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Sometimes, it makes sense for a
franchise to stay in Japan. I mean...mosquito simulators? Hamster simulators? Pet simulators
where your pet is a woman?
Yeah. Imagine that stuff selling anywhere else. Go ahead...simulate it.
Then again, for every game that stays in Japan for reasons that are obvious, there’s a
game that stays in Japan...that maybe shouldn’t. There’s a game like this...an adorable platformer
with familiar mechanics and a stout little hero. It’s like, a sprinkle of Yoshi, a
dash of Mario and a heaping spoonful of Kirby. I mean, that’s a recipe a worldwide audience
would appreciate. And yet...Starfy stayed in Japan.
That is, until The Legendary Starfy for the Nintendo DS.
Finally released stateside back in 2009, The Legendary Starfy was the character’s American
debut...after seven years in Japan. And again, the strange thing about that is...Starfy isn’t
that different from Nintendo’s biggest platformers. In fact, it’s basically just an underwater
Kirby game. Nothing fishy about that.
So there is a story here...uh, something about a rabbit who wears a space suit. He somehow
falls from the sky and wakes up Starfy, and he tries to run away...but then, Starfy chases
after him. If there’s one area of Starfy where Japanese weirdness does bleed through,
its the story and presentation.
And hey, maybe you’re into that sort of thing. In which case, I got a game where you
have to level up a schoolgirl by buying her Beatles LPs and feeding her doughnuts.
You’ll f*cking love it.
Anyway, gameplay is where The Legendary Starfy delivers. A big, fat plate of fantastic Nintendo
platforming. It’s mostly underwater, of course, and that’s where the character feels
most at home. Starfy can swim the way you wish other characters swam in their platformers,
in which water levels are usually a pain in the ***. This water isn’t so painful. In
fact, it’s delightful. He’s like a pointy Michael Phelps.
What I like about Nintendo games—uh, and their platformers, in particular—are their
controls. Super-tight, precise...you don’t even have to think about them. And Starfy
has them. What’s more, there’s also an insane amount of content here. Lots of worlds
in the main quest, each with fun level design, slick graphics and lots of secrets to find.
If you need a break from...doing whatever it is Starfy is doing, there are also multiplayer
minigames, a 3D model viewer and Starfy’s freaking wardrobe.
You might see this...obscenely yellow talking starfish...and think Starfy is a game for
little kids and otaku. You would be wrong. Cut from the same cloth as its iconic peers,
The Legendary Starfy is a fantastic Nintendo platformer, and a testament to the fact that,
sometimes...life truly is better down where it’s wetter.