StarTropics review (vc-reviews.com)

[R.O.B.]

StarTropics - NES

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="110" align="left" valign="top"><img width="100" height="100" border="1" style="padding:0; margin:0;" src="http://www.vc-reviews.com/upload/review_img/startropics_thumb.gif" alt=""/></td><td valign="top">Find out just how resourceful you can be in this classic game, with its mixture of adventure and RPG elements. Step into the shoes of Mike Jones, a teenage star pitcher from Seattle who has come to the tropics to visit his famous archeologist uncle, Dr. Jones. After being told that his uncle has ...</td></tr></table>

5 star(s)

Read the StarTropics Virtual Console review (http://www.vc-reviews.com/review/619/startropics.php)

[SKTTR]

I have played this at a friends NES.. the first two chapters...
I hope this comes to EU on Friday, my chance to finally own and beat this.

[The shoemaker]

looks like zelda but has better graphics

[hippiecrite]

Star Tropics was a great game. One of my favs for the NES. Too bad Nintendo forgot about it. I'd like to see it make a comeback. It's one of their properties that hasn't been over used.

[IDreamInSound]

The control is a little more smooth in Zoda's Revenge. Though it is a lot harder to fall in the water in this game, which I had a lot of trouble with in Zoda's Revenge, so I'm glad for that.

[antster1983]

Maybe young Mike Jones could make a cameo in Smash Bros. Brawl as an Assist Trophy yet... ;)

[Drake]

The problem with StarTropics and the sequel is mostly that they were made by Japanese developers (Mostly the same people who made the Punch-Out!! series) but were never actually released in Japan. That makes Nintendo tend to forget about it, sadly.

I have hope that Japan gets StarTropics as an import title and starts to respect it though :p

[SKTTR]

I'm now in Chapter 3.

My first impression....

It's super-linear.. (no big overworld - just stages)
It's snaily-slow.. (sluggish fourway-controls)
It has try&error-puzzles... (your going into this room? INSTANT DEATH!)
It has mediocre visuals... (why must I be the ugliest and fattest 2d-sprite in this game?)

Nothing more to say at this point - I'm not very impressed, but I keep at it, cause the dungeons provide some challenge, the bosses are good, some of the puzzles are just "what-were-they-thinking??" and it's all underlined with a pretty good carribean soundtrack and a "find the prof"-story which makes this worthwhile.

[nintendoduffin]

I'm slightly put off by SKTTR's comments but I think I'll still download this when I have some free time to play it, after all it's only £3.50. It's just a shame I have to get an early night (got work at 6am tomorrow) or I'd download it now.

[Drake]

Just saying: There's only two instant death rooms in the game. One's in the first dungeon and is meant as a joke.

[SKTTR]

Just saying: There's only two instant death rooms in the game. One's in the first dungeon and is meant as a joke.


Yes, I've encountered these two...
But I have been in a lot of other Indiana-Jones-like-trap-rooms.

1. First dungeon - looks like a way to the next room, but you're jumping into water and die. No swimming.

2. Second dungeon - lava room, looks like you can go up left and right, but left is instant death.

3. Chapter 5 - room where you enter you die, if you don't jump as fast as possible to the next platform (because you land on a platform that sinks into the water instantly.

4. Chapter 5 - room where suddenly all blocks disappear when you're not fast enough PART 1 - there are two blocks with additional hearts - DARE YOU GET THEM!

5. Chapter 5 - same dungeon - another room where you have no time about thinking whats going on - you die and restart if you dont jump over all the blocks to the other side of the room

6. Chapter 5 - There's a hidden mirror when you jump on a specific block. If you don't collect it, you are doomed to die in the next room where you have to kill the wizards with that mirror.

[hippiecrite]

The whole point of Chapter 5 is that the dungeon was boobytrapped by Captain Bell to prevent people from entering his cave. Why is that seen as a flaw in the game? Yeah some rooms are instant kills the first time you enter them but once you know what to expect it's a non-issue.

[SKTTR]

I'm not seeing anything like that as a flaw.
I'm just discribing of how it plays for me.

anyway, today (after five days and maybe 10 hours)
i have beaten StarTropics.
the last boss stage took me about 50 tries, but it isn'too hard...
if you're stuck, i help you out.


the game gets better and better as you progress.
the story and setting is great and like nothing else.
some passages can be very difficult (i managed to get about 100 game overs before i beat the game), but if you know how everything works, you can beat it, too. game saves automatically after every dungeon.
and it's worth to beat it, because it changes dramatically and gives you a really neat ending.

While it's not as non-linear as the both NES-Zelda games, it's also shorter than both and easier than Zelda II (difficulty 9)
I give StarTropics difficulty 7.
There were a few things unique in this game, like the "real" letter,
the submarine, the puzzles, the magic staff that lets you see ghosts,
the roulette-life, and the different set of weapons.

But what the hell was the RED APPLE for?

Anyway, StarTropics kept me shouting at the TV the ugliest words, but I know I would beat it today.
And I did. So I give it 5 Stars. It's worth the 500 Points if you're out for an challenging action-adventure.

I'm definately getting StarTropics 2 when it hits the VC.

[DEMON212]

Yes, I've encountered these two...
But I have been in a lot of other Indiana-Jones-like-trap-rooms.

1. First dungeon - looks like a way to the next room, but you're jumping into water and die. No swimming.

2. Second dungeon - lava room, looks like you can go up left and right, but left is instant death.

3. Chapter 5 - room where you enter you die, if you don't jump as fast as possible to the next platform (because you land on a platform that sinks into the water instantly.

4. Chapter 5 - room where suddenly all blocks disappear when you're not fast enough PART 1 - there are two blocks with additional hearts - DARE YOU GET THEM!

5. Chapter 5 - same dungeon - another room where you have no time about thinking whats going on - you die and restart if you dont jump over all the blocks to the other side of the room

6. Chapter 5 - There's a hidden mirror when you jump on a specific block. If you don't collect it, you are doomed to die in the next room where you have to kill the wizards with that mirror.

This is exactly what put me off getting it. But not that I don't want a challenge, it's that NO-ONE has said what happens next.

What I mean by this is, what happens when you die? Start the dungeon again? Start from the last save? Do the room over?

What?

And if it's the last save thing, when and how often can you save?

Is it where ever and when ever? Or is it at select locations? These are what puts me off the game.

That I could go into an instant death room and have to redo 40 minutes of work.

I don't mind doing it on amazing games like Half Life. But this isn't Half Life.

[SKTTR]

1. You can beat every dungeon in 5-15 minutes, so it's not like doing MUCH over and over again and wasting time.
But you have to do the hard bits over and over again. Much try&error.

2. The game automatically saves before every chapter (save screen pops up for 3 seconds and disappears - game goes on)
and it saves before every dungeon and it saves after every dungeon.
Seriously, the game saves often and much, just not in the middle of a dungeon. Beat it! Then it saves, and you can move on.

3. You can only die in a dungeon.
If you die, you always start at the last checkpoint
(bigger dungeons have 1 or 2 checkpoints, so you don't always have to start from the beginning if you reached a certain point)
Only if you lose your three lives, then your game is over and you have to start at the beginning of the dungeon.
You can also get extralives. But beware, that thing can give you +1UP, +2UP or -1UP. No, it's not hard enough, we need a life that can take your life!

4. You can't keep any "dungeon-items". Any of these items are lost, if you leave the dungeon. The only thing you keep is your amount of energy,
so you need to concentrate only about the dungeon you're in.
You can't take anything with you except main-story-items that you don't need to use in the dungeon anyway.
It's just survive with the items the dungeon has to offer.
And every dungeon has some tricky secrets that allow you to fill up your hearts nicely.
It's no over-the-top-frustratingly-mindless-dungeon-design. In fact, the dungeon design is very good!

5. You can get heart containers like in Zelda, and get up to 22 hearts.
This makes everything easier, except for the instant death traps.
If you die you may want to refill the other 19 hearts, because you always start with 3.

[DEMON212]

1. You can beat every dungeon in 5-15 minutes, so it's not like doing MUCH over and over again and wasting time.
But you have to do the hard bits over and over again. Much try&error.

2. The game automatically saves before every chapter (save screen pops up for 3 seconds and disappears - game goes on)
and it saves before every dungeon and it saves after every dungeon.
Seriously, the game saves often and much, just not in the middle of a dungeon. Beat it! Then it saves, and you can move on.

3. You can only die in a dungeon.
If you die, you always start at the last checkpoint
(bigger dungeons have 1 or 2 checkpoints, so you don't always have to start from the beginning if you reached a certain point)
Only if you lose your three lives, then your game is over and you have to start at the beginning of the dungeon.
You can also get extralives. But beware, that thing can give you +1UP, +2UP or -1UP. No, it's not hard enough, we need a life that can take your life!

4. You can't keep any "dungeon-items". Any of these items are lost, if you leave the dungeon. The only thing you keep is your amount of energy,
so you need to concentrate only about the dungeon you're in.
You can't take anything with you except main-story-items that you don't need to use in the dungeon anyway.
It's just survive with the items the dungeon has to offer.
And every dungeon has some tricky secrets that allow you to fill up your hearts nicely.
It's no over-the-top-frustratingly-mindless-dungeon-design. In fact, the dungeon design is very good!

5. You can get heart containers like in Zelda, and get up to 22 hearts.
This makes everything easier, except for the instant death traps.
If you die you may want to refill the other 19 hearts, because you always start with 3.

Thanks for all that, think I'm gonna get it now :)

That's the type of thing I like/want to know about a game.

[DEMON212]

It rocks :D

[Drake]

SKTTR: The red apple's just a humorous little useless item. The sequel has some too.

That said, I like the sequel slightly more due to much, much better control and the fact it has the best NES soundtrack ever (IMO). It won't disappoint.

[DEMON212]

SKTTR: The red apple's just a humorous little useless item. The sequel has some too.

That said, I like the sequel slightly more due to much, much better control and the fact it has the best NES soundtrack ever (IMO). It won't disappoint.

Yeah, I'm noticing that Mike isn't moving as quick as I'd hoped. It's kinda like Nightmare.

Where the kids have to first tell him to move before he does.

Which on games, it should be as you push the direction.

sfIk24oXM1A&rel=1

BEST KIDS SHOW EVER!

[Pocketim]

I got this game today, its really good, terrible controls though

[Yennick]

This game is great NES title! :)
Like zelda... But the bosses are a lot funnier :lol:

[antster1983]

Yeah, I'm noticing that Mike isn't moving as quick as I'd hoped. It's kinda like Nightmare.

Where the kids have to first tell him to move before he does.

Which on games, it should be as you push the direction.

sfIk24oXM1A&rel=1

BEST KIDS SHOW EVER!

Treguard of Dunshelm rules! :cool:

[Ripture]

I actually had a question about a dungeon in chapter 3. The graveyard dungeon. There are a couple rooms with invisible mobs and at least one big one that's shrouded in the dark. Now, along the way, I picked up lanterns and torches but I have no way of using them. I thought that they would show up in my item bar but they never do. The pitch black room is extremely frustrating to say the least.

What did I miss here?

[lordbowser]

I actually had a question about a dungeon in chapter 3. The graveyard dungeon. There are a couple rooms with invisible mobs and at least one big one that's shrouded in the dark. Now, along the way, I picked up lanterns and torches but I have no way of using them. I thought that they would show up in my item bar but they never do. The pitch black room is extremely frustrating to say the least.

What did I miss here?

Did you pause the game then hit select?

[Ripture]

Did you pause the game then hit select?

Probably not, if that's how you do it. I was tryin' all kinds of stuff. I'll give that a shot next time I get bored, thanks.

[DJ Triforce]

Guys, this game is awesome! You have to buy it. I have it on the NES and the Virtual Console. That's how good it is... And I have the real letter. :)

[DragonLord003]

I feel humbled to actually talk to people who have heard of the game! I am a big, big, BIG StarTropics fan. I own two copies of each of the two ST original NES cartrages! I don't however have the original boxes and instruction booklets... :( The series started in North America six days before I was born! It was like it was made for me! I absolutely loved it. I watched Demon212's review on it just now. I really didn't think the game was that hard. I mean, sure, yeah, at first when I play it at six or eight years old, but it's became progressively easier. Since I picked it back up in about 2002, 2003 I've memorized just about everything about the two games and I literally concider myself to be the StarTropics king! *hence, my email* I wish for a sequil with some majorly radical music, but I guess it seems out of the question with Nintendo. *sigh* How I long to see my beloved yoyo again...