History VideoGame / RocketKnightAdventures

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: In ''RKA 2'', the fully-powered version of the directional rocket attack involves this, as well as the non-directional one.

* HeelFaceMole: In ''Rocket Knight'', Axel Gear and the Devotindos fight alongside Sparkster to defeat the Wolf Army. Midway through the game, it is revealed that [[spoiler:this was part of Axel's plan to turn against Sparkster so that he and the Devotindos Empire can rule Zephyrus]].

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Axel Gear.

* AdvancingWallOfDoom: Three in ''Rocket Knight Adventures'' - one of which is part of a boss battle.

* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: More subtle example. US covers actually used Japan originated promotional artwork, but edited Sparkster's anime smile into an angry scowl. Interestingly the European covers used an identical box art as the US, but edited it to reuse the original cheerful Sparkster art. Additionally, the American version also had it's opening cutscene and level intro screens changed to look more edgy.

* TheCameo: Sparkster appeared as a cameo in several Konami games, such as ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'', ''VideoGame/MitsumeteKnight'', ''[[VideoGame/GanbareGoemon Ganbare Goemon 2]]'', and ''New International VideoGame/TrackAndField''. Most oddly of all, a human version of Sparkster appears in Konami's ''Jikkyou Powerful Pro Wrestling '96 : MAX VOLTAGE'', where he bears a passing resemblance to Wrestling/HulkHogan.

** In ''RKA 2'', Axel Gear's mech can do one thing that Sparkster's can't: fire a projectile from its chest. But its easy to block, and his mech is temporarily immobile after using it, pretty much guaranteeing you a free hit.
** In the same game, when you get to face Axel in a head-to-head fight, [[spoiler: he creates a pincer barrier which will start closing until it gets you, Axel's attack tends to last longer than yours, and he can hover as much as he likes]].

* DrivenByEnvy: [[spoiler: Sparkster's promotion to leader of the Rocket Knights is what fuels Axel Gear's jealousy.]]

** ''Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2'' features the Very Hard difficulty where enemies hit harder, bosses are faster and every 10 gems is 100% guaranteed to give you the "amazing" prize of a bomb.
** ''Sparkster'' form the Super Nintendo also has a "Crazy Hard" difficulty, but its nowhere as unforgiving as the first game, it does boost massively the damage you take and reduces healing items, but at least you don't die in one hit from everything and you have extra lives too.

* HotBlade: Heavily implied to be why Sparkster's sword is so effective as a weapon. Character design art shows he sheathes it ''in'' his jetpack, and several of his attack animations (like his dashing strikes and spin attacks) in the various games have the blade glowing with a blue, orange or red flare.

* LargeAndInCharge: The emperor in the first game, [[spoiler: although this is actually subverted as he is nothing but a robot created by the Pig Star's computer, which is the REAL enemy.]]

* MirrorBoss: Axel Gear, the only recurring enemy in the series, fights much like Sparkster himself. However it should be noted that Axel is always ''stronger'' than Sparkster as he can rocket boost without losing control and even fly freely whereas Sparkster has to deal with the wild recoil of his rocket boosts and cannot fly or even hover.

* OminousPipeOrgan: Axel Gear is seen playing one at the end of the aforementioned BandLand [[spoiler:the sixth level of Sparkster for SNES]].
* OneHitPointWonder: Unlock the Crazy Hard of RKA 1 ([[DifficultyByRegion or just select "Hard" difficulty in the US version]]) and you'll become this. Not only will one hit from ANYTHING kill you dead, but you only receive one life and no continues. Your only hope of getting any more than one life lies in collecting the 1UP icons, and passing certain score thresholds.
* ParentalAbandonment: AllThereInTheManual; Sherry and Cherry's mother died from unknown causes years before RKA. Sparkster meanwhile is a [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan war orphan]] who was raised by the Rocket Knight, Mifune Sanjuro... [[spoiler: until Mifune was murdered by Axel Gear ten years before the first game.]]

* PosthumousCharacter: Mifune Sanjuro, Sparkster and Axel Gear's former teacher [[spoiler: who was killed by Axel Gear before the first game began.]]

* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: [[spoiler: When Sparkster is chosen by their master instead of Axel Gear to lead the others, Axel retaliates by killing his master.]]
* RazorWind / SwordBeam: Sparkster and Axel's swords can do this, except, for some reason, in ''RKA 2''.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The emperor in the first game. [[spoiler: Even more so during his RoboticReveal and during the sequence where you have to fight multiple clones of the prototype emperor robot.]]

* RuleOfCool: Sparkster and the other Rocket Knights are heavily armored, sword-wielding opossums with the ability to fly about with rocket packs and fire waves of energy from their swords, not to mention occasionally piloting HumongousMecha, flying through walls of bricks or solid steel, flying through space without a spaceship...yeah. Arguably shades into NinjaPirateZombieRobot territory.

** Played with in ''Rocket Knight'' (2010); when the Wolf Army attacks the Kingdom of Zephyrus, Axel Gear and the Devotindos Empire fight alongside Sparkster to defeat them. [[spoiler:Of course, this is all part of Axel Gear's plan to turn against Sparkster so that he and the Devotindos Empire can rule Zephyrus]].

** [[spoiler: In the Golden Sparkster ending from the Climax Studios' game, Bill Rizer shoots at Sparkster, proclaiming revenge. This acts as a continuation of the Contra: Shattered Soldier ending with the Sparkster cameo.]]

** In the Japanese version of the games, the kingdom Sparkster lives in is called "Zephyrus" but was mistranslated as "Zebulos" in the English version and remained unchanged for years. For the new Rocket Knight game, Konami has dropped "Zebulos" for the English version in favor of the original "Zephyrus".
** In Sonic the Comic, the princess was named "Shelly" not "Sherry".

* SwordBeam: In the original ''RKA'' Sparkster flings a spinning projectile of fire from his HotBlade when he strikes directly from a snap-draw. Some of the later games omit this projectile.

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The last normal level of each game is on an enemy space station (slightly modified in ''RKA 2'', where it appears to be an OminousFloatingCastle in space), and the first game and the SNES game take this further by setting the final boss fight ''in re-entry'' and ''on a giant missile'', respectively. ''Rocket Knight'' has the final level in [[spoiler: a corrupted version of Zephyrus where the pigs have taken over and the general rules with a giant golden robot of himself. OhCrap.]]

* RazorWind/SwordBeam: Sparkster and Axel's swords can do this, except, for some reason, in ''RKA 2''.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rka_level_1.png]]
[[caption-width-right:320:In about 0.1 seconds, this pig and his [[MiniMecha mech]] will be very unhappy.]]

* ChainReactionDestruction: Bosses and minibosses are prone to that and being non-mechanical won't save them for that.

** In ''RKA 2'', Axel Gear's mech can do one thing that Sparkster's can't: fire a projectile from its chest. But it's easy to block, and his mech is temporarily immobile after using it, pretty much guaranteeing you a free hit.

** ''Sparkster'' form the Super Nintendo also has a "Crazy Hard" difficulty, but it's nowhere as unforgiving as the first game, it does boost massively the damage you take and reduces healing items, but at least you don't die in one hit from everything and you have extra lives too.

* SceneryPorn: The graphics for RKA is ''gorgeous'' for it's time. That said, the game's graphics are often brought up as what a Genesis' graphics hardware is capable of despite being more limited than the [=SNES=] or [=TG16=]

* UnderwaterBossBattle: Several in the first game, each one a different type.
** In the second part of Stage 1, Sparkster flies through the air with his jet pack as a robotic SegmentedSerpent lurks in the water below, occasionally jumping out of the water to try to attack him.

* SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay: The series has been guilty of this from time to time, specifically in the first game with an AsteroidThicket of absurd density as background.
** [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace Sparkster Can Breathe In Space]]: Can't even be handwaved because the pig troopers and Axel Gear wear spacesuits when fought in space. For all it's worth, Sparkster did have some kind of spell cast on him by the princess...

* BlueIsHeroic: Sparkster's armor is light blue, and he is definitely heroic.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The giant robot bosses of the fifth stage of ''RKA 2'' have chest-mounted turrets that look amazingly like huge, pendulous breasts. That fire out of their nipples.

Contrast to Tengen's '''VideoGame/AwesomePossumKicksDrMachinosButt'', which was another opossum centered platformer for the Sega Genesis, coincidentally released the same year as the first game in this series (athough ''RKA'' predates ''Awesome Possum'' by two months) and is held in much lower regard.

* HarderThanHard: The Japanese and European versions of ''RKA'' and all versions of ''Sparkster'' contain difficulties called "Very Hard" and "Crazy Hard". As noted in DifficultyByRegion above, the US version of ''RKA'' made the equivalents Normal and Hard. Crazy Hard turns ''everything'' into OneHitKill and forces you to start with one life and no continues, which puts even ''Contra'' games into "baby difficult" territory in comparison.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Princess Sherry in the first game definitely counts for this, as do Cherry and Flora.

* TheCameo: Sparkster appeared as a cameo in several Konami games, such as ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'', ''VideoGame/MitsumeteKnight'', ''[[VideoGame/GanbareGoemon Ganbare Goemon 2]]'', and ''New International VideoGame/TrackAndField''. Most oddly of all, a human version of Sparkster appears in Konami's ''Jikkyou Powerful Pro Wrestling '96 : MAX VOLTAGE'', where he bears a passing resemblance to HulkHogan.

Zephyrus, a MagicalLand full of [[FunnyAnimal Funny Animals]] in the world of Elhorn, has a problem. Long ago, during the reign of El Zephyrus, the first monarch, an invading power used a giant warship called the Pig Star to wreak havoc. They were defeated at great cost, and the dreaded Pig Star was [[SealedEvilInACan placed under a magical seal]] to keep future enemies of Zephyrus from using it. Since then, the descendants of El Zephyrus have kept the Keys to the Seal safe, and an elite order of fighters, the Rocket Knights, was founded to protect the royal family from harm. Sparkster, the current leader of the Rocket Knights, came to power after a traitorous Knight, Axel Gear, killed his superior and former captain Mifune Sanjuro. He banished Axel Gear, but this proved to be a bad move. Our story begins when Sparkster, hearing of a new invasion, speeds to the capital to find that Axel Gear has returned as the stooge of the aggressive Devotindos Empire and kidnapped the Princess while the Empire's troops burn the castle, hoping to get the Key to the Seal as ransom. What Axel Gear doesn't know is that only the Princess herself knows where the Key is...

* {{Razor Wind}}/{{Sword Beam}}: Sparkster and Axel's swords can do this, except, for some reason, in ''RKA 2''.

** [[spoiler: RivalTurnedEvil: It was their master's choice to make Sparkster the new leader that led to Axel Gear's path of evil.]]

Contrast to Tengen's ''VideoGame/AwesomePossum'', which was another opossum centered platformer for the Sega Genesis, coincidentally released the same year as the first game in this series (athough ''RKA'' predates ''Awesome Possum'' by two months) and is held in much lower regard.

* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: [[spoiler: When Sparkster is chosen by their master instead of Axle Gear to lead the others, Axel Gear retaliates by killing his master.]]

''Rocket Knight Adventures'' is a side-scrolling action platform game series by {{Creator/Konami}} with diverse and distinctive gameplay mechanics such as short-range jetting in eight directions (including ricocheting off walls and around corners), charged attacks, swordplay, the occasional bit of [[ShootEmUp shmup-style]] sustained flight, and [[HumongousMecha much]] [[FightingGame much]] [[MinecartMadness more]]. The original game, on the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Sega Mega Drive/Genesis]], spawned two more games: ''Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2'', a sequel also on the Mega Drive, and ''Sparkster'', a game on the SNES which takes place in an alternate continuity. The series may owe its existence to the [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] series, which put FunnyAnimal mascots in vogue and likely influenced the series's art style.

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: [[Anime/DragonBallZ Gold]] [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sparkster]] and [[Franchise/StarWars the Pig Star]], at the very least.

* HeelFaceTurn: Axel Gear and the Devotindos in ''Rocket Knight''. [[spoiler: Not.]]

* HarderThanHard: The Japanese and European versions of ''RKA'' and all versions of ''Sparkster'' contain difficulties called "Very Hard" and "Crazy Hard". As noted in DifficultyByRegion above, the US version of ''RKA'' made the equivalents Normal and Hard