Developed/Published by: Sonic Team / Sega
Released: February 16th, 1995
Completed: 22nd August, 2015
Completion: Finished all the levels!
Trophies / Achievements: n/a
So… has anyone noticed that Ristar is basically Jesus? Faced with corrupt leaders and enslavement, the people in the universe of Ristar pray, and God sends his son to save them!
Like, he literally sends his son, it’s in the text of the intro and everything. Ristar doesn’t, uh, solve the problem with some cool preaches and then getting crucified, he solves it by using his big stretchy arms to grab enemies and ladders and things and then kill the big baddie. I don’t know if Jesus had big stretchy arms, they’re never shown in any paintings of him and I don’t think that they ever mention him having big stretchy arms in the bible. Actually, wait:
Matthew 21:12 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves, using his big stretchy arms.”
The more you know!
Will I ever play it again? Nah. But I did beat it.
Final Thought: The thing with Ristar is that it was developed by Sonic Team, based on an idea they had before they went ahead with Sonic (though Ristar was originally a rabbit) and which was later returned to with a team you wouldn’t recognise (mostly new hires.) Either way, because of the whole Sonic relation, you kind of assume that it’s going to be a bit Sonic-ey, especially when the level title cards are really similar to the ones in the Sonic games. But it’s not at all!
Ristar is, despite being a star, really, really slow. He can’t run, and he can barely jump (I didn’t bother to measure it, but I feel like his jump isn’t even taller than his height.) In addition to the really different, detailed graphics, the whole thing has quite an unusual feel, that I honestly felt more akin to a Euro platformer, like something developed on the Amiga and then ported.
(Ristar does do some shooting star stuff; he’s got these special spinny things that he flies off at the end of the level or if he finds a secret level, but it’s rare.)
Ristar is definitely… fine. I mean, it’s… fine. The levels generally manage to be vaguely interesting with their individual gimmicks (though occasionally the gimmick can be hard to work out) bosses are sort of patchy (one, which involved throwing a hot meal into its mouth, was infuriating, and as always the final boss is a huge pain) and it passes the time.
It wasn’t a religious experience, let’s say.