In '86 and '87, I was obsessed with the Rygar arcade game down at the local ice cream / burger shop. So when I got my NES in the summer of 87, it was one of my first games. At first it thew me off how different it was.. but then I was blown away at the scope of it.. it was a world I could explore.. not just a linear grind through waves of enemies. My dad and I spent hours at a time trying to figure it out. It became the first NES game I beat... and that moment of defeating Lygar and seeing that dinky window open up was so extraordinary for 10 year old me it took on a quasi-religious tone in my memory. That year for Halloween I proudly donned a particular crappy homemade Rygar costume in honor of my triumph.
I really identify with how you characterize experiencing the ending for the first time as a child. It was such an epic undertaking to comprehend the character advancement systems, how all the different levels were connected to each other, which tools were needed where and how to most skillfully use them for quick traversal or dodging enemies, and then how to put that all together in my 7 year old brain... just reaching the castle in the sky for the first time felt mind-blowing, the shadow enemies being so creepily unlike any of the terrestrial enemies... and then yes, finally beating Lygar and seeing that door open, with the river and green lands below and a dove with an olive branch signifying peace returning to the land that one had spent so long fighting through to get to that point... for years afterwards I would tell any friend who came over "hey I can beat Rygar in two hours and show you the whole thing if you want" just because it was such an amazing game to me at the time... absolutely one of my all time nostalgic favorites. I even remember picking it out at the KB toys at our local mall with my dad, based solely on how cool the weapon the main character used looked, and it turned out to be one of the best choices we made getting a game knowing nothing about it in those early years.
I remember beating Rygar just as my family was heading out to see Batman 89 on its opening day. What a fantastic memory of the two things. Forever entwined! Fantastic, Mr. Parish! FANTASTIC! :)
Once again a brilliant video Jeremy, no other channel has ever gone into as much detail about the lesser known games, and never attempted to analyse every single game on several systems. I've yet to see any video as detailed as this about Rygar. I can't wait till you get more subs, you really deserve them.
I really liked the PS2 title. Everyone raves about _God of War,_ and rightfully so as it's so well-made, but for me I really wanted something that captured the majesty and adventurous tone of movies like _Clash of the Titans (1981),_ and _Rygar (PS2)_ completely captured it. Heck, Rygar (the guy) even sounds like he was voiced by Harry Hamlin in that game. I'm so angry that Koei-Tecmo ignored that IP entirely in _Warriors All-Stars,_ boy. _That_ game was a favorite, but I have played this NES one and definitely agree that _Rygar "8-bit"_ is a really interesting, good title. Didn't play it until earlier this year actually, when I got it on a Multicart, but it definitely holds up even when next to stuff like _Astyanax_ and _Power Blade._ This is absolutely one of those games, like _Crystalis,_ where you kinda get super pissed at the developers for never making proper follow-ups on the 8- and 16-bit systems. I mean, honestly - wtf? Tecmo got so much better on the NES hardware with their _Ninja Gaiden_ titles and _Samurai Pizza Cats_ - how did they just leave _Rygar_ alone? It really should've grown into a proper series. It's really stupid, it's a stupid situation. I'm retroactively mad at them :P I wish they'd make another one, but I guess it would actually just be a lot like _Darksiders III_ or something probably, eh? Man, I gotta pick that up.
I really lived this game for so many reasons. I loved the mountain and sunset backgrounds, the music was epic, the hidden areas uou had to find by shooting the grappling hook, the ascetic stylite monks, cool bosses, grindy leveling up, cool ending etc. Funny cover art but great game inside.
I remember way back, i think late 80s. As I was returning home from school. My best friend, who was in another car, and just so happened to cross me, waving me this game . Later that day, I went to his house, and started playing. I never could figure out how to progress after i reached the top down section. But still, good times!.
I just finished this game for the first time on the Switch a few weeks ago, and I honestly can say it’s one of my favorite games on NES. Glad to see a video doing a great job of covering it in detail!
This was one of my favourite NES games as a kid, even though I could never make it any further than the forest level with the dragons (though to be fair I was just 5 at the time, and was never able to beat any game back then). Felt really special to finally beat the game as an adult a couple of years ago, and it made me appreciate the game even more, as I was surprised to find how ambitious the game was for its time. And hot damn if Tecmo’s games didn’t have some of the best soundtracks of the NES era. Everybody remembers Ninja Gaiden, sure, but I still find myself humming melodies from both Rygar and games like Tecmo World Wrestling and Solomon’s Key 2 (aka Fire n Ice) to this day.
Rygar wasn't the first NES game I played, but it was the first NES game I personally owned because I got the NES that came with the Official Nintendo Player's Guide. My parents were kind enough to buy me a game with it. It felt pretty difficult to me back then and I was very happy when I beat the game. There are a few great music tracks in there too. I never really liked the first area's music; it sounded a bit too "heroic" for my tastes if that makes any sense. But that music in the caves was pretty good! The game's included instruction booklet had descriptions of various enemies, and the one for the snail enemy said something like "They attack you by shooting mucus, yuk yuk" which...well, first of all, it taught my fifth-grade self the word "mucus" and second of all I couldn't tell if "yuk yuk" actually meant "yuck yuck" or something else.
I used to love this game as a kid. It took me a long time to figure out how to beat it, navigating the map, finding stuff like seemingly randomly shooting the grappling hook into the sky to advance and so on but something kept me coming back. Very cool to see a retrospective about it.
Excellent video as always. Rygar may be, for some reason, my favorite NES game. I can complete it in under an hour, but it seems equally satisfying every time. Any idea why the music changed so much from the Famicom version?
@@Fluoride_Jones Haha! And I have never played "Karnov". :D Funny though, today I finally beat Rygar for the very first time! And I played the PAL version. That was a great feeling to see Ligar go to hell!
+Niklas Pihl Congratulations! From what I've gathered by reading the other comments here, the PAL version is brutally tough. You should give "Karnov" a try at some point. I wouldn't recommend purchasing it, but emulation is always an option. You might like it!
mmmh. Ironic that they would translate the same name two different ways. Sure, Japanese is ambiguous about R and L sounds, since they don't distinguish (and often use something that is inbetween the two), but it's still odd to translate what should be the same name into two different forms...
Jeremy, you hit it on the nail when you called this a John the Baptist game. I love this title and had a wonderful experience with a recent playthrough on my NES. The game still holds up and is perfectly playable - a rare feat for innovative games of the past!
I got this game in 1987 for my 7th birthday along with the NES, gyromite with Rob, Super Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt, Metroid and Legend of Zelda. My birthday is in December so I got another handful of games for Christmas less than two weeks later. What a time to be alive and probably my favorite birthday. The first boss in the jungle always kicked my ass until a year or two later when I learned you could grind out levels to get more powerful. Coming from Atari, intellevision, collecovision being able to level up and have these sprawling adventures was a brand new thing and took a little bit to get used to.
I had this game back in the 80's. I discovered a "bug" where you stood in one place against the wall on the island. Enemies would come at you in droves in one direction. All you had to do is stand there and press the attack button. You would quickly build up energy. You could then go up into the sky (sorry, I don't recall all the names used in the game) and defeat the final boss with ease.
One of the early muscle-hermits in the game tells you something like "It is 2:00 a.m. and time for the monsters to awaken." He says the same thing regardless of how much time passes in game, of course. When I first played Rygar I was old enough to read but not yet old enough to know/care how times of the day work, so this was a mite confusing. Anyway, Rygar rules and it's a shame it's faded from memory for most.
I'm glad I've played Rygar recently. When I was a kid, it confused the heck out of me, but today I can appreciate the extent of what Tecmo tried to do. It's still not exactly self-explanatory, but gosh if it wasn't ambitious for '87!
this one was a childhood fav despite the fact that my friend's copy had no documentation so we did not know how to use any magic at all. we just played and played and got more health via monster kills but couldn't use any of the special abilities. we would make it to the last boss and then give up because we couldn't beat him. but that wouldn't stop us from playing again. and again.
Love this! Like a lot of other elements in the game the music is all over the place (and effectively alien-sounding due to the complete lack of drums anywhere), but I'd like to shout out the Cave theme as a GREAT piece of work. Whatta bassline.
5:15 Is the Guru giant? Or only great in wisdom? ...or is he on a pillar closer to the viewer? 8 - O "enigmatic" I always thought so. You have an interesting point about this being the first "metroidvania" by release time! For the NES, we said that the companies "adventurized" the IPs like Bionic Commando and Strider, with lesser play action but more thought. (Particularly Strider implies a complicated story that is different for the two versions.)
You did a great job of putting the game in context, Jeremy. Kid Icarus and Rygar were two of my first games on the NES growing up, and those marked an indelible shift from the NES being an "arcade games at home" to a immersive, stand alone experience for me. It's a shame Rygar is not more appreciated now for its place in the pantheon.
I had no idea Rygar is this good! I only tried it briefly, and wasn't grabbed; I didn't even know it had a shift to a top-down perspective. I'll have to give it a proper playthrough sometime.
I did like that Rygar got a nod in Koei Tecmo's Nioh. Around midway through the game in a mountainous area, you can find Rygar's grave and fight his spirit. I forget if he dropped anything noteworthy, as I used an axe build at the time.
Another weird, lovable game. My two most enduring memories about this game involve my father, who was pretty into it. The first involves the game freezing in the tower area. I think this is a well-known issue because I've had the same happen to me in the same spot. (I believe it happens as you climb up into a screen.) The other involves the music in the Eruga area. I remember the name of this area specifically because my father came up with words to the music. They go, and I quote: "Eh-ruuuu-ga. Eh-ru-gaaaah. Eh-ruuuu-ga. Eh-ru-gaaah." . . .You can figure out where it goes from there.
I dunno, I don't recall this version of Rygar making it to Virtual Console (though the arcade release did). They seem to have disowned it, but it deserves to be republished.
Nintendo Switch Online has Pro Wrestling, which was never released through Virtual Console, and the Famicom port of TwinBee, which was previously only available in the North America and PAL regions as part of the 3D Classics line for the 3DS. That gives me hope that Switch Online might get more NES games that weren't on Virtual Console.
I never played Rygar, so I never knew about the “key change,” which reminds me of Blaster Master - another game I never played. (I worked at a game shop, then was a game journalist, then a game dev, so there aren’t many games where I can say that)
Memories , my brother and I took turn beating this game, I watched him beat it, then copied, I was like 6 . One of the 1st games I beat , great times .
I loved this game back in the day. Thanks for doing these videos, and the NES books you did. I've been pretty busy over the last few years, so I've really not been plugged into the retro game space. Again, thanks!
Oh, I think I'm going to like this channel. God, I loved this game. I had no knowledge of Rygar's arcade incarnation until well after I'd finished this iteration, so my first time playing the arcade version, I was...massively disappointed. And there has never been another Rygar game to hit this level of quality. And did you even mention the music in this game? Love it or hate it, it's anything but dull or uninteresting.
I had the same thing happen with Legendary Wings. I played the hell out of the NES version as a kid and I loved it. I didn't realize until years later, once MAME became a thing, that Legendary Wings was based on an arcade game. I played it... and was pretty disappointed. The music just sounded so horrible, and the gameplay didn't feel as tight. It's amazing how much above its weight the NES could punch given developers who knew not only how to program for it, but how to create games that played to the console's strengths and work around the weaknesses.
+Yellowblanka It definitely looks like one, but I'd like to try it, just to see what it's like in comparison to all the versions I have played. I'm sure I'd get a decent chuckle out of it. :)
@@JeremyParish - lol, sadly yes. It's constantly depressing that thoughtful content creators yourself have relatively few subscribers, while some braying jackass covering the same gaming news EVERY other gaming TH-camr covers "in character" has 1 mil+.
Another great video. Rygar was a great game. I always wished it had a save state. Of course, that could be said about every game of the era that lacked one. It took too long to receive a sequel, and when it finally came, for me, some of the magic was gone.
Faxanadu is closer to Archangel Gabriel. This game has a mind melting mix of music and imagery. Tower of Garba music and Ligar s Castle. Nailed the uneasy bizarre atmosphere. GOATED.
You really made me want to take another look at this one, I never got very far, and I thought it was just a crappy arcade port, I did not know about the later developments and metroidvania style
I loved this game but as a kid for some reason I couldent get far but I found out in that top down area if u jump and go back and forth between screens u can glitch out and get to a different part of the game/glitched out area
Thw sound engine in this game would be later used in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde as well as Clash at Demonhead. Clash at Demonhead would utilize the same gameplay mechanics as Rygar though.
It's amazing what sound effects can add to a game. Hitting enemies just didn't feel rewarding to me like it did in something like Castlevania. My friend and I beat Rygar back in the day but that was my first and last time doing it. Perhaps if the developers added a little more weight to your attacks, the game may have had more replay value for me.
This is one game I truly wish would have had a more enhanced remake on the Switch. Yes we have Rygar on NSO and it is pretty faithful, but how about a full game that has the original, an entirely NEW quest, and even expansion areas for the original. Cmon Tecmo!! A new game and DLC maps.
This game was definitely ahead of its time from an NA perspective, and I’m sure it probably blew the minds of any kids who happened to get it in July of 87, but I wonder if this game would’ve been nearly as impressive for Japanese kids, given they would’ve had Zelda for 14 months and Metroid for 6.
From the viewpoint of a 90's child who grew up with the early 3D era and played a lot of already dated 16 bit consoles at the homes of friends and relatives, to say nothing of 8 bit platforms, I obviously don't have the ability to judge Rygar fairly. I was introduced to it at the same time as games like Zelda 1 and 2, Crystalis, and Faxanadu instead of having it introduce this style of game to me. That being said, while I'm not a huge fan of the game because of that I do prefer it to Kid Icarus personally. It's far from one of my favorite titles on the NES, but I still think it has some cool stuff in it and some neat aesthetic choices.
Huh I didn't know it was Nintendo themselves that asked developers if they're doing a multi-platform port that it should be different from the other conversions.... definitely explains a lot about some of the arcade-to-NES releases! I remember having this one as a kid, and actually picked it up again in more recent years! and I was able to finish it, given the lack of any save/password feature, thanks Tecmo. :( although I will say it has probably some of the best NES music I've ever heard!
One of the best things about emulation is that you can have saves for every game. You can't blame them for not putting one in at this point in time, virtually no games had a save feature, but games like this are made better with modern touches like that. I've been looking for another action platformer NES game to try and complete, and this video reminded me of Rygar so I'm gonna give it a shot. I doubt I could beat it without save states though
@@duffman18 that's true. (and I'd assume we'll see this on Nintendo Online at some point, which has save and reload features) but that they didn't at least include a password system? (I mean I could get it not having battery backup, that probably didn't come around more til after Zelda) I guess it doesn't matter now, at any rate.
@@darktetsuya yeah true. Although even then maybe they didn't include a password system because they were still too much thinking of it as an arcade game
I swear I have heard the theme song before but I can't remember the game at all. I also remember the Wario Land theme, so maybe they were on some TV show when I was a kid?
They should of made a coin slot box that plugged into nes where the controller went and when the quarter was put in the controller would work. Kids could save money that way. Or leave it unlocked and used the same quarter.
I love this game, but I hate how they upped the difficulty of the PAL version, making the final boss near impossible. I never beat the final boss (believe me, I tried my best!), but perhaps I should get the NTSC version to finally tick this game off my list of completed games.
Yes, EU version I've never beaten... but the US version is a cakewalk, at the last boss I didn't have to replenish my health or use that extra attack power OR even try to avoid his projectiles, just jump and attack until you win.
@@JoypadDivison It's a shame they broke the EU version, it was a huge anticlimax when I had spent the whole day playing through the game, only to switch it off at the final boss! Incidentally, a similar thing happened when I played through Rygar on the PS2, I went to the final boss too soon, and I hadn't kept any of my previous save-files, and so I was stuck not being able to beat the final boss - I call this the Rygar-curse from here on!
I've beaten the PAL version of Rygar years ago. i had to leave my Nes on for nearly three days to beat it, honestly one of the hardest video game accomplishments ive ever done.
I feel you. I got this a couple of years ago and reached the final boss countless of times and I still couldnt beat it. And yet, people on youtube were beating it easily. I did my research and found out that the PAL version is actually almost impossible to beat. And I've done a perfect run. So I definitely want the NTSC version so I could beat it in less than an hour and sleep well at night.
@@joezawinulreviewsandreacti2509 I know i always thought the same. Tecmo slacked in the 16 bit generation. I always wondered how a Ninja Gaiden game would've been like on the SNES.
@@JeremyParish - Not to mention the phoned-in "upgraded" music. At the very least they could have really gone to town on those games for the trilogy release increasing sprite size and colors, adding parallax etc. and decent remixes of the music that actually made use of the Sony sound chip.
The arcade game wasn't tedious... it's was quite awesome actually, loved it. And for reference, it was quite impressive technically speaking for its time.
In '86 and '87, I was obsessed with the Rygar arcade game down at the local ice cream / burger shop. So when I got my NES in the summer of 87, it was one of my first games. At first it thew me off how different it was.. but then I was blown away at the scope of it.. it was a world I could explore.. not just a linear grind through waves of enemies. My dad and I spent hours at a time trying to figure it out. It became the first NES game I beat... and that moment of defeating Lygar and seeing that dinky window open up was so extraordinary for 10 year old me it took on a quasi-religious tone in my memory. That year for Halloween I proudly donned a particular crappy homemade Rygar costume in honor of my triumph.
+Dan Jackson
I bet you were the only kid on the block sporting a homemade Rygar costume! :D
Wearing a Rygar costume in the 80s was unsafe! There were jocks around every corner in those days!
Thank you fo sharing, I have similar memories of this old school gem.
+King Voxel
The most important thing I learned from '80s movies is that fact. :)
I really identify with how you characterize experiencing the ending for the first time as a child. It was such an epic undertaking to comprehend the character advancement systems, how all the different levels were connected to each other, which tools were needed where and how to most skillfully use them for quick traversal or dodging enemies, and then how to put that all together in my 7 year old brain... just reaching the castle in the sky for the first time felt mind-blowing, the shadow enemies being so creepily unlike any of the terrestrial enemies... and then yes, finally beating Lygar and seeing that door open, with the river and green lands below and a dove with an olive branch signifying peace returning to the land that one had spent so long fighting through to get to that point... for years afterwards I would tell any friend who came over "hey I can beat Rygar in two hours and show you the whole thing if you want" just because it was such an amazing game to me at the time... absolutely one of my all time nostalgic favorites. I even remember picking it out at the KB toys at our local mall with my dad, based solely on how cool the weapon the main character used looked, and it turned out to be one of the best choices we made getting a game knowing nothing about it in those early years.
Exactly correct take on a terrific game ahead of its time.
I remember beating Rygar just as my family was heading out to see Batman 89 on its opening day. What a fantastic memory of the two things. Forever entwined! Fantastic, Mr. Parish! FANTASTIC! :)
Once again a brilliant video Jeremy, no other channel has ever gone into as much detail about the lesser known games, and never attempted to analyse every single game on several systems. I've yet to see any video as detailed as this about Rygar. I can't wait till you get more subs, you really deserve them.
I really liked the PS2 title. Everyone raves about _God of War,_ and rightfully so as it's so well-made, but for me I really wanted something that captured the majesty and adventurous tone of movies like _Clash of the Titans (1981),_ and _Rygar (PS2)_ completely captured it. Heck, Rygar (the guy) even sounds like he was voiced by Harry Hamlin in that game. I'm so angry that Koei-Tecmo ignored that IP entirely in _Warriors All-Stars,_ boy.
_That_ game was a favorite, but I have played this NES one and definitely agree that _Rygar "8-bit"_ is a really interesting, good title. Didn't play it until earlier this year actually, when I got it on a Multicart, but it definitely holds up even when next to stuff like _Astyanax_ and _Power Blade._ This is absolutely one of those games, like _Crystalis,_ where you kinda get super pissed at the developers for never making proper follow-ups on the 8- and 16-bit systems. I mean, honestly - wtf? Tecmo got so much better on the NES hardware with their _Ninja Gaiden_ titles and _Samurai Pizza Cats_ - how did they just leave _Rygar_ alone? It really should've grown into a proper series. It's really stupid, it's a stupid situation. I'm retroactively mad at them :P
I wish they'd make another one, but I guess it would actually just be a lot like _Darksiders III_ or something probably, eh? Man, I gotta pick that up.
Such a cut above the rest of the channels on TH-cam that feature retro video games. I love it so much.
I really lived this game for so many reasons. I loved the mountain and sunset backgrounds, the music was epic, the hidden areas uou had to find by shooting the grappling hook, the ascetic stylite monks, cool bosses, grindy leveling up, cool ending etc. Funny cover art but great game inside.
I remember way back, i think late 80s. As I was returning home from school. My best friend, who was in another car, and just so happened to cross me, waving me this game . Later that day, I went to his house, and started playing. I never could figure out how to progress after i reached the top down section. But still, good times!.
Ahh Rygar, a quality title featuring the titular lead hero himself, Rygar.
I just finished this game for the first time on the Switch a few weeks ago, and I honestly can say it’s one of my favorite games on NES. Glad to see a video doing a great job of covering it in detail!
This was one of my favourite NES games as a kid, even though I could never make it any further than the forest level with the dragons (though to be fair I was just 5 at the time, and was never able to beat any game back then).
Felt really special to finally beat the game as an adult a couple of years ago, and it made me appreciate the game even more, as I was surprised to find how ambitious the game was for its time. And hot damn if Tecmo’s games didn’t have some of the best soundtracks of the NES era. Everybody remembers Ninja Gaiden, sure, but I still find myself humming melodies from both Rygar and games like Tecmo World Wrestling and Solomon’s Key 2 (aka Fire n Ice) to this day.
Rygar is my favorite nes game.
Rygar wasn't the first NES game I played, but it was the first NES game I personally owned because I got the NES that came with the Official Nintendo Player's Guide. My parents were kind enough to buy me a game with it. It felt pretty difficult to me back then and I was very happy when I beat the game.
There are a few great music tracks in there too. I never really liked the first area's music; it sounded a bit too "heroic" for my tastes if that makes any sense. But that music in the caves was pretty good!
The game's included instruction booklet had descriptions of various enemies, and the one for the snail enemy said something like "They attack you by shooting mucus, yuk yuk" which...well, first of all, it taught my fifth-grade self the word "mucus" and second of all I couldn't tell if "yuk yuk" actually meant "yuck yuck" or something else.
I used to love this game as a kid. It took me a long time to figure out how to beat it, navigating the map, finding stuff like seemingly randomly shooting the grappling hook into the sky to advance and so on but something kept me coming back. Very cool to see a retrospective about it.
Excellent video as always. Rygar may be, for some reason, my favorite NES game. I can complete it in under an hour, but it seems equally satisfying every time. Any idea why the music changed so much from the Famicom version?
Rygar was one of my most played NES games in my childhood. :) Great episode!!
+Niklas Pihl
To this day, I've never played "Rygar." I didn't even know anyone who had the game! I did have a copy of "Karnov," though. :)'
@@Fluoride_Jones Haha! And I have never played "Karnov". :D Funny though, today I finally beat Rygar for the very first time! And I played the PAL version. That was a great feeling to see Ligar go to hell!
+Niklas Pihl
Congratulations! From what I've gathered by reading the other comments here, the PAL version is brutally tough. You should give "Karnov" a try at some point. I wouldn't recommend purchasing it, but emulation is always an option. You might like it!
@@Fluoride_Jones Yeah, I'm going to import it in the future because it never was released over here in "PAL-Land".
The titular Rygar is "Ligar" or the lion-like final boss.
Yep, like I said, something was lost in translation with that one.
mmmh. Ironic that they would translate the same name two different ways. Sure, Japanese is ambiguous about R and L sounds, since they don't distinguish (and often use something that is inbetween the two), but it's still odd to translate what should be the same name into two different forms...
First love when I see it back to 1987! One of my top ten best games of all time
5:11 I'm pretty sure the theme for the giant old man's room in this game is pretty close to the title theme for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on NES.
Yep, it's a Known Thing: gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Blog:Share_a_Song_of_Six_Pence
First time I heard about this, was from an Angry Video Game Nerd episode, where he shows the same audio clip from both games. 😊
If you want your mind blown again, play Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! then put in HAL's port of Defender II and start a game....
@@rodneylives Wow, that's really weird! Not only that, but the title theme for that game is the same as the title theme for Joust on NES!
@@devony.7737 Yep! I'm still not sure why it's the same.
The music the music the music
Love this game; I played through it again and didn’t realize it was so short.
Just went back to rewatch this as I've been playing it again, and every time I do, I still enjoy it just as much, both the game and the video.
Major props for the John the Baptist/Jesus reference. Damn, that's both funny, and accurate.
This was one of my favorite games as a kid and one the first I can remember beating.
Didn't realize you were still making stuff like this - so glad I ran across this. The 1up podcasts were awesome.
I... live
Jeremy, you hit it on the nail when you called this a John the Baptist game. I love this title and had a wonderful experience with a recent playthrough on my NES. The game still holds up and is perfectly playable - a rare feat for innovative games of the past!
Way ahead of its time - personal favorite....nice topic and a great video JP
I got this game in 1987 for my 7th birthday along with the NES, gyromite with Rob, Super Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt, Metroid and Legend of Zelda. My birthday is in December so I got another handful of games for Christmas less than two weeks later. What a time to be alive and probably my favorite birthday. The first boss in the jungle always kicked my ass until a year or two later when I learned you could grind out levels to get more powerful. Coming from Atari, intellevision, collecovision being able to level up and have these sprawling adventures was a brand new thing and took a little bit to get used to.
I just discovered your channel 3 days ago and Just finished ever episode of NES Works. Great stuff! I can’t wait for more.
This is still one of my favorite NES games! The music is great too!
I had this game back in the 80's. I discovered a "bug" where you stood in one place against the wall on the island. Enemies would come at you in droves in one direction. All you had to do is stand there and press the attack button. You would quickly build up energy. You could then go up into the sky (sorry, I don't recall all the names used in the game) and defeat the final boss with ease.
One of the early muscle-hermits in the game tells you something like "It is 2:00 a.m. and time for the monsters to awaken." He says the same thing regardless of how much time passes in game, of course. When I first played Rygar I was old enough to read but not yet old enough to know/care how times of the day work, so this was a mite confusing.
Anyway, Rygar rules and it's a shame it's faded from memory for most.
5:07 You know, I never thought of that character as a giant man, but that the pillar was way closer to the view in foreground.
If he's in the foreground, he's facing away from the warrior as he talks. Rude.
I'm glad I've played Rygar recently. When I was a kid, it confused the heck out of me, but today I can appreciate the extent of what Tecmo tried to do. It's still not exactly self-explanatory, but gosh if it wasn't ambitious for '87!
I feel like rygar is the bridge between surface level nes enthusiasts and those who want the whole experience.
How funny! Just last week I had a very specific hankering and searched your channel for a video on Rygar. Thanks for catering to my needs! :P
this one was a childhood fav despite the fact that my friend's copy had no documentation so we did not know how to use any magic at all. we just played and played and got more health via monster kills but couldn't use any of the special abilities. we would make it to the last boss and then give up because we couldn't beat him. but that wouldn't stop us from playing again. and again.
I completely forgot about the magic system the last time I played through this game. I beat the whole thing without powering up or recovering.
Love this! Like a lot of other elements in the game the music is all over the place (and effectively alien-sounding due to the complete lack of drums anywhere), but I'd like to shout out the Cave theme as a GREAT piece of work. Whatta bassline.
Most early NES soundtracks lack drums! Check out the Ship to Shore Gradius vinyl sometime and compare the NES tracks to the enhanced MSX tunes.
5:15 Is the Guru giant? Or only great in wisdom? ...or is he on a pillar closer to the viewer? 8 - O "enigmatic" I always thought so. You have an interesting point about this being the first "metroidvania" by release time! For the NES, we said that the companies "adventurized" the IPs like Bionic Commando and Strider, with lesser play action but more thought. (Particularly Strider implies a complicated story that is different for the two versions.)
I remember loving the PS2 reboot. It felt like a predecessor of Ninja Gaiden by Team Ninja in design!
thanks for reminding me how old I am. One of my favorite games ever
loved Rygar..beat it a few times way back then..
You did a great job of putting the game in context, Jeremy. Kid Icarus and Rygar were two of my first games on the NES growing up, and those marked an indelible shift from the NES being an "arcade games at home" to a immersive, stand alone experience for me. It's a shame Rygar is not more appreciated now for its place in the pantheon.
Rygardian of the Galaxy
one of my first NES games!
I SWEAR MY VICTORY...
UPON THIS FEATHER
oh wait w-
I had no idea Rygar is this good! I only tried it briefly, and wasn't grabbed; I didn't even know it had a shift to a top-down perspective. I'll have to give it a proper playthrough sometime.
Me too, I never finished the initial sunset area before I said "oh, generic NES action game. Got it."
@@Chadius ditto - I'm going to have to give it another go sometime.
This game has some sweet-ass music, I had no idea. Also, I would be super-down for Warrior/Rygar as a Smash Bros character.
I did like that Rygar got a nod in Koei Tecmo's Nioh. Around midway through the game in a mountainous area, you can find Rygar's grave and fight his spirit. I forget if he dropped anything noteworthy, as I used an axe build at the time.
Another weird, lovable game. My two most enduring memories about this game involve my father, who was pretty into it. The first involves the game freezing in the tower area. I think this is a well-known issue because I've had the same happen to me in the same spot. (I believe it happens as you climb up into a screen.)
The other involves the music in the Eruga area. I remember the name of this area specifically because my father came up with words to the music. They go, and I quote: "Eh-ruuuu-ga. Eh-ru-gaaaah. Eh-ruuuu-ga. Eh-ru-gaaah."
. . .You can figure out where it goes from there.
Hope this comes to the Nintendo Switch NES Online library.
I was thinking the same thing...given all the Tecmo stuff thus far, I feel like it surely will eventually.
I dunno, I don't recall this version of Rygar making it to Virtual Console (though the arcade release did). They seem to have disowned it, but it deserves to be republished.
Nintendo Switch Online has Pro Wrestling, which was never released through Virtual Console, and the Famicom port of TwinBee, which was previously only available in the North America and PAL regions as part of the 3D Classics line for the 3DS. That gives me hope that Switch Online might get more NES games that weren't on Virtual Console.
Really enjoy these videos. Thankyou Jeremy
I never played Rygar, so I never knew about the “key change,” which reminds me of Blaster Master - another game I never played.
(I worked at a game shop, then was a game journalist, then a game dev, so there aren’t many games where I can say that)
Memories , my brother and I took turn beating this game, I watched him beat it, then copied, I was like 6 . One of the 1st games I beat , great times .
Why was there never a Rygar movie a la Beast Master or Conan. This game has so much freaking charm to it. Like Castlevania 2 or Bionic Commando.
It was true for this 12-year-old: The inclusion of the top-down (as well as other elements) gave it a next level je ne sais quoi.
5:12 Keep that tune in your head for when Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde comes up on NES Works.
I loved this game back in the day. Thanks for doing these videos, and the NES books you did. I've been pretty busy over the last few years, so I've really not been plugged into the retro game space. Again, thanks!
I finally beat this damn thing about a year ago. It is still a ton of fun
Rygar was a cool game. It didn't have the highest replay level for me though I did play through it several times. It is a keeper.
Legit my favorite NES game. I replay it pretty often.
Rygar is insane, and I loved it. It just gave enough angry challenges that I wanted to "win" but never hard enough that I rage quitted.
Oh, I think I'm going to like this channel. God, I loved this game. I had no knowledge of Rygar's arcade incarnation until well after I'd finished this iteration, so my first time playing the arcade version, I was...massively disappointed. And there has never been another Rygar game to hit this level of quality. And did you even mention the music in this game? Love it or hate it, it's anything but dull or uninteresting.
Never played much of this game, always assumed it was a pretty basic action platformer, but I'm going to give it another shot after this video.
I had the same thing happen with Legendary Wings. I played the hell out of the NES version as a kid and I loved it. I didn't realize until years later, once MAME became a thing, that Legendary Wings was based on an arcade game. I played it... and was pretty disappointed. The music just sounded so horrible, and the gameplay didn't feel as tight. It's amazing how much above its weight the NES could punch given developers who knew not only how to program for it, but how to create games that played to the console's strengths and work around the weaknesses.
"Double Dragon" for the Atari 2600?! Well, I never! Seriously, Mr. Parish, your videos are a cut above the rest. Great job, as always. :)
Yeah, it's a hot mess. I wouldn't bother.
+Yellowblanka
It definitely looks like one, but I'd like to try it, just to see what it's like in comparison to all the versions I have played. I'm sure I'd get a decent chuckle out of it. :)
@@Fluoride_Jones - oh, you'll get some comedic value out of it for sure.
+Yellowblanka
That's all that matters!
Don't know why you don't have more subscribers, your videos are fascinating
Needs more screamy thumbnails
@@JeremyParish - lol, sadly yes. It's constantly depressing that thoughtful content creators yourself have relatively few subscribers, while some braying jackass covering the same gaming news EVERY other gaming TH-camr covers "in character" has 1 mil+.
The Atari Lynx version of Rygar still feels amazingly satisfying to play.
Is there any way you can review "The Guardian Legend" arguably the most obscure hidden gem that is THAT good.
DOPEST SUNSET I'VE SEEN IN A GAME
Another great video. Rygar was a great game. I always wished it had a save state. Of course, that could be said about every game of the era that lacked one. It took too long to receive a sequel, and when it finally came, for me, some of the magic was gone.
Faxanadu is closer to Archangel Gabriel.
This game has a mind melting mix of music and imagery. Tower of Garba music and Ligar s Castle.
Nailed the uneasy bizarre atmosphere. GOATED.
Excellent video.
You really made me want to take another look at this one, I never got very far, and I thought it was just a crappy arcade port, I did not know about the later developments and metroidvania style
I love these soooooo much.
Rygar is on my top 30 nes games, easily!! I did a drum cover of the one cave stage music
I sometimes hum Rygar music at work. lol and my dog is named Rygar.
I loved this game but as a kid for some reason I couldent get far but I found out in that top down area if u jump and go back and forth between screens u can glitch out and get to a different part of the game/glitched out area
this chanel is awesome, why did it took youtube so long to recommend it?
This port of Rygar reminds me of Contra and Getsu Fuma Den (And by extension, Genpei Toumaden) with its multiple game styles.
Thw sound engine in this game would be later used in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde as well as Clash at Demonhead. Clash at Demonhead would utilize the same gameplay mechanics as Rygar though.
"Clash at Demonhead would utilize the same gameplay mechanics as Rygar" [double-take GIF here]
It's amazing what sound effects can add to a game. Hitting enemies just didn't feel rewarding to me like it did in something like Castlevania. My friend and I beat Rygar back in the day but that was my first and last time doing it. Perhaps if the developers added a little more weight to your attacks, the game may have had more replay value for me.
This is one game I truly wish would have had a more enhanced remake on the Switch. Yes we have Rygar on NSO and it is pretty faithful, but how about a full game that has the original, an entirely NEW quest, and even expansion areas for the original. Cmon Tecmo!! A new game and DLC maps.
Rygar in four words: Animalized men wriggling eerily.
That also describes most games industry events I've been to.
I named my pet beagle Rygar.
Finally beat this on Switch Online. What a great game for the NES!
aaarg, still have to play this
One game I'll never get rid of because it's too awesome.
This game was definitely ahead of its time from an NA perspective, and I’m sure it probably blew the minds of any kids who happened to get it in July of 87, but I wonder if this game would’ve been nearly as impressive for Japanese kids, given they would’ve had Zelda for 14 months and Metroid for 6.
From the viewpoint of a 90's child who grew up with the early 3D era and played a lot of already dated 16 bit consoles at the homes of friends and relatives, to say nothing of 8 bit platforms, I obviously don't have the ability to judge Rygar fairly. I was introduced to it at the same time as games like Zelda 1 and 2, Crystalis, and Faxanadu instead of having it introduce this style of game to me. That being said, while I'm not a huge fan of the game because of that I do prefer it to Kid Icarus personally. It's far from one of my favorite titles on the NES, but I still think it has some cool stuff in it and some neat aesthetic choices.
Huh I didn't know it was Nintendo themselves that asked developers if they're doing a multi-platform port that it should be different from the other conversions.... definitely explains a lot about some of the arcade-to-NES releases! I remember having this one as a kid, and actually picked it up again in more recent years! and I was able to finish it, given the lack of any save/password feature, thanks Tecmo. :( although I will say it has probably some of the best NES music I've ever heard!
One of the best things about emulation is that you can have saves for every game. You can't blame them for not putting one in at this point in time, virtually no games had a save feature, but games like this are made better with modern touches like that. I've been looking for another action platformer NES game to try and complete, and this video reminded me of Rygar so I'm gonna give it a shot. I doubt I could beat it without save states though
@@duffman18 that's true. (and I'd assume we'll see this on Nintendo Online at some point, which has save and reload features) but that they didn't at least include a password system? (I mean I could get it not having battery backup, that probably didn't come around more til after Zelda) I guess it doesn't matter now, at any rate.
@@darktetsuya yeah true. Although even then maybe they didn't include a password system because they were still too much thinking of it as an arcade game
@@duffman18 yeah that's the only explanation that makes sense!
The parallels to Zelda 2 are pretty strong. I'll have to add this game to my list.
Way better than Zelda 2.
I always though Rygar wore a weird mask. It's only now that I realize the pointy bit is a crown that just happens to be the same color as his face.
One of the most unique,original,artistic and awesome game experiences of the 8bit era...and the music SLAPPED!!
So good they recycled it for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Not one word about the amazing soundtrack?
I swear I have heard the theme song before but I can't remember the game at all. I also remember the Wario Land theme, so maybe they were on some TV show when I was a kid?
Rygar seems to be the only 1987 release where health decreases from left to right. Any idea when right to left became standard?
This is a fun game
They should of made a coin slot box that plugged into nes where the controller went and when the quarter was put in the controller would work. Kids could save money that way. Or leave it unlocked and used the same quarter.
I love this game, but I hate how they upped the difficulty of the PAL version, making the final boss near impossible. I never beat the final boss (believe me, I tried my best!), but perhaps I should get the NTSC version to finally tick this game off my list of completed games.
Yes, EU version I've never beaten... but the US version is a cakewalk, at the last boss I didn't have to replenish my health or use that extra attack power OR even try to avoid his projectiles, just jump and attack until you win.
@@JoypadDivison It's a shame they broke the EU version, it was a huge anticlimax when I had spent the whole day playing through the game, only to switch it off at the final boss! Incidentally, a similar thing happened when I played through Rygar on the PS2, I went to the final boss too soon, and I hadn't kept any of my previous save-files, and so I was stuck not being able to beat the final boss - I call this the Rygar-curse from here on!
I've beaten the PAL version of Rygar years ago. i had to leave my Nes on for nearly three days to beat it, honestly one of the hardest video game accomplishments ive ever done.
I feel you. I got this a couple of years ago and reached the final boss countless of times and I still couldnt beat it. And yet, people on youtube were beating it easily. I did my research and found out that the PAL version is actually almost impossible to beat. And I've done a perfect run. So I definitely want the NTSC version so I could beat it in less than an hour and sleep well at night.
I don’t know why but I always skip over Rygar. I’m popping it in right now. Another great vid!
One of my favorite Nes games ever. Such a ambitious and fantastic game im still pissed Tecmo never made a sequal for the Super Nintendo.
@@joezawinulreviewsandreacti2509 I know i always thought the same. Tecmo slacked in the 16 bit generation. I always wondered how a Ninja Gaiden game would've been like on the SNES.
What, Ninja Gaiden Trilogy's barely improved NES graphics weren't good enough for you?
@@JeremyParish Nah they weren't nor was Secret of the Stars uninspired gameplay.
@@JeremyParish - Not to mention the phoned-in "upgraded" music. At the very least they could have really gone to town on those games for the trilogy release increasing sprite size and colors, adding parallax etc. and decent remixes of the music that actually made use of the Sony sound chip.
The arcade game wasn't tedious... it's was quite awesome actually, loved it.
And for reference, it was quite impressive technically speaking for its time.
Toned Up!
Wait a second - you don't even have to hit the bosses while using attack & assail? Have I been doing it wrong for 30 years?
I guess! Attack & Assail delivers damage to everything on-screen when you hit the attack button.
I didn't know this either as a kid 😅