08/28/01

Rygar

System: NES

Back in the mid 80's, (man that makes me feel old.),  there was a game that I would classify as an action RPG, Rygar, for the regular NES. (Nintendo Entertainment System for all those who don't remember.)  While I really love my strategy RPG's I must say that this is one of my favorites for the system.  

Rygar was one of those games that you had to beat in one setting, or pause it for a while in between breaks.  While in most RPGs you would not be able to get away with such nonsense, Rygar is actually short enough to beat within an hour if you know where to go.  (I know it is possible within an hour because I just got done doing it!)  

How good could it be if you can beat it in an hour?  Well let me tell you that first of all it isn't easy to do it that fast and second it really packs a lot of action in to that amount of time.    It has your basic RPG elements like collect items before you can get pass certain points.  There were a total of 6 items and one additional item that you used to refill your health, but after you used it you would have to get another.

The first time I played this game (over 10 years ago) I found it to be one of the most frustrating games I have ever played.   It seemed like it took me forever to finally beat it.  But after you realize how to do it it really isn't that hard.  Basically Rygar is this hero with what appears to be a boomerang shield on a chain.  I joked about it being a super yo-yo, but actually I thought it was pretty cool.  When you killed the monsters, (oh yea I forgot to mention it is your typical kill the monsters and save to world story).  Any way, when you kill monsters not only did you gain experience, but once in a while they will give you some life back, other times they give you stars.  You can save up the stars and use them to either Power up your attack, (permanent until you died), or save up even more for a limited super attack called Attack and Assail.  This hurts everything on the screen for a short period of time, or if you had seven (the max) you could totally refill your life.  It took three to power up your attack, so that was the first thing I would always do.  This made it easier to kill the enemies and was pretty cheep.  

The items that you had to obtain were; First a grappling hook.  This would allow you to climb up to places you couldn't before.  With out this you can't go very far.  Then you have to get a pulley.  This allows you to go across canyons that have ropes across them.  After you got these you could get the cross bow.  This wasn't used as a weapon, but rather it allowed you to shoot ropes across certain points and then you could use your pulley get across.  After that you could go after the Coat of Arms, or Indora's Armor.  I would go after the Coat of Arms since once you have this some of the hermits who before would ask you if you have the Coat of Arms will now give you the Life potion.  And finally the Pegasus Flute.  Once you have all the other items you can use this to get to the final area and boss.

Well that's about it.  The bosses are really easy if you make sure you get your experience up before facing them  I died only at one point the last time I played, but after that I didn't die again.  (Ok I did get knocked off something and died, but I didn't die at the hands of any monsters or bosses after the first one.)  

The controls are really good for an older game, and I thought the graphics were pretty good as well.  But what really brought back the memories was the music.  I always loved the music to Rygar.  Sure it isn't high the high quality of today's standards, but for the NES it was really sweet.  

So if you have ever played Rygar, why not dust if off and play it again?  Maybe you can actually beat it this time.  (Assuming you have an NES that works.)  If you haven't played it before then it is hard to say if I could actually recommend a game that is 15 years old, but if you like the retro games it is defiantly worth a try.

And that's the Final Word.

- Shawn

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