StarTropics

Originally posted on Facebook on 28 November 2022

So I finally played StarTropics all the way through...

I first tried to play it a long long time ago, but I got stuck somewhere in chapter 3 and wasn't really feeling it, so I never finished it back then.

But I saw that it's on Nintendo Switch Online's library of NES games, so I decided that it deserved another chance, now that I can play it with the ability to cheat, with the rewind functionality hehe.

Alighty. 

StarTropics is a linear dungeon-solving game. The game has Dragon Quest style overworlds and kinda-Zelda style dungeons. But unlike both DQ and Zelda, however, the game is entirely linear. You arrive at a cute tropical island, speak to the inhabitants, unlock access to a dungeon, and then afterwards it's on to the next island with no ability or any reason to return to previous islands.

The dungeons... are okay but not amazing.

The player's movement is extremely stiff and takes a lot of getting used to in order to just move. There's lots of monsters that do a pretty decent amount of damage, and health is pretty stingy. This is not a game where you can tank hits and be okay. You gotta know how to deal with the enemies safely. 

The main game mechanic in StarTropics is jumping on panels. The dungeons are filled with these green panels you need to hop on. When you hop on one, it may trigger a hidden switch or item to appear. They are also used as stepping-stones across hazardous pits, many of which need you to find hidden switches in order to make them show up in the right spot.

Basically, the majority of the time, you're looking for hidden switches, hidden items and hidden passageways by jumping on any panels you see, in order to try and figure out how to proceed through the dungeons - all while trying to avoid and defeat the monsters in each room.

When you die, all of the items you picked up in the dungeon are lost, and if any of them were necessary to progressing, you gotta go back and get them again.

Once you complete a dungeon, any unused items are lost anyway. There aren't really any persistent upgrades in this game, aside from more health and a stronger weapon, which are given to you in the overworld, and are not found in dungeons.

So the challenge in this game is twofold: in addition to figuring out which way through the dungeon is the path forward, you also need to be able to traverse the path without dying.

Towards the end of the game, in the final two chapters, StarTropics drops the panels and switches aspect entirely, and instead just ramps up the enemy difficulty significantly. Getting through the last few gauntlets is a proper NES-style frustrating challenge for sure!

The mix of challenging enemies and finding hidden paths would be alright if it weren't for the game's tendency to include some rather nasty tricks.

For example, in the first dungeon, you can find a hidden room with a health potion. Inside this hidden room, you can find the entrance to another hidden room, with another health potion. And inside this second hidden room, you can find yet another secret entrance that.... immediately kills you if you go through. ...yeah. Not fair.

I just have to wonder... why? Is the level designer having a laugh? I guess it's kinda funny, but it's definitely a joke at the player's expense. We still have to redo the whole dungeon because we got too curious and found too many secret rooms. And this being in the very first dungeon doesn't set a great tone for the rest of the adventure.

And it's not like Zelda where the key doors remain unlocked, the bombed walls remain open, and the map screen remains explored when you die.

Instead in StarTropics, dying basically means starting the dungeon completely over. No progress is kept. You gotta remember exactly where each secret entrance is, and play the game well enough to get back to where you were in good enough shape to not just die again. (And there is no on-screen map to help you remember the layout at all.)

It just feels a lot more... videogamey? Like the dungeon is just kinda "a level" of an arcade game. If you die, do it again. That's the philosophy old games had.

Rather than in Zelda, which has always strived to feel more like a living world with persistent changes, even in the very earliest games. And I always appreciated that about Zelda.

I don't think StarTropics is bad, but I don't think all the comparisons to Zelda I see from people online are doing it any favours. If you forget about how good Zelda is, then StarTropics is a fine little NES action game with puzzle elements. The tropical island setting is very cute. And once you get used to the weird stiff controls and don't mind the harsh penalties for failure (or if you can cheat with the NSO app's rewind functionality when it gets too aggravating), then it's a good time.

But yeah. This little curiosity of Nintendo's back catalogue is now properly known to me. And it's.... it's okay. I had a decent time with it.

I'd like to try StarTropics II next, but they didn't include it in the Nintendo Switch Online app.... So I might play it on an actual NES and see how I get on without the ability to cheat.

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Originally posted on Facebook as a comment to this post on 1 December 2022

So I played "Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II" immediately after finishing the first StarTropics.

I played this game on the actual NES, since Nintendo haven't put it on the Nintendo Switch Online NES app yet, for whatever reason.

I've owned this NES cartridge for many years, but never really played it at all until now.

The game structure is the same as the previous game. Strictly linear progression, split between Dragon Quest style overworld exploration, and kinda-Zeldaish dungeons.

Straight away, I could feel that the controls have been loosened up a bit. You're no longer confined to such a strict grid, and it's easier to move and jump to avoid enemies. Overall it's definitely an improvement from the first game, but I still wouldn't really call it "good". It's still a pretty stiff and awkward control scheme.

The dungeons have been greatly simplified compared to the first game.

There are much fewer puzzles, and the dungeons are more about running through room after room of enemies.

The floor panels that make hidden stuff appear are still there, but they're greatly fewer in number. They're only in a few rooms per dungeon now, whereas in the original StarTropics, they were in every single room.

Overall, the dungeons are... I'd say they're okay. Nothing special to be honest. Definitely not as frustrating as the first game, and thankfully there aren't any cheap tricks any more either.

I can see why the game is called "Zoda's Revenge" first, with "StarTropics II" just being a subtitle - it's because the game no longer takes place in the tropics at all.

Instead, each level is based on a different clichéd cartoon setting. You got the Stone Age, the Egyptian pyramids, a spooky Transylvania, the Wild West...

The game has a more pronounced and silly sense of humour this time around as well... Silly as in, you go to ancient Egypt, and Cleopatra asks you to go pick up a pizza delivery for her.

It's nice to see this kind of silliness in a Nintendo game. It's nothing profound, but it sets a fun and lighthearted tone to the adventure.

Overall, the game is less complex and the puzzle and dungeon design is overall less interesting, but that also means that the frustration is also toned down too. So I dunno.

It's okay. It's a short little action game for NES. I like it well enough, but it certainly isn't groundbreaking by any means.

Compared to StarTropics 1, it's more easygoing. I didn't have access to the rewind function of the NSO app, but I feel like, even if I did, I wouldn't have needed to use it as much for this game anyway - it's overall more friendly to the player.

I had fun with the series. Glad I finally played them both.