Rocket Knight

Like its precursors, Rocket Knight is a side-scrolling platform game where the player guides Sparkster through linear levels to defeat the end level boss or reach the goal. Sparkster can jump and attack using his sword and rocket pack. Similar to Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, Sparkster uses a melee attack with his sword and auto-generates power with his rocket pack. Unlike previous games, Sparkster can no longer perform consecutive boosts, but can now briefly hover in the air and shoot range projectiles, in addition to being able to defend himself from projectiles using attacks. There are other tweaks, such as Sparkster only bouncing off walls when he hits them at a 45 degree angle.

The game consists of fourteen levels, divided across four worlds. Like previous games, there are side-scrolling shooting segments. In the shooting segments, Sparkster can now charge his shots and use his rocket pack to avoid obstacles. Several items and power-ups can be found spread across the levels.

Following Sparkster's triumph over the Gedol Empire, the Rocket Knight returns to the Kingdom of Zephyrus. In his surprise, he finds out that the pigs of the Devontidos Empire that he previously fought have taken up residence in the kingdom alongside the opossum inhabitants during his recent quest, under permission granted by the king of Zephyrus. General Sweinhart, a war veteran from the previous war between the kingdoms and current leader of the Devontidos Empire had made a truce with the king of Zephyrus. Despite Sparkster's warning claims, the king ignores his pleads and allows the pigs to stay in the kingdom; with the kingdom in peace and the Rocket Knight no longer needed by the king, Sparkster leaves the kingdom and retires.

Fifteen years later, Sparkster lives a casual farming life with his wife and son. While farming one day, he witnesses Zephyrus become subject to the invasion of an army of mountain wolves. Sparkster equips his Rocket Knight gear and departs from his home to save Zephyrus. Upon arriving at the kingdom, Sparkster encounters his arch-nemesis Axel Gear, who had been acting as Rocket Knight in his absence.

When producer Tomm Hulett joined Konami, he decided to work on a pitch for a revival for Sparkster, which was accepted after two years and four pitches. Hulett claims that "it was really a matter of reworking the concept – making the right pitch at the right time", with various recent franchise revivals receiving positive responses at the time. Hulett also said that Konami thought Climax Studios were the best pick partly due to their facial animation technology, allowing Sparkster to produce expressions respective to his 16-bit counterparts.

Rocket Knight is one of the games featured in Xbox's November 2021 Games with Gold lineup, where the game was made for free for the month for Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

IGN gave the game a score of 7.5, praising the inventive platforming but showing concern for the high price point. Game Informer gave the game a score of eight out of ten. GamesRadar gave the game 7/10, praising its mechanics but criticising its fluctuating difficulty, along with the high price point. 1Up gave it a C+ grade, criticising its lack of variety. Sales were near to 12,000 units as of year-end 2010.