What they end up discovering will lead them right into adventure, many confrontations with Brevon’s reptilian henchman Serpentine, and a whole lot of pandas trying to kill them. Meanwhile, Lilac the water dragon and her friends are preparing for a trip to town, before a plane crash lands just ahead of them. With the prince as his puppet, Brevon plans to start a war that will leave the planet in chaos, while snatching up the Kingdom Stone, the planet’s sole source of energy, to power his ship. He quickly overtakes the royal palace with the help of his troops, decapitates the king right in front of his own son, and brainwashes the prince.

The story takes place on the planet Avalice, where the evil alien Lord Brevon ends up crash landing after a space battle. So there’s definitely some Sonic in there, but you’ll also find a pinch of Ristar, some Mega Man X, a bit of inspiration from Rocket Knight Adventures, and even a little Gunstar Heroes, too. But Sonic’s just one piece of a mixture that combines several classic action game of the 16-bit era into something that stands out on its own. And to the developer’s credit, the influence has never been completely denied. Not to mention elemental shields, loop-de-loops, springs, and a very familiar, yet uniquely terrifying timer when you’re about to drown. The game uses an engine that previously powered a number of Sonic fangames, and you’ve got brightly colored animals moving at high speeds through colorful levels, tearing their way through mechanical enemies. It’s almost impossible to talk about this game with at least some comparison to Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog series. Freedom Planet is definitely an exception to this rule, and a great homage to an era of gaming not often covered. They certainly exist, but you’re always more likely to find something that takes inspiration from games like Mega Man and Contra, as opposed to, say, Rocket Knight Adventures. And that’s all well and good, but when it comes to retro stylings, it always seems like the 16-bit era and beyond has always been tragically ignored. Often, however, a lot of these games will take their ideas from the games of generations past, particularly where the NES is concerned. Independent games tend to cover pretty much every sort of genre and inspiration one could possibly think of.

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