There are numerous games that played a part in my developing a strong love for videogames. My earliest memories include Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Spyro, and Resident Evil – no, my mum didn’t know I was watching her play Capcom’s iconic survival horror game. Still, I’m a lifelong fan, so it’s not like it instilled fear in me or anything. However, among all of those big names lies another series that shaped my life as a young gamer in the 90s, and that’s Rocket Knight Adventures.
Konami’s golden era platformer came out on August 6, 1993, in Japan, releasing that same month in North America and then in September for Europe. To this day, it remains one of the best platformers, in my opinion, with the 2024 Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked collection being among the best Switch platformers, and Limited Run Games even gave it a physical release.
If you don’t recognize the name Sparkster, I have little choice but to forgive you, given that I believe Konami wasted his potential. He received just one sequel in 1994, Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, alongside a spin-off that same year, aptly named Sparkster. Beyond that, it had a reboot in 2010, Rocket Knight, that went nowhere, despite getting some positive reviews, though the price of the game raised some eyebrows.
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