Argos No Senshi, better know in the west as Rygar has always represented for me a very cool and interesting game. I fed the arcade machine many coins in trying to master seemingly endless stages, some of which (in all truth) tended to look a bit the same...Anyways, I was actually never able to finish the game, although I will try once more on my free time!

Right from the amazing intro that narrates about the downfall of all powerful dominators, events that take place into a remote past, it is impossible not to get sucked in by Rygar's magical universe. The naive story, coupled with the amazing graphics, the cool music and the addictive and fast-paced gameplay all contributed to create a memorable classic that defied time, and came out victorious!

Graphically, the 1st level was particularly atmospheric as it provided a great frame for the story: great warlords who had been dominating the world were seeing their power gradually vanish, and the orange sunset of level 1 just symbolizes the decline of their weakened reigns. This is just what springs to mind when I fire up the arcade board and for that feeling alone, Rygar will always hold a special place in my collection.

Gameplay proved to be compelling because controls were tight and responsive and because the weird looking weapon (called Diskarmor) was a neat idea.The yoyo-like weapon, that looks like a shield hooked up to a chain became the symbol of the game.

Also, the hectic gameplay felt almost like an hybrid between a platformer and a shooter and this factor alone proved to be an interesting concept, a concept that ended up working great!

Anyway, as a tribute to this great series, I decided to gather some of the cooler-looking ports that sprang throughout the years. Some of the art is certainly worth a look!

It might be worth saying that there have been only 2 games in the series sofar (without counting the ports): the 1st one appeared in the Arcades and was then ported to several formats, while the second game is a 3D sequel that showed up on PS2. The Famicom port of Rygar is the only one that isn't a straight port and could be considered a semi-sequel because of the many differences with the original game.

	This book features very nice all-color artwork of characters and bosses of the PS2 game. Includes a 2 pages retrospective on the series with screenshots of the arcade game, the Famicom and the Mark III ports.