Rocket Knight is one of many mascot platformers that appeared during the genre’s golden age in the 1990s. It has been largely forgotten since its 2010 sequel, but it’s back with a new collection of limited edition games.

Rocket Knight was Konami’s attempt to build a mascot character like Sonic or Mario, and he even appeared in the company’s promotional materials for a few years. But the jet-powered swordsman’s crusade didn’t last long, and he disappeared after just three games.

Does Limited Run Games live up to the Rocket Knight tradition with its collection? The

Rocket Knight series follows the titular jetpack-wielding knight, Sparkster. He is an anthropomorphic possum who regularly goes on adventures to save the beautiful Princess Shelley.

But each time he does he is attacked by the Pig-Man and the evil knight Accel Gear. It’s a simple story that works like a Saturday morning cartoon, and as a fan of Scrimblo platformers I can appreciate it.

Now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, let’s talk about the Re-Sparked Collection. What does it give you compared to the original game? It includes:

• Rocket Knight Adventures (1993)
• Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (1994)
• Sparkster (1994)

Essentially, players get the entire franchise (except for the 2010 game). This collection also includes features like Boss Rush mode, achievements, and rewinding.

Essentially, all three games are available in their original form, but with some added features to make the game more enjoyable in different ways or to make it easier for you. The rewind feature was controversial amongst die-hard fans, but as always, “you’re in control of which buttons to press”.

As for the game itself, it’s considered a classic of the 2D platforming genre, with the unique rocket angle setting it apart from Sonic and Mario.

The level design can be difficult to interpret, but that’s partly due to how clever Konami was at the time. For example, in the Rocket Knight Adventures level, Sparkster uses these floating platforms to travel between the background and foreground. You can also fight bosses like this.

Sparkster’s rockets make the difficulty trivial, though. While using the missile attack, you have I-frames that allow you to reliably hit a boss’s weak spot without putting yourself in danger. This is especially noticeable when you encounter a strong enemy that isn’t the true boss of the level. Charge it up, go ahead, wait for the display to fill up again, and repeat.

On the other hand, some sections of the rocket feel unfair from a platforming perspective; the rocket’s flight distance exceeds the width of the screen. Most of the time I was using the rewind feature when sprinting forward only to find my sprint ended over a pit I didn’t realise was right in front of me.

Overall the game is in good condition and compared to one of the big retro series, Rocket Knight is undoubtedly the more popular amongst Mega Man fans.

As far as emulation quality goes, Sparkster and Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 are excellent. Some flashing doesn’t work well on modern displays, making objects feel glitchy rather than lit, but that’s to be expected. The first game in the series suffers from significant framerate drops, however.

The emulation quality of the first game quickly took me away from the immersion of playing an old game as intended.

Instead, I intuitively realized I was playing a ROM on inferior emulation software. I don’t know why the oldest game has the most issues, but it made the gameplay of the other two games look almost smooth.

And finally, I don’t know if it’s the controller that’s to blame, but the overlay didn’t activate with the right triggers as promised. If I wanted to quit at night, I had to save by pressing the Esc key on my keyboard.

Ultimately, Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked Collection is a $30 collection of three games with basic features. I’m sure it’ll be important to collectors and fans of the original games, but I can’t imagine non-fans picking it up and getting to know Rocket Knight.

Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked Collection was tested on PC using a code provided by Limited Run Games. For more information on Niche Gamer’s testing/ethics policy, click here. Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked Collection is now available for Windows PC (via Steam).