Rygar: The Legendary Adventure (2002) [PS2] critique

I would never turn down a fight against evil! – Rygar

Rygar as we know it outside of Japan was originally a game for arcades known as Warrior of Argus. Created in 1986, the player would take control of a long dead warrior of Argus and defeat the newly risen monsters led by Ligar, a fearsome lion-esque creature who could control fire breathing serpents. The game was later turned into a port for the NES and the hero was given the name “Rygar.”

This is NOTHING like the game we’re looking at today. 

Outside of the name and weapon, the games are completely different. You take on the role of Rygar, a gladiator of Argus who knows nothing about his past, only that he loves fighting for his country. After returning from a battle at sea, he and other warriors are being admonished by Princess Harmonia (who definitely isn’t Britney Spears) when suddenly they come under attack by a group calling themselves “Titans.” They kidnap the princess and now it’s up to Rygar to save her using the same weapon from the original: a Diskarmor. The Diskarmor is essentially a sharp, spiky shield attached to a chain that Rygar is able to throw, move around, and retract back to him.

Have you ever seen them in the same place at the same time? Neither have I…

Rygar: The Legendary Adventure very loosely takes inspiration from Greek and Roman mythology, utilizing the names of many Greek gods while also using some famous historical figures from that time frame like Aristotle, Alexander, and Cleopatra. While none of the original myths or poems exist within, it’s definitely a love letter to that time period. That being said, there’s a fair bit of poor story, bad dialogue, and frustrating level design in some parts that can leave you wanting to sell the game back to the thrift store you got it from. Especially when it comes to the end of the game, but I’ll go more into that in the review section. Speaking of:

The 8-bit Review

 Narrative: 4/10

Good Zeus almighty this is a rough narrative. I’m going to go a bit into spoilers here, so if you’re looking to play the game without, skip the part below the barrier. The main points are that the game does more telling you about things rather than showing you or letting you experience it. It’s poorly done and takes away from what could have been something more engaging, especially with the “surprises.”

The plot is fairly simple overall: rescue the kidnapped princess from the Titans. Where things start to go awry is when the exposition starts happening. Given that there are only six humanoid characters with voice acting, there’s a fair bit of story that needs carrying, and unfortunately it just doesn’t hold up well. Echidna, the female Titan, exposits her entire backstory in one in-game cutscene about halfway into the game, completely detailing her motivations and feelings. They make it seem like she’s talking to no one while it happens, so it’s even weirder that this character is just backstory dumping to nobody. Icarus, the male Titan, knows everything that’s going on, but saves every detail of information until it’s absolutely necessary to bring up for things to progress. He knows about the prophecy of Cronus, he knows who Rygar is before he lost his memory, he somehow put the soul of Cronus into Rygar and trained it (which is never mentioned again). Every story element comes out either as a cryptic message or it pours out like an open faucet. It all just ends up feeling really rushed. If there were more characters, more tapestries, something other than the same two people just telling you about what happened the entire game, the game would feel more like an actual story.

 Visuals: 7/10 

Visually, you’re looking at a fairly standard PS2 game from the early 2000s. There’s nothing overly remarkable about the polygons that you couldn’t find elsewhere, but they’re well made. Animations are smooth, I didn’t encounter any glitchy floors or walls going places they shouldn’t, and everything is pretty nice to look at. There is one part where a fully rendered portion of “Wish,” the main theme song for the game, is sung, and that looks beautiful. It’s something straight out of a Final Fantasy game. Tecmo did a fantastic job with the movement and lip sync. It’s a quality you don’t see too often from games during that time period.

Audio: 8/10

For those of you looking for any of the music from the original game, I’m afraid you will be disappointed. From what I could tell, none of them were remade or remastered. That doesn’t mean that the music is bad. On the contrary, it is surprisingly one of the better soundtracks I’ve heard in a game. The Moscow International Symphonic Orchestra does an excellent job with every piece, even if it feels like the music is a bit off for the tone of the level you’re in. Opera singer Isobel “Izzy” Cooper sang the vocals for the main song of the game “Wish” that, while lyrically is not my personal style, was beautifully performed.

 Gameplay: 6/10

Gameplay-wise, Rygar is a fairly standard 3D third-person action platformer. The combat is a little disjointed since you need to actually aim to hit things. The game somewhat makes up for this with the Diskarmors: they each have different ranges and play styles, along with several mystic stones that you can use to upgrade them with different abilities, so regardless of if there’s one enemy or many you should have no problem clearing a room. You can also upgrade the Diskarmors so they have more equip spots for Mystic Stones and allow you to summon your Diskarmor creature more often. Movement is smooth but slow, with the game requiring you to backtrack to certain places to either collect a new item or unlock an ability needed to progress. The map system is great when you’re in a dungeon/level, but the overworld map is blurry and unreadable. You can navigate it well enough, but I found myself forgetting where I needed to go and became unable to continue without looking up a video online to remind myself where the warp location was. One of my biggest complaints is the fixed and rotating Resident Evil-style cameras – the kind where you walk in one direction, the camera changes, and now you’re walking back where you came in from. This makes one section of the game difficult as you need to jump from rock to rock without knowing for sure whether or not you’re positioned correctly. What would look like an easy landing frequently became a fall.

 Challenge: 5/10

Rygar is a fairly easy game, coming in at around 5 hours of in-game time, 9 hours actual play time. You’ll face the same three basic enemy types; evil caterpillars, floating ghosts, and jumping/punching/shooting plant humanoids, all with varying looks, health bars, and strength depending on what level you’re in. There are mini bosses called Cyclopes that are stronger, but they’re nothing to worry about. The main difficulty comes in the boss fights. There are 13 bosses and they’re all genuinely pretty fun except the last one. Technically speaking, the final boss is two bosses, and they come right after another boss fight. If you aren’t prepared in health, Ichol, and items, you WILL be slaughtered. Right after you defeat the first boss, you’re thrown right into the second, far more difficult boss. Which wouldn’t be so bad, if the first phase didn’t require you to either continually summon your Diskarmor creature to do damage or luck into damaging her with an exploding spider. If you play it right, a full bar of Ichol can take out slightly more than half of her health. This means you either need to use your only Ichol item (you can carry only one in Normal difficulty, three on Easy) or grind it out by battling the exploding shadow spiders while dodging fire breath, shadow rings on the ground, and a fast homing lightning bolt attack. Needless to say, you’re going to get hit. It IS possible to cycle through her patterns to restore your health and Ichol enough to where you’re almost maxed out before entering the Cronus fight, but it takes patience and a LOT of time. 

 Uniqueness: 7/10

I know what you’re thinking: “God of War does Greek mythology and combat way better than Rygar does.” And you’d be correct – except that God of War came out three years after Rygar paved the way. Despite the game’s flaws, it was one of a kind for that time, especially since the concept of Rygar hadn’t seen the light of day since the original’s last port in 1990. That, along with the music and Greek/Roman inspiration, challenging boss fights, and the Diskarmor itself truly set it apart from the competition. 

 Replayability: 4/10

There isn’t a whole lot in regards to replayability unless you’re someone who enjoys returning to the same game but harder. After your first run through on Normal, you’ll unlock a Hard difficulty with an Extra Hard after that. You’ll also gain access to a stage selection option so you can try earning higher ranks for those levels. On top of all that, you can gain unlock skins for your Diskarmor like the Guitarmor skin for beating Necromandio Cave.

Showing off my new “Pizzarmor” skin.

 Personal: 6/10

I like the game, it was definitely enjoyable to revisit after such a long time. That being said, it could use some updating. The story is short and told poorly, the final boss is aggravating, and some of the cameras could do with better placement. It’s not a game I think I’ll play again for quite some time, if at all, but my kids got to watch me play the end so perhaps I can guide one of them through it when they’re old enough to handle that kind of difficulty. With the oldest being seven, though, it’s going to be a while yet.

Thank you for reading my very first critique for The Pixels! I have been in the gaming sphere for most of my lifetime, and I decided it was time I took the wheel of gaming journalism in my own hands. Frankly, with the drivel that comes out of other outlets, I can’t really do any worse. It was a blast to be able to put this together for all of you. If you want to see some gameplay and catch me doing research on future critiques you can pop by my YouTube channel.

Aggregate Score: 5.8/10 

Pangas is an avid video gaming enthusiast with over 30 years of experience hoping to bring a more positive light to gaming journalism. You can find him on YouTube.