It’s no secret that I’ve always been a Nintendo kid. The Nintendo vs. Sega rivalry was at its apex back when I was in school, and I was firmly on team Mario. But there were moments when I was good and truly jealous of my Genesis owning friends. Some of those came from Sonic, which was fantastic on Genesis. Sometimes it came from sequels to previously Nintendo-exclusive series like Castlevania, Mega Man, or Blaster Master that turned me green with envy. But there’s one game that seriously made me consider asking my parents for a Genesis to park next to my SNES, and it remains my favorite Genesis game to this day, Rocket Knight Adventures. 

Konami didn’t mess with the Genesis for quite some time, with the vast majority of their output landing squarely on Nintendo’s 16-bit console. And their output was legendary on that machine. But a few years in, they finally decided to get a handful of games made for the competition, and just like the NES and SNES before, they almost immediately showed an unforeseen mastery of the hardware. Just look at the technical wizardry on display in games like Contra: Hard Corps and Castlevania: Bloodlines. They may not be my favorite entries in their respective series by a longshot, but there’s no denying they’re incredibly cool-looking games. 

Rocket Knight Adventures though, was a totally different animal. This was a brand-new, completely original game that starred an opossum with a jetpack that had it all. Graphics, music, level design, and gameplay. 

In case you’ve never had the pleasure (since Konami has weirdly never once reissued any of the Rocket Knight games since their original releases) you play as Sparkster, a Rocket Knight, which is exactly what it sounds like. A knight with a jetpack. You’re also armed with a sword that shoots laser blasts, and an adorable personality to keep the player engaged. And wow, is Sparkster ever an emotive hero. He’s adorable, but also kick-ass and determined. And with the game being as challenging as it is, that’s a good thing. 

Rocket Knight Adventures features some absolutely outstanding stages and bosses. In the first few minutes of the game you’ll find yourself avoiding screen-warping fire, get a jetpack enhancement that allows you to fly indefinitely across an ocean, and fight an enormous centipede robot that attacks you through numerous holes it smashes through the walls. All of this looks easily as good if not better than the very best the Genesis has to offer, and the music, an area where I’m usually not overly fond of on the Genesis, is spectacular. Honest to goodness, this game has my favorite boss music of all time. It’s just that good. 

Rocket Knight Adventures is a singular Genesis game in that it really takes advantage of what that system is capable of in ways that very few other games ever came close to. It’s such a great game that it’s extra tragic that so few people have ever actually played it. 

Konami did follow it up with three unique sequels, though you’d be forgiven for thinking there were actually only two. The first follow up was released on both Genesis and Super NES, and it was simply called Sparksster. Or at least that’s what the box says. In fact, these were two entirely different games complete with completely different stages and enemies, and technically two different titles, with the Genesis game’s title screen calling it Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2. The music is actually the same in both games, but it plays in a completely different order, which is deeply weird. Sparkster for SNES plays more like the original game, while the Genesis one tries to evolve the formula in various ways. I personally think the SNES game is way better, but neither of them actually comes close to the darn near perfection that is the original. 

A few generations later they released yet another sequel on the PS3 and Xbox 360 called Rocket Knight. It was okay, but it lost a lot of the original game’s personality, leaving it feeling rather flat. 

Back to the point though, Rocket Knight Adventures is a wonderful game that everyone should play if given the chance, and hopefully someday they will be. My fingers will remain crossed for a Rocket Knight collection someday. Anything’s possible, right?