Ristar

Ristar is the titular main protagonist of the 1995 Sega Genesis game of the same name.
Given the time the game was released, Ristar's character has received generally positive reviews, although was very overlooked and obscure given that the Sega Genesis' popularity and lifespan was reaching its conclusion, and that players were soon moving on to future consoles, such as the PlayStation and N64.
He was voiced by Eriko Hanada.
==History==
Ristar's history is mostly a mystery, it can be assumed that both he and his father were born in the Valdi System, the very galaxy where the game takes place, though this isn't confirmed. For some unknown amount of time before the events of the game, Ristar's unseen and unnamed father was the galaxy's hero, until an evil space pirate called Kaiser Greedy began to take over the galaxy, and kidnapped Ristar's father in the process, starting the events of the game.
==Plot==
Once the space pirate Greedy begins to take over the Valdi System, the leaders of the respective planets begin wishing for help, causing a Star Goddess deity named Oruto (though she only appears in the Japanese version), to wake Ristar from his slumber. Ristar hears the call for help and immediately springs into action. Flying through space, Ristar travels to seven planets, rescuing the possessed world leaders from each one, then defeated Greedy at the last location.
In order, Ristar travels to the following planets (the names in parentheses are shown in the game's Japanese version). Each planet has a unique theme to it:
* Planet Flora (Neer) - Fauna/Forest/Grass theme
* Planet Undertow (Leatow) - Underwater ruins theme
* Planet Scorch (Onaclove) - Volcano/Fire theme
* Planet Sonata (Neous) - Music theme
* Planet Freon (Elykiki) - Winter/Ice theme
* Planet Automaton (Rewope) - Robot/Automation theme
* Castle Greedy
Once Ristar reaches the boss of Planet Automaton, which is a tough, hulking alien named Uranim who is assisted in the background by a smaller computer-operating alien named Inonis, Ristar defeats Uranim. Inonis grabs Uranim's unconscious body and flies away, which Ristar follows. Ristar reaches the final location of the game, Castle Greedy. Here, he defeats Inonis and finally faces off against Greedy.
After a difficult battle, Ristar defeats Greedy, bringing his evil influence of the galaxy to an end. This causes Castle Greedy to become unstable and coming close to imploding on itself. Greedy escapes by somehow becoming ghost-like, with a ghost-like version of Inonis and Uranim following behind and floating away. Ristar escapes Castle Greedy, just as it implodes. Ristar is reunited with his father.
In the Japanese version of the game, Greedy, Inonis and Uranim are stranded and a barren planet. Greedy is looking off into the distance in a contemplative way, leaving his fate (and those of his two underlings) unknown.
==Description==
===Strengths===
Ristar, as his name would imply, is an anthropomorphic shooting star, and has the abilities similar to that of a real shooting star. He is young and inexperienced, but highly intelligent, agile and extremely resourceful. His two most prominent features are grabbing onto things, then sending himself into what was grabbed to bash into objects and enemies with incredible force, and being able to propel himself in the air and temporarily fly around like an actual shooting star. However, Ristar must use certain apparatuses - known as star handles - to swing himself in circles to create enough momentum. Enemies can also be defeated if Ristar hits them while flying with maximum force.
Ristar is able to fly from planet to planet, but only if enough speed and force is built up beforehand. The environment of outer space has no negative effects on Ristar. He can also swim in water indefinitely without ever needing to come up for air. In the sixth stage of the game, Ristar can also swim in air as if it were water, but only if antigravity shoes are put on first. In the Japanese version of the game, the air-swimming mechanic is already present somehow, without the need for said shoes.
Ristar is shown to be very strong and full of vitality as well, as he travels between different planets to rescue the world leaders and lessen Greedy's influence on the galaxy. The bosses encountered in the game are much bigger and more powerful than Ristar, though Ristar defeated them all with ease. Being a shooting star, falling from great heights does not harm him in the slightest.
===Weaknesses===
Much like any other two-dimensional video game character, Ristar takes damage from many hazards: touching enemies, spikes, lava, electric surfaces, fireballs, enemy projectiles, attacks from bosses, etc. Some of these hazards can be negated by Ristar's attacks. The aforementioned mechanic of Ristar being able to launch himself in the air and fly can only work for a limited time, as Ristar can only sustain himself the in the air for so long. The more swinging momentum built up beforehand, the longer Ristar can fly. He is not able to build up any momentum to fly if there is no star handles present.
Although Ristar can fly from planet to planet as mentioned before, this is still a limited action, though the no-gravity trait of outer space greatly helps Ristar not lose momentum when flying between planets like a meteor.
==Personality==
The game, like many other two-dimensional games of that era, did not have any dialogue, adding a limit to what is presented of Ristar's personality. He does have some voice clips, such as "Play with me?" when starting a new game, and "Come on!" during level transitions. The most prominent personality traits can be seen from his actions. He immediately answered the call for help at the start of the game, showing how quick he was to help the galaxy, and proving how much of a true hero Ristar is. He is also very intelligent, as he utilized many items and helpful mechanics in the game to his advantage, possibly with no prior knowledge of using said things.
There's a slight difference in Ristar's demeanor between the American and Japanese version's of the game. In the American version, Ristar's facial expressions are very intense and serious, while the Japanese ones show more cheery expressions. In both versions, Ristar does sometimes display excited, happy moments. These are commonly seen when defeating bosses, where Ristar will do a dance, raise his arms as if he's cheering and looking directly at the player while giving a thumbs up. This upbeat, bubbly behavior is also seen at the end credits, when pictures of what happened after the game's events are shown. There are even pictures of Ristar getting along with those he previously fought against.
==Concept==
During development, the initial concept of the character was to make him a blue rabbit that could grab and throw objects with his ears. That concept was then scrapped, then the character was then renamed to "Feel", and would then use his arms instead of his ears to interact with objects. Feel's visual design was similar to Sonic's, but was again changed. The name was then changed to "Volt", then "Ristar", then "Dexstar", and finally back to "Ristar"; with his character design as a shooting star being finalized at that time.
==Gallery==
===Final release===
Ristar cover.jpg|Game box art.
Ristar title.jpg|Title screen.
Ristar-1.png|Ristar in level 1-2.
Ristar snowball anim.gif|Ristar's idle animation of making a snowball in level 5-1.
Ristar dad.png|Ristar being reunited with his father at the very end of the game.
Ristar scorch.png|Ristar in level 3-1.
===Prerelease===
ristar_feel.png|The concept of "Feel", before Ristar's design was finalized.
Feel01.jpg|Title screen with Feel.
Feel02.jpg|Gameplay screenshot with Feel.
ristar-dextar.gif|Ristar's finalized design but named Dexstar.
==Trivia==
*His in-game sprites in the American version are made to look much more intense and angry. This was also done to almost all enemy sprites in the game.
*After defeating the final boss and escaping, Ristar can be heard saying "Hasta la vista, baby!" This is the famous catchphrase of the Terminator, from the movie Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
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