Zebulos, a Magical Land full of Funny Animals in the world of Elhorn, has a problem. Long ago, during the reign of El Zebulos, 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 placed under a magical seal to keep future enemies of Zebulos from using it. Since then, the descendants of El Zebulos have kept the Key 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. 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...Rocket Knight Adventures is a side-scrolling action platform game series by 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 shmup-style sustained flight, and muchmuchmore. The original game, on the 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 Sonic series, which put Funny Animal mascots in vogue and likely influenced the series's art style.In October 2009, it was announced that Sparkster will return after a 15-year absence in a new 2.5-D adventure, tentatively titled Rocket Knight. According to the story, there haven't been any new games in the past 15 years because nothing's happened in 15 years. And when an army of Wolves attacks, Axel and the Devotindos are fighting alongside the possums. Apparently when Sparkster defeats you, you stay down.
This series provides examples of:
Advancing Wall of Doom: Three in Rocket Knight Adventures - one of which is part of a boss battle.
American Kirby Is Hardcore: More subtle example. US covers actually used Japan originated promotional artwork, but edited Sparkster's anime smile into a angry scowl. Interestingly the European covers used an identical box art as the US, but edited it to reuse the original cheerful Sparkster art.
A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: When Sparkster is chosen by their master instead of Axle Gear to lead the others, Axle Gear retaliates by killing his master.
Art Evolution: Sparkster, and to a lesser extent the other characters and the surrounding environment, have a distinctly different look in each game that goes beyond simple graphical upgrades.
Band Land: The sixth level in Sparkster for the SNES is composed primarily of giant musical instruments, in a rather odd contrast to the grim, warlike (if still somewhat whimsical and cartoonish) feel of most of the other settings.
BFG: Axel Gear comes at you with one in Stage Six of the original game. Also doubles as a Wave Motion Gun.
Call to Agriculture: Apparently what Sparkster was doing in those 15 years before the 2010 game. Even got himself a family.
Chain Reaction Destruction: Bosses and minibosses are prone to that and being non-mechanical won't save them for that.
Climax Boss: Axel Gear. Especially when you face him head-to-head with no mechs nor anything.
Comic Book Adaptation: In Sonic The Comic. Its storyline was set after the games, after Sparkster has left Elhorn for a long time and then returned to find the Princess is brainwashed and the country occupied by new reptilian invaders. This adaptation had a few grimdark elements, one of the opening panels of the conquered nation being two former knights involved in a bloody street fight for a crowd.
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 guard, 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, he creates a pincer barrier which will start closing until it gets you, Axel's attack tend to last longer than yours, and he can hover as much as he likes.
Dark is Evil: Axel Gear's armor is dark and he is definitely evil.
Determinator: After Sparkster destroys most of its body, the final boss of the first game follows him off the exploding Pig Star and keeps fighting him as they re-enter Elhorn's atmosphere.
Diagonal Cut: The coup de grace is delivered to RKA 2'sBig Bad in this manner.
Difficulty By Region: RKA has the same difficulties in all regions, but with different names: Japan and Europe have Normal (Japan)/Easy (Europe), Hard, Very Hard, and Crazy Hard, while the US has Children, Easy, Normal, and Hard. Notably, Very Hard and Crazy Hard require codes to unlock, but all four difficulties are freely selectable in the US version.
Driven By Envy: Sparkster's promotion to leader of the Rocket Knights is what fuels Axel Gear's jealousy.
The Empire: The enemies in each game are part of one.
Enemy Mine: Sparkster and Axel Gear and the pigs vs. the wolves in Rocket Knight.
Eternal Engine: Due to the fondness of the series for ridiculously huge war vehicles and mechanical fortresses, a large proportion of its levels are some sort of variation on this.
Everything's Better with Spinning: In RKA 2, the fully-powered version of the directional rocket attack involves this, as well as the non-directional one.
Funny Animal: Sparkster and most of the other people of Zebulos are anthropomorphic opossums, and the invading armies over the three games include such fauna as pigs, lizards, snakes, wolves, and lions.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: 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.
Good Colors, Evil Colors: Sparkster's armor is "good" blue, while Axel Gear's is "evil" purple (red in Rocket Knight). Also, there's an awful lot of green on the baddies' uniforms and vehicles.
Goofy Print Underwear: Most non-robotic Mooks are reduced to this when you "kill" them in RKA: Their armor falls off and reveals their underwear in a manner strongly reminiscent of Ghosts N Goblins, and they run or fall off the screen with an embarrassed look on their face. Does not apply to the lizards in RKA 2, brought back (though with briefs) for the wolves in Sparkster, and applies to the pigs but not the wolves in Rocket Knight.
Harder Than Hard: The Japanese and European versions of RKA and all versions of Sparkster contain difficulties called "Very Hard" and "Crazy Hard". As noted in Difficulty By Region above, the US version of RKA made the equivalents Normal and Hard
Heroic Mime: Played with in that no character has any lines. Characters may be shown apparently conversing, but we can only infer what they're talking about by what happens immediately afterward.
Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha: The enemies have a massive and varied arsenal of animal-like vehicles and autonomous machines. Also, each game features at least one boss fight where Sparkster and Axel Gear pilot giant mechs and engage in a giant-sized boxing match. RKA 2 goes further: it has an entire level that consists of driving a mech through the baddies' capital city and annihilating everything in your path.
I See London: Enemies are stripped to their underwear when defeated in Rocket Knight Adventures, Sparkster, and sometimes in Rocket Knight.
The Kingdom: Zebulos. Renamed to Zephyrus in Rocket Knight.
Large and in Charge: The emperor in the first game, although this is actually subverted as he is nothing but a robot created by the Pig Star's computer which is the REAL enemy.
Parental Abandonment: All There in the Manual; Sherry and Cherry's mother died from unknown causes years before RKA. Sparkster meanwhile is a war orphan who was raised by the Rocket Knight, Mifune Sanjulo... until Mifune was murdered by Axel Gear ten years before the first game.
Posthumous Character: Mifune Sanjulo, Sparkster and Axle Gear's former teacher who was killed by Axle Gear before the first game began.
Razor Wind/Sword Beam: Sparkster and Axle's swords can do this, except, for some reason, in RKA 2.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: The emperor in the first game. Even more so during his Robotic Reveal and during the sequence where you have to fight multiple clones of the prototype emperor robot.
Rearrange the Song: The first level themes from the first game and its sequel see multiple rearrangements over the course of the series, and most of the music in the SNES game is rearranged versions of tracks from the sequel. Then rearranged again in the Rocket Knight. Orchestral style
Rival Turned Evil: It was their master's choice to make Sparkster the new leader that led to Axel Gear's path of evil.
Robotic Reveal: After you fight him normally and "kill" him, Emperor Devligus Devotindos in the first game is revealed to be not only a Terminator-like robot, but one of many such robots stocked aboard the Pig Star.
Rule Of Cool: 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 Humongous Mecha, flying through walls of bricks or solid steel, flying through space without a spaceship...yeah. Arguably shades into Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot territory.
The side-scrolling shooter (or in one part of the Mega Drive sequel, puncher) segments contain minibosses strongly reminiscent of Gradius's bosses, to the point of having a series of shields blocking a vulnerable "core" (usually the vehicle's pilot). More speculatively, it's possible that the mech fights are intended as a Shout Out to Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. Another boss is a shout out to the boss of the waterfall in the original Contra.
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.
The name of the world the series takes place in is supposed to be named for the titular country in Samuel Butler's Erewhon, but because of the way the Japanese version of this got initially rendered into English the name became "Elhorn". This appears to be treated with equal validity to "Erewhon" by fans and references, even today.
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".
Steam Punk: Sort of. The setting combines Steam Punk elements with more traditional fantasy and sci-fi elements.
Super Mode: Gold Sparkster in RKA 2. His attacks do more damage and his rocket charges faster.
Tennis Boss: The miniboss in the fourth level of the first game tosses explosives at you. You can't reach him with your normal attacks, so you have to hit the bombs back at him to damage him.
Ten Second Flashlight: Can get pretty irritating in levels with a lot of enemies or traps.
The Cameo: Sparkster appeared as a cameo in several Konami games, such as Snatcher, Contra, Mitsumete Knight, Ganbare Goemon 2, and New International Track And Field. 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 Hulk Hogan.
The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The last normal level of each game is on an enemy space station (slightly modified in RKA 2, where it appears to be an Ominous Floating Castle 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 a corrupted version of Zephyrus where the pigs have taken over and the general rules with a giant golden robot of himself. Oh Crap.
Villain Exit Stage Left: In a rather odd example, Axel Gear always lives to fight another day, while the Big Bad always dies.
What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Zebulos's enemies tend to be ugly, or at least to belong to species with morally ambiguous or downright negative stereotypes.
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