I don’t think I have legal authority to post a game review (this is my first one), but I’ve been wanting to do this one for a while. I will be reviewing The Legendary Starfy. I got this game for Christmas one year (I can’t remember when, but it was very long ago) and I loved it. I have very fond memories of the game, but I will try my best to leave my nostalgia out of the review. Other than an appearance as an assistant trophy in the Smash Bros games, I don’t think many people are familiar with this series. It is a platformer style DS game that was released in the US on June 9, 2009. This game follows the adventures of Starfy, his friend Moe, and a mysterious visitor. Spoiler: Plot details Starfy is sleeping in his bed when he is interrupted by a mysterious bunny creature who crashes through the ceiling, followed by three goons. Starfy uses his spin attack to fend them off and they leave, promising to get their revenge. Starfy wants to help the visitor, but Moe is reluctant. However, they slip off the clouds of the Pufftop Kingdom and fall into the ocean. After defeating the first boss, you obtain a mysterious shard. This shard triggers the memory of the visitor, whose name we learn to be Bunston. Each shard collected gives Bunston part of his memory back. Then Starfy comes across the goons they first met in his room- first the small one, Papes, then the big one, Ronk, and finally the leader of the three, Snips. Each of them wants to take Bunston, but Starfy defeats them in the boss battle. After defeating all three of them, they team up and fight Starfy all at once, followed by a rock-paper-scissors match with Starfy (I am serious, this is part of the boss fight). One by one, Starfy collects the shards, which turn out to be pieces to Bunston’s spaceship. Little by little, we discover that Bunston is the prince of his home planet Bunnera, and an evil space pirate named Mashtooth is absorbing the power of the Bunnerans. Bunston is the last- and most powerful- Bunneran that he needs to take over the galaxy, which is why he sent Papes, Ronk, and Snips to capture him. With his newly prepared spaceship, Starfy, Moe, and Bunston fly to Planet Bunnera to stop him. After defeating him once in battle, he absorbs the power of Bunston, and he turns into a dragon and you have to battle him again in space. After defeating him again, he launches the moon at you, and you have to press the Y button quickly to launch it back. This happens twice before the boss fight ends, and the power is restored to the Bunnerans. Bunston heals Starfy, and Starfy forgives Papes, Ronk, and Snips. Then the credits play, and finally, a cutscene plays that explains Bunston’s whole backstory at once. Post-game content: -You can play Stage 9 as Starly, Starfy’s little sister. -After completing Stage 9, you unlock Stage 10, which is a special stage that times you on the levels. They are significantly harder than the other stages, and you have to beat the levels in a certain amount of time to challenge the boss there, which is extremely difficult. (This was actually the first time I ever consulted the internet for help in a video game.) -Big Bossdown, where you take on all the bosses and you are timed. -Sea Jams, where you can listen to all the music. -Toys, where you spend 5 pearls to collect a “toy” of all the enemies, allies, and bosses in the game. Minigames There are 5 minigames. You start off with Dumpling Master and Coin Slinger, but you can unlock Fishing Derby, Sand Tracer, and Depth Chargers by finding certain treasure chests hidden in levels. All but Dumpling Masters can be played on multiplayer, and have difficulty settings of easy, normal, and hard. Spoiler: Minigame descriptions Dumpling Master: make as many dumplings as possible in 180 seconds (3 min) Coin Slinger: get 40 coins before everyone else Fishing Derby: go fishing and get as many points as possible within 120 seconds (2 min) Sand Tracer: trace pictures of characters and get as many points as possible within 120 seconds (2 min) Depth Chargers: slide your stylus up and down the screen to dive as deep as you can into the ocean in 20 seconds. Multiplayer These games can be played with others. As already mentioned, you can play minigames on multiplayer, with up to 4 players playing at a time. In addition, on the first level of every stage and the first bonus level of every stage, you can connect with another player who will play as Starly. They will play with you until you reach the first door, and they will be told to disconnect. You can also play boss fights together with another player. Basic attacks Starfy and Starly use relatively the same attacks, but they also have specific moves that the other can’t learn. They can both walk/dash, swim/turbo swim, jump, duck, do a Star Spin, and glide. However, Starfy’s Star Spin powers up throughout the progress of the story, becoming Mighty Star Spin and then Ultra Star Spin. He also has access to the air jump, which is a double jump, and the shooting star, which is an air jump followed by pressing Y and down at the same time. On the other hand, Starly can crawl, wall jump, and do a low spin, which is like a Star Spin but when crawling. There is a setting in the pause menu where you can pick between 2 different button settings. Bunston’s special attacks Bunston’s powers have the ability to give Starfy some special attacks. (These are also exclusive to Starfy) -The first one is Monstar, a dragon that can breathe fire. -The second one is Starpedo, a seal that can propel itself with a large icicle that can cut through currents. -The third one is Roostar, a rooster which can caw out a “cock a doodle doo” (idk what it’s actually called) and fly just a little bit. -The fourth one is Starfright, a ghost which makes a small fire appear and can disappear for a short amount of time. Music The music is very cutesy, much like the game itself. I think the music is good for what it is, but isn’t the best, or most memorable, music I’ve ever heard in a game. Some of my favorite tracks are Snips Papes and Ronk theme, final boss part 2, SS Logwater map theme, and multiplayer boss theme. Gameplay The gameplay is pretty fun. Each of the 8 stages has a unique theme to keep the game from just being “under the sea” themed. The main stages’ themes, in order, are a lagoon, a hot spring, an icy area, a forest, a mining cave, in the clouds, a shipwreck, and outer space. As with most games, the stages get more difficult as you progress. Each stage has 4 basic levels, the fourth one being the boss stage. In the second, third, and fourth levels, you can find a special door marked with a blue outline and a star above it. This contains a mini challenge that, if you win, you can unlock a bonus stage. There are also treasure chests hidden throughout each level which can contain diary entries (which don’t really serve a purpose other than giving a little bit of a backstory for some characters) or a costume prop (which I’ll get to later). Special blue treasure chests (which look different from regular treasure chests) can contain an extra heart (like in the LoZ games) or even a power-up of one of Bunston’s powers. (These are only found in bonus stages.) Most levels contain 1 or 2 treasure chests. Graphics Graphics are not really my strong suit, so I can’t say whether or not they are good. Starfy and the enemies are in 2D, but some parts like the backgrounds of levels and some of the bosses use 3D. Miscellaneous/things I forgot -When you close the DS screen, you can hear Starfy make a sad noise. When you open it again, Starfy makes a happy noise. -You can collect costume props, either by buying them for various prices, or by finding them in treasure chests. They are two categories: clothes or extras. If you pair the right clothes and extras together, you can unlock a special costume. For example, by pairing beachwear and sunglasses, you can unlock the special costume beach vacation. You can switch between Starfy and Starly by pressing select. The costume you pick will display on the top screen when you’re on the pause menu. -There’s a cool feature on the pause stage called suspended save. On a level you haven’t completed, you are unable to go back to the map. One thing you can do is a suspended save, which saves where you are on the stage. Then, you can turn off your DS. The next time you turn on the game, it immediately asks you to continue where you left off. It’s a good feature for when you need to take a break from the game, but you don’t want to have to start the level over. -The game uses hearts, similar to Legend of Zelda. You start off with 5, but you can get more by finding them in the special chests. The maximum amount of hearts is 10. You can replenish hearts by saving your progress or collecting 5 small pearls or 1 big pearl. -Pearls, I should’ve explained. Pearls are the currency in the game. They can be either big or small. Small pearls are worth 1, but big pearls are worth 5. -You actually can so a soft reset on the game, by pressing L, R, Start, and Select. I think they say this somewhere in the game. Overall, I think it’s a very fun game. I recommended it to casual or young gamers. I think the worst parts of the game are the amount of dialogue in the first playthrough of the game Stage 10, which younger gamers will definitely struggle with. The best part of the game is probably the amount of things you can do post-game. It’s very similar to Kirby games, so if you like Kirby games, you’ll like The Legendary Starfy.
