In another reality, the adored Kirby series from Nintendo and HAL never left Japan. The games starring the pink puffball gradually became known as the kid-friendly, more lenient counterparts to Mario as he and his cute friends took over one platform after another. Mario was lost if he failed to make a jump. Kirby? You can retry your redemption by just pumping the button to float. Younger gamers found it easy to get started with Kirby games and finish the primary missions, but those seeking a bit more difficulty encountered some very tricky obstacles along the way to reaching 100% completion.
However, in our version of events, Hoshi no Kirby’s 1992 Japanese premiere came just months after Kirby’s Dream Land became a Game Boy hit in the US and Europe. Nintendo stayed with Kirby even though the first game was a big commercial success that later releases could not quite match. Its trust in Smash Bros. fame’s Masahiro Sakurai, the franchise designer, paid off. Thirty years later, Kirby Star Allies and Kirby and the Forgotten Land both had enormous success on the Switch, selling almost 12 million copies in total.
The Legend of Starfy: The Diminished Chap
And now for The Legendary Starfy. There is more than a passing similarity between the two series and Kirby’s. Its adorable hero, who resembles a starfish, appears to have come from a Kirby or Mario video game. Similar to Kirby’s inventors at HAL, the developer Tose seems to have joint ownership of the character and game rights. Furthermore, Starfy games are really simple to start and finish. However, Starfy is one of those Nintendo franchises that was primarily released and marketed in the Japanese market, in contrast to Kirby.
My initial encounter with Starfy dates back to the year 2000. “Densetsu no Stafy” is a Game Boy Color game that the publisher demonstrated in a playable demo at Nintendo’s annual Space World exhibition, also known as Shoshinkai. I remember having played it for a short while back then, not realizing, of course, that the game would never be released. The game’s creators reworked it for the GBA because the company’s next portable hardware release was only a year away.
With its headquarters located in Kyoto, close to Nintendo’s headquarters, developer Tose (pronounced “toh-seh”) has been in business for almost 40 years. More than a hundred titles that Tose has worked on are included in the Gamexta database across twelve platforms. These titles range from anime-licensed games to wrestling games to titles that will be instantly recognizable to Nintendo fans, such as Super Princess Peach and Game & Watch Gallery. During the GBA and DS eras, Tose was hired by numerous publishers, including Square, to assist in translating their beloved titles—Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Front Mission, and Dragon Quest—for the handheld platforms.
Yellow Submarine
Most of Starfy’s adventures take place in the water, rather than depending on his ability to float. You can utilize spins to break through blocks, accelerate your underwater swimming by pumping the A button, and, of course, rush upwards to get some air and fly above the waves. After beginning with straightforward platforming and block-pushing puzzles, the game gradually becomes more intricate, with auto-scrolling stages, cars, and mini-games a la Breakout. Although it is skillfully crafted and entertaining, it would be difficult to classify Nintendo’s debut Starfy title, Densetsu no Starfy (also known as Stafy; sidebar), as a superior platformer in the company’s entire catalog.
In Japan, Densetsu no Starfy was profitable enough to warrant a follow-up. And still another. And still another. The third GBA game in particular attracted attention and raised issues about why the series remained trapped in Japan despite the popularity of platform games on Nintendo’s handhelds and consoles, even if Starfy was never released in the West.
Those seemed to have nailed the formula with Densetsu no Starfy 3. Starfy 3 feels like something HAL would have made, despite being developed in a record-breaking year. From the clever puzzles to the endearing characters (Starfy’s sister is playable and looks even more like Kirby!) to the mini-game multiplayer challenges and even Wario’s appearance and quests for Starfy. Without a doubt, Starfy 3 would have received great reviews upon release in the West, but Nintendo forced us to wait an additional four years for his North American release.
Stafy Becomes Starfy
With The Legendary Starfy for Nintendo DS, Starfy began his globe tour in earnest in 2009, confirming that, sure, there is a “r” in his name. It is not a remake even if the title is an exact translation of the original game’s name. First released in 2008 in Japan, The Legendary Starfy for DS is an all-new quest that uses the dual screen setup for tutorial and character interactions on the bottom screen as well as for expanded playfields during mini-games, but other than that, it’s vintage Starfy gameplay.
