Played on: Nintendo Switch Online [NES]
This is a testament to how behind I am on some of these game write-ups, seeing as I originally revisited StarTropics for Father's Day in June. The reason for this is the fact that StarTropics was the first game, and one of the only games in fact, that I played through in its entirety with my father. The other game was Treasure Math Storm on PC, if you're curious.
Sadly, my father doesn't seem to have any recollection of us playing through StarTropics during my early grade school years. That's disappointing, because I remember feeling so happy and impressed when my father was the one to defeat its final boss, and unlock that coveted ending for me during the 90's. It wouldn't be until many years later that I actually finished StarTropics on my own, and even then, it wasn't until now, when I'm well into adulthood, that I'd actually play through the entire game without assistance.
What a surreal experience it was to finally play through StarTropics as my own man. Sadly, I don't have a son, or any child to share the game with, so it was something I just decided to do for myself, of my own volition. Boy, I have to say as well, seeing StarTropics as a sophisticated gaming adult in the 2020's is a very different experience than seeing it as an impressionable young boy in the 90's!
But wait, for those who don't know, what exactly IS StarTropics? Well, it's a Nintendo-made game originally released in 1990, for the NES, and it was made to be something of an American riff on the Legend of Zelda formula. One of the most interesting facts about the game is that it still, to this day, has never been made officially available in Japan, despite the fact that it was completely designed by Japanese developers. This is at least partially due to StarTropics being completely designed for Western audiences, particularly players in the U.S., and its characters and themes heavily reflect that.
In StarTropics, you play as 15-year-old American teenager, Mike Jones, who is traveling to the tropical C-Island to meet with his estranged archaeologist uncle, Dr. Steve Jones. Mike is an honour student, a baseball prodigy, and a generally likeable guy, but he's soon thrust into a whole new challenge when he learns upon arrival that his uncle has been abducted! By whom? Well, you're not really told until much later in the game, and even then, the circumstances of Dr. Jones' 'abduction' are pretty bizarre, and pretty questionable. Regardless, Mike is given the sworn duty to rescue his uncle, and he'll have to travel all across neighbouring islands via his uncle's faithful submarine, explore treacherous dungeons within them, and take on all manner of monsters to make that happen!
StarTropics is thus divided into two main modes; First, there's overworld exploration, where you wander around, move between larger locations, interact with townsfolk, and passively proceed the story with some simple environmental puzzles, at best. The bulk of StarTropics' challenges however take place within its dungeon sections, which is where you'll engage in combat, dodge various traps, and find your way through to a boss battle, and ultimately, whatever macguffin puts you on the next phase of the path to your lost uncle.
StarTropics' dungeon gameplay is pretty unusual, and being an adult now, I definitely forgot how... Weird, the game's combat controls are in particular. You see, Mike moves on something of an invisible 'grid' (he actually serves as an accidental forerunner to the much more famous Tomb Raider protagonist, Lara Croft's original gameplay design, in that respect!), with small delays as players move Mike in one of four cardinal directions. You can also leap across water and lava using platforms in rigid, but precise fashion (this prevents you from slipping off and losing a life, at the cost that Mike can only jump straight up if you're not on a platform), and much of combat relies on anticipating enemy movement, as well as using environmental features like said platforms. Combat also frequently involves players having to exploit the delays in Mike's movement animations, in order to strike at enemies using weapons like your trusty yo-yo, the weapon that you start with. You can also find sub-weapons like baseballs, bolas and torches, which have limited use and finite ammunition, though they are crucial for certain dungeons and boss fights.
Compared to the Legend of Zelda games, StarTropics is more action and trap-focused, with less of an emphasis on using your tools to solve puzzles. Instead, Mike often has to carefully navigate hostile environments, and anticipate dungeon hazards above all else, leading to a style of dungeon navigation that undeniably complements the Legend of Zelda games, but still feels like something truly distinct. Some have even made the crack that StarTropics essentially feels like 'Nintendo's Dark Souls', and even that isn't completely off the mark, so long as you're acknowledging that this is an NES game that is naturally MUCH less complex than a Dark Souls game.
Another thing I love about StarTropics even more as an adult is the game's enjoyably warped sense of humour. This being a game supposedly designed to pay homage to American culture, albeit designed exclusively by Japanese people, naturally leads to quite a few endearingly strange personalities and story beats. All of the village names end in the suffix 'Cola', for example, because Americans love soda pop, naturally, and the hilariously forced references to things like baseball, and yes, Indiana Jones, are among the little touches that give StarTropics its own strange, but genuinely unique identity within Nintendo's classic game library.
Rediscovering StarTropics as an adult reminded me that this game truly is one of the core reasons why I became more than a kid that played video games, and quickly evolved into a lifelong gamer that would always care deeply about this medium, even if I've sometimes lost touch with that. Even the game's flaws all lend themselves to a strange sort of charm for me, and sure, StarTropics isn't for everyone, on that note. Some people just won't be able to wrap their heads around its strange dungeon controls, the game's overall navigation can be rigid and deliberately obtuse sometimes, and the final few dungeons in particular, once you've unmasked the true threat behind the game, are especially ruthless in terms of difficulty. Thankfully, this gets alleviated more when you play StarTropics via Nintendo Switch Online, and you can use the rewind function whenever the game openly screws you, and it WILL openly screw you. Dad and I definitely didn't have that rewind privilege when we first played StarTropics on an actual NES back in the day!
Most importantly though, revisiting StarTropics again on my Nintendo Switch reminded me that it truly is a formative video game for me, and one I still consider an all-time favourite, flaws and all. I miss the days when my father and I could enjoy it together, but fortunately, I can at least revisit those memories whenever I want to via the Nintendo Switch Online catalogue. Even when StarTropics kicked my ass and confused my sensibilities, I felt that none of the game's magic was lost.
IF I HAD TO SCORE IT: 8/10
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