Ristar screenshot

Release year: 1995

Ristar

Category: ActionPlatformer

SEGA made a platformer where you can't jump on enemies, and it's better for it. Ristar arrived in early 1995 on the Genesis/Mega Drive, just as SEGA's attention had shifted to the Saturn. It sold quietly and vanished, which is a shame, because what's here is genuinely strange and good.

Ristar is a star-shaped kid with extendable arms, and everything flows from that. To defeat enemies, you grab them and headbutt them. To get around, you grab handholds, swing on poles, and launch yourself across levels using Star Handles: spin fast enough to get sparks, let go, and fly. Six planets, each with its own mechanic: a music world where you ferry metronomes to songbirds, a fire world with memory-game minibosses, a final confrontation with Kaiser Greedy and his black holes. The variety holds up.

The game traces back to the same early-'90s SEGA brainstorm that produced Sonic. Much of the staff went on to make NiGHTS into Dreams. There was never a sequel. Play it online right here — Planet Sonata alone makes the trip worth it.

Start
Start / Pause in game
Joystick
Movement
A
Jump
B
Grab
C
Jump
Save / Restart / Load

Animated Screenshots

Ristar title screen on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive
Ristar — Planet Undertow level gameplay on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive
Ristar — Planet Scorch level gameplay on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive
Ristar — Planet Sonata level gameplay on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive

Mastering the Meteor Strike

The Star Handles are everywhere, and early on they just feel like launch pads. They're more than that.

Grabbing a Star Handle and spinning is the easy part — hold K, and Ristar circles automatically. What most players miss is that you can spin faster: hold the direction you're currently moving while swinging, and the rotation accelerates. Blue sparkles appear when you've built up enough speed. That's your cue. Release K and hold a direction, and Ristar launches — invincible during the whole flight, destroying anything he touches.

The invincibility matters. Don't aim past enemies: aim through them. A Meteor Strike into a packed corridor clears it cleanly instead of you stopping to grab and headbutt each one.

Walls and ceilings extend the flight. Hit one mid-strike and you bounce, keeping speed — useful in enclosed areas where a single launch won't carry you far enough.

On Normal, you can nudge your direction mid-flight. On Hard and Super Hard, you can't — your trajectory locks at release. That alone makes the harder modes feel different, because you have to commit to the angle before you let go.

At the end of each area, the final Star Handle launches Ristar off the top of the screen. The higher you exit, the more points — up to 20,100 per area. Not nothing over a full run.

Passwords

Entered in the Option menu under "Password". Codes must be six characters — shorter ones work if you pad them (SUPER becomes SUPERB).

Ristar — level select screen

Available passwords

  • Level select: ILOVEU
  • Boss Rush: MUSEUM
  • Time Attack (bonus stages): DOFEEL
  • Super Hard mode: SUPERB
  • Show hidden grab points: MIEMIE
  • Music test (Onchi mode): MAGURO
  • Clear active password: XXXXXX

MIEMIE is the one that changes the game most. It overlays a blue star on every reachable grab point in the environment — including the ones hidden inside wall crevices, where extra health and 1UPs sit. Without it, you'll walk past most of them without knowing they exist.

The four main codes — ILOVEU, DOFEEL, MAGURO, and MUSEUM — unlock in the credits based on how many bonus stage treasures you collected. SUPER appears separately after a Hard clear. So technically none of them are available until you've already finished the game, which is why they're listed here.

Bonus stages

There are 12 — one per area — and most players miss the majority. Each is hidden behind a Star Handle that sparkles differently from the regular ones. Grab it and you're in. Walk past it and you won't get another chance in that run.

Inside: a one-minute obstacle course ending at a treasure chest. The timer is generous on most of them, but the layout varies and some require quick routing. Finish well under a minute and you get a free continue. Run out of time and you go back to the regular game with nothing.

MIEMIE is the shortcut. It marks the sparkle handles you'd otherwise walk past. Enter it before you start if you want all 12.

Collecting all 12 treasures doesn't do anything immediately. The payoff comes at the credits: the four main cheat codes reveal themselves one by one based on how many you found. DOFEEL, once you have it, unlocks Time Attack mode for the bonus stages specifically — so you can come back and run them online without starting the main game over.

Three bosses worth reading about first

Adahan — Planet Scorch (Round 3)

The first phase is straightforward: grab and headbutt the mole's exoskeleton until it takes enough hits. Then the floor collapses and the fight continues in freefall down a long shaft. Adahan keeps attacking on the way down. The reflex is to panic — don't. The grab mechanic works the same in freefall; stay aggressive and keep landing hits.

Itamor — Planet Freon (Round 5)

The alien who's been following Ristar around the ice planet shows up here as an ally, handing over bowls of hot soup. The fight is entirely about timing: wait for Itamor to open its mouth, grab a bowl, and hurl it in. Miss the window and Itamor freezes Ristar solid, then sucks him up and chews on him — which is as bad as it sounds. The bowls are the only thing that works. Headbutting does nothing.

Kaiser Greedy — Castle Greedy (Round 7)

Phase 1 is rough but readable: dodge the turrets, track Greedy's teleports, stay out of his aerial projectiles. Phase 2 is where players die. Greedy opens his cape and black holes appear — instant kill if you get pulled in. The solution isn't to run. Grab the nearest enemy and hold on. The grab anchors Ristar in place until the black hole closes. Let go too early and you're gone.