega standards it has exceptional level designs. Perhaps I’m just used to Sonic the Hedgehog, but the slower pace of this game allows for more intricate stages and obstacles. Additionally Ristar is given quite a few moves. On top of the aforementioned ability to grab he can also jump, swim, etc. Many of the obstacles are quite creative and add variety to gameplay. For example, in the water stages the currents often change thus pushing you around. The music stage on the other hand requires you to pick up and carry items from one side of the stage to the next in order to progress.
The boss encounters are quite well done and I enjoyed them more than I usually would in this type of game. One of these fights left me slightly confused though. I didn’t realize you have to throw snowballs at the enemy because this mechanic was never explained nor had it been previously introduced to the game. You just kind of have to figure it out. This sort of thing was par for the course in the 16 and 8 bit generations but this was a late release. I expected a little more, and a brief explanation or demonstration would have taken just a fdew minutes to implement.
Ristar is a pretty short game with only seven different worlds, but these explore some very fun themes. I went in expecting just space and stars but was pleasantly surprised to see that Ristar runs the gamut. Sure, you have the generic ice and fire themed areas, but the musical and machinery based zones counteract this because they feel inspired. There is almost no central theme, but to be honest I didn’t really care. I just wanted to see what the game had to offer around the next corner. Unfortunately this isn’t a particularly long game. I was able to finish it in only a few hours, and I’m relatively inexperienced with Ristar.
The singular levels are are longer than in most side scrolling platformers, but they still take only a few minutes to complete at most. What Ristar does have to offer is a plethora of secrets. I didn’t manage to find them all despite having played through the main game several times, but I’m still working on it. The difficulty extends the game’s length a fair bit, and no matter how many times I’ve played through I still struggle on the end boss with its screen filling attacks. It’s never unfair, but Ristar offers players quite the challenge.
The graphics in this game are simply incredible by Sega Genesis standards. The system often struggled to display a lot of different colors on screen at once, but somehow the developers were able to squeeze some extra power out of the aged hardware. The characters are highly detailed and animate fluidly. The backgrounds are intricately drawn, and make use of nice gradients and splashes of color. While Ristar obviously isn’t as fast as Sonic the game speeds up a great deal while you’re flinging the character around throughout the various environments. The framerate stays constant during these sequences and even when there are multiple enemies on screen at once which is very impressive to say the least. Ristar is an extremely impressive looking Sega Genesis game, and the visuals outperform that of even the prettiest Sonic title.
Music isn’t this game’s strong suit. It’s filled with the typical cheerful bouncy music we’ve come to expect from a title aimed at children. Nothing is particularly memorable, and it’s just ‘okay.’ The developers just didn’t do a particularly good job of translating the audio to meet with the space theme, and it’s kind of a bummer. Additionally some of the tracks suffer from the Genesis’ trademark screeching effect which is unpleasant to say the least. The sound effects are pretty decent, but nothing as memorable as in Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario. In addition some have a very scratchy sound which makes them sound low quality. I don’t know if it was intentional or a casualty of the system’s inferior audio hardware, but it’s not particularly easy on the ears. The audio is largely forgettable overall which is definitely a little disappointing.
Ristar goes beyond being a simple ‘me too’ platformer. The mechanics this game are focused around are interesting and fun, and the basic theme is charming. It’s unfortunate that Ristar didn’t go on to star in more games because there’s so much untapped potential here. This one is definitely worth playing and has thankfully been included in several compilations so it should be pretty easy to track down even if you don’t own a Sega Genesis. Collectors will be happy to note that the original cartridge is pretty cheap and easy to obtain as well.
