rastan game for genesis

[AlexKidd]

I'm a big fan of the original Rastan game on the sms as well as similar games like golden axe, legendary axe etc. I know there's a Rastan game for the genesis but I seem to remember hearing bad things or reading really bad reviews of it. Is it really that bad ? And if so, what'd they do to screw it up? Would it be worth buying if it was cheap enough? Just wondering since I can't seem to find any of the reviews I mentioned at the moment.

[Jim]

I'm a big fan of the original Rastan game on the sms as well as similar games like golden axe, legendary axe etc. I know there's a Rastan game for the genesis but I seem to remember hearing bad things or reading really bad reviews of it. Is it really that bad ? And if so, what'd they do to screw it up? Would it be worth buying if it was cheap enough? Just wondering since I can't seem to find any of the reviews I mentioned at the moment.

The game is Rastan Saga II. It actually passed through my hands recently and I had a short go at it...and wasn't too impressed. Very typical side-scrolling fare that comes off as a poor imitation of Golden Axe more than anything else. I think you'd be better off sticking with the original Rastan, which according to the DP Guide is "better in almost every way."

[Neil Koch]

I've played the game also... well, only about a level of it. It's slow with clunky controls, which leads to a lot of cheap deaths.

It's one of the worst games of its' type on the Genesis - even worse than Sword of Sodan.

[Gamereviewgod]

Yeah, Rastan II is a mess. Your sprite is so large it's impossible not to get hit.

The third one though, that's a great title. It never left the arcade, but it's a great beat-em-up with a massive widescreen ala X-Men.

[Neo Rasa]

Rastan Saga II / Nastar Warrior: STAY THE HELL AWAY no matter what platform it's on (the arcade version is only partially redeemable due to a great soundtrack, but it only has two level BGMs total, a boss track and a level complete jingle).

If you want games like this for the Genesis/Mega Drive get Golden Axe III and Blades of Vengeance.

[Graham Mitchell]

Rastan Saga II is an abomination. Avoid it.

It brings up a good point, actually. I bought Taito Legends for PS2 some time last year, and I've come the conclusion that outside of a small handful of absolutely brilliant games (Zookeeper, Bubble Bobble, Rastan, Parasol Stars, Electric Yo-Yo, Elevator Action, maybe Qix, and Arkanoid) Taito is fucking horrible. That disc is loaded with games that are obscure for a reason.

[Tron 2.0]

Rastan meh pure trash heck i rather play rastan III over it.

[Tron 2.0]

Rastan meh pure trash heck i rather play rastan III over it.

Whoops i ment rastan II not I heck i still enjoy the original these days.

[AlexKidd]

I've played the game also... well, only about a level of it. It's slow with clunky controls, which leads to a lot of cheap deaths.

It's one of the worst games of its' type on the Genesis - even worse than Sword of Sodan.

Ok, guys, thanks for the advice. This statement alone will keep me away from it as Sword of Sodon is maybe the worst game or at least worst genesis game i've ever played. Maybe i'll pick up Blades of Vengeance instead.

[Xexyz]

Rastan Saga II is an abomination. Avoid it.

It brings up a good point, actually. I bought Taito Legends for PS2 some time last year, and I've come the conclusion that outside of a small handful of absolutely brilliant games (Zookeeper, Bubble Bobble, Rastan, Parasol Stars, Electric Yo-Yo, Elevator Action, maybe Qix, and Arkanoid) Taito is fucking horrible. That disc is loaded with games that are obscure for a reason.

Aww, give them another chance.

Yes, Taito Legends, the EU/NA release is f***ing terrible. Empire Interactive f***ed up the emulation or something, plus the selection is pretty much crap. The import only Taito Memories titles are a much better representation of the companies classic coin-ops, developed in house. The presentation is great too, much better than that abysmal Capcom Classics Collection presentation (which was utter **** Digital Eclipse...) Vol. 1 is worth it for Darius Gaiden, Pocky & Rocky, Majestic Twelve, Runark (aka Growl), Light Bringer (kick ass isometric beat em up with a similar leveling system to Capcoms Knights of the Round), Cameltry (aka On the Ball, a Marble Madness esque masterpiece), that game I can never remembers title (It's basically Taito's version of Ghosts 'N Goblins), Gridseeker, Metal Black, Don Doko Don, and of course, Space Invaders, Rastan, and Bubble Bobble which are already on Taito Legends, IMO.

[Graham Mitchell]

Rastan Saga II is an abomination. Avoid it.

It brings up a good point, actually. I bought Taito Legends for PS2 some time last year, and I've come the conclusion that outside of a small handful of absolutely brilliant games (Zookeeper, Bubble Bobble, Rastan, Parasol Stars, Electric Yo-Yo, Elevator Action, maybe Qix, and Arkanoid) Taito is fucking horrible. That disc is loaded with games that are obscure for a reason.

Aww, give them another chance.

Yes, Taito Legends, the EU/NA release is f***ing terrible. Empire Interactive f***ed up the emulation or something, plus the selection is pretty much crap. The import only Taito Memories titles are a much better representation of the companies classic coin-ops, developed in house. The presentation is great too, much better than that abysmal Capcom Classics Collection presentation (which was utter **** Digital Eclipse...) Vol. 1 is worth it for Darius Gaiden, Pocky & Rocky, Majestic Twelve, Runark (aka Growl), Light Bringer (kick ass isometric beat em up with a similar leveling system to Capcoms Knights of the Round), Cameltry (aka On the Ball, a Marble Madness esque masterpiece), that game I can never remembers title (It's basically Taito's version of Ghosts 'N Goblins), Gridseeker, Metal Black, Don Doko Don, and of course, Space Invaders, Rastan, and Bubble Bobble which are already on Taito Legends, IMO.

Yeah, it was a fairly generalizing statement, and I forgot about Darius and Cameltry. Don't get me wrong--there are some fantastic games by Taito, but I'm starting to question their hit to miss ratio.

Oh yeah, I really dug Puzznic, too.

[Ed Oscuro]

Somebody said Rastan Saga II is worse than Sword of Sodan. Sure, RSII isn't among the finest titles on the Genesis (or PC-Engine, for that matter), but saying it's worse than SoS is a huge exaggeration at best. "Gameplay" in SoS consists of stumbling along from left to right and stabbing random guards in the crotch; the awkward shuffling pace makes the courageous young man in Rastan Saga II look like a ballroom dancer. RSII conforms to standard platforming cliches and occasionally sets up some interesting challenges and themed areas - and, although it's generally harder to control than Rastan, the upward and downward attacks work at any time, as in the original. Too bad the execution's poor, but I still have fun with it. Sword of Swodan isn't fun at all once you've started a new game.

On default configurations, I can beat the first two bosses without really knowing what I'm doing in Rastan Saga II; in SoS I didn't even make it out of the first area (didn't use any potions, but...) before kicking the bucket (although I was right in the doorway, frantically trying to go through).

Rastan on SMS is a better game than I had given it credit for, but it's pretty crappy compared to the Apple IIgs port (which is nearly arcade perfect, and in at least one respect actually better than the original - i.e. the scrolling list of items in the demo is animated).

RSIII is an amazing game technically and has great visuals and sound, but it's not quite as good as people tend to think it is (myself included). Strip away the advantage it gains from the visuals and you're left with an above average brawler.

I wonder about the 2003 gamecube game, Warrior Blade: Rastan vs Barbarian. It sounds...stupid. Rastan is a Barbarian, and if you're going to make a totally different type of game you shouldn't reuse the name from a different title (this caused me no end of confusion back when the game came out because I was hoping that it would be an arcade port - or at least include one; I'd know if there was actually some information on the 'net).

[Neil Koch]

I was the one that said RS2 was worse than SoS and I stand by that statement.

I actually owned SoS and beat it back in the day - yeah, it was shitty, but it was decent when it came out. At least it had the gore factor (decapitating the giants) and the "strategy" of the potions.

RS2 was just a horribly generic platormer with bad controls and little in the way of orginality (the claw weapon being the only decent thign that I can recall).

It's probably because Rastan is one of my favorite games of all time (both the arcade and SMS versions) but come on, RS2 is just total shit.

[2taall]

Being that Rastan is my favorite arcade game, I have to admit that Rastan Saga II is a huge disapointment. I remember looking in one issue of EGM or VG&CE and seeing in the upcoming titles section Rastan II. It read: Rastan is back in his second adventure. There was only one small pic, but I couldn't recognize Rastan. He looked like an idiot! A year or two later it was released for Genesis and it was confirmed that the Rastan in RSII was an idiot.

I don't think it's a horrible game, but rather just mediocre. It is definitely disapointing after the brilliance of the original.

Rastan III is pretty good, but it's mostly just a standard brawler.

[Ed Oscuro]

I was the one that said RS2 was worse than SoS and I stand by that statement.
Yeah, I didn't actually want to call you out. But since you did...yeah, I think that's a mildly crazy thing to say.


I actually owned SoS and beat it back in the day - yeah, it was shitty, but it was decent when it came out.
RSII came out within a year of Sodan, judging from the copyright dates. RSII's original arcade version came out before the Amiga version of SoS, too.


At least it had the gore factor (decapitating the giants) and the "strategy" of the potions.
I'll take the surreal enemy designs of RSII over pulsating red X any day.


RS2 was just a horribly generic platormer with bad controls and little in the way of orginality (the claw weapon being the only decent thign that I can recall).
Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay...RS2 doesn't control or play that well compared to the original, but the mechanics are all pretty much there (along with block bashing, woohoo). I don't like the random chance element (the little zapper pickups that send out a bolt of energy are very useful but you only get them on rare occasions, same goes for health pickups). There isn't anything enjoyable about SoS once you're out of the menus, really. One thing I can say for RSII - I'll play it for the Engrish intros, if nothing else.

I have a Nastar arcade flyer. No, I'm not biased towards the game, don't you look at me like that! But I did play both a bit last night, and all I can say about SoS is that it might have some sort of super-secret way of letting you get in hits without getting bashed by the enemy. I hate games like that. To be fair the boss battles in RS2 are like this, but not the whole damn game.

[Neo Rasa]

I wonder about the 2003 gamecube game, Warrior Blade: Rastan vs Barbarian. It sounds...stupid. Rastan is a Barbarian, and if you're going to make a totally different type of game you shouldn't reuse the name from a different title (this caused me no end of confusion back when the game came out because I was hoping that it would be an arcade port - or at least include one; I'd know if there was actually some information on the 'net).

I almost imported this the day it came out just on the name alone. Too bad it's just Barbarian without any serious connection to Rastan besides him replacing one the stock characters in there. :(

[Neo Rasa]

And you're right about Sword of Sodan. Rastan Saga II is garbage but Sword of Sodan on the Genesis is beyond the pale. Correct me if I'm wrong but this game was pretty good on the Amiga?

A lot of computer systems that wanted sword fighting would implement some heavy stance changing based attacks (i.e., switching between what two moves you're going to use, or having super rigid "high" and "low" attacks) to make up for processor shortcomings (the awesome Conan RPGs Bethesda published are a great example). For some reason they took this to the ultimate extreme on the Genesis version instead of taking advantage of the "blast processing."

[Neo Rasa]

I said Bethesda published some Conan RPGs, that's wrong, it was Virgin.

[JerseyDevil65]

I'm a big fan of the original Rastan game on the sms as well as similar games like golden axe, legendary axe etc. I know there's a Rastan game for the genesis but I seem to remember hearing bad things or reading really bad reviews of it. Is it really that bad ? And if so, what'd they do to screw it up? Would it be worth buying if it was cheap enough? Just wondering since I can't seem to find any of the reviews I mentioned at the moment.

I have a loose copy of RSII that you can have. Send me a PM with your address, if ya want it. :)

[Iron Draggon]

If you really think that Rastan Saga II is worse than Sword of Sodan, then you need to go back and play both games from start to finish again, because your memory is failing...

[starsoldier1]

Lets agree they are both crap.

[Wavelflack]

Is it just me, or does Rastan look like he's sporting a huge grin in RS2?

[Graham Mitchell]

Is it just me, or does Rastan look like he's sporting a huge grin in RS2?

That's just his manly jaw, complimented by his attractive, clean-cut blonde hairdo.

[GaijinPunch]

I'm a big fan of the original Rastan game on the sms

I find this a bit discerning. NOt a fan of the original arcade game? Boy did I pump quarters into that one.