Hello and welcome to the latest entry of Retro Revival, where I cover games that have been given a second chance at life. In this series I cover HD remasters, emulated ports and compilations either in part or as a whole. This week we will be taking a look at an expanded port of an arcade classic, developed by Tecmo. So let us take a look at RYGAR for the NES/Famicom, released in 1987, and revived via the Nintendo Classics NES/Famicom library.
Disclaimer: This title is available via the Nintendo Online Subscription service, which I have paid for out of my own pocket. The opinions expressed within about this release are my own, with no sponsorship of the content within this feature. As this is part of a subscription, there will be no links to the software, unlike other features in this series. The game is included as part of the library on both tiers of the NSO membership.
So with the introductions out of the way, let’s get started. I will be discussing the general gameplay experience for the game, alongside my personal thoughts on the release.
About the game
In the land of Argool, the five Indora Gods kept the peace and the land was a paradise. However, the evil Ligar lay siege to the land and conquered it, taking over the land and corrupting the once sacred land. The land became a kingdom of evil, taking away the door to peace that the Indora had put in place. As the corruption spread, the people of Argool prayed for a saviour, with their wishes reaching the spirit of Rygar, reviving the legendary hero to do battle with Ligar.
The original version of Rygar is a straight forward side scrolling platform action game, where the player battles enemies, crosses hazards and fights bosses. However, this version of the game has been enhanced significantly, turning it from a straightforward arcade game to a full adventure. This game utilises a mostly non-linear progression system, where the player can explore a large interconnected world, with side scrolling and top down segments.
When the player is in the side-scrolling portions of the game, they control Rygar moving from left to right, being able to jump and attack. While exploring these areas, the player must cross dangerous gaps, fight monsters and avoid hazards. These areas are not just straight forward environments, as there will be transition areas within the different zones. To move between the zones, players will be able to climb ropes, going up and down between the screens.
While exploring these points the player will need to be careful, as there will be enemies that appear throughout the zones, attacking the hero. They will attack the player from the above and on the ground. To fight the enemies, the player must use the Diskarmor, a yo-yo like attack with limited range that goes in front of Rygar. To attack the low enemies, the player can crouch to strike. It is also possible to stun some enemies by jumping on them, stunning them for a moment.
Then we have the top-down/dungeon segements, which function in a vastly different way to the side-scrolling zones. Within these areas, the player will be able to move in all four directions, jump and attack in the direction they are facing. These give the game a feeling similar to that of an action RPG, like the Legend of Zelda with enemies constantly spawning in. The first open zone that the player finds acts like a hub, connecting the player to other areas.
Inside the open top-down zones and side scrolling segments, there will be doors placed in different points. There are two types of door that players can use, with the first being boundary doors, which will let the player transfer to the next area. Then there are the safe rooms, which will contain the Wisemen, who give the player hints on how to progress. Some will also offer players the ability to heal up, offering a potion that fills up all lost health.
At different points around the world, the player will encounter deadly boss monsters that the player must defeat to progress. By slaying these monsters, Rygar will be able to meet the Fighting Gods of Indora, who will provide items that are used to open up new areas. These include the grappling hook, which allows players to climb to new areas, the crossbow to create rope crossings and the wind pulley to travel across the ropes.
With each new item that the player adds to the hero’s arsenal, the area that can be explored expands and some previously unreachable points open up. This adds an element of back tracking to the open exploration of the game, with players needing to go back and forth between the areas. The challenge increases with each of the new areas that are added, with deadly monsters and powerful boss monsters and challenging platforming.
Defeating the monsters will provide the player with experience in the form of Tone, which will increase the power that the hero will deal to enemies. Then there are the Lasting points, which will increase total health the hero will have, starting with three hits and increasing to a maximum of twelve. The amount of experience that the player will earn varies, giving the player different amounts of experience with each monster kill in battle.
It is also possible for monsters to drop potions, which will restore a point of health each time they are picked up, as well as Mind points which are stones with stars on them. By collecting the Mind stones, the player will be able to use special powered upgrades. These points can be used to increase attack power and range of attack, a burst like attack to damage all on screen enemies and even recover lost health. Each power uses different amounts of Mind to use.
As Rygar doesn’t have a battery save feature built into the original game, the adventure needs to be cleared in a single playthrough. The game also lacks a password system, meaning that it is not possible to resume the game when stopping play. Luckily, the game features infinite continues, so if the player dies from falling off screen, being defeated by enemies or dropping into a pitfall, they can jump right back into play.
Since this game is available through the Nintendo Classics, NES Online library, players can use a few quality of life features. The first is the inclusion of Save/Load states, which solves the issue of needing to beat the game in a single sitting. Then we have the Rewind feature, which lets players take the game back a little bit if a mistake is made. These can be rather handy for players who may struggle with the challenge of the adventure.
Personal Thoughts
I like the Rygar franchise a lot, having played the original arcade and the rebooted adventures that launched on PS2 and Wii. I however did not get very far with the NES port of the game, often getting stuck or lost for the most part, due to the open ended nature of the adventure. I tried several times over the years, picking it up and getting as far as I could before failing and having to stop. But this was through bootleg carts and janky emulators.
I did get to see the game through to the end recently though, as I played it as a group when visiting family overseas, working together to make it to the end. After seeing the end of the game, I was also able to play it myself from start to finish, finally crossing it off my list of games I had yet to beat. There is a lot of fun to have with this release, as it mixes platforming, top down action and arcade quality gameplay to create something entirely fresh for the time.
It is one of the harder games in the NES library, as enemies can obliterate the player health bar and punishment for death is being sent back to the last door. The frustrating thing about how easy it is to die, is that with each continue, the player only has three hit points and all mind points are lost. However, the player gets to keep experience and levelling progress, which takes away some of the sting of death. Luckily, there are recovery safe rooms in areas.
Once everything falls into place, the action flows very well, offering players a fun and exciting adventure. I admit I am not the best at this game, and I die a lot from falling into the death plane, getting ruined by bosses and yet, I just keep coming back to the game. I even spend time grinding away to level up early, get mind points and even then the first boss just ruins me. That is what makes finally beating the game so satisfying.
As this is part of the NSO library, there are the quality of life improvements as mentioned further above. But there is also the inclusion of a filter, allowing players to give the game a feel of a classic CRT display. Having this as an optional extra is a nice addition, as it gives players a chance to get a feel for how the game would look on an original screen. It also feels good to play on a big screen, as well as in a handheld format when playing on the go.
This is a tough game, which was common for Tecmo at the time, as they made games like Ninja Gaiden and Bomb Jack, which were known for their high challenge. I have a lot of love for early Tecmo, especially Rygar as it was a very interesting and unique game, which blended action and RPG gameplay. I do hope that it gets a wider release, with the Console Archives series releasing Ninja Gaiden II and III, so there is some hope for it.
If you have enjoyed this feature, then take a look at the other content available and see what catches your eye. There are reviews, sometimes news and features that cover a variety of games. There is the lost gems series, special Gaming Oddities and more coming in the future. So stick around for a while and check out the other content.
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