Developer : Tecmo
Release date : May 20, 1986
Synopsis :
Rygar is a video game created by Tecmo in 1986 and originally released for arcades in Japan as Argos no Senshi (アルゴスの戦士, Arugosu no Senshi, lit. Warrior of Argus). It is a side-scrolling platform game where the player assumes the role as the “Legendary Warrior”, battling through a hostile landscape. The main feature of gameplay is the use of a weapon called the “Diskarmor”, a shield with a long chain attached to it.
A remake, Rygar: The Legendary Adventure, was released in 2002. As of June 2007, Rygar and its remake sold a combined 1.5 million copies worldwide.
The arcade game begins with the following introduction:
4.5 billion years have passed since Earth’s creation. Many dominators have ruled in all their glory, but time was their greatest enemy and it defeated their reign. And now a new dominator’s reign begins…
In the arcade version’s story, the year 19XX sees the rise of dread creatures, not seen since before the Common Era, led by Ligar. Dominating the world, Ligar and his forces oppress humanity. The only thing that preserves humanity’s will to survive is a prophecy that Ligar’s rule will be opposed by the return of a long-dead warrior of Argos. That warrior does return to the world of the living, and he alone can save humanity.
Information gleaned from console manuals reveals that the evil being Ligar has taken over the land of Argool, and Rygar, a dead warrior who has risen from his grave, must use his Diskarmor to stop him. In console versions clues and limited dialogue are given in the form of large, sage-like men encountered in green stone temples throughout the game.
In the Japanese original, references to “Ligar” and “Rygar” are one and the same because the Roman syllables “Li” and “Ry” come from the same Japanese character. In this version, the hero is only referred to as “The Legendary Warrior”, while both “Rygar” and “Ligar” refer to the main villain.
Rygar, released in Japan as Warrior of Argus: Extreme Great Charge (アルゴスの戦士 はちゃめちゃ大進撃, Arugosu no Senshi: Hachamecha Daishingeki) is a fantasy-themed action-adventure platform game with action RPG elements developed by Tecmo for the Nintendo Famicom. It was released on April 14, 1987, in Japan and later that year in the United States for the NES. A European release came in 1990.
The player sends the title character through a number of fantastic settings with the ultimate goal of defeating the evil King Ligar in order to restore peace to the realm of Argool (Argus in the Japanese version). To accomplish this goal, the Warrior must visit five Indora gods who present him with essential items needed for completion of the game. Each of the Indora gods is located in a different realm, and is almost always guarded by a boss. The player can choose the order in which some stages are played, but since certain items are required to reach new areas, choices are somewhat limited. After playing through the five major realms of the game, he must journey to King Ligar’s flying castle for the final confrontation.
The main character, his weapon, and many of the enemies remain the same, but the gameplay is quite different. While the arcade version is more of a standard side-scrolling action title, the NES’s Rygar is an open-ended action-adventure game like Metroid (see Metroidvania), which was also released at the time. At the beginning of the game, Rygar has access to some of the worlds, but as the game progresses, new areas open up as the result of finding items such as the grappling hook, crossbow, and wind pulley, which lets him cross previously impassable obstacles. The NES version of Rygar was also more of an action role-playing game with a nonlinear open world map in Garloz. It was particularly notable for its permanent power-up mechanic, which at the time blurred the line between the power-ups used in action-adventures and the experience points used in RPGs.
This version of Rygar did not allow for game saves. The cartridge did not contain a battery, nor did it feature a password feature. It did however have unlimited continues.
The American NES version replaced some of the soundtracks from its Famicom counterpart but is otherwise graphically identical, save for the title screen and language. The music for both the NES or Famicom versions was composed by Michiharu Hasuya who would later reuse one of Rygar’s tracks on the title screen of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Source : Wikipedia
