Arcade quality ports for the Amiga are all the rage at the moment as current day developers use modern methods to improve some of the tepid arcade conversions that the Amiga received back in the 1980's. Having just completed his great port of Bombjack in 2018, Graeme Gowie shifted his sights to one of Tecmo's 1986 arcade releases - Rygar, a game never previously released on the Amiga platform.

Rygar is a side scrolling platform game that sees you take control of a dead warrior who has risen from his grave to rid the land of Argool from the evil King Ligar. To achieve his objective, Rygar will have to navigate through various landscapes battling 22 different types of enemies using his long chain with a shield attached to the end of it. Along the way, you will collect various power-ups that enhance your attacking capabilities and ramp up your points score to obtain valuable extra lives. Jumping into the game, Rygar AGA looks and feels far more like an arcade game rather than an Amiga title.

The game provides a near perfect arcade experience as it utilises graphics ripped from the original arcade sprites while providing an option to take advantage of two button controllers for those who prefer to use a button to jump. Offering something a little different, Rygar AGA includes three new additional levels while three of the original levels have had their backdrop environment changed to moonlight settings. In addition, the game utilises a password system to allow you start your games from later levels and includes two difficulty settings. While there is no doubt about the quality of the conversion on offer with Rygar AGA, the actual gameplay on offer is a bit bland and repetitive. What starts off as being a bit of fun as you eliminate wave after wave of enemies quickly becomes monotonous and your motivation to play this game through for long periods wanes quickly.

As a port, Rygar AGA is top notch and fans of the original arcade game are sure to enjoy what is available but for everyone else what we have here is an excellent conversion of a very average game.