The Retro Video Game Addict reviews: Rygar for the NES!

   

 You want to talk about some bullshit? Okay, let's talk about some bullshit. Rygar for the NES is bullshit and it isn't just because the game features jerky graphics and poor gameplay, but mainly because the game gives you a life bar worth 3 hits and no continues. Yeah, you read that correctly. Rygar for the Nintendo Entertainment System gives the player a 3 hit life bar but yet throws enemies and obstacals at you faster than a cowboy on crack, it isn't even close to fair in that they seem to take joy in watching the player struggle through the levels as they try to progress through the game. The sick part of it all is that there is a lot of backtracking to do and when you go back to areas you've already visited all of the enemies and hurdles that you've tackled come back to haunt you. Yep, it's one of those games, pretty much all NES gamers know exactly what I'm talking about here.

     You know something? I like a good challenge. As long as the challenge is fair and the player has a way to complete it without taking unavoidable damage or without over the top tasks that require dumb luck to complete than sign me up. But if you're going to load the screen with a million enemies that re-spawn faster than steroid injected rabbits reproducing than you can just kill it and take it back to formula because I simply

will not tolerate it. It's sad too because Rygar could be a fantastic game if modified just right, I mean, the game has some fun aspects to it and offers some fun stages but it's over the top challenge and frustrating gameplay keep it from being a top challenger in the side scrolling action/adventure genre.

     The game does has some things going for it that don't totally suck, I suppose. Mainly the musical score, which is okay at best, and if you can get past the heroically annoying tune that strangely grows on you while you play than you'll dig the tunes within the game. The control is pretty tight too which is nice because, well, it's always nice to have a quality control scheme while trucking through level after level of horse crap. But almost instantly you'll soon notice that no matter how good the control on Rygar is that you can't avoid some of the bullshit traps and damage you'll take while progressing through the levels. But yeah, all I can really say good about this game is that the music doesn't totally suck and the control is surprisingly good. Now back to the bullshit.

     Rygar is one of those games that I used to see at the video rental stores back in the day when I actively rented games for my NES but yet I never took it upon myself to rent this one. I did play it at a friends house momentarily back in maybe 1991 or something but that wasn't enough time to fully decipher whether or not I liked the game, but maybe there was an omen there that barred me from ever asking for it for a birthday or renting it from the store. Heck, even when Funcoland sold NES games back in the day I'd see it for $3 or $4 and still always passed it up in favor of something else. I guess my “Spidey Sense” was tingling inside and warning me to steer clear of this game. Either way, my experience as of late with this game has been less than inviting and aside from having it as a part of my collection I doubt I'll ever truly bother with it again. In fact, I'd rather know what it feels like to get fucked by a rabid bear with a katana sword strap on than play this game again. Well, on second thought maybe it isn't quite bad enough to let a bear fuck me with a sword. But you get my point.

     So it's got tight control and some pretty interesting music, but the said could be said for the average NES game and I find this game to be much less than average when compared to other similar NES games. With all of the things this game got wrong I would place the 3 hit system coupled alongside the no continues bullshit as the one thing that really keep this game from being mediocre at best and place it in the “do not play” pile. It's sad too, because with a few modifications this game could have really been something special within the NES library, but instead it takes it's rightful place in the annals for video game shitfests. C'est La Vie.

Graphics/Visuals – 5.0

Sound/Music – 6.0

Control/Handling – 6.5

Fun/Enjoyment – 3.0

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© 2013 Bill Mulligan