Rocket Knight "2010" - A love/hate product?

[KokoaMinto]

Yes this question bugs me for a long time now.... What do you guys really think about the late sequel of the Rocket Knight Series?

I saw so many people around the internet that were hugely complaining about the game because it wasn't as "great as the first game", but can you really compare a more "modern" Rocket Knight game with the "classic" Rocket Knight games? Some might say "yes", some might say "no".

It is true that Rocket Knight "2010" is a product that wasn't overlooked often enough, it's not a perfect product and many key elements were missing that actually made the older games shine with their creativity and magical surroundings. It's more or less a "rushed" product that could have been polished in some corners - if given proper interest into the project itself.

We know that Tomm Hulett was the Producer for the late Sequel and Revival of the Franchise. He fought 2 years and a few months to get the permission to work on a new Rocket Knight title in the more modern era of videogames. 2010 was the year of revivals, it wasn't a dumb idea to come up with dear ol' Sparkster. Climax Studios/Group were developing the game and Peter Lumby was hired as Concept Artist for the game. But here's the catch: as much as I heard they called it a "Remake" for the franchise and not a "Sequel" when the game was still in development. Of course now we know it's a Sequel and even Wikipedia states it, but is it true that they actually lied to us on purpose to keep hopes high? That's a bittersweet taste on the tip of my tongue.

For me... I don't know. I can't say I love the game but I can't say I hate it, either. I'm on natural ground because: at least we got a new Rocket Knight game in 2010. It wasn't anything the oldschool Rocket Knight gamers were expecting but hey: even franchises like Zelda, Mario, Sonic, Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan) and many others changed throughout the years - some changed drastically and some changed slightly.


I do price the game for...
- It's deadly fluid controls - there's absolutely no flaw within it.
- The Graphics. It's "okay" for an 2.5D platformer game and it does look colorful.
- The idea of the Wolf Kingdom being in an snowy region, and the limited usage of the Rocket Pack that was very freshly implemented there to make the area a bit more tricky.
- The music - It was forgetable but the orchestra-touch was fitting in just perfectly.
- Not to forget the difficulty; it was challenging at certain points of the game (if you're as impatient as me or take more than 10 minutes because you try to beat each stage with 100% found items.)

BUT

I missed the Mecha fight between Sparkster and Axel, the Crazy Hard Mode, the certain magic the old games had within it's overall surrounding and stage design. Mostly the story is the thorn within my eye: 15 years and nothing really happened? The writers wrote themselves into a dead end. It makes no sense.

What was Devotindos doing the entire time?
What was Axel doing?
Why was Axel even hired as a Rocket Knight though Sparkster was in charge all those god damn years?
What was Sparkster doing besides of laying a Farmer Girl, getting her pregnant and marrying her?
Why was the King merciful with General Swinehart when Devotindos fought against Zephyrus so many times?

Though the Manual explains the "story" there are just too many flaws: it feels stiff and heartless - it's practically dead. Sparkster "disappearing from Zephyrus" - no one ever saw or recognized him though he was the one who saved their asses from Devotindos and Gedol?? He was living outside the walls of Kingdom Zephyrus, that's what I was able to figure out pretty fast. He might found another use for his life but no one ever asked why he gave up his life as Knight? Oh yeah he was "kicked by the King who was stupid enough to trust Swinehart, he was so depressed that no one wanted to cheer him up" Boohoo. NONSENSE. I can't believe that no one from the Countryside of Zephyrus recognized the hero of their Kingdom! I can't even believe that no one would have the courage to tell Sparkster to prove that Swinehart wanted to destroy Zephyrus directly from the heart of the Kingdom! It's generally shocking to see that no one was able to give Sparkster the support he needed to find enough proves that Swinehart is fooling everyone. Oh yeah right, it's HIS duty to save all those asses so they can enjoy their life like they want it to - who cares about the problems of their HERO!?

I know that Rocket Knight never really had deep story telling because the game itself explained the story... more or less. NONETHELESS this is NO excuse for the giant mess within the 2010 sequel! The story is confusing and doesn't make any sort of sense. I love to read stories, I love to play stories within RPG-based games. The "story" within the Manual was shamefully awful written - there's nothing enjoyable on it.

Climax Group isn't at fault for this mess - it's Konami itself. Like I love to say: they just didn't bothered. Even storytelling within dialogueless games like Rocket Knight there needs to be some quality check for the game's setup! I feel sorry for Climax because they tried to give their best but Konami fucked it up by themselves yet again. I don't want to be too harsh on Tomm Hulett but whoever was responsible for the story writing: he or she needs to burn. I just can't accept this story mess that is going on there. Sorry. Any sort of "explanation" from a fan of the 2010 game is an utter "excuse" for their giant mess.

[Deleted]

More like hate/hate on my end. I just hate this game with a huge passion! And I will rant the ways;

I like how you pointed out every flaw I've stated about the game from the get go - makes tearing it down much easier.

The biggest flaw was not the game itself - but the STORY it used to justify its existence! Making Sparkster an old man was just a bad idea since HE is the main character. The 15 time skip held no purpose
That was a waste of time! They literally wrote themselves Into a corner because of it. What would happen after this game?

Nothing.

From a writers standpoint that was just POOR choice!

Sparksters wife is a needless character. If she wasn't there, what would that impact? Nothing...

In fact, if you were to edit the Intro cutscene; Replace Sparksters useless wife with Sherry, change the setting from farmland to the castle, put the king in - with the wolves ships attacking!
The context of the scene would be EXACTLY the same...

The game has a lot of unnecessary scenes and crappy writing to back it up.

Its so obvious that the creators did not care for the backztody since Axel is one of the BIGGEST flaws in the game. If he was still a black knight the context would be the same.

He should not be on the 'good' side. what kind of father would let their daughters kidnapper be her guard.

The entire game is just poor choice and Bad taste. That is my opinion on it.

I could literally go on forever, but I won't. Not unless I'm asked to go on ;-)

[KokoaMinto]

Go ahead with your reasons as of why it's a bad product in your eyes, Kitty, don't hold yourself back.

Actually I needed to giggle reading the "replace Spark's wife with Sherry and his son with the king" part - now we just need good old Axel to kick some royal ass... literally.

Come to think about it - even the humor was kind of... dull.

[DigitalDiamalra]

Despite this thread coming from 2014... I want to voice out some words of mine... To me, RK2010 is the Nuts & Bolts and Star Fox Command to the RK series. N&B has love and hate (well more hate than love, since the duo became lazy cause there wasn't any new adventures AND it didn't have those similar gameplay elements from previous installments.) But some like it for customizing though. For Command, it had multiple endings depending on the players action will end as a good ending or a bad ending and the whole character relationships I heard of. The other problem that it's not canon to the main series, and the reason for that... It's the endings...

It made me wonder why they gave the knight a wife.... I dunno.. Maybe they did that cause poor Sparkster will regret that he doesn't have a family since all three were gone?

[KokoaMinto]

Yes, Rocket Knight 2010/Adventure 3 is pretty much the Nuts & Bolts/Star Fox Command game of the RK franchise. There's no other way to describe it. But I'm very neutral around the 2010 game as I can't hate it. Sure it has its huge flaws but look at the earlier games. They also had flaws and still people say "They're the best games ever!". I missed a lot of stuff in the 2010 sequel but I still played it AND I even enjoyed it... despite its flaws. There will always be a title within a franchise that will get a love/hate relationship by their fans. It's all up to the players in the end.

Princess Sherry wasn't gone, she's still in the game. The girl at the end who gave Sparkster a kiss on the cheek after defeating General Swinehart and his giant mecha? Yupp, that was Princess Sherry. Short, red hair and a simple blue dress. She looked more downgraded from a Princess to a very ordinary woman that just looks like every other female oppossum in the game. That really baffled me. According to the american and japanese manual to Rocket Knight Adventures 2 Princess Sherry and Sparkster were even a couple. Konami stated that themselves a few years ago. I call BS on it. You don't state that two characters are a "couple" if the couple doesn't even exist in the late sequel. Sparkster moved on with his life, found a new girl and has a son. I don't believe in a couple that was created by "word of god" (aka. creators) if the couple is clearly dead in a sequel.

Princess Cherry, Sherry's cousin, was way too young for Sparkster. I believe she was supposed to be the 15 year old little naive girl that felt in love with the boyfriend of her older cousin. Remember that Sparkster is supposed to be 17 years old in the very first game. The attack of Gedol might have happened 1-2 years after RKA1, so Sparkster was 19 during the Gedol war. Doesn't sound all too pleasing if Cherry is 15 in the 2nd game.

Princess Flora is, in all honesty, my favourite Princess of all of them. I wish they had done more with her. There's absolutely no information about her. Heck, even less than about Princess Cherry. What a shame. Flora had such a beautiful design! The red-brownish hair, the blue dress with the yellow scarf on her left shoulder... she looked pretty elegant.

On the other side of the entire story I am sort of happy that Sparkster was married to a simple woman instead of a Princess. As a knight he IS able to propose to a princess as they count as nobleman, but seeing him with Sherry, Cherry or Flora sitting in a castle... guarded by so many people that would die just for the sake of his safety... that's simply not Sparkster to me. This would have killed his down-to-earth personality and the fact that he never cared for wealth and other high stuff. He's just a simple guy that wants a simple life, and I doubt he would have asked any of the princesses to give up their crown and responsibility just to live a simple life with him. Both sides would have been acting selfish if Sparkster would want Sherry/Cherry/Flora to give up their kingdom, and Sherry/Cherry/Flora asking Sparkster to give up his knighthood for the sake of being the leader of the Kingdom he was supposed to protect with his life.

[DigitalDiamalra]

I realized something, reading this back made me think about it... If they made the people of Zebulos/Zephyrus forget who was Sparkster, then didn't this mean they're relating it to the fans who forgotten the Rocket Knight? If so, that was a bad idea.

[KokoaMinto]

I doubt that Fans are forgetting Sparkster in a whole. The main issue is that those "Fans" are turning their backs even against the Franchises/IPs that are licensed under Konami's name. Stupidity in its finest, if you ask me. You can blame a Company for all you want, there's nothing wrong with it as I am as angry at Konami as everyone else, but I won't deny that I have been a fan of their Franchises/IPs, and I still support them because they're part of my childhood. You simply can't blame a freaking fictional world for the stupidity of their creators. Sooner or later there might be a time where Konami might even give away their unused Franchises/IPs and if someone else get their hands on ROCKET KNIGHT then PRAY that they won't f*ck it up as much as Konami already did by their own.

So technically speaking about the people of Zephyrus... you could say that the inhabiters are the Fans that still support the ROCKET KNIGHT Franchise and the entire last bit of the ROCKET KNIGHT 2010 Reboot game was showing Konami's ugly and greedy face by putting General Swinehart up as the Final Boss. Makes sense if you ask me.