It’s a shame that the Rocket Knight franchise, and its plucky hero Sparkster, never truly took off. Apart from an attempted revival in 2010, the series has been locked in the 1990s — destined, perhaps, to be a fourth-gen relic forevermore. Hoping to change that, or at least preserve the specialness of Rocket Knight for future generations, Konami and Limited Run Games have released Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked, a compilation of the first three entries in the series.

The Re-Sparked collection includes a trio of games: the seminal Rocket Knight Adventures, a Sega Genesis exclusive from 1993; its sequel, Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2, which debuted on Genesis one year later; and the semi-sequel Sparkster, also from 1994, but released on rival SNES. The highlight is absolutely Rocket Knight Adventures. Designed by Nobuya Nakazato, who delivered two of the finest run-and-gun titles of the era — Contra III: The Alien Wars and Contra: Hard Corps — it's a side-scrolling action-platformer with a medieval steampunk twist. It stars Sparkster, an armor-clad anthropomorphic possum who belongs to an elite royal guard unit.

Almost everything about the game is brilliant. The music, written in part by Konami legend Michiru Yamane, is exceptional. The visuals, which rely on some amazing reflections, models, and graphical flourishes, are outstanding. The controls are snappy and fluid, and the mechanics, which rely on charging your rocket pack and hurtling forward to destroy enemies, escape danger, and ricochet up walls, are supremely satisfying.

Even better are the level designs and boss battles. Nakazato and company pulled out all the stops here, introducing some amazingly creative set pieces, including a mine cart ride, a waterfall level where you jump back and forth between foreground and background, and even horizontally-scrolling shoot-'em-up segments. And the bosses, which include a giant mechanical centipede that burrows through castle walls, are inspired, not to mention very, very challenging.

That's really the only flaw in Rocket Knight Adventures: it's incredibly difficult, sometimes unfairly so. The bosses refuse to die, and many of the set pieces, while inventive, include gotcha moments that will kill you off quickly. Of all the games in the Re-Sparked collection, this is the one that requires the most rote memorization. 

The second best game in the anthology is — surprisingly, considering it's remembered more as a spin-off than a true sequel — Sparkster for SNES. While not quite as striking as the first game, it plays great, thanks to tight controls, larger levels with more vertical space to explore, and an easier (but still taxing) difficulty curve. It's also not short on engaging set pieces. There's one level where you'll be carried by fast-moving robotic birds, and another where Sparkster takes to the skies in a vertically-scrolling shmup sequence that manages to outdo the original. Whatever you do, don't sleep on this one.

The "weakest" game on offer is Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2. Make no mistake: it's still a solid action-platformer, just not as accomplished as the previous two titles. It's a bit slower and less dynamic, and it generally lacks the inspired set pieces that define the other games. It tries to spice things up with a scenario featuring a giant controllable mech rampaging through the city, but it's not as fun as it sounds. On the plus side, this Genesis sequel experiments with an automatically-charging rocket pack that gives players much greater aerial control and maneuverability.

Outside of the first three Rocket Knight adventures, the Re-Sparked collection contains a few bells and whistles. Each game arrives with a boss rush mode, for fans who want to experience the adventure in a new way. Each one also comes with both North American and Japanese variants — an unanticipated but welcome feature. It's particularly useful for the premier game, which has a different introductory cut-scene and different stage intros depending on the region.

Beyond that, Re-Sparked enjoys the quality-of-life elements typical of modern video game collections: filter, screen, and border options; rewind functionality; and save states. These last two are particularly important, due to the punishing nature of these fourth-gen games. Almost as important is boost mode, a performance patch exclusive to Sparkster. It dramatically reduces the slowdown that plagued the original on SNES.

Finally, Konami's compilation boasts two features for fans who wish to dive deeper into the world of Rocket Knight: a franchise museum complete with scans of manuals, advertisements, and box art; and a music player filled with the franchise's excellent tunes.

If there's one major thing missing from Re-Sparked, it's the fourth (and hopefully not final) game in the franchise: Rocket Knight, the 2.5D revival that landed on PC, X360 and PS3 back in 2010. While not an amazing experience, it's still an official piece of the series, and would help round out this package.

Despite the lack of 2010's Rocket Knight, the Re-Sparked collection is a video game anthology worthy of the hero Sparkster. It pulls together three noteworthy fourth-gen action-platformers — one of them, Rocket Knight Adventures, among the best of its kind — makes them more accessible than ever before thanks to save states and rewind, and surrounds them with bonus features. Consequently, fans of the series should love this collection. Those unfamiliar with the property may too, as long as they brace themselves for a good deal of punishment.