Developer: Taito Publisher: Taito Release: 07/06/90 Genre: Action
Rastan was a Sega Master System game that I was jealous of as a NES owner. There was nothing like it on my chosen platform and while it was different from the arcade I did not care. I did not know about Rastan Saga II until its Sega Genesis home port. I excitedly rented it and was quickly disappointed. Rastan Saga II is the type of bad game that within minutes you realize you have made a terrible mistake. The PC Engine version is more faithful than its Sega counterpart. But honestly that is not saying much.
Taito produced the PC Engine port of Rastan Saga II themselves and it is much better than its Sega counterpart. The overall color palette is brighter but more importantly the level of detail is far greater. The Genesis port recycled background tiles frequently and loses much of the visual variety of the arcade game. Here they replicate a good portion of it and the game is better for it, such as it is. Unfortunately it loses the parallax scrolling and cutscenes between levels which is noticeable. In addition there is brief loading when picking up a new weapon and entering the second half of a level which is odd. The sprites are the same size as the arcade but you lose two-player coop to achieve that. That is probably a blessing in disguise as the game has slowdown with one character.
While the port is more faithful that does not make it a good game however. Far from it in fact. On its face there are some gameplay improvements. There is a larger weapon selection for one. By default Rastan has a short sword and shield to block attacks. This one is superfluous as all weapons can guard. These can upgrade to a broadsword and claws which are supposed to be the most powerful weapon in the game. But their terrible reach completely defeats that point. In addition there is a temporary rotating shield, a rare lightning blast power-up and health restoring items. This should be a better-rounded package. But it has major problems.
The level design suffers the greatest in Rastan Saga II. Its predecessor had large levels ripe for exploration with items to discover, traps, and solid platforming. With its giant sprites the game cannot do the same with every stage being a straightforward romp to its end level boss. The game tries to attempt the same kinds of platforming that helped make the original great to disastrous results. Your jumps are floaty and hard to control, collision is awful, and even the simplest leap on a stationary platform feels like a nightmare. Unfortunately the game leans on this heavily toward the end and it will sap your extra lives.
Sadly it gets worse. Combat is truly awful. The hit detection sucks and your attacks will miss constantly. The saving grace is that the enemy A.I. if you can call it that is beyond stupid. Most enemies follow their scripted path and ignore your presence or stand in place and attack when you get close. This brain dead ruins the game’s attempt at making combat strategic by introducing enemies that parry attacks high or low as only a few enemies do so. The boss battles are frustrating as they have insane reach and a strict pattern you must adhere to. These encounters are not the least bit enjoyable which sucks as they should be the coolest part of the game.
Despite the straightforward level design and lacking enemy AI Rastan Saga 2 is actually a little difficult. Health restoring items are constant but probably would not be necessary outside of stages four and five with their aggressive water elementals. No most of your deaths will come from the terrible platforming. They try to create intricate arrangements but they do not work with these large sprites. Continues are limited and you might blow through all of them for the wrong reasons. Mercifully Rastan Saga II is short but I doubt most will tolerate the game long enough to see its “ending”.
In Closing
Rastan Saga II is not a good game. Neither in the arcade, nor the Sega Genesis and especially on the PC Engine. This remains one of my biggest gaming disappointments as I was a big fan of the Master System port of the original. I went in expecting more of the same great Conan inspired action and instead found a boring mess that trips on its own feet at every turn. Sometimes I wonder if the developers bother playing their own game because how does it turn out this bad and no one notices?
