Alot of people are familiar with the name "Ristar". For those who aren't, Ristar is a 2D platform game created by SEGA for SEGA Genesis consoles featuring the iconic mascot Ristar. It was supposed to be a successor of Sonic the Hedgehog. However, the game never received massive exposure or sales, mainly due to being released just three months prior to the Sega Saturn. In this story, i'm gonna tell you my story of a weird Ristar copy i once played.
Hello, my name is Mark and i'm a huge fan of Ristar. I remember playing Ristar as a kid since 1998 when i was 5 years old and now i'm 26. Ristar was part of my childhood and i to this day i blame SEGA for not returning our favorite yellow mascot back to his spotlight. I remember buying a copy of the game after purchasing it on Ebay but that copy has probobly changed my life forever.
The Cartrige.
The Story[]
On August 10th 2019 on Wednesday morning, i was thinking of playing the game after 24 years. He was one of my favorite characters SEGA ever created and i always thought if he will ever come back with a new modern game. One day when i was searching the adic i saw my old Genesis console where i used to play Ristar. It was still usable just very dusty. As i took it down stairs and wiped it with wet handkerchief, i releazed i have no Ristar cartrige. The one i once had was given to my younger brother when he was 13 and he still keeps it to this day, i decided to get one myself by buying a cartrige on Ebay. As i went to the website i searched for the copy and then i bought one. As i was very exited to get a game i once played, i heard the door bell. Curious as if it's my order i opened the door and strangely no one was there. I looked everywhere, that was until i looked down when i saw the box tittled "Ristar". I was very happy and in excitement and brought it inside. I was still suspicios for no one being on the doorstep but i didn't really mind it since i only cared for the package. As i opened the box i saw it, the iconic figure on the cartrige. I was very overhyped for getting the game and putted it on my table. I tried connecting the console to the electricity to make sure it works and luckily it did so i grabbed the cartrige and putted it on the console, ready to play.
The Game[]
As the game booted itself up i was greeted with the classic tittle screen and i immediately began the first level "Planet Neer". Everything reminded me of the classic times when i played it including the cheerfull song that played during gameplay, however the game seemed a bit laggy and Ristar also seemed as if his pupils whould get smaller and i felt kinda confused about it but never payed too much attention and it was probobly my imagination. As i was going through the game i've encountered the first boss Armoured Tree Snake and it was fine at first till i defeated it. Once i left the level the game glitched and i was greated with a strange message saying...
"Hello Friend"
"Do you remember how long it's been?"
"What the..." i sayed. I was shocked, this was never in the game, i felt confused and hat a bit of goosebumps after seeing that, "Was that Ristar?" i sayed. As i began with the second level "Dark Woods", things now got from good to creepy. The game's level played the song backwards and Ristar has a wide creepy grin instead of a normal happy smile. I knew this was a sign of something bad will happen throughout the game but i kept playing the game. Ristar for whatever reasons got new moves that was never meant in the game, such as kicking and punching and we all know he only has one ability and that is to grab the enemies till he knocks them out or climb on the walls. As i was punching and kicking the enemies, i can see Ristar enjoying giving pain to the enemies as if this is what he always wanted. As i finished the level i got face to face with Planet Elder. I was using the grabbing ability and the new kick moves to defeat him and when i did instead of Planet Elder floating away he fell on the ground with alot of brusies on him. Ristar then started breaking the 4th wall staring directly at me for 8 seconds before another text messege appeared on the screen.
"I love to see them suffer"
"Do you?"
This was not the Ristar i know and remember. This was something else. A possible hijack or some sort of a pirated copy. I didn't want to continue the game thinking things could get any worse but ofcourse my curiocity was still curious to continue.
As i got to Round 2 things got to a very dark turn. Instead of the level being called "Planet Leatow", it's "Planet Corpse", and as the level sayed, the planet was made out of corpses. Ristar still has that same grin not caring that there are dead bodies around him who resemble him. I guided him through the level, there are low number of enemies in this level and those enemies were mainly skeletal and mangled version's of Ristar plus the waters were replaced with blood. I felt very unnerved and regretful for ordering a game i once loved and at the end of the level instead of "Lost Palace" It was now "Lost Soul". The level was the same till i got to the end of it to the boss arena. It was called "Slaughter Attack" instead of "Ohsat Attack". Upon going through the level i was shocked as i got face to face with Sonic who wasn't even supposed to be in the game. Hes sprites looked very stylish and he had his own moves like in his classic Genesis games. I was very confused as why was Sonic in the game, its most likely Ristars vision. About like 6 seconds of silence the boss battle started and he was quite tough to defeat him since he whould use spindash attacks while I had to dodge all of his moves. As i somewhat managed to win against him, Sonic was later showed to be an illusion as he was actually a regular enemy who got brutally murdered by Ristar. Disgusted from what is saw, the screen yet again cut to black with another message, however this one was interesting.
"27 Years"
"Yet i'm still forgotten"
"What is this?" i sayed. It could likely mean the fact that how SEGA treated him after the game's release. Being forgotten and betrayed by ono who he created, but what does that have to do with dead bodies or corpse? At Round 3 "Planet Onaclove" things did somewhat seemed to go back to normal until i saw the enemies. They had some weird mutated appearances as if they got melted by the heat and some of them were even dead. Ristar also seemed the same from the start and he his new abilities were gone including the grin. Going throw the levels i then got to to the boss arena "Adahan Fall". The boss looked worse then the enemies. It's eyes were completely missing, he's body is completely melted and blood was on it's claws. The song was also replaced with heavy bitcrushed sounds but despite these changes it acted as a regular boss fight and i managed to defeat it. Once again i got greated with another message saying...
"It hurts"
"I'm still trapped"
"I want freedom"
Not sure what it meant but possibly SEGA's lack of interest of Ristar witch led him to be forgotten and insane. When i got to Round 4 the Planet was renamed to "Neuos" to "Chaos". Unlike in the original game everything here was very chaotic with a extreme large number of killing, and Ristar got that same creepy grin again, a grin of joyment. By the time i got to the boss arena "Awaueck Sing" The screen glitches and it cut to black again. The new messege appeared saying...
"I feel betrayed... lonely... isolated..."
"And now... I only feel revenge for my abandonment"
The screen came back to the game and to my surprise the boss was already completely mangled with me having no chance to fight. "What the hell?" i sayed. The boss was completely unrecognizable and Ristar acted as if nothing happened with the cheerful look. At this point i just wanted to quit and tried to shut down the console, but before i did, i got jumpscared with a loud ear piercing noise with big red text on the screen saying...
"K E E P P L A Y I N G"
Scared for my life i had to continue because i didn't wanted to know what happens if i don't continue. At Round 5 the level got renamed to "Planet Wasteland" rather "Planet Elykiki". Everything here was very frozen completely rather being a fun level, the song was replaced with loud snowstorm sounds and the enemies looked like walking zombie corpses. Going through the level was kinda tough since the level was kinda more slippery then usual. However i managed to beat all levels at first try. When i managed to get to the boss, Ristar quickly shifted his eyes directly at me. A new message appeared...
"They left me but they will remember me"
As we cut the boss battle the boss looked very horrifiying as it was decomposed and half of it's head was ripped off. The backround was glitched out as the small enemies that shoud've appeared weren't there. Once i beated the boss i got to the Round 6 "Planet Rewope". Unlike Planet Onaclove, Everything here seemed very normal for a while before i got a another message of Ristar saying...
"My suffering will soon end friend"
I wanted to try out the special stage in the game since i forgot that they exist in the game and when i tried a message whould appear saying...
"Don't think so"
Weird and confused i continued the game even tho i felt mad. As beated the levels of Round 6 i got the boss arena "Uranim Power". The boss battle seemed weird as the enemy looked somewhat scared and tried so hard to defeat me while in the original game that wasn't the case. It was very easy for me to defeat him but when i did there was a small animation of Ristar jumping on enemies head, crushing it. I was disgusted when i saw all that blood oozing from enemy's head and one final message appeared.
"Ready for your final breath?"
I was nervous but i was still born ready to win. At the final round, the level was changed completely. It had realistic graphics as Ristar looking more devilish then before. Reaching to this final planet i got face to face with the final boss "Kaiser Greedy". The boss battle was tough and quite painful as i kept losing lives but with one last push i thankfully managed to defeat him with some miracle. I celebrated after winning and managed to take a breath after all that i've been through. I thought that was the end of the game, however i whould quickly realize that i was very wrong. Instead of the credit's, Ristar then straight up turned around and looked at me with that haunting smile. He didn't cut me to the messeges but instead he spoke in a deep actual voice.
"I can feel the suffering fading from me, but i can't satisfy my hunger for blood"
"Want to try another round? So you can play with me more?"
He then slowly started walking towards the screen with me now starting to panick as what should i do. Ristar started rushing towards me but before he could've done anything, the TV has shut itself down. As i looked at the console i was somewhat surprised that it was scorching hot. I had to cool it down with wet cloths in order to cool down the boiling heat. By the time i pulled out the cartrige it was already ruined by the heat.
Aftermath[]
I was very scared for what i experienced. My beloved childhood character... Who turned into a psycho path. I did however somewhat understood why was he murdering all those in his world, being left by someone who he was created and stuck in a only game like a giant prison. It felt for him like that he was in a endless loop where there's no escape at all, but in the same time it just didn't made any sence like Sonic or what he really wanted from me. Its possible that Sonic was meant to represent his replacement to which he visioned him as a enemy but who knows? Now I will admit I did kinda lost my interests to him ever since I gave my cartrige to my brother, but I still thought and wanted to play the Ristar game. This cursed copy made me fear Ristar for rest of my life. I wasn't really sure if i should keep or throw the cartrige. I tried checking with mechanics if they can help with fixing my cartrige but they told me it's badly damanged to be fixed. I was kinda dissapointed for not having it fixed so i had no choise but to throw it to the garbage. To this day i still remember his iconic grin of his just smiling directly at me and i even dreamed of a boss battle with him against me. I felt every single pain after hitting me everywhere and when I was laying on the ground, he stood infront of me, staring at my soul. As he was going to stomp my head I fell of my bed, relieved that I escaped his nightmare. Unfortunately, I only took the screenshot of the cartrige since i was very focused on playing the game and i can't play it again cuz the cartrige is thrown away. If someone experiences the same thing as i did then please destroy the cartrige at ALL COST!