Rocket Knight is a beat'em up platformer adventure game. You play as Sparkster a rocket powered oppssum trying to save his people from pig overlords. The game's level design and stage variety is top notch. Each level has 4 parts which cycle through various game modes to keep the game interesting. You have your standard platforming collectathon, a gradius like space ship shooter, an infinite faller, and some very interesting boss battles.

The rocket mechanic makes playing as Sparkster very fun. It feels great to chain together a few bounce and ultimately cut through a far away enemy. Sparkster had great mobility, running through the game world was reminscent of Crash Bandicoot or Sonic. In the later half of World 2, this is subverted when they take away your unlimited rocket powers, but I think it was done well and didn't overstay it's welcome.

The main weakness I found was the collectible aspect, the game locks it's collectible achievements behind a 100% wall, but offers no feedback on how many you still need until the stage is over. If you're a completionist this can be a real pain replaying the stage multiple times.

Overall I enjoyed the game, it's an overlooked gem in an overly saturated genre.