Rapidkirby3k
Potential Rocket Knight
The Toxic Revenger!
Posts: 54
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Post by Rapidkirby3k on Aug 9, 2016 18:02:31 GMT -5
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Post by KokoaMinto on Aug 10, 2016 12:25:51 GMT -5
Huh... strange to see Sparkster in his Beta Design... I'm glad his design was changed... this is, by far, the worst looking Design choice for him. Heck, and some people complain about the Art Style of Peter Lumby for Rocket Knight 2010/Adventures 3. But that's not the only Beta Concept I've seen. Take a look at this:  I sadly wasn't able to find the site I found it on, but I was saving it because it was quite interesting. According to the site, this was one of many potential designs for Sparkster for the very first title: Rocket Knight Adventures for the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis. Can't even really tell if this is a true concept or a fake, but maybe it was planned that the US Artwork of Rocket Knight Adventures was supposed to be changed to make Sparkster look more with "attitude", which was a... common "quirk" of the American Videogame Cover Art... Even more so take a look at this: www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?1646-Game-Profile-Rocket-Knight-Adventures-%28US-Beta%29Courtesy of EET FUK. It is pretty much unsure if this game footage is really of a Rocket Knight Adventures Prototype, or if it's the "Review Version" of the game. According to the discussion thread about the Rocket Knight Adventures Prototype/BETA it seems to be the near completed version of the game, so it is more likely a "Review Version" than really a "Prototype" or "Beta". ON the other hand... assemblergames.com/l/threads/rocket-knight-adventures-prototype.44486/Someone got their hands on an old article about a Rocket Knight Adventures Prototype/Beta. The very first boss of the game looks WAY more intimidating than the final version. If I can get my hands on the ROM for the Rocket Knight Adventures "Prototype/BETA", if this is even existing at all, then I might be able to tell if this is really the case of a Prototype/BETA version, or if it's just the Review Version of the game. |
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Rapidkirby3k
Potential Rocket Knight
The Toxic Revenger!
Posts: 54
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Post by Rapidkirby3k on Aug 11, 2016 22:18:29 GMT -5
Oh cool! Very nice find/info, KokoaMinto! =D
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Post by KokoaMinto on Aug 25, 2016 9:41:54 GMT -5
Well, if someone is bringing up this sort of topic then why not sharing? A friend of mine was in Japan a few weeks ago and bought some old SEGA magazines, and he constantly keeps an eye out for Rocket Knight related items for me. Sadly though he informed me that Rocket Knight Adventures wasn't much of an success in Japan which may be a reason why Konami dropped the IP. No one can really tell, but maybe he stumbles over more early-in-development information for Rocket Knight. I will share everything I know... as soon as my friend caught some more information. BUT I found something else during the meantime: music.geocities.jp/mura_bal/game/5/sparkster.htmlAccording to this Japanese fansite it seems like Konami planned a Rocket Knight game for the Nintendo DS with the title "Rocket Knight Sparkster". Sadly though it seems like the project was canned as soon as it was announced/rumours were spread. This little information is really easy to oversee so I will copy it in here: タイトル名：ロケットナイト スパークスター（Rocket Knight Sparkster） 対応機種：NDS 発売日：  ?/??/?? メーカー：コナミ レビュー日：- どうやら日本未発売．スパークスターは，日本よりも海外の方が人気みたいですね．ウィキペディアでも，ロケットナイトアドベンチャーズの日本語と英語のページの情報量が違い過ぎる（笑）．海外製のゲームを取り扱っているお店で探し中． Translation (so far):Title: Rocket Knight Sparkster System: Nintendo DS Date of Release: ?/??/?? Company: Konami Date of Review: None I can't translate the last part, but I already informed my friend about it and he will take a look as soon as he finds time to do so. Otherwise the site is talking about the older and the 2010 RK game, and you can even find the lyric for the Japanese Rocket Knight Adventures Commercial! So adorable that there are at least a few people in Japan that know the Rocket Knight Franchise and would like to see Konami making more with it. |
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Post by DigitalDiamalra on Feb 13, 2017 20:32:34 GMT -5
Huh... strange to see Sparkster in his Beta Design... I'm glad his design was changed... this is, by far, the worst looking Design choice for him. Heck, and some people complain about the Art Style of Peter Lumby for Rocket Knight 2010/Adventures 3. But that's not the only Beta Concept I've seen. Take a look at this: I sadly wasn't able to find the site I found it on, but I was saving it because it was quite interesting. According to the site, this was one of many potential designs for Sparkster for the very first title: Rocket Knight Adventures for the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis. Can't even really tell if this is a true concept or a fake, but maybe it was planned that the US Artwork of Rocket Knight Adventures was supposed to be changed to make Sparkster look more with "attitude", which was a... common "quirk" of the American Videogame Cover Art... Despite this post came from one year ago, you mean this?: nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=148290 He was originally named Blaster. I just wish there was a way to contact the creator of the RK series if he still kept the concept artwork. I'm quite interested how originally he was going to have the ability to shoot out mini missiles from his jetpack. Kinda reminds me of a Digimon would have. I just wished we could know his history where he was created though, they really put some effort on him that one could say he was different than those other animal mascots. you can even find the lyric for the Japanese Rocket Knight Adventures Commercial! Woah! You can?!? Can you please give me a link to it? I wanna read it! Here's one interesting note, take a look at this trailer: Did anybody notice that the game cover wasn't made yet? And if you look closer... Sparkster's idle sprites are different! Even the Devotindos Pig Soldiers are different too! Now this IS the prototype! |
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Post by KokoaMinto on Feb 13, 2017 22:36:59 GMT -5
About the prototype picture of Sparkster:
Yes, that's the site I found the artwork on! Thank you kindly for sharing the link as I wasn't able to find it anywhere.
Well according to the forum itself the guy, Dan, who posted the Artwork of Sparkster/Blaster seems to have contact to the former Artist. He might not even work for Konami anymore so he's pretty much free to give out the works as he has no contract with them anymore. Nonetheless we know how dark Konami as a company has become and I wouldn't want him to get into any trouble with them, so it's best if the name of the Artist won't be posted up.
The idea of shooting missles from the Jetpack was used for Axel Gear in the final fight with him at the Pig Star, if I remember correctly. But it is good to know that it was originally a move that Sparkster was going to use. On the other hand he might have been too overpowered in comparison to his enemies and that's why they moved the mini missles over to Axel Gear instead.
Nonetheless I think "Sparkster" is a better name and I like his more anime-ish design better than this grim looking one. I know it was a 90's thing but still. We really didn't need another Sonic the Hedgehog wannabe with "attitude", so I'm very happy that Sparkster is a more cheerful, funny, cartoonish and down-to-earth mascot.
Nobuya Nakazato, the producer and original head behind Rocket Knight Adventures, isn't even working for Konami anymore. He's one of the many people that left Konami to form the small game developing company Treasure. That's probably why the game Mischief Makers/Yuke! Yuke! Troublemakers! for the Nintendo 64 sort of reminds me a tiny bit of Rocket Knight Adventures. The red and blue gems you need to collect in the stages as example, how "quirky" the levels were designed, the movesets of the protagonist Marina Liteyears... there are some strong similarities in my eyes. Or it is just a big immagination of mine.
About the Lyrics to the japanese Rocket Knight Adventures Commercial from 1993:
Sadly the site that had it seems to have deleted them. I can't find them anywhere on the blog anymore. :C
About the prototype Commercial:
Yes, I see some slight differences.
Sparkster doesn't seem to have his little "dance" animation there yet, the pigs also look kind of different. Also... is it just me, or do even the houses in the very first level seem a little bit different than in the final product?
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Post by DigitalDiamalra on Feb 13, 2017 23:13:17 GMT -5
I describe Sparkster, a devil may care character (it means someone whose cheerful but reckless, or if you already know that.) Hmm... Marina... I had a little fan thing I made that involved underrated VG characters fighting similar in vein of Smash Bros. Stanley the Bugman is treated as Mario here.
But back to where I was saying... Blaster reminds me of Fang/Nack the Weasel from Sonic crossed with The Rocketeer, the prototype shown in the trailer: Sparkster, when he stands is similar to the artwork. The Lyrics... Aww I really wanted to know what he said in the song... but "Spa-ku-sta!" is the kawaii little line that gets to me though.
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Post by KokoaMinto on Feb 13, 2017 23:57:41 GMT -5
Better having a Devil May Care than A Jerk with a Heart of Jerk, am I right? That would never sit well with a character that is supposed to be the hero of a story (though it is an interesting thing if Character Development takes place the further the story is progressing), and that was aimed to kids. Marina Liteyears from Mischief Makers is pretty much underrated. The game itself is a very underrated gem. I still have my physical copy for the Nintendo 64 and enjoy every little bit out of it. Such an unique an fun game to play! There are lots of titles that are easily missed, and once you found out about them the prices are just insane. Yeah. The head of Blaster really looks like Fang/Nack the Weasel now that you mentioned it! That's kinda funny and frightening. Think about Blaster with the attitude of Fang/Nack the Weasel... this doesn't seem right to me. XD it really is a shame! I was reading them when I found the little japanese blog about the Sparkster games: music.geocities.jp/mura_bal/game/5/sparkster.htmlThe lyrics were at the bottom of the website, but now they're gone! Man that's frustrating. I really should have saved them in a document, but who knew that the owner of the blog would delete the lyrics? It hasn't been updated since 2011. Even more so I sort of recognize the voice actress of Sparkster. I MIGHT be wrong, but she sounds like the japanese voice actress that voiced Slippy Toad in the Star Fox games. |
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Post by DigitalDiamalra on Feb 14, 2017 0:29:15 GMT -5
It made me think that his design could've been compared to Klonoa since both look like STH characters if this design was finalized.
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Post by KokoaMinto on Feb 14, 2017 0:50:16 GMT -5
Well to be fair, characters like Klonoa, Sparkster, Aero the Acrobat, Zool, Awesome Possum, Oscar, Earthworm Jim, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot and many more anthropomorphic mascots have been inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog was inspired by anthropomorphic characters like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, and the game genre (Jump'n'Run) was inspired by Mario. It's no real coincidence.
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Post by DigitalDiamalra on Feb 14, 2017 12:31:39 GMT -5
Which reminds me, if you already read that magazine scan... It funny how commonly Sparkster is mistaken for a mouse even in a magazine review! But that's not what I'm focusing on... It's the said character Komata whose name is derived from one of the programmers who worked on RKA named Kuji Komata. As said in the magazine: "This is a practice which Komata, one of the seven wizards is wholly opposed to. To support his beliefs he trains some specialist soldiers and christens them the 'Rocket Knights'.
Originally, it wasn't King Zebulos who assemble the band of Rocket Knights, it was the wizard Komata who've done it. I believe that Komata is the only scrapped character known in the RK series.
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Post by KokoaMinto on Feb 14, 2017 16:23:14 GMT -5
Either Sparkster is called a mouse, a rat or an armadillo. People really have low education if they can't tell those animals apart.
Komata tells me something, yes, but I didn't know that the character was originally the one who formed the Rocket Knights. Maybe that's why Mifune Sanjulo and King El Zephyrus/Zebulos are the ones who formed the Rocket Knights in the final version. There might have been some issues between the game developers and the way the characters were named.
I mean Mifune Sanjulo is called Mifune Sanjuro in the japanese version which is probably (or more likely, as we know Konami) based on the japanese actor Toshiro Mifune in his role as Tsubaki Sanjuro. He was famous for most of Akira Kurosawa's samurai-themed movies. Just put Mifune and Sanjuro together and bam, you have Mifune Sanjulo.
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