SEGA keeps bringing the love with its line of free games for Android. This week they’ve given us one of the biggest platformers to appear for Genesis: Ristar has just come to SEGA Forever and this is terrific news for all fans of the genre, as it’s one of those games that’s passed largely unnoticed on the console that it shared with our friend Sonic. But it’s a high-quality platformer and it boasts outstanding graphics.
Ristar puts you in the shoes of a heroic little star who has to save the whole solar system from the clutches of the tyrannical space pirate Greedy. To do it you’ll need to trek to distant planets defeating the henchman of the baddest of baddies so you can free them from the dark power that’s taken over them. To do it you’ll have to get around obstacles and take problems into your own hands. The odd thing about Ristar is that he’s got quite long arms to grab the bad guys and fling them far away from himself. Instead of following the standard pattern of platformers where you kill the thugs by jumping on their heads, here you’ve got to use this interesting gameplay that also serves to move you through settings full of branches, poles, etc., that you can grab onto and propel yourself off of.
As with the other games in the SEGA Forever line, the interface has virtual buttons on the screen and you can modify the controls or save the game at any time. That said, controlling this game on Android can get a bit complicated given that you’ve got to use all the arrow buttons for each of Ristar’s arms. It’s not a problem with the port itself – it’s just that the game is more suited to being enjoyed with a standard D-pad.
This makes eight games now released by the once glorious SEGA for its line of free games on Android. The catalogue is growing at a quick clip and can be downloaded for free over Uptodown: Sonic The Hedgehog, Kid Chameleon, Altered Beast, Comix Zone, Phantasy Star 2, Virtua Tennis Challenge, and The Revenge of Shinobi.
