9. Rocket Knight Adventures
Retro gaming 101 clearly states that any video game character must be some form of animal, have a gimmick and generally has to save a princess. On all of these points, Rocket Knight Adventures excels. In RK you are Sparkster, an opossum (a rat, rabbit... thing) but not just any opossum; Sparkster is a Rocket Knight, and literally has a rocket-propelled backpack strapped to him. You use this to blast around highly entertaining and varied levels, fighting an army of evil pigs who have kidnapped the princess. Although hard to master, sticking with it and playing through even to this day is a total joy. The level design in particular is excellent; you'll be blasting through everything from underground caves to the depths of space as you go along. You'll also be dogged at every step by your rival Axel Gear. A fellow knight gone bad, Axel helps out the evil pigs and is a very dangerous adversary - one of the best boss fights in the game pits you in a one-on-one battle with him with you each in giant pig robots, trading devastating blows as the excellent score blares away in the background.
Dan Curtis
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Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.
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