The Rygar Exercise: Assessing Ancient Themes in Visual Art

I began this article during the 30 year anniversary of the game. I update this article occasionally with new visual themes & ideas.

A Beloved Video Game

At an age when video games tend to mean the most, I was a zealot of the so-called third generation of video games, one who played on 8-bit graphic consoles such as the Nintendo (NES) and Sega systems. The era produced hits such as 'Super Mario Brothers,' 'Zelda,' 'Contra,' and the original 'Sonic the Hedgehog.' I had a NES console. I spent the most time on Mario, 'Zelda,' 'Kung Fu,' 'Pro Wrestling,' 'Castlevania' and 'Dragon Warrior.' My favorite game in the 8-bit graphics world was 'Rygar.' It was set in an ancient mythological world. The hero, Rygar, was on a quest to destroy the leader of the dominant empire in order to restore peace to the land. Rygar had a flexible weapon which is somewhat similar to the type of weapon used by Simon Belmont from the game 'Castlevania.' The "Diskarmor" was a chain weapon with a shield at the end of the it, sometimes illustrated as more of a giant band saw.

Fig. 1 Rygar Arcade Flyer, Japan.

Like many games, the original version was first an arcade game, which usually had better graphics. Each console recreated the arcade game, each one taking on different aspects of the original game.

The Exercise

The visual themes of Rygar can serve as a fun exercise in assessing ancient themes. You should avoid ascribing intentions to the creators and designers of the game, and instead, think of this exercise as a game of dissecting an amalgamation and identifying the pieces.

The Discarmor

     The discarmor was Rygar's main weapon. I can't think of an exact equivalent to this weapon in any cultural from any time-period. A shield that comes back to the user reminds one more of Captain America than some ancient hero like Herakles with his club, or Apollo with his bow.

     The historical weapon (more like legendary) most similar to Rygar's discarmor, I think, is the flexible weapon which was thrown over the enemies head, as one pulled the cord, blades would open up inside the head bag and decapitate the one wearing it. This Chinese weapon is known in the west as the "Flying Guillotine." 

Fig. A nice view of Rygar's discarmor in motion

Fig. The Flying Guillotine

The Diadem

The small crown was well known, especially seen on coins, in the ancient world. Alexander the Great wore a diadem with his mixed Persian and Greek garb.

The Persian King, Darius I. Behistun Inscription.

The Pants

Rygar is wearing pants. Why would this standout to an ancient historian? Greeks did not wear pants. As a matter of fact, they belittled cultures who wore the restrictive garments. The Greeks equated pant-wearing with the Persians. The "Other" wore pants. 

The Shoes

In the assorted artwork related to Rygar, the shoe style is inconsistent. There is a lack of sandal and sandal style wraps in Rygar artwork, which indicate an ancient Greek ethnicity. Small shoes remind me of an ancient Persian item.

The Title

"Warrior of Argus." Argos? What heros in ancient Greek myth are from Argos? Perseus, for one. 

Perseus

The Resurrected Warrior

In the Rygar story the hero is sometimes portrayed as a resurrected warrior. Other versions of the game has him as the new force taking over an old corrupt empire.

Resurrected Gods: Osiris (Egyptian), Dionysos (Greek), Quetzalcoatl (Aztec), Christ (Jewish), Mithra (Persia), Krishna (India).

Krishna, India.

The Meditating Sage

Along the way, the Hero of Rygar is aided by buff monks hidden inside caves and towers. These monks are seated in what looks like a classic meditation position reminiscent of Eastern Indian traditions. One sage even has a large third eye (Ajna), a staple of Indian religious systems.

The Survey

SteveDotson‏@SteveDotson

#Rygar looks like he is an ancient... [Survey for upcoming podcast]

67%Greek

33%Persian

00%Eastern Indian

00%Celt

In your circles

36 people

Retro Video Games

Steve Dotson

Discussion  -  Apr 30, 2016

If you had to choose, from what culture is the hero of the video game #Rygar? I will be talking about this on my podcast soon. Please leave your comments below. Feel free to explain your answer if you like.

Steve Dotson's photos

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Glynner Me

Apr 30, 2016

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Reply

With all the jaguars he was jumping on in the early stages I assumed he was Incan. That was a great game, though.

Marcelo Lima

Apr 30, 2016

Still love it to this day ....😉

Jeremy Riley

Apr 30, 2016

I would vote for Incan as well

Bram Patelski

May 1, 2016

That box art doesn't look like the nes version. Or is it different from the EU box art?

Steve Dotson

May 1, 2016

This is not the nes version, good call. It is, I am told, a promo for the US arcade version. 

James Caley

May 1, 2016

Greek

Anthony Starks

May 1, 2016

Greek or Roman

STBill

May 2, 2016

Isn't the official story about a Greek hero that is resurrected to defeat evil? SEGA's Altered Beast has the same story BTW. I wonder if one of them stole the idea from the other?

Steve Dotson

May 2, 2016

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From what I can find, the hero of Rygar is not mentioned as anything specific until the 2002 release, where he is intentionally Greek. It is possible the original makers intended the hero to be Greek, but the release from the late 80s (arcade and nes) shows imagery which is non-Greek. I don't want to give it away, I will be talking about it soon in my ancient history show. All in fun. Rygar was my all-time fav new game without a doubt.


Read more

Steve Dotson

May 2, 2016

new = nes


Anthony Starks

May 2, 2016

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+STBill u right I think rygar came out fitst

Marian Frost

May 3, 2016

In the early ones Rome, in the ps2 one Greek. ?

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Alexander the Great... Drag Queen - Ancient Light #4

In my studies if the Greek version of the Assyrian Queen Semiramis, I quickly found that most of her military exploits were simply borrowings from tales of Alexander the Great. I made a close study of Alexander’s recurring use of emulation and imitation of mythical gods and conquerors. I spent two years studying the Macedonian king in detail alongside other academic pursuits. There is my exposure to the histories and myths of Alexander the Great.

Fig. 1 Alexander the Great

As for drag queens, my exposure is decent enough. In my 20s I spent part of my time as a videographer. A friend told me the local gay bar was looking for someone to film their big Saturday event “Divas by Design.” So, for about two years I spent many Saturday nights filming drag queen monologues and lip sync performances. Those ladies were more on the professional end of the drag queen spectrum, it was not amateur night. At first the bar manager paid me in drinks. Eventually, he decided to pay in cash. Probably for good reason. I like cash more than long island iced teas, so this worked out nicely. Those were some fun times. I heard from at least two of the performers that they loved my camera work. This is what I did. Around the entire club and around the bar are these television screens, both large and small, which project everything I filmed. If you are consistently bad at panning and have a hard time finding nice appealing frames to display the action, then your bad work will be displayed on every wall and in various spots around the bar. I was good at filming the action, but the biggest problem was the time between performances, where all you are doing is filming the curtain. I quickly came up with tasteful shots for the ubiquitous monitors all over the club as everyone waited for the next performance, looking up from their drinks. One trick, I learned to zoom into the shiny spinning mirror ball, which would create an awesome effect throughout the room as the glare and glean of the disco ball shines brightly through every monitor. The trick the performers liked was when I would capture a great close up of the performer, or during a well framed pose and save it as a photograph or what videographers often call a still frame. As the drag queen would leave the stage I would fade up the still frame photo image. The audience would see the last performer on the screen instead of an empty stage. This helped showcase the last performer and gave my product a professional edge. The girls had tv monitors in the changing room, and raved about the still frame I would fade up as the performer disappeared off the stage.  There you have it two years studying Alexander the Great and two years observing the drag queen arts.

Fig. 2 Meme for Ancient Light episode #4

One might ask, who was history's first drag queen? The answer is, we will never know. One might think British comedians have a monopoly on the art in comedy, but we must look further.

Fig. 3 "Little Britain" David Walliams as Phyllis, with her spaniel, Mr. Doggy

Alexander the Great, I found, would dress up as various gods and heroes while hanging out with his friends. We would dress like Herakles (The Romans called him Hercules), you know the lion-head helmet, the tiger fur strapped around one shoulder and a big wooden club in his hand. What is realized, when reading the list of gods who were subject to Alexander’s imitation is that Alexander dressed up like Artemis. Artemis, as you might know is the sister of Apollo. She is often considered the protector of little girls and small animals. Alexander would dress up like her and ride a chariot shooting arrows. On classical pottery she is pictured with her skirt and bow. Sometimes she has a long woman’s robe, or female style breastplate armor.

Fig. 4 Artemis, sister of Apollo, protector of children and young animals. She is an expert with the bow.

One soon realizes that one of the greatest known conquerors of the ancient world, would indeed, fit the modern definition of a drag queen. Alexander was a man who dressed up like a woman while performing for an audience. Historians have been questioning Alexander’s more intimate orientations, but dressing up as Artemis is hardly the biggest red flag. Alternatively, not all drag queens are what you think. Some of them have wives at home, they just like to get really drunk and dance around in women’s clothes. This has some similarity with Alexander the Great. For example, Alexander was a Member of the Macedonian elite. The drunken and bawdy Greeks themselves considered the Macedonians in the North to be outrageous drinkers who consumed unmixed wine. While it has yet to be determined, I would venture to guess, that if the drag queen arts were to fall under the realm of one of the Olympian gods it would be the god of wine and dancing women, a favorite of Alexander and the Macedonian elite in particular, Dionysus. Alexander, in retrospect, would simply have been an earnest devotee of his god, as heavy intoxication was often equated with the invocation of the God of Wine. In conclusion, we do not know exactly everything that is implied when we read about Alexander the Great playing the role of a Drag Queen, we only know he must have been really great at it.

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