Screenshots from VG Museum

Year released: 1995 (Genesis)

Number of Players: 1

The evil Greedy has taken control of six planets within the same system. Ristar, the son of a fallen hero, sets out to make things right.

Graphics: Wow. Animation is great, coloring is too (though it comes off a bit washed out at times, but not a lot). The amount of graphical detail covering this game and the cartoonish style just make this game pure eye candy, even on larger TVs (something that can bring down a Genesis' game's graphical punch).

Play control: Jump with A or C, grab with B. This can be changed to jump with B and grab with A or C in the options menu. Ristar can walk left to right and move on ladders.
Ristar can stretch his arms out a good length and grab onto anything (providing it isn't spikes, flame, or something like that) and then slam his body into it. He can use this to climb up walls, attack enemies, and open up treasure chests. Utilizing Ristar's arms is a great gameplay mechanic that comes off well and features wonderful control.
Oh, yeah, and if Ristar grabs onto a pole that sticks out perpendicular to the TV screen, he swings around it. If you hold the D-pad in the forward direction for long enough, Ristar will spin fast enough to launch into a rocket of sorts. You have pretty good control in these parts, considering the speed that Ristar is moving at. The effect doesn't last long, but it's one of those cool things about the game.

Sound: Great music. It has a great energetic feeling wherever it goes. It is pulled down, however, by the quality of the Genesis' sound card. Still fantastic, but could have better instrument quality. Oh, yeah, and the sound effects are somewhat quirky to match the gameplay of grabbing onto stuff and just bouncing off of it. Voice clips are scratchy, and you can barely tell what's being said.

Challenge: Some really meaty challenge here. As you ease into the gameplay mechanics, the game gets appropriately harder. You get four blocks of health to mess around with, and usually a healing powerup comes at just the right time. The game focuses mainly on enemies bumping into you for damage, though there are some sinister tricks in the fire level. The challenge makes you get in groove with the game and go at it again. Unfortunately, there are no game saves, so it may take a while to get back to where you were. (You do get a code for level select when you beat the game, though.) The game constantly bombards you with challenge, so you won't cruise through--there's always something new waiting around the corner. It doesn't get annoying though, it ends up giving the game a certain lastability.

Gameplay: Using Ristar's arms to bump into whatever works wonderfully. It has a natural sidescroller engine, but then you get these two rubber arms to work with. It's hard to explain... and don't listen to anyone that compares this to Rayman.
Ristar, after a couple stages, begins using a certain puzzle quality in its stages. It's not a very strong feel, but you have to contemplate for a few miliseconds just where you're going in the stage and how you can get there. The stage designs are really something--it's like you're branching off on sidepath after sidepath, and there is no main path.
A few segments require Ristar to wait around so that the enemy can do its thing, and then you have to hop in tune (for example, avoiding sets of falling enemies, or destroying enemies in the right order). It slows down the pace of the game, something I don't like, but it's there, and it's not too intrusive.
There are also minigames where you have to reach the treasure chest within the time limit. These have limited variety, but add a nice distraction to the game. There's no extras in the game to get for a better ending, so discovering these bonus rooms is completely optional.

Bottom line: A cross between a 2D platformer and one of those majestic 3D platformers (Super Mario 64 or NiGHTS into Dreams, to name two). The game features creative stage design and way past competent difficulty, both mapped around Ristar's ability to stretch his arms and grab something, giving the game the ability to stand the test of time.
Oh, yeah, there's another Ristar game for the Game Gear. I have no idea what it's like, but I do know that it is the same Ristar from this game.

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