Ultimate Guide: Rygar
Despite being one of the oldest arcade machine companies, Tecmo (first known as Tehkan) never quite – in the west, at least – gained the status of peers such as Capcom or Taito. Tecmo’s arcade games, however, were often novel in their approach, as demonstrated by the explosive collect-‘em-up Bomb Jack, puzzler Solomon’s Key and this fantasy-themed hack-and-slasher that charged into arcades in the mid-eighties. Housed in a standard cabinet, Rygar utilises an eight-way joystick with two buttons, for jump and fire. While being a one-player game, Tecmo introduced an option whereupon a second player could start a game while another player was already playing, regardless of the progress already made. A continue option could also be employed, although even this is removed from level 20 onwards. By then, the player must have acquired the necessary skills to progress further – or fail in their mission.
And here is that mission. Known as Argus No Senshi (Warrior Of Argus) in Japan, Rygar is the story of the eponymous hero, resurrected in order to defeat an ancient evil. In what would appear to be some sort of parallel universe, the Earth is ruled by the ‘Dominators’, before the mere passage of time briefly extinguishes their reign. Alas, now there’s a new Dominator on the scene and the people, having got used to their new-found freedom, are apparently reluctant to accept its command. The solution, naturally, is to send one man to defeat all of the Dominator’s minions and free the planet once more.
Is it Earth? Or is it Argus? And when does it actually take place? None of this is made entirely clear by the original arcade game, yet one thing is for sure: there’s a bad guy at the end, and a host of enemies to eliminate before you get to him.
4.5 billion years have passed since Earth’s creation and the Dominators have ruled throughout. Now, an evil Dominator has taken over causing dead legend Rygar to rise from the grave – LET’S FIGHT!
Fortunately, Rygar is armed with a mythical razor-sharp spinning disc known as the Diskarmor. Our hero can launch this weapon horizontally in the direction he is facing, or spin it 360 degrees around himself, and either way it proves quite useful at slicing through his enemies. Also throughout the game, headstones appear from the ground, and if smashed these reveal shield power-ups and score bonuses. The latter includes a ‘stacking’ bonus that yields 70,000 points if seven are collected without losing a life, while the former includes five different hidden upgrades. Three of these are related to the Diskarmor: the star shield increases its range, the crown enhances its power (multiple enemies can be despatched with one throw) and the sun icon gives Rygar better vertical control of his weapon, especially useful for taking out the flying enemies that pepper the game. The tiger power-up enables Rygar to kill the enemies he jumps on, while the invaluable cross symbol gives him invincibility for a predetermined time.
While its plot and format may be stereotypical, there’s plenty of fun to be had in Rygar’s fastpaced gameplay. The game has an extraordinary amount of levels – 27 – and each one of them is unusually short, with progress displayed on a mini-map in the bottom-right-hand corner. That’s not to say Rygar is an easy game. After the primer of the first couple of levels, the player is soon besieged by all manner of the evil Dominator’s minions, and one touch from any of them causes the loss of a life. Fortunately, following in
the footsteps of a certain Italian plumber, Rygar can jump on enemies and temporarily stun them; obtaining the tiger shield puts even more power in the sole of this warrior’s boots as enemies are destroyed by his lethal stomp.
Most of Rygar’s many levels are a picture of a leafy green paradise, a beautiful land that certainly looks worth fighting for. Rocky outcrops must be hauled over; tree branches jumped on. By round four, Rygar is fighting enemies with a picturesque sunset overlooking the extreme violence. There’s a deserted village, a gushing set of rapids and gloomy caves for the warrior to stride through, before he reaches his ultimate goal: the palace of the evil Dominator. Throughout the game, should Rygar hesitate too long, the timer runs out, the background turns black and death itself, represented as a lava-fuelled globby thing, relentlessly chases our hero around the screen. One touch and it’s, well, death. The diversity of minions echoes the evil Dominator’s tendrils that have insinuated into Rygar’s home world. Giant apes sit on trees and hurl missiles; mutated tribesmen hurl themselves at him; even the wildlife, including squirrels and worms have been possessed and have just one thing in mind.
Points are awarded for killing all of the Dominator’s minions, and Rygar also has an array of score bonuses, making it an attractive prospect for score-attack players. After the player has acquired several powers, shield icons will often appear from crumbled headstones, and these also yield an instant 1,000 points. End-of-level bonuses are based on the number of enemies Rygar has sliced up (a ‘repulse’ bonus), plus a special rank score based on Rygar’s total kills, and also for any time left over – preserving each life therefore becomes vital for anyone going for that big score. But best of all, hidden away on level 13 is a secret parchment. Find this and an amazing 1 million points is yours to behold.
By the mid-latter Eighties, the licensing of arcade machines for home computers was so rampant that even a relatively obscure game such as Rygar was ripe for the conversion treatment. US Gold acquired the rights together with fellow Tecmo game, Solomon’s Key, and handed the job to its developer, Probe Software. Tecmo itself released the NES version and, while retaining the basic plot, this differed from the arcade game, adding RPG elements, no doubt in an attempt to replicate the success of Nintendo games, such as Zelda. The NES’S rival, the Sega Master System, received a straighter port, which was only released in Japan.
It may not be the most famous or complex of games, yet Rygar touched the conciousness of gamers in the mid-eighties, no doubt encouraged by the fresh interest in fantasy-themed IP such as Conan The Barbarian and Dungeons & Dragons. As such, it deserves its place in arcade history, if nothing else for the sleek and deadly weapon that its hero wields: the razor-sharp Diskarmor.