It seems that a recent bug has been going around in the games industry of remaking past games.   The trend started in the 32-bit era with several games including Pitfall, Frogger, and Final Fantasy.   That trend continues today, with many companies trying to cash in on the nostalgia of old school gaming.   Tecmo has caught the bug with its latest: a remake of a classic NES game, Rygar.  Does the new Rygar live up to the old legend of Rygar?    

In a word: no.  

For those of you who don’t know, or were too young to even know what Rygar was, let me give you a brief history.   Rygar was one of the perennial action-adventure games during the NES era.   What made Rygar different from other games during that time was that instead of wielding a sword, or a gun, or even a whip, Rygar used a weapon known as a diskarmor to dispatch his enemies.   Combining both side-scrolling and overhead views, Rygar would fight to free his land from the evil that had occupied it. Along the way, you would meet hermits that give you power-ups to heal your life, upgrade your weaponry, and gain accessories to help your progression through the game.   Add these features with RPG elements and Tecmo had created one of the finest games for the NES and set itself up as a third party powerhouse.

Fast forward more than a decade to the future and instead of making a sequel to Rygar, Tecmo remixes the old Rygar and changes the story entirely.   The disappointing side effect to this, however, is that Tecmo really doesn’t know how to tell the new story.   By looking at the screenshots of Rygar, it’s obvious that this game takes place during Roman era. Why then does it say on the back of the box that it is inspired by Greek mythology? Even stranger is that the game takes place on an island outside of Rome after its conquest of the Egyptian Dynasty.   While receiving a wreath of valor for his heroic deeds during a naval battle from his Princess Harmonia, Rygar witnesses the overtaking of the kingdom by monsters called “Titans” who kill the guards, knock Rygar into a crevice, and kidnap Princess Harmonia.   While he lies at the bottom of the crevice, a mysterious voice awakens him and gives him the weapons of the gods, the “Diskarmor.” Thus, Rygar goes on his quest to save the princess.   Rygar’s story is not the most original of plots.

Equally unoriginal is Rygar’s gameplay.   Some say that it plays like Devil May Cry.  Others say it is a 3D Castlevania done correctly.  Based upon my time with the game, it seems like Tecmo borrowed more from Onimusha than it did either of the two former games.  During the game, Rygar gains control of three different diskarmors, each with its own characteristics and abilities, similar to Onimusha’s weapons system.   By defeating enemies or smashing objects, Rygar earns spherical items that will raise his points to strengthen his weaponry, akin to Onimusha’s soul system.   Rygar has a myriad of attacks that he can link together to perform combos on the multitude of enemies that regenerate at whim, similar to Onimusha’s enemies.   To aid in his quest, Rygar can find mystic stones that will give him a variety of powers from increasing strength to boosting defense to allowing critical attacks, sort of like, you guessed it, Onimusha’s options system.

The only area where Rygar is completely different from Onimusha is its real-time graphics, compared to Onimusha’s pre-rendered backgrounds.   Although Rygar’s graphics are gorgeous for a PS2 game, it would’ve benefited from using static, pre-rendered backgrounds.   In an attempt to be like its predecessor, Tecmo combined static backgrounds with scrolling backgrounds.   This only creates problems for the controls.   When switching from screen to screen, the controls pull a switcharoo so that when you enter a new screen the controls suddenly reverse on you without a moment’s notice. While pushing up to go into one area, you suddenly are going back down to the old area the minute you enter the new area.   This becomes incredibly frustrating and is a hindrance while fighting hordes of enemies. 

Also frustrating is the camera.   99% of the time the camera has a mind of its own.   In one scene it pans out to give a wide view of the area, in another scene it comes so far in that you can‘t even see your character.   The latter is especially true when it comes to fighting bosses.   A couple of bosses in Rygar can go airborne and, when they do, the camera follows them, leaving you to guess where you are so you can avoid taking damage.   At these times I wished that Tecmo had implemented some type of targeting system so you can just have a full view of all of the action that is happening onscreen.

Speaking of bosses, this is one positive aspect of the game.   Most bosses are large and take up the entire screen while others are sleek and agile.   One particular boss that is interesting is the baby head Hydra beast; it’s cool and repulsive and disturbing all in one.

Sound wise, the game is an utter disappointment.   The music is uninspiring and awful.   The sound effects are bland and the voice acting is some of the worst I have ever heard in a game.   At one point in the game, after Rygar defeats a particular winged boss and learns the truth his betrayal by the final boss, Rygar grabs a feather that falls from his wing, thrusts it high into the air, and exclaims, “I swear victory to this feather!” At that point I didn’t know whether to laugh or shake my head in shame.

The game is also short.   Most inexperienced players can beat this game in 6 or 7 hours, while most experienced gamers will beat it in 10 or 12, mostly because they might be sucked into the other positive aspect of the game: a 30 level cave that tests the player's skill, something else that was also borrowed from Onimusha.

Overall, this game could have been better if Tecmo had taken the time to polish it up by adding a little more depth to the gameplay and story and didn’t rely on copying other established franchises so much.   In the end, Rygar totally misses the mark of living up to its predecessor’s greatness, and just becomes another title in constant barrage of PlayStation 2 titles.

7.5

7.0

7.5

7.0