Rocket Knight Adventures
Kishi’s Rocket Knight retrospective laments the glut of crappy mascot games which served as the matrix of awfulness from which this rare gem materialized. I can’t really argue with that, since I actually missed out on the game back in the day because I assumed it was another terrible bucket of swill like Bubsy or Awesome Possum. The tragedy of it all.
The World Ends With You
In one of those rare and frightening instances where someone has actually written about something recent, the mysterious Cynical Valkyrie has dropped off her thoughts on the merits of Jupiter’s emo excellent DS adventure, presumably on the way to collect souls for Valhalla or something. Read it, and little by little you’ll feel a bit better.
With a full seven issues of this online zine out of the way, I feel comfortable in proclaiming that my tragically never-completed final few issues of the old ToastyFrog print zine have been acquitted. So far, Team GameSpite has more than capably put together enough content to have filled up quite a few print issues, and I dare say the content is quite a bit better now than it would have been a few years ago, seeing as I’ve spent some time in the real world being an actual editor.
With that being said, my next goal — a personal mission, really! — is to transform this site into something better. Perhaps even something professional. (Well, professional-ish.) I’d like to begin by compensating the site’s loyal contributors, who have written many articles for your edification and entertainment. Thus we revisit the classic, time-tested Internet model of “panhandling for donations,” or rather, offering voluntary monthly subscriptions:
If you like what you read here, please consider signing up for one of these! It would be a grand gesture. The first button is a $3 monthly payment; the second is for a $10 monthly subscription which includes random gift mailings every few months. Buttons, magnets, postcards, artwork, that sort of thing. Half of the money earned each month will go to the writers, while the rest will be put toward server fees, software licenses, gift-creation materials and other annoying realities of maintaining a site like this. I promise not to drink away the proceeds, curled up in a gutter clutching a bottle of Thunderbird. (Mainly because I don’t like alcohol very much and the gutters in San Francisco tend to be chilly in the summer.)
Of course, no one is obligated or anything. But for those rare and noble altruists sitting at home thinking, “I love GameSpite! If only I could somehow give back,” well, today is your lucky day. Unless you don’t use PayPal, in which case, never mind! (Exciting edit: Now the links actually work. Ha. Ha.)
But either way, please enjoy the hell out of this issue over the coming weeks.
yes, hm, I do believe I will subscribe. The world needs more of this site.
Also, Rocket Knight Adventures was awesome, and a hugely overlooked gem to boot. Never did play its sequel, Sparkster, though – was it any good?
Ha, I was actually considering writing up a review for TWEWY myself. Good job, though, hits all the major stuff I was thinking about (and a little more). I think the positive message is one thing that really grabs me about this game – plus, the simultaneous satire and shout-out to modern-day Japanese youth culture.
Great job, cynicalvalkeyrie.
There seems to be some kind of certification/decryption error whenever I click on through either of the PayPal buttons. Maybe Firefox is acting up again on me – I’ll try again later.
(Thanks for finally posting a piece on WEWY, by the way. Since picking the game up on a whim after – after seeing it discussed in a stairwell on the 1up Show, no less – I’ve been trying to explain my unhealthy addiction to the game to everyone I know.)
Ah, stupid PayPal. I’ve fixed the links. Sheesh.
I’m mysterious? Sweet. Oh no! I’ve given away my secret identity!
No exaggeration – Rocket Knight is my favorite Genesis game ever. If you beat the highest standard difficulty, it’ll give you codes to enter to access higher difficulties, culminating in one that essentially turns it into Contra – one hit = death, and you start with only one life. The reward for clearing that one is one of those crappy You’re-a-Great-Player sort of messages, but my point is I loved the game enough to DO that.
P.S. Double bonus points for Snatcher references and one of the best boss themes ever. OK, I’m done gushing.
Paypal doesn’t like me very much this month, I hope you can make up monthly subscriptions. Hooray for locking my account for suspicious activities!
[i]Snatcher references[/i]
I always just figured those for standard Terminator-style metallic skeletons, not necessarily a Snatcher reference specifically. It’s possible, though!
In response to Chaotic Valkryie’s post; TWEY is still pretty damn emo. The most “emo” thing you can do is convince people that “you’re totally not emo”.
i still have half of the goods parish sent out the first time this was tried. back when all the profits were, in fact, eaten by him. in ramen form, i’d assume.
the magnets were ace, however; obviously a subscription is fully necessary.
Hooray for Rocket Knight Adventures!
I’ve loved this series since I first saw it in a magazine back in 1993. It’s like I somehow instinctively knew this was different from the rest of the look-at-me-I’m-so-awesome animal characters.
It’s a common misconception that there’s only one sequel to RKA. Both games are called Sparkster, have the same box art, share several BGM and even some stage themes but they’re otherwise completely different games. Sega Sparkster has some bad design choices and surprisingly mediocre visual/audio that make it a little worse than RKA. The SNES game, on the other hand, is RKA with all the dials turned up to 11 and may be one of the best platformers on the system (but gets no recognition at all). It’s really hard to go back to the first game once you try SNES Sparkster. Even if the series only lived for a year and a half we can be happy that it managed to perfect itself in that time.
Also, only the American box art had the grimace. Jap and Euro covers had the character smiling. Sparkster was the original American Kirby.
I am so gay for this series I swear.
Nemo – thanks for clearing that up about the sequel. I’ll be sure to look for the SNES version now – even though that system has long been in storage. Argh, Konami. Argh.
I hope I’m subscriber #1 of many! …actually, I wonder what # I am.
Any alternatives to PayPal on the horizon? We broke up a while ago – doesn’t like me much anymore :(
Any chance of having a one time donation thing?
I don’t think I can convince the Wife that I should be subscribing monthly to a website, but I think I could get a one time donation in once or twice a year. :)