This game is one of those forgotten gems that makes me think, "if the stars had lined up just right back then, this would have been huge." It's clear that these games were somebody's passion project at Konami, with so much effort and care put into them to make them shine. In some alternate timeline, Sparkster could've had a Saturday morning cartoon, an action figure line, and a revival series of its own. Most games don't really have that potential, but Sparkster has got it. A true hidden gem.

Konami at this period in time loved making versions of games exclusive to that system so they weren't always simply just ports of what another system had. They liked trying to get the best out of a specific piece of hardware rather than attempting a direct port that may have had to be compromised in some way to get running on one system.

As someone who grew up in the SNES era, I can tell you exactly why this wasn't big: it was never promoted, really. Only hardcore gaming nerds (like myself) bought gaming mags, and without a TV commercial, no one would know about it. Guess what they never had, really?

I played, and loved, all three of those games. Konami, in general, was an absolute legend throughout the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. I honestly feel blessed to have been born at the start of the 8-bit era, and experience the creativity and memories from so many amazing games.

Rented this one a TON as a kid. Looks like it still holds up really well!

0:54 I absolutely LOVE this song. Konami being awesome with the music, as usual.

A sparkster collection on modern platforms would be rad. Come on konami!

I was introduced to this game by a former friend. I was hooked to this game during my kid days. Sadly, I never got to play the Genesis versions. This game has some of my favorite soundtracks that I still listen to till this day

Loving these revisits. I know you still have snes games that you haven't touched on but you gotta go back for favorites and relive what made you get started. You're the best drunk.

One of the most Underrated games on the SNES, from one of my favorite platforming franchises.

I think it’s worth noting that Treasure was formed by former Konami employees in 1992, while Sparkster released for SNES in 1994. Sparkster was directed by Hideo Ueda, who mainly worked on shooters at Konami, including a role as lead programmer on Axelay in 1992 as well as a number of games in the Gradius, Parodius and Twinbee series. He remained with Konami at least until the 2000s, as he was credited on MGS3. That said, devs undoubtedly kept in touch with their former co-workers, and a healthy spirit of competition led remaining Konami employees to push their limits trying to keep up with Treasure’s software wizardry; and gamers reaped the rewards with Konami titles like Sparkster, Contra: Hard Corps and Castlevania: Bloodlines.

Man those sampled orchestras in the first level are insane. When i first heard them i was surprised yet again at how good an SNES game can sound.

This game series certainly is one of the "Hidden Gems", really great quality and fun to play, not too easy and not too challenging as well and I'll be forever grateful that I got to know of these games thanks to SNES Drunk's earlier videos about them :)

Thank you for shining the spotlight on my boy Sparkster. The Rocket Knight Adventures series is vastly underrated and deserves another chance in life.

I like to give the screen finger-guns whenever SNESDrunk says “you’re gonna have to play this ‘any way you can’”

About time we got a Rocket Knight collection on modern consoles!

Everyone celebrates RKA but never the two Sparkster games, which I think are both pretty fun. I'm happy to see you give them their due!

The main theme of the ending theme is quite similar to the Chorus of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship. A very fitting theme for a Rocket Knight who just won a space war. :)

Great series that could use a modern treatment. I recall fondly playing the first genesis Rocketknight with my cousins a lot. The balance of the games allows for pickup playthrough if you’re new to it.

Would love for Rocket Knight Adventures and the two Sparksters to be released in a package. Never played the SNES one

The stage-1 music is one of my favorite tracks on SNES. Absolutely perfect to set the hype-meter for this adventure 😎

Honest to god this game and the series is one of the main reasons I've started drawing and even made me dig deep for this series like some lore bits and how Axel Gear (the rival knight) dyes his hair a different color every game

in the realm of mascot platformers, this was already a steady 10 for myself, and the fact Snes got a spinoff intrigued me, as i didn't get to play until emulation was a thing. immensely fond of the first game on the megadrive (more so than the second) to say I've never beat it. also it had so much potential to be a animated TV series in a way. we did get a comic adaption here in the UK, but that was sadly short lived.

For me, the first RKA game is my second favorite Megadrive game, only behind Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It's such a great time! Sparkster: RKA (Megadrive) is still good, but not even close to the original imo. Still worth checking out, tho. Sparkster (SNES) is my 10th favorite SNES game, just behind Super Castlevania IV and just ahead of Final Fantasy V. Really, I think the first RKA and SParkster (SNES) deserve much more attention. This could have easily been one of Konami's flagship franchises if people had given it more attention. Alas, c'est la vie...

Playing this game on a theater surround system back in the day was pure dynamite. Loved this game. 👍

As a matter of fact I've only found out this one existed through your channel. Back in the day I played only the first Genesis game and it was a blast

God I LOVED Sparkster so much as a kid. Such an incredible soundtrack to go along perfectly with the gameplay! Also I've NEVER seen that jetpack exploding animation before!!!

Sparkster is a reminder that Konami used to be a good game developer! The soundtrack of this game is amazing, the first stage theme is amazing, one of my favorite game music.

This is one of those games where I'd happily buy a good retro collection, like Konami's done with Castlevania and Contra. I'm pretty surprised they haven't gotten around to doing it!

A fitting tribute. I will always enjoy Rocket Knight Adventures. Good times!

As always, I love your nuanced perspective regarding comparing games on both consoles in the 16 bit console war era. There is no reason to try and declare a winner, when it is so often the case that they are both awesome.

I’ve been loving you revisiting these games you’ve previously talked about, it’s been awesome it’s cool to see how far you’ve come😎

I grew up on Rocket Knight Adventures and I was absolutely blown away by this game. One of my favorite SNES games and a fantastic sequel (that is IMO superior to the rather odd Genesis Sparkster.) The Bird Mecha stage lives rent free in my head and so does its amazing soundtrack.

Loved rocket knight as a kid. Wish I knew this existed when I was a kid.

I keep hoping Konami will make a Sparkster collection. I love these games, and even the 2011 sequel was pretty good. Glad to see some Sparkster love.

I'm loving these revised videos, and of course with a gem from retro Konami like Sparkster. Thank you so much, SDrunk. I should replayed it after I finished the Castlevania collection 🦇

Wished I had played it. I got the original out of a 10 dollar bin at the entrance to KB Toys on a whim (I'm sure the cover art attracted me) and after a few minutes playing I called my best friend and told him he needed to get his mom to take him to the mall to get this game.

That SNNNNNESdrunk was really well tuned. Off to a great start.

I picked this up from a bargain bin at KB Toys as a kid for $8. I still have it. Love this game.

Good review! I actually used to own a physical copy of this one. You can definitely see Treasure's footprint in this game (and the Genesis games). Creative levels, many wild bosses and lots of cool special effects! This game is definitely underrated and it is a shame that it rarely gets discussed when people mention excellent SNES action games! I did play the 2010 Sparkster game, but it felt like a shell of the Genesis and SNES games. I found the redesign for Sparkster unappealing and it just feels so generic. It doesn't have that same creative energy as the 16-bit titles. Not a terrible game, but just a very disappointing Sparkster game.

Loved this series as a kid. I remember that if you left the game you would get an interactive cut scene where you got to fight your rival in a giant rodent mech.

There’s an alternate timeline where they’re still making games in this series 😢

So a weird random story about my childhood. When I was growing up, I only had one game on the SNES. It was Sparkster and I played the hell out of that game erryday. One day, while being babysat- my babysitter invites her bf over. He sees me playing, then takes the controller away from me. I cried and told my babysitter and she confronts him. He argues with her that I’m a baby, that I shouldn’t be playing these games. So she breaks up with him on the spot and you know what he does? He punches me then steals my copy of Sparkster and then walks out of there. 🥲 Sorry, I miss this game so much and I’ve never shared this story with anyone before. It just felt good to share. 😅

Oh man. When I was in grade school I was so into this game that my friends and I developed a fan culture with different knights and we played at recess in that universe. One kid got mad that he couldn’t also have the Master Sword from Link to the Past but THAT’S MIXING METAPHORS. Anyway it started drama and the teacher made us stop playing that game. I could have written the Saturday morning cartoon this game would have inspired

All three games are great but Sparkster is like that album one of your favorite artist made solo without the band. But it's extremely indulgent in their style and gets experimental even. It might not be as well known or received as the platinum hit Rocket Knight Adventures but it has soul and style.

You hit the nail on the head with those closing lines. I think we all overlook this one, and it def needs some love!

Watching your videos helps me find awesome additions to my SNES Collection! Awesome videos dude!

I discovered this game some 10 years ago and remember enjoying the game's rather energetic soundtrack.

When my cousin brought this game for my aunt's SNES, I thought it was a video game adaptation of Dragon Ball, especially the protagonist who has a tail and fights an evil army with robots like the Red Ribbon Army.

Still one of my favorite snes games. Glad I have it physically!

I bought this a handful of years ago and I love it. Just wish you weren’t as zoomed in and screen tearing wasn’t an issue. Would be perfect.

I really wish Konami would come back to Sparkster/Rocket Knight. The 2010 game was a pretty large departure. Just didn't have the same...feel to it. For lack of a better way to say it, that's how I feel. Getting a few of the original team together or maybe just a japanese in-house development team would likely solve this. Sparkster deserves more love.

I loved rocket knight as a kid, but have oddly never heard of this before

Can't wait for Rocket Knight re-sparked to come out to play it again. Even if I have to get digital

We need a Sparkster collection for modern systems, featuring not just Sparkster’s Mega Drive, SNES and PS3 outings but also DS title New International Track & Field and iOS title Krazy Kart Racing, as Sparkster is playable in both of them and they could also include online multiplayer in them!

This was a really good game that I wish got more attention. For a long time I thought this was the only one in the series, until years later when I found out about the Rocket Knight games.

Konami. Rocket Knight Collection. Easy Money.

I think one can debate if Rocket Knight 1 is better than this, but this one is a lot better than Rocket Knight 2. This one keeps all of the same mechanics, while that game really was trying to do something different. And I don't think it was as fun.

This review will soon get a lot more views now that the original trilogy is getting a major re-release in modern-day systems. I can't wait for more people to find out about this series!

Limited Run is re-releasing a all three games packaged together on cart for Switch and disc for PS!!!! I truly never thought I'd see the day!

I got my copy of Sparkster at a game store in Oklahoma a few years ago. I believe I paid $35 or $45 and it was worth it since it's pretty expensive now. I beat it around 2018 or 2020. I made a list of games I beat during those years and this game was one of them. It was pretty fun too!

My nostalgic hype did not disappoint me one bit. And the Genesis games are pretty great too!

This game is more funny depending on the way you play. A lad of mine used to play it full aggressive, doing some small combos and things like that. It's the same as Shinobi 3 on the Mega Drive. If the player don't use some time to exploit the jetpack and assimilate it's recovery time, the gameplay can be too slow... but when you learn to play it more aggressively, it turns into one of the fastest action games on the SNES. Cheers!

The Rocket Knight series is just so wonderful. It has the strong appealing mascot design & world building of Sonic, but with (IMO) substantially better gameplay. I just discovered these games as an adult by way of showing my kids retro games, and they are now absolutely obsessed with this little opossum. They make Rocket Knight costumes and zoom around the house and love to watch me play. It makes me a little sad this series never caught on the way Mario and Sonic did. I reckon it came down to the lack of marketing oomph to stand out in the crowd.

I found a copy of this game on ebay recently and really enjoy it. When Drunk says, "90's Konami at its best," he knows what he says. This game plays differently than any other game out there. Were I to compare it to a land mass, it would be a large, island paradise that is lush and colorful and full of pure waters and the only thing it has in common with other platform games is it is an island

The RK collection is being released soon!

Looks really neat! It blows my mind you can beat Contra III on hard, but not super punch out.

Oooo I love the musical instrument obstacles! I'm going to have to check this one out.

The jetpack exploding it just hilarious!

Sparkster on SNES is and remains one of the more fun games on the platform. Good music, fun levels, neat bosses and tight controls. I've never touched the Sega games... but the Rocket Knight game's also been on Steam. Store page unavailable at present though, so I guess delisted?

Fun fact: Sparkster makes a cameo appearance in the great game Snatcher!

You just unlocked a hidden memory

My first exposure to this series was actually the remake on the 360 lol

I remember this game being heavily advertised when it came out, but it never got much recognition after that.

I love this channel and it does make me feel better when you wish me a good day

"Being adequately prepared to spike a controller into the ground" is an absolute golden piece of writing.

Thank you for the video and I hope you have a great rest of your day.

This was another great, yet under appreciated franchise by Konami. The 2010 reboot by Climax was passable to say the least, but it isn't up to the standards of the old games. Though to be honest, I wouldn't trust modern Konami to make a new entry, unless they outsource it to a developer with enough skill and passion. We can only hope that would happen, and that they won't screw it up.

As far as "Better on the genesis" arguments go, I'd say its half true. Snes sparkster is absolutely better than MD-Sparkster but the original RKA has them both beat pretty hard. But whichever one you pick, you will probably have a great time, so why even complain?

You should do videos on those Genesis Rocket Knight games too. Love your stuff, dude 👍

3:55 that doesn't stop a lot of people from comparing games from both platforms still today, the 16-bit Console Wars are very much alive!

Nice review as always! Thanks. Been trying to decide to snag the rocket knight adventures resparked and I think this video persuaded me to grab it! Today is the cutoff for preorders so gonna go grab it now for switch. I just feel like it’s one of those games that should be on a Nintendo console over Xbox or PlayStation.

Really loved playing these games when I was a kid.

Sparkster has some of the best SNES music... There's no denying that. And it fitted so well with the intensity of the action too!

I didn't know that Rocket Knight Adventures was part of a series of games! Neat :3

I got the Genesis way before the SNES and I though Sparkster on SNES was a third instalment when I was a kid. I got to play it in a cousin's home and despite the two on the genesis feel more potent than the SNES version, I still like it because has the shoulder button maneuver which on RKA2 could've been very useful

Really glad I bought this game recently. I believe it was a reproduction card but I still don't mind. I'm in the process of rebuilding my Super Nintendo library anyway. That said, this is a staple to any SNES library. I love it.

I hate to be a bother, but at 0:10 when showing footage for Rocket Knight Adventures, you've shown footage from Sparkster for the Genesis by mistake. Hope that helps.

I have discovered this game while looking at a rom site. I liked the Genesis game so I gave shot. I wasn't disappointed.

I played this version first and LOVE it! I couldn't get into the Genesis versions much, but I can contend that they are really good and worth my time, I just have no inclination to play them, personally.

Ever since I found this one a few years ago, I keep coming back to it. It excels in every area ...except for performance. Too much stuff happening causes annoying slowdown. The only way around it is to emulate with a bump to the CPU clock speed. A smoother game = a better game.

Never knew what his name was, always just called him Rocket! Love the vid

The SNES and Genesis versions of Sparkster are completely different. As someone who had Rocket Knight Adventures, I wish that I could have played both versions. Rocket Knight from 2010 is okay, I guess. If Konami were smart, they would re-release all the games as a collection or through Nintendo Switch Online (+ Expansion Pack).

This series is just such a blast to play! I haven't played the SNES entry as much but it's just as good as the Sega titles.

Excellent review bruh!

SNES DRUNK 2.0 Let’s gooooooooo

Nice video! I love the rocket knight series and now i know the super nintendo has a game that's awesome!

You should do the other Rocket Knight games if you haven't already 😊

If anyone wants something similar to this series, play Freedom Planet, that games sells itself as a Sonic inspired title and looks like that too, but the gameplay and mechanics, at least with the main protagonist, is exactly the same as Rocket Knight and the level design is bult thinking in those abilities instead of Sonic's momentum bassed.

My Sparkster ranking is: Rocket Knight Adventures (Genesis) > Sparkster (SNES) > RKA2: Sparkster (Genesis). Awesome games, just not a big fan of the slower pace of the second Genesis game.