The Original Rygar Game Series

According to the game booklet for the NES adaptation of Rygar, the hero is a warrior risen from the dead from the five Indora gods of Argool, to stop the tyrant Ligar and his forces of evil. Ligar is a lion-like creature who resides in a floating stone fortress above the land. It is up to Rygar to defeat his minions and take the final fight to Ligar's castle.

The Rygar storyline was very sparsely explained in the arcade version (which is an entirely different game altogether), only mentioning that the main force of evil is the "Dominator."

This arcade game was the first to introduce the Rygar character, and it was created by Tecmo in the Spring of 1987. A true arcade game by design - Rygar was a "keep running and bashing" style game in which monsters appeared from virtually all corners of the screen, while you attempted a mad dash to the end of the level (which there were 27 of). While many of the levels were somewhat monotonous, several of them showed different backdrops, such as underground and climbing levels.

Rygar's primary weapon is the "diskarmor," a weapon that resembles a shield, that spins and is tossed like a yo-yo at enemies. When enemies were hit with the Diskarmor, they shot backwards and exploded, unlike in the NES version. Another unique ability only seen in the arcade version was the ability to attack upwards.

In the arcade version of the game, Rygar can find many upgrades along the way that can improve his attack, such as the Star Power (increases weapon reach), Tiger Power (allows you to kill enemies by jumping on them), Crown Power (allows you to kill multiple enemies at once), Cross Power (gives you limited-time invincibility), and Sun Power (improves weapon aim & control).

Due to its arcade-like nature, one of the goals of the game was to get a high score. Beyond killing enemies, Rygar would come across several bonus icons hidden within stones, that boosted the score. When killed, a Grim Reaper styled character would swoop down and snatch Rygar away, off the screen.

Each round ends with a temple alcove that Rygar runs though (somewhat like the alcove before an enemy boss in Mega Man), where points are tallied up, and a statue of an Indora god stands.

The NES version of Rygar is arguably much more memorable and recognizable than its arcade counterpart. Within this series, some similarities exist - although, not many. Rather than being an arcade game, this version played much more like an "action RPG," where a structured world map with distinct areas existed, and could only be accessed through a somewhat linear fashion, after special tools have been found.

Rygar still used the Diskarmor, and could still jump on most enemies to use as a springboard. Special star tablets could be collected to upgrade your Diskarmor's strength, speed and distance, or recover health. Additionally, a few RPG-like attributes, such as "Tone" (strength) and "Last" (hitpoints) exist on the pause screen, to let you know Rygar's character progress.

In addition to side scrolling levels were top-down areas that were necessary to trek through, in order to get from one region to the next. The levels typically needed the help of a grappling hook to keep climbing upward. Eventually, Rygar traveled underground, above the clouds, and through dangerous castles in his journey to defeat the end bosses and collect special items needed to proceed. Occasionally, Rygar would encounter an Indora god in some portals, who would spout off useless information (this was an almost traditional experience in most, if not all action and RPG games for the NES).

One notable upgrade in the NES version of Rygar was that of the background music - which was well composed and very fitting of each stage.

The final battle at Ligar's castle required the Pegasus Flute. Once atop a very steep climb up a thin tower, blowing the flute materialized a portal that warped Rygar to the end castle, which is crawling with shadow beasts, and the final fight with Ligar himself.

Rygar was a game that took a rather long time to beat, which made it all the more difficult without any password or save option. Gamers basically had to stay with the game for hours without interruption if they wished to play through it.