Ristar

[Ravenfreak]

Have you ever played Ristar before? It was a cool platformer released on the Sega Mega Drive and Game Gear in 1995 that stars a anthropomorphic star named Ristar who is on a quest to save Valdi, which is a solar system that was taken over by Greedy. The story is slightly different between the Japanese and international release, in the international release it mentions that Ristar's father is kidnapped by Greedy, but in the Japanese version his father isn't mentioned at all. Instead, he answers the call from the star goddess named Oruto. Ristar has some unique gameplay, unlike Sonic or Mario he can't simply jump on top of enemies to attack them. He instead uses his stretchy arms to pick up enemies and headbutt them. His arms are also used to reach new platforms. Ristar was actually built upon Sonic 1's engine, and his design resembles that of a early design for Sonic. I never finished the game, but I made it pretty far though years ago. It's got some awesome music in it as well! Here's a long play of the game:

 

[Shortie]

This was a game I missed myself I believe from the Sega Mega Drive. I always remember playing so many games but this one does not ring a bell at all for me. 

This is why I love emulators though as I know any games I may have missed, I can go back to if I wish to play and try them 🙂

[Shagger]

I'm suprised to find Sega were still making new games for Mega Drive/Genesis as late as 1995. The Saturn was already out. It's not like this is even Mega CD/Sega CD or 32X Game either.

 

Anyway, the game looks cool. I like it's graphics and colourful design. I can see the Sonic DNA, so I do wonder how much effort really went to this. I mean, is it a game Sega really cared about, or was it something they quicky botched together to squeeze that little bit more money out of thier aging console?