Written on April 11, 2004.

Rocket Knight Adventures, brought to us by Konami, stars Sparkster, the opossum who leads the Rocket Knights of Zebulos (a kingdom within Elhorn). They protect the kingdom of Zebulos and its Princess Sherry, who guards the key to the Pig Star, which can destroy a planet.
Sparkster steps up to save Sherry from his rival, (a Rocket Knight-gone-bad who leads other Rocket Knights who have turned evil) Axle Gear, twice--once when the Devotindos Empire attacks, and again when the Gedol Empire attacks. While Devotindos causes trouble in the first game of Rocket Knight Adventures, Gedol takes over former Devotindos territory and threatens peace in Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2. Sparkster has to focus on saving Sherry while defeating the major empire in each game.
In the first Rocket Knight Adventure, Sparkster can charge up a jet pack to fly and run into enemies, or he can use a sword which shoots a weird thing out (think Kirby's Cutter ability, if you can; the sword itself is used at the exact same time, and it can hurt enemies on its own). It's a sidescroller, so Sparkster can jump, too. Controls are the same in the sequel, but Sparkster no longer shoots out of his sword.
While there is debate over whether or not Sparkster: RKA2 is a worthy sequel (some say it is mediocre), Rocket Knight Adventures is definetely an example of side scrolling at its height.
And now for the short life of Rocket Knight Adventures:

Rocket Knight Adventures - 1993 - Genesis
Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 - 1994 - Genesis
Sparkster - 1994 - SNES

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