If anyone's interested in playing Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, you can find it in the Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked compilation for modern consoles.
Excellent video, mate. I enjoyed your review and this format. Made me wanna play the first game while also checking out the OST to part 2. More Retro 500 please!
"Good but not good enough" is a pretty apt way to describe Sparkster. I think for me, the aesthetic itself is just not as appealing. RKA is a lot more expressive, and in the sequel, Sparkster's new look and proportions are really strange. I think it was kind of the shift in anime art styles at the time, going from a more late 80s, early 90s rounded Tatsunoko look to something more modern and angular. Just interesting how suddenly the shift happened, considering this one came out just a little over a year later.
I remember that weird feeling when it looks brighter, flashier better, but plays worse. As a kid I couldn't comprehend such a gap between cool visuals and fun. It's like playing Return of the joker on Genesis after NES. My child mind was so confused.
Good video! I still prefer the original Rocket Knight Adventures over either version of Sparkster (SNES and Genesis). Though, the SNES version of Sparkster is pretty good, it still just couldn't reach the same heights of the original game. Sparkster just lacked something compared to the original. Even when I first played Sparkster on the Genesis, it just didn't feel like the same series. It just felt more generic than the original game.
Other way round! I recorded the Sparkster footage by downscaling 1080p Under Optimal to 240p then back up to 1440p plus some aspect ratio correction all within OBS. It was a fun experiment!
Wonderful video, man! I totally understand the complaints you have with this game, especially with the inconsistent pacing, the lack of checkpoints, and the Security Drill room (And the downgraded Sword). But I also like the fact that the Jet Pack Auto Charges and has a second charge level. I think this is the better version of Sparkster, because it's the only version I've actually beaten! Why? Stage 7 of SNES Sparkster. Anyways, I'm rambling too much. Good stuff!
Thank you! Yeah it's not a bad game at all and it definitely has some thing sit improves over the original like the auto charging jet pack. I really like the faster paced aerial combat too!
@@tunnotron3000 Same! The roulette system it has for the blue and red gems are kinda pointless, since in the Harder difficulties, it'll just spawn Bombs, which give me Mario Lost Levels flashbacks.
Oh yeah and if it's not a bomb then half the time you've moved past the area where the goodie has landed. It really adds nothing other than a frequent "fuck you" from the sky!
@@tunnotron3000 SERIOUSLY! I also get the feeling the devs really liked Sonic (The Second game specifically), because Golden Sparkster is a thing. It's still pretty cool (and OP), but it feels generic.
That's cool! I think a lot of it can be dependant on which version you grew up with. You can handle a lot more BS as a kid and I think I battled through a good bit of it with the Megadrive version!
I'm sorry if you heard this before, but _Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2_ (Genesis) and _Sparkster_ (SNES) aren't two versions of the same game; They're two different games that, for whatever reason, share the same name. Having said all this, I also prefer the SNES game.
I completely disagree, I loved Sparkster, it improves upon the original in every way, graphics, gameplay are all improved over an already gorgeous and fun game. I think I heard some people say it has some slowdown issues, but that can all be fixed using emulation hacks which overclock the emulated CPU.
The only slowdown I ever noticed was when you beat a boss and I thought it was for cool dramatic effect! It's great that you love Sparkster, I loved the hell out of it when I first got it back in the day. And you're totally welcome to disagree, this is just my opinion and nothing more. Thanks for watching!
I like the review, but the uncessary self-branding throughout the video makes me not want to watch this channel again. maybe that's just me that gets really annoyed by these things.
If anyone's interested in playing Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, you can find it in the Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked compilation for modern consoles.
Why doesn’t this have more views?!?
Excellent video, mate. I enjoyed your review and this format. Made me wanna play the first game while also checking out the OST to part 2. More Retro 500 please!
Thank you so much!
"Good but not good enough" is a pretty apt way to describe Sparkster. I think for me, the aesthetic itself is just not as appealing. RKA is a lot more expressive, and in the sequel, Sparkster's new look and proportions are really strange. I think it was kind of the shift in anime art styles at the time, going from a more late 80s, early 90s rounded Tatsunoko look to something more modern and angular.
Just interesting how suddenly the shift happened, considering this one came out just a little over a year later.
always prefered the snes version
I remember that weird feeling when it looks brighter, flashier better, but plays worse. As a kid I couldn't comprehend such a gap between cool visuals and fun. It's like playing Return of the joker on Genesis after NES. My child mind was so confused.
Good video! I still prefer the original Rocket Knight Adventures over either version of Sparkster (SNES and Genesis). Though, the SNES version of Sparkster is pretty good, it still just couldn't reach the same heights of the original game. Sparkster just lacked something compared to the original. Even when I first played Sparkster on the Genesis, it just didn't feel like the same series. It just felt more generic than the original game.
By far, my biggest complaint with this game is the sword.
Rocket Knight just doesn't feel right without a proper close range attack.
The only thing I've found is that the sword is so slow that it can actually deal 2 hits per slash but it's finicky!
Absolute masterpiece
Footage of the sequel done on the 4k and the original footage from the 5X?
Other way round! I recorded the Sparkster footage by downscaling 1080p Under Optimal to 240p then back up to 1440p plus some aspect ratio correction all within OBS. It was a fun experiment!
Wonderful video, man! I totally understand the complaints you have with this game, especially with the inconsistent pacing, the lack of checkpoints, and the Security Drill room (And the downgraded Sword). But I also like the fact that the Jet Pack Auto Charges and has a second charge level. I think this is the better version of Sparkster, because it's the only version I've actually beaten! Why? Stage 7 of SNES Sparkster.
Anyways, I'm rambling too much. Good stuff!
Thank you! Yeah it's not a bad game at all and it definitely has some thing sit improves over the original like the auto charging jet pack. I really like the faster paced aerial combat too!
@@tunnotron3000 Same! The roulette system it has for the blue and red gems are kinda pointless, since in the Harder difficulties, it'll just spawn Bombs, which give me Mario Lost Levels flashbacks.
Oh yeah and if it's not a bomb then half the time you've moved past the area where the goodie has landed. It really adds nothing other than a frequent "fuck you" from the sky!
@@tunnotron3000 SERIOUSLY! I also get the feeling the devs really liked Sonic (The Second game specifically), because Golden Sparkster is a thing. It's still pretty cool (and OP), but it feels generic.
Much prefered the SNES version to be honest...
That's cool! I think a lot of it can be dependant on which version you grew up with. You can handle a lot more BS as a kid and I think I battled through a good bit of it with the Megadrive version!
I'm sorry if you heard this before, but _Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2_ (Genesis) and _Sparkster_ (SNES) aren't two versions of the same game; They're two different games that, for whatever reason, share the same name.
Having said all this, I also prefer the SNES game.
Yeah they made it anything but simple!
I completely disagree, I loved Sparkster, it improves upon the original in every way, graphics, gameplay are all improved over an already gorgeous and fun game. I think I heard some people say it has some slowdown issues, but that can all be fixed using emulation hacks which overclock the emulated CPU.
The only slowdown I ever noticed was when you beat a boss and I thought it was for cool dramatic effect! It's great that you love Sparkster, I loved the hell out of it when I first got it back in the day. And you're totally welcome to disagree, this is just my opinion and nothing more. Thanks for watching!
I like the review, but the uncessary self-branding throughout the video makes me not want to watch this channel again. maybe that's just me that gets really annoyed by these things.
Any feedback is welcome!