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StarTropics

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StarTropics
North American NES box art
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D3
Locomotive Corporation
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Genyo Takeda
Designer(s)Makoto Wada
Programmer(s)Masato Hatakeyama
Composer(s)Yoshio Hirai
SeriesStarTropics
Platform(s)Nintendo Entertainment System
Release
  • NA: December 26, 1990[1]
  • EU: August 20, 1992
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

StarTropics is a 1990 action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Unlike most of Nintendo's games, it was never released or intended to be released in Japan (being the second game from Nintendo to not see Japanese release besides Gumshoe, albeit this is the first one that uses conventional controls), and was released only in North America and Europe. It was produced, written and directed by Genyo Takeda of Nintendo Integrated Research & Development, who also developed the Punch-Out!! series. StarTropics was followed by a sequel, Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II, which was released in 1994.

StarTropics was released on the Wii Virtual Console on January 7, 2008, in North America[2] and on January 11, 2008, in the PAL regions;[3][4] it was released on the Wii U Virtual Console in Europe on September 3, 2015,[5] in Australia on September 4, 2015,[6] and in North America on May 26, 2016. On November 11, 2016, the game was included in the NES Classic Edition / Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System.[7] On March 13, 2019, the game, along with Kid Icarus, was added to Nintendo's Nintendo Switch Online service.[8]

Gameplay

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An overhead view of Mike's starting location in StarTropics, C-island, so named due to its resemblance to the letter "C"

StarTropics is played from a 2D, top-down perspective, similar to role-playing games of the time. The game is divided into several chapters; in each chapter, players take control of the protagonist, Mike Jones, exploring various settlements and other areas of interest and interacting with non-player characters to obtain more information. The player is then usually tasked with locating the source of a local calamity or disturbance. In dungeons, the game switches to a closer view and introduces various obstacles and enemies, which the player must either navigate or destroy to progress.[citation needed]

Mike primarily wields a yo-yo, which is renamed "star" in the Virtual Console release.[9] As the player progresses, they unlock more weapons and tools, including several items influenced by American baseball.

The game was also packaged with a physical letter, which set up the story and was used within its plot. The reason this was added is believed to be as a counter-measure against potential piracy of the game. During gameplay, the player is prompted to dip the letter in water to reveal a hidden code (747), which is required to progress in the game.[10] In response to questions from fans, the code was also published in Nintendo Power.[11] In the Wii Virtual Console release, the letter was added to the manual, which instead plays an animation of the letter being dipped in water before revealing the code.[12] The Virtual Console releases replaced this with an explanation in the manual that the original release required players to dip an insert-letter in water, followed by an image of the submerged letter. The Nintendo Switch release however, offered no alternative,[13] Nintendo have, however, provided the code on their official Customer Support online.[14]

Plot

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Protagonist Mike Jones, a 15-year-old boy from Seattle and the captain of his high school's baseball team, travels to visit his uncle, archaeologist Dr. Steven Jones, at his laboratory on C-Island in the South Seas. When Mike arrives at Jones's home in the tropical village of Coralcola, he finds that he has disappeared. The chief of Coralcola gives Mike a yo-yo to defend himself, and Jones's robot Nav-Com permits Mike to use his submarine to search for him. On a nearby island, Mike finds a bottle with a message from Jones, stating that aliens have abducted him. While fighting monsters and traveling across the isles of the South Seas in search of Jones, Mike encounters various characters, including a parrot and a mother dolphin looking for her son.

Eventually, a whale swallows Mike and the submarine; in its belly, Mike encounters Jones's assistant, who confirms that aliens abducted him and that out of fear, he did not give Mike all possible help when they met earlier. After escaping the whale, the assistant gives Mike a special code, enabling Nav-Com to track Jones's location. Mike follows the signal to ruins which contain the wreckage of an alien escape pod. Shortly after, Mike finds Jones, who explains that he discovered the escape pod some time ago, which came from the faraway planet of Argonia. The pod contained three magic cubes, which are now in the possession of the aliens' leader, Zoda.

After infiltrating their spaceship, Mike recovers the three cubes and confronts and defeats Zoda, then escapes as the spaceship self-destructs. After Mike returns to C-Island, the cubes are placed together and a group of children appear. Their leader, Mica, explains that they are the last of the Argonians, as Argonia was destroyed, and that her father, King Hirocon, sent them to Earth to live in peace. The village chief invites the children to live with them in Coralcola, which they accept.

Reception

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In a contemporaneous review, the Green Bay Press-Gazette praised the game's graphics and sound, but considered it too similar to The Legend of Zelda and deemed the gameplay "dreadful."[29]

AllGame's Christopher Michael Baker also found the game to be derivative of The Legend of Zelda, but still "very much an excellent game".[16] Michael Baker commented on the graphics, noting that the characters and action sequences "look fantastic" while the travel scenes were "kind of dull".[16] IGN's Lucas M. Thomas praised the creative gameplay of StarTropics, calling it "the natural evolution of the original Legend of Zelda."[20]

In the September 1997 issue, Nintendo Power had 12 staff members vote in a list for the top 100 games of all time.[28] The magazine placed StarTropics at 64th place on their list.[28] IGN ranked it #35 on its "Top 100 NES Games" list.[30]

References

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  1. ^ Tibbits, George (December 25, 1990). "Slow Christmas zaps Nintendo". St. Lucie News Tribune. p. 30. Retrieved April 1, 2024. To help boost first-quarter 1991, Nintendo is launching a major new game, "Startropics", the day after Christmas, Main said.
  2. ^ Faylor, Chris (January 7, 2008). "Wii Virtual Console Gets Star Tropics, KOF '94". ShackNews. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  3. ^ Groenendijk, Ferry (January 11, 2008). "On the PAL Wii Virtual Console today: Star Tropics and Alien Storm. New Japanese games on the horizon: Do Re Mi Fantasy: Milon's Quest and Smash Ping Pong". Video Games Blogger. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  4. ^ Vuckovic, Daniel (January 10, 2008). "STARTROPICS AND ALIEN STORM HIT AUSSIE VIRTUAL CONSOLE". Vooks. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  5. ^ Zangari, Alex (September 2, 2015). "Both StarTropics Games Will be Available on Wii U Virtual Console in Europe Tomorrow". Gamnesia. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  6. ^ Vuckovic, Daniel (September 1, 2015). "AUSSIE NINTENDO DOWNLOAD UPDATES (4/9) RUN, CLIVE, RUN". Vooks. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  7. ^ "Nintendo's releasing a miniature NES console packed with 30 classic games". Pcworld.com. July 14, 2016. Archived from the original on July 15, 2016. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  8. ^ Fogel, Stefanie (March 6, 2019). "'Kid Icarus,' 'StarTropics' Coming to Nintendo Switch Online in March". Variety. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  9. ^ Thomas, Lucas M. (January 7, 2008). "STARTROPICS REVIEW". IGN. Archived from the original on October 20, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  10. ^ Concelmo, Chad (August 23, 2007). "The Memory Card .13: The submerged letter". Destructoid. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  11. ^ Currie, Tom (December 9, 2013). "WHEN VIDEO GAMES BREAK THE FOURTH WALL". Mandatory. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  12. ^ Scalzo, John (January 18, 2008). "StarTropics". Gaming Target. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  13. ^ Life, Nintendo (March 18, 2019). "Nintendo Forgot That You Can't Complete StarTropics Without The Original NES Manual". Nintendo Life. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
  14. ^ "Nintendo Support: What Is the Radio Frequency for the SUB-C in Chapter 4? (StarTropics)". en-americas-support.nintendo.com. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  15. ^ "StarTropics for NES". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. 2019. Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  16. ^ a b c Baker, Christopher Michael (2007). "StarTropics (Nintendo Entertainment System) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  17. ^ Semrad, Ed; Harris, Steve; Alessi, Martin; Williams, Ken (April 1991). "Review Crew (Nintendo - Nintendo): Star Tropics". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 21. Sendai Publishing. p. 16.
  18. ^ Whitehead, Dan (January 12, 2008). "Virtual Console Roundup - Alien Storm and Startropics". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  19. ^ Herranz, Sonia (May 1994). "Lo Más Nuevo – Nintendo N.E.S.: StarTropics – La Isla De Los Monstruos". Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). No. 32. Hobby Press. pp. 128–129.
  20. ^ a b Thomas, Lucas M. (January 7, 2008). "StarTropics (Wii) Review - Now begin the test of island courage!". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  21. ^ van Duyn, Marcel (January 8, 2008). "StarTropics Review (NES) - Embark on an extraordinary adventure". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  22. ^ "What Happened To Dr. Jones? - StarTropics; Power Express: Now Playing - Your Guide To The Latest NES Releases". Nintendo Power. No. 21. Nintendo of America. February 1991. pp. 38–53, 85.
  23. ^ Sanz, Juan Carlos (June 1994). "NES: StarTropics". Superjuegos (in Spanish). No. 26. Grupo Zeta. pp. 118–121.
  24. ^ Anton, Michael (July 1997). "NES Classics: Startropics". Total! (in German). No. 49. X-Plain-Verlag. p. 55. Archived from the original on July 26, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  25. ^ Hoogh, Eva; Hengst, Michael (July 1992). "Test: Inselhüpfen Einmal Anders - Star Tropics (NES)". Video Games (in German). No. 8. Markt & Technik. pp. 72–73. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  26. ^ Martinez, Mark (1996). "Star Tropics". Nintendojo. Archived from the original on May 24, 2007. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  27. ^ Jones, Tony (December 1992). "Marios Magic - StarTropics (NES)". Play Time (in German). No. 18. Computec. p. 72. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  28. ^ a b c "Nintendo Power's 100 Best Games of All Time - So, You Wanna Fight About It?". Nintendo Power. No. 100. Nintendo of America. September 1997. pp. 88–101.
  29. ^ Kohout, Rob; Gustafson, Brent (May 11, 1991). "StarTropics Falls Far Short of the Nintendo Hype". Green Bay Press-Gazette. p. D1.
  30. ^ "Top 100 NES Games". ign.com. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
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