Ristar is celebrating its 30-year anniversary as we speak, February 16, 2025. Under, we make the case that regardless of Sonic’s breakout celeb, Ristar actually deserved to be the face of Sega.
It is truthful to say that Mario will doubtless at all times sit on the throne as essentially the most iconic online game mascot of all time, however Sonic the Hedgehog actually gave him a run for his a refund within the ’90s. The lovable ‘tude and blistering pace of the Blue Blur made him a cultural determine par excellence within the days of the Tremendous Nintendo and Sega Genesis, and you’ll even argue that his signature velocity outlined the concept of that Sega console within the common gamer’s thoughts. That mentioned, Genesis fanatics are nicely conscious that Sonic is not even one of the best platform star on his personal console. That honor belongs to Ristar, who Sonic kneecapped like a coward 30 years in the past so he may keep on the treadmill of manufacturing endlessly mediocre spin-offs with no substance or new concepts.
Okay, that may be a bit harsh to Sonic–it’s not his fault that Sega has dropped the ball together with his video games since roughly the flip of the century, with a couple of notable exceptions. However whereas Sonic’s signature pace and exquisite pastel aesthetics by no means fairly made the transition to 3D, mechanics-focused indie platformers much like Ristar have continued to search out an viewers, from the gravity flip of VVVVVV to the no-jump gimmick of Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom. On this means, Ristar was a swinging star-man forward of his time, and it is unlucky that Sega did not understand that.
For individuals who aren’t acquainted, Ristar is a brief however candy platforming basic launched by Sega within the waning days of the Genesis in 1995. You employ the lovable mascot’s stretchy arms to seize enemies, climb ladders, swing from bar to bar, and propel your self via its many colourful worlds. The sport options quite a lot of artistic boss fights that culminate with a decisive battle with the cloaked Kaiser Grasping, who has kidnapped Ristar’s father and brought him prisoner.
You’d determine {that a} first-party Sega sport of this high quality would at the very least get a sequel, and that remark will get on the coronary heart of Ristar’s largest downside: timing. When Sega requested its workers to create a Mario-slaying mascot, Sonic received the day, however there have been numerous concepts left on the drafting desk. One in all them was “Really feel the Rabbit,” a proto-Sonic archetype that was spun out right into a goofy-looking cartoon character that ultimately grew to become Ristar. By the point the sport really got here out, essential and business eyes had been on the cutting-edge Sega Saturn, which left our dextrous star good friend within the lurch.
Once I evaluate basic video games like the unique Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy and Ristar, I believe it is instructive to have a look at the gameplay “verbs” which are accessible to the participant. Primarily, what do you really do within the sport? It is easy to benefit from the model and move of the unique Sonic trilogy, however when it comes to verb rely, they’re fairly underwhelming: each button is leap, and your roll is sweet, however not significantly helpful. This can be a huge a part of why Sonic struggled with the transition to the third dimension: in addition to working and leaping, you do not do an entire lot in his video games.
Against this, Ristar closely depends on its one distinctive mechanic within the type of the seize, however the sport maximizes it. You may ship these stretchy arms out in eight instructions, which makes for participating fight and larger enemy selection. One in all your character’s fundamental strikes is the flexibility to climb any wall vertically with the correct timing, which is tough to grasp however oh-so-satisfying once you lastly pull it off. It options one other memorable mechanic within the type of glowing poles that you simply swing round to realize momentum, then shoot off within the path of your alternative. Ristar is invincible through the preliminary surge of pace, however turns into weak when he slows down, so it’s a must to goal him nicely to keep away from taking pointless hits.
Each Sonic and Ristar characteristic clever stage design, however I might give our star good friend the sting in that class. Ristar’s levels merely brim with creativity; from the pulsing underwater sections of Undertow to the metronome puzzles of the musical planet Sonata, each one of many sport’s ranges options new twists and mechanics so that you can wrap your stretchy mitts round. Ristar has a core component that the Blue Blur solely actually discovered in Sonic 3: secrets and techniques with significant rewards. Every stage has a hidden treasure that you simply entry via a teleport pole hidden someplace within the atmosphere; provided that Ristar’s levels are typically multipathed and require vertical considering, it is unlikely you may discover all of them in your first playthrough.
Ristar’s unlucky timing may need price it business success, however it did give it one key benefit: It bought essentially the most mileage doable out of its console. It is essentially the most full audiovisual expertise on the Genesis, that includes a powerful orchestral soundtrack that rivals something on SNES, lovely spritework, and boss designs that really feel ripped straight out of a fantastic Saturday morning cartoon. It is a feast for the senses you will not overlook, particularly the extremely memorable stage transition sequences, the place Ristar blasts from planet to planet in a mesmerizing mild present whereas one in every of my all-time favourite online game tracks performs.
The final word argument in favor of Ristar over Sonic is probably the obvious: When’s the final time you actually loved a Sonic sport? Positive, Sonic was a fantastic piece of selling, however it took lower than a decade for the cracks in his facade to point out. When speculating as to what a 3D Ristar sport may need seemed like, let’s think about the standard grappling hook, maybe essentially the most ubiquitous gameplay mechanic of the previous 10 years. It is easy to think about an exploration-focused Ristar with loads of climbing and grappling, much like what we see in Jusant, and even Sonic Frontiers. After all, in as we speak’s indie market, there’s loads of room for Sega to jump-start a Ristar reinvention within the 2D aircraft, however this appears comparatively unlikely at this juncture. Nonetheless, remasters are fairly modern today, and it is positively a chief candidate for nostalgic Genesis followers.
Sonic could also be an indelible piece of ’90s popular culture, however I can not assist however surprise what would’ve occurred if Sega had put somewhat extra juice behind a sure cute star fairly than narrowly specializing in its golden goose. We’ll by no means know if Ristar had the identical potential to cross over into popular culture, however so far as I am involved, there is no doubt as to what the higher sport is, and that is actually what issues.
