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"Just look at him: he's a knight with a jetpack! YOU CAN'T TOP THAT!!!"

Zephyrus, a Magical Land full of 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 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...

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 much much more. 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.

Sparkster returned in 2010 in a new 2.5-D adventure developed by Climax Group, simply 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.

On January 2024, Konami and Limited Run Games announced a Compilation Rerelease titled Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked Collection for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC. This collection will include both the first two games for the Genesis and the SNES game running on the Carbon Engine, and it will include a new animated intro, several quality of life improvements, a Boss Rush and more.


This series provides examples of:

  • Advancing Wall of Doom: Three in Rocket Knight Adventures — one of which is part of a boss battle.
  • A.I. Breaker: In the first game, one of Axel's attacks during his first phase is to fire two sword beams and then charge his jetpack. If you ram into him while he's charging, he will flinch and fire two beams again. Your own rocket will recharge just in time to blast him again and again until his second phase starts.
  • Airborne Aircraft Carrier: At least one per game.
  • Always Someone Better: Sparkster is this to Axel Gear.
  • American Kirby Is Hardcore: 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 its opening cutscene and level intro screens changed to look more edgy.
  • Anime Hair: Sparkster has some under his helmet.
  • Anti-Frustration Features: Some of the toughest areas in RKA1 have an extra life in plain sight or in a somewhat tricky location, so you have infinite attempts at things like the first major boss or the giant mech battle as long as you manage to grab them.
  • 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.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: Almost all bosses use some form of this trope.
  • Badass Adorable: Sparkster, especially in his end-of-level victory animation.
  • 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.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: Sparkster can, bizarrely, breathe in space without the need of a space-suit. This is notable, as the pig troopers and Axel Gear himself wear an appropriate gear when fought in space (this can be summed-up as the princess casting a spell on Sparkster prior to his departure).
  • BFG: Axel Gear comes at you with one in Stage Six of the original game, it can be used as a Wave-Motion Gun.
  • Big Fancy Castle:
    • In the original game, the third part of Stage 1 takes place in King El Zebulos' castle, which is partially on fire, and under attack by a giant robotic spider you fight at the end. In the same game, the second part of Stage 5 takes place in Emperor Devligus Devotindos' castle, which has many Eternal Engine elements, and a fight against Axel Gear in giant robots at the end.
    • In Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, the fifth level takes place in King Gedol's castle, which has many Eternal Engine elements, and two Holy Swords hidden within.
  • Black Knight: Axel Gear is a marginal example.
  • Bookends: The second game begins with Sparkster taking the sword out of its pedestal before he is suddenly thrown into a mecha battle with Axel Gear. In the Golden Sparkster ending, he later returns it to the same pedestal.
  • Butt-Monkey: Captain Fleagle from the first game. Notably he gets progressively more beat-up looking as the stage goes on.
  • Call to Agriculture: Apparently what Sparkster was doing in those 15 years before the 2010 game, and even got himself a family.
  • The Cameo: Sparkster appeared as a cameo in several Konami games, such as Snatcher, Contra, Mitsumete Knight, Ganbare Goemon 2, and New International Track & 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.
  • Cartoon Meat: In RKA 2, the full health restore power-up takes the shape of a hunk of meat with a bone sticking out of both ends.
  • Cheeky Mouth: If you go frame by frame in Sparkster, you notice the cheeky mouth teleport across the Ambidextrous Sprite in the turning animation.
  • Climax Boss: Axel Gear. Especially when you face him head-to-head with no mechs nor anything.
  • Clipped-Wing Angel: The Pig Star's final form, its core, has only two easily avoidable attacks and can't survive atmospheric reentry.
  • Collision Damage: A slightly odd example — in the first game, the distressed pigs on fire just fleeing past you in the castle do the same damage if they touch Sparkster as the armored ones attacking him with swords earlier on. In the second, there are lizards on fire who do the very same thing.
  • Comedic Underwear Exposure: Enemies are stripped to their underwear when defeated in Rocket Knight Adventures, Sparkster, and sometimes in Rocket Knight.
  • 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.
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard:
    • 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.
    • 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 tends to last longer than yours, and he can hover as much as he likes.
  • Conspicuous Electric Obstacle: Antennas that shoot electricity between them can be found in Sparkster.
  • Convection Shmonvection: The lava areas. Specifically the first of these featuring lava with a reflective surface.
  • Damsel in Distress: All three of the original 16-bit games start with Axel Gear kidnapping a princess, leading to Sparkster rescuing them.
  • Dark Is Evil: Axel Gear's armor possess a dark shade of purple, and is one who decides to side with any of the enemy army present in the hopes of claiming the kingdom for his own.
  • Defeat Equals Explosion: Foot soldiers avert this, but mechanical enemies and most bosses blow up upon defeat.
  • Defeat by Modesty: In somes games in the series, mainly the original, Sparkster hitting an enemy with his sword makes their clothes fall off and they will try to run away.
  • 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's Big Bad in this manner.
  • Didn't Need Those Anyway!: Four bosses in RKA after enough damage is dealt to them - Pig Tank loses its treads, Pig Train loses its cannon and arms, Pig Crab can lose its claws, and Pig Battleship loses its turrets, lower jaw, and main body.
  • 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.
    • In the US and European versions, if you play on the lowest difficulty, you will skip the final boss fight and get a message that this is not the true ending. The final boss fight happens on every difficulty in the Japanese version.
  • The Dragon: Axel Gear will serve any Big Bads currently present to take over the kingdom, the manual for the first game states that he wants to overthrow Devilgus and take over once he's out of the picture.
  • Driven by Envy: Sparkster's promotion to leader of the Rocket Knights is what fuels Axel Gear's jealousy, and led him to side with The Empire in the hopes of getting back at him for his wounded pride.
  • 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.
  • Evil Counterpart: Axel Gear, to Sparkster.
  • Flying Brick: Sparkster, to the point where he actually flies in some sequences.
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip: In RKA 2, one of King Gedol's attacks is a spell where he can swap bodies with Sparkster, and the player can briefly control Sparkster in Gedol's body.
  • Funny Animal: Sparkster and most of the other people of Zephyrus are anthropomorphic opossums, and the invading armies over the three games include such fauna as pigs, lizards, snakes, wolves, and lions.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Generalissimo Lioness is a male lion.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Averted for Sparkster, he dons his goggles whenever you use his rocket boosts.
  • Gold-Colored Superiority: In Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, if the player collects all seven Keys to the Seals, Sparkster's armor will become the Legendary Armor, and the true ending will be shown after the Big Bad, King Gedol is defeated. Gold Sparkster charges his jet pack faster and his attacks do more damage, but unlike Super Sonic, he can still take damage.
  • Good Animals, Evil Animals: The Possums (with the exception of Axel Gear) are the heroes, and the animal villains depend on the game. In RKA, the villains are Pigs, in RKA 2, the villains are Lizards, and in Sparkster, the villains are Wolves. In Rocket Knight, the villains are Wolves again until the final level where the Pigs take the villain spot again.
  • 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. Although, King Gedol's lizard lackeys do wear purple armor as well.
  • Goofy Print Underwear: Most non-robotic Mooks are reduced to this when you defeat them in RKA. Their armor falls off and reveal 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. This does not apply to the lizards in RKA2, but this is brought back (though with briefs) for the wolves in Sparkster, and applies to the pigs (but not the wolves) in Rocket Knight.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: RKA 2 has seven Keys to the Seals the player can collect. Finding all of them unlocks the Legendary Armor and the complete ending.
  • Green Hill Zone: The first stage is a grassy plain with no environmental hazards.
  • Hailfire Peaks: In a particularly impressive example, the second level in RKA 2 manages to combine Shifting Sand Land, Lethal Lava Land, Temple of Doom, and Eternal Engine.
  • 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. Crazy Hard turns everything into a One-Hit Kill and forces you to start with one life and no continues, which puts even the Contra games into "baby difficult" territory in comparison.
    • 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 for the Super Nintendo also has a "Crazy Hard" difficulty, but it's nowhere as unforgiving as the first game; it does massively increase 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.
  • The Hero: Sparkster serves as the primary protagonist for all installments.
  • 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.
  • Horse of a Different Color: There are more than a few exotic steeds in the series. Triceratops or mechanical ostrich, for example (the Triceratops creature is seen in RKA 2 with a carriage mounted on its back).
  • Hot Blade: 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.
  • Human Cannonball:
    • Not being enough launching yourself with a jetpack in the seventh level of Sparkster (SNES) you are shot into space with a cannon.
    • In the original Rocket Knight Adventures, the king shoots Sparkster into the pig battleship in this fashion after Stage 3.
  • Humongous Mecha: Sparkster and Axel Gear have a giant robot fight in the first and second games.
  • Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The difficulty levels include names like "Children" and "Crazy Hard".
  • Idle Animation: In the first game, if you leave Sparkster alone long enough, he will remove his goggles and cheerfully emit a word balloon that says, "LET'S GO" along with a high-pitched noise.
  • 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.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: Axel Gear is the Arch-Enemy, and he is always The Dragon to each game's Big Bad.
  • Jet Pack: Look at the title.
  • Joker Immunity: Averted with the Big Bads, but played straight with Axel Gear.
  • Jump Jet Pack: This is Sparkster's jet pack's primary function. Only in a select number of levels does it grant real flight.
  • Killed Off for Real: The Big Bad at the end of each game. In contrast, Axel Gear, who serves as The Dragon to them, always survives every battle he loses against Sparkster. Meanwhile, the status of each Big Bad's other most notable minion (Fleagle, Paeli, and Wolfheim respectively) is sort of unclear.
  • Konami Code: Can be used in Rocket Knight to unlock Axel Gear and Gold Sparkster from the get go. A variant is also in the SNES game with the code being Left, Left, Right, Right, Up, Down, Up, Down, A, X, in order to unlock Crazy Hard Mode.
  • 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.
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Gold Sparkster and the Pig Star, at the very least.
  • Lethal Lava Land: The first area of Stage 3 in the original game features a rising and falling tide of lava that has a reflective surface as if it were water. Unfortunately, it's not, as it instantly kills Sparkster if he falls into it. This is played with shortly, as crystal formations obscure platforms above the lava and Sparkster himself from the player's view, forcing you to use the reflection in order to see the path and make the proper jumps to proceed. Oddly enough, the more conventional lava found in the level's third area, while still hurting a lot, doesn't instantly kill on contact (unless you're playing the game on the hardest difficulty, but that's another story).
  • Lift of Doom: The original game has this in the middle of the fifth level, with many situations requiring Sparkster to use his jet pack to escape getting crushed.
  • Magic Knight: Sparkster and Axel Gear, to a certain degree.
  • Magma Man: In the pyramid stage, when Sparkster enters the pyramid, there are pits of lava. From one of them, a fire elemental emerges, and Sparkster must therefore defeat it before proceeding any further.
  • Marathon Level: Stage 1 of Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 is made up of three different sections, two mini-bosses, and one main boss.
  • Mascot with Attitude: Sparkster. He was much more down-to-earth than others of his time.
  • Mass Hypnosis: All There in the Manual; this is how the Big Bad gets his troops.
  • Mecha-Mooks: Hardly uncommon, but interspersed with regular flesh-and-blood Mooks.
  • Meteor-Summoning Attack: In Rocket Knight Adventures 2, one of King Gedol's attacks during the first phase of the final battle against him involves him raining many small meteors down from the sky.
  • Military Mashup Machine: All over the place, including such oddities as space submarines whose front portions can turn into giant mechs. One notable vehicle is the flying ship on Stage 3 of RKA 2.
  • Mini-Mecha: There are several varieties of enemies that pilot these.
  • Mirror Boss: 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.
  • The Mole: In Rocket Knight, Axel Gear and the Devotindos fight alongside Sparkster to defeat the Wolf Army. Midway through the game, it is revealed that this was part of Axel's plan to turn against Sparkster so that he and the Devotindos Empire can rule Zephyrus.
  • The Napoleon: Captain Fleagle from the first game, who even dresses like the Trope Namer.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Fleagle is fairly goofy and incompetent throughout most of Stage 4, but he does prove he can be fairly formidable when he takes control of the stage's boss, a giant robot in his likeness.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Anthropomorphic opossums who wear medieval knights' armor with jetpacks!
  • Obstructive Foreground: Used intentionally at the beginning of the third level in the first game, with crystals obstructing certain platforms, and a rising and falling pool of reflective lava that reveals the platforms behind the crystals.
  • Ominous Pipe Organ: Axel Gear is seen playing one at the end of the aforementioned Band Land (the sixth level of Sparkster for SNES).
  • One-Hit-Point Wonder: Unlock the Crazy Hard difficulty of RKA 1 (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.
  • 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 Sanjuro... until Mifune was murdered by Axel Gear ten years before the first game.
  • Password Save: Both the SNES and Genesis versions of Sparkster have these, but they're very different. The SNES version has twelve boxes, and the Genesis version has eight. In the SNES version, the password is shown on the continue screen, and in order to input the password, you play as Sparkster and hit the boxes with his sword. In the Genesis version, the password isn't shown on the continue screen until you choose not to continue the game, and in order to input the password, you have to select the correct cards and colors.
  • Pig Man: The villains of the first game.
  • Plant Person: In the first stage, a miniboss appears in the form of a tree elemental.
  • Playable Menu: In Sparkster (SNES), the password menu has you play as Sparkster and input the password by hitting the boxes with his sword.
  • Post-Final Boss: After you defeat the Pig Star, you evacuate the starbase in an escape pod, while the starbase explodes. The Pig Star's core isn't done with you yet, and keeps attacking you straight into the planet's atmosphere. You have to dodge it until it finally burns up on re-entry.
  • Posthumous Character: Mifune Sanjuro, Sparkster and Axel Gear's former teacher who was killed by Axel Gear before the first game began.
  • Pre-Final Boss:
    • In the original game, Sparkster faces off against Axel Gear a third time in the Pig Star. After Sparkster defeats Axel, he battles the Pig Star Computer, the game's final boss.
    • In Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, Sparkster faces off against Axel once again in the heart of King Gedol's castle. After Sparkster defeats Axel, he battles King Gedol, the game's final boss.
  • Purple Is Powerful: Axel Gear's armor is dark purple, and his abilities rival those of Sparkster himself.
  • A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: When Sparkster is chosen by their master instead of Axel Gear to lead the others, Axel retaliates by killing his master.
  • Quicksand Sucks: Stage 2 in Sparkster has quicksand that the protagonist can quickly sink in.
  • Razor Wind/Sword Beam: Sparkster and Axel'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.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Most of the enemies in RKA 2.
  • The Rival: Axel Gear.
  • 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.
  • Rope Bridge: In the original game, the mini-boss of Stage 1, the Pig Tank takes place on a rope bridge. Although the bridge is capable of supporting the Pig Tank's weight, it collapses after Sparkster clears the Pig Tank's first phase, after which the second phase takes place in the waterfall below.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Princess Sherry, who powers up Sparkster's rocket pack so he can chase after the Pig Star in the first game.
  • 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.
  • Savage Wolves:
    • In Sparkster, the most common enemies in the game are the Yellow Dogs, an army of wolves led by Generalissimo Lioness. One of them, Colonel Wolfheim, serves as the mini-boss of Stage 3 and the main boss of Stage 4.
    • 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. 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.
  • Save the Princess
  • Scenery Porn: The graphics for RKA is gorgeous for its 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
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: Sparkster himself.
  • Shout-Out:
    • The side-scrolling shooter (or in one part of the Mega Drive sequel, puncher) segments contain minibosses strongly reminiscent of Gradius' 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.
  • Shrink Ray: Paeli can use this on Sparkster, rendering him harmless for several seconds.
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: In Rocket Knight, the Wolf Kingdom takes place in an arctic climate. The climate is so cold, it freezes Sparkster's jet pack, preventing him from being able to recharge it. To unfreeze the jet pack so he can recharge it, Sparkster has to be standing next to a torch.
  • Spell My Name With An S:
    • 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 manual rendered it(エレホーン [Erehōn] in the manual, rather than エレホン [Erehon] for the book), this was rendered into English as "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".
    • In Sonic the Comic, the princess was named "Shelly", not "Sherry".
    • The correct rendering of the name of Sparkster's master is up in the air as either "Mifune Sanjuro" or "Mifune Sanjulo". The former seems to be more appropriate for the character acting as shout-out to Sanjuro and the film's lead Toshiro Mifune.
  • Spike Balls of Doom: Sometimes bosses and minibosses carry spiky metal balls.
  • Spikes of Doom: Spikes are a common hazard in the series.
  • Sprite/Polygon Mix: Rocket Knight.
  • Steampunk: Sort of. The setting combines Steampunk elements with more traditional fantasy and sci-fi elements.
  • Suddenly Voiced: The cameo in Mitsumete Knight is the only instance where Sparkster has a voice actor, courtesy of Kazuya Nakai.
  • Super Mode: The Legendary Armor in RKA 2. While wearing this, Sparkster's attacks do more damage and his rocket charges faster.
  • Sword Beam: In the original RKA, Sparkster flings a spinning projectile of fire from his Hot Blade when he strikes directly from a snap-draw. Some of the later games omit this projectile.
  • Tennis Boss: The first time you face Captain Fleagle in the fourth level of the first game, he 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.
  • Terrible Trio: At least one per 16-bit game.
    • Rocket Knight Adventures (Genesis): Emperor Devligus Devotindos, Captain Fleagle, Axel Gear
    • Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (Genesis): King Gedol, Paeli, Axel Gear
    • Sparkster (SNES): Generalissimo Lioness, Colonel Wolfheim, Axel Gear
  • Time Skip: Five years pass between the events of the first game and the sequel.
  • Title Confusion: At the time of its release, the first game was often mistakenly just called "Sparkster" by fans, which led to considerable confusion when the next two games had "Sparkster" as a subtitle and their actual title, respectively.
  • Waterfront Boss Battle: Several in the first game, each one a different type.
    • The very beginning of Stage 2 has Sparkster come across a giant robot piloted by one of Emperor Devligus Devotindos' Pig Soldiers. The robot tries to attack Sparkster as he swims in the water below, and Sparkster has to jump or use his jet pack to reach it.
    • At the end of the second part of Stage 3, the mini-boss is a robotic Giant Enemy Crab piloted by one of Emperor Devligus Devotindos' Pig Soldiers. Because it is underwater, Sparkster has to swim underwater to attack it.
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change: Happens very, very frequently, with Shoot 'Em Up and (rudimentary) Fighting Game segments breaking up the platforming.
  • 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.
  • Waterfront Boss Battle: In the second part of Stage 1, Sparkster flies through the air with his Jet Pack as a robotic Segmented Serpent lurks in the water below, occasionally jumping out of the water to try to attack Sparkster.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Zephyrus' enemies tend to be ugly, or at least to belong to species with morally ambiguous or downright negative stereotypes.


Alternative Title(s): Sparkster

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