For instance, touching an enemy will take away one of your health points, but grabbing and bashing the enemy will harmlessly launch it off the screen. Ristar's only power is that he can grab onto enemies and objects, which lets him accomplish a great many things. The object in Ristar is to get through the two main levels in each of the game's six worlds and then topple the boss you encounter at the end of each world. Ristar uses his arms to grab onto things and slingshot himself around. Not many people took the time to play Ristar back then, but thankfully, everyone has another shot to play this 16-bit gem now that it is available for download and play on the Wii's Virtual Console. Ristar, as the character and game are known, came out in 1995 for the Sega Genesis and is widely regarded as one of the system's best side-scrolling action romps. The rabbit didn't quite fit in Sonic's fast-paced world, but a few years down the line and after numerous Sonic the Hedgehog sequels, some people at Sega decided to transform the character into a star-headed alien and give it its own game.

Legend has it that when Yuji Naka and his pals on Sega's Sonic Team were sketching out ideas for the character that would eventually become Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the first concepts involved a rabbit that could grab enemies and slingshot its body into them.

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