Ristar

Ristar is a 2D sidescrolling platform game, similar to games in the Super Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games, but focusing less on jumping and speed, and more on the use of Ristar's stretchable arms, which can reach in 8 different main directions. The player must maneuver Ristar through the level to its end, while avoiding damage from obstacles and enemies. Ristar's extendable arms are used as the main means of attacking enemies; through extending his arms, grabbing the enemy, and pulling himself towards them into a "headbutt" motion to defeat them. The same motion also allows for opening treasure chests containing various items, or striking different parts of the environment, such as knocking trees over. Additionally, his elastic arms can merely be used for grabbing and/or throwing objects as well.

Beyond attacking, Ristar's arms are also used as a method of projecting him through levels. Many pole-like structures are present to swing Ristar from one side to another, across gaps or to ascend or descend platforms vertically. Ristar is also able to grab on to enemies and objects in mid-air and swing on them. Additionally, "Star Handles" are placed in levels, where the player must have Ristar grab and use momentum to swing him around in a 360 degrees circle.

Much like other games from the same timeframe, the game's story varied between the Japanese-language release and its English-language counterpart. In all versions of the game, the events take place in a far-off galaxy, where an evil space pirate, Kaiser Greedy, has used mind control to make the planets' leaders obey him. In the Japanese version, the inhabitants of Planet Neer (Flora in the international version) pray for a hero before Greedy's mind control minion, Riho, snatches the planet elder. The desperate prayers reach the mother of shooting stars, Oruto.

She awakens one of her children, Ristar, with the sole purpose of granting the wishes of the innocent people. He must stop Greedy and the brainwashed leaders of each world to restore peace to the Valdi System.

In the early 1990s, Sega asked its development teams to create a mascot to rival Nintendo's Mario. One proposed character had long rabbit-like ears which could extend and pick up objects, but this was discarded as too complex; the team moved on to animals that could roll into a ball, and settled on Sonic the Hedgehog. Some years later, Sega developed another prototype, Feel, with a character that used its arms to pick things up instead of ears, which became Ristar.

In a 1994 Electronic Gaming Monthly interview, Sega marketing staff Lisa Best and Terry Tang claimed Ristar was not designed by the same Sonic programming team, although much of the game's staff would later go on to create Nights into Dreams for the Saturn, the next game to be officially credited to Sonic Team. This, along with Ristar's inclusion in a number of Sonic-themed compilations and re-releases in subsequent years, would lead game journalists to retroactively label the game as being developed by Sonic Team.

Ristar received a 20.8/30 score in a poll conducted by Mega Drive Fan and a 8.3076/10 score in a 1995 readers' poll conducted by the Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine, ranking among Sega Mega Drive titles at the number 63 spot. The game received generally favorable reception from critics, holding a rating of 89.33% based on six reviews according to review aggregator GameRankings.

Sega Magazine gave the game an 87% rating, praising the gameplay, graphics, and music, but complaining that the game lacked some originality and borrowed a lot from other platforming games at the time, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Dynamite Headdy, and Earthworm Jim. Sega Pro praised it for both its similarities and differences from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, stating "if you judged games purely by their visual looks, then you'd be forgiven for thinking that this WAS Sonic the Hedgehog. But when you actually sit back and start playing it, you'll discover that this is a much slower, strategic game. There is a big puzzle element here, which should make it stand out from the hundreds of other platformers in the market".

In a 2006 interview, Ristar designer Akira Nishino said:Will Ristar come back? Probably not. Of course, as a game developer, I would love to see it happen. At the time of the original, I was thinking of a sequel.

It got as far as a character design for that sequel, but it didn't happen for various reasons. But since fans have a say in such matters, your input is greatly appreciated.