CONVERSION CAPERS

AMSTRAD CPC

This port looks good, with the headless grunts and flying enemies particularly impressive. Compared to its fellow Z80 port, however, it’s slow, and contains iffy collision detection. It has the same issue as the other home versions in that Rygar’s movement while jumping is vastly restricted when using the Diskarmor.

COMMODORE 64

Vapid backgrounds and a difficulty curve that makes the original play like a stroll through the park result in probably the weakest of the 8-bit home conversions in terms of actual quality. It moves at a decent pace, however, and Rygar himself aside, boasts some impressive looking sprites.

LYNX

Although its box art echoes the NES version, this port imitates the arcade original, and is an excellent game, too, despite only having 23 rounds. While the screen is predictably a little cramped, Lynx Rygar is superbly balanced, easy to control and looks beautiful. An essential game for owners of the Atari handheld.

MASTER SYSTEM

Released in Japan under the name Argus No Juujiken (Crossed Sword Of Argus), this is a bare-bones version of Rygar, divested of many of the original’s beautiful landscapes. The headstones are gone, too, replaced by bizarre flying bonuses, but it’s a decent game despite being a little too frustrating at times.

NES

The NES game is quite different from the original in that it transforms Rygar into a Zelda-lite RPG, coupling the familiar side-scrolling view with overhead levels, experience, magic spells and useable items. A nice idea, but its graphics let it down a touch, with an unfortunate flicker. Still, it has a very welcome life bar, though.

ZX SPECTRUM

While it may lack graphically and sonically, the Spectrum version manages to move along at a respectable speed, making it fun to play, if only for a short time due to its lack of graphical variation. An unfortunate problem is that Rygar’s movement is restricted while jumping and firing, but it’s a fine conversion.