yo-yo weaponry
to face denizens of space
in South Pacific
Additional Comments:
StarTropics has long been one of my favorite NES titles, despite it being nothing more than a mediocre Legend of Zelda clone. But there's something magical about this game that sets it apart from Legend of Zelda, or any other overhead action-adventure title from the 8-bit era. For me, it's the setting. True, the depth and scope may not be the same as say LoZ, but with such a unique setting - a lone archipelago in the South Pacific - it gives the game an unexpected breath of fresh air. Certainly, the game's spiral into space opera-esque science fiction could easily be compared to LoZ's high fantasy plot devices, but the fact that StarTropics' sci-fi nature just sort of creeps up on you slowly, and almost unpredictably, helps to differentiate the almost necessary evil of video game intrusion regarding wild imagination; which in turn helps to present the game as nothing more than a happy romp through the islands over the course of the first few chapters. To some, that may sound boring, but to me, I find it a daring and creative departure from the typical "fantasy" of most games. And by having that "fantasy" element introduced through a slowly evolving story, it caters a more plausible, natural progression, ideally softening the blow by the time we're dealing with it full force.
I am a bit up in the air regarding the overworld mechanic used in this game. Unlike typical overhead action-adventure games, the overworld is free of danger, which allows for an easier sense of exploration, however I've always felt they could have made exploration a bit more worthwhile. As it is, the exploration aspect is very linear, much like Zelda II, or incredibly useless offering nothing to further enhance the gaming experience. Sadly, the only optional material with any inherent worth is the gathering of hearts to further fill your life bar. But come the end of the game, it doesn't matter how many hearts you bothered to collect, because the second Cube raises your life bar to maximum hearts anyways. Additionally, a danger-free overworld sort of makes the whole concept rather arbitrary. It's only function is to allow for travel between chapters, meet NPC's (the vast majority of whom have nothing substantial to say) and seek out dungeon entrances. If the developers had at least worked to create more exploratory devices, it wouldn't matter. But as it stands, it's a lot of needless walking around - especially since most of the islands are designed in such a way that the paths are directly forcing you from point A to point B.
The dungeons, on the other hand, are fantastic. Basically, they come across as further developed LoZ dungeons - allowing for larger rooms through the use of scrolling and trickier obstacles thanks to Mike's ability to jump. Yet despite the obvious upgrades, the dungeons stay true to the overall design methods first introduced in LoZ: room by room progression with a number of rooms requiring the completion of a simple task or puzzle in order to move on, either by defeating all of that room's evil denizens or by finding a secret switch. And in latter dungeons, the exit might be hidden beyond a cleverly disguised false wall - ugh, I hated that concept in LoZ. At least they use a small telltale sign in this game. And finally, you have your lair bosses which are equally reminiscent of those found in LoZ - in fact, most of the enemies are, especially the Octot which could definitely be confused as Octorok's lost twin, sans the ability to fire projectiles.
Of course it could be argued that the dungeons aren't all that impressive considering LoZ came out in '87 and StarTropics in '90. Three years, and Nintendo's overall approach to dungeon architecture is relatively the same. But seriously, is that a bad thing? Personally, if it ain't broken, don't fix it - which seems to be exactly the mentality taken going into the game and I laud the developers for taking that approach if such was the case. However, I believe if you're going to stick to your guns regarding how a certain mechanic works, you shouln't necessarily take away from it, as is the case with item handling. Yes, there are a few variant weapons outside of the the yo-yo (which is eventually replaced with a laser gun known as the Super Nova), such as a bat, reflecting mirror, or blaster, but for the most part, I found them to be fairly unnecessary outside of a few situations in which they are required (fighting Dimhags for example).
Nevertheless, despite my grumbles, this is still one of my all-time favorite NES games. And yes, although it recycles old ideas, it manages to do so with such an intriguing twist that it ends up creating its very own distinctive atmosphere. Add to that some delightfully bouncy themes such as the Island Theme or the Cave Theme and you've got yourself a fun little adventure throughout the South Pacific. Needless to say, I enjoyed my latest playthrough just as much as I enjoyed my initial run some ten odd years ago.
PS: I can't possibly post this update without including the dreamy Treasure Room Theme.
Nano-Rant:
Ok, I do have one major complaint about this game: the controls inside the dungeon, or more precisely, the directional controls. I hate them - flat out hate them!! They are so goddamn stiff and lag-ridden. The hampered reaction time really creates some unnatural difficulty in a few choice spots in the latter dungeons. The jump and attack buttons however, are fine. I don't know what it is, but somehow, the d-pad falls disastrously short - even compared to the overworld's controls. How can the overworld's be so fluid, yet the dungeon's completely miss the mark? It's literally a night and day comparison between the two areas.
Additional Bonus Rant:
And seriously, how can game developers be so goddamn shortsighted to believe that a piece of paper, that you have to dip in water no less, expect to keep a proper life expectancy to continually coexist with the game pak ever and anon!? What the hell, man!?
Rating: 4.5 747's out of 5
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