Star Tropics: A Brief History of One of Nintendo's Lesser-Known Series

Nintendo has created a lot of series and characters over the years. There have been those such as Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon, that constantly receive new entries, thus reiterating their staying power. There as those like Star Fox, F-Zero, and Punch Out, which have not seen very many entries, yet remain popular among fans. Then there are games which were one shots or have not seen a sequel in many years. One of these series, which would become something of a cult classic for years afterward, was StarTropics.

StarTropics, which was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, featured a young boy named Mike Jones, whose Uncle Steve, a famed archaeologist, had mysteriously vanished. The only way for Mike to discovered what had become of his uncle was to sail from island to island in his Sub-C, exploring a number of locations as he went. Some of this exploration was seen in a top-down view, much like Dragon Warrior, were Mike could talk to other people for clues and walk from one location to another. When he entered a dungeon, however, the real action would kick in.

It was in these dungeons where Mike would have to fight his way through numerous rooms filled with monsters, traps, and puzzles. Mike's main weapon against the beasts was his yo-yo, although he could collect other weapons such as a baseball bat, a laser gun, and asterisks. As for the puzzles, many of them involved hopping on blocks to get across hazardous areas or to find a switch to unlock a door. Typically, the dungeons would culminate in a boss battle, where projectiles or critical thinking were often imperative to success. All this made for some pretty tough challenges, especially since Mike would typically have just three lives to complete each dungeon. If he lost every life, whether from getting hit too many times (using a heart container system similar to Zelda) or falling into water or lava, he would have to restart the dungeon from the beginning.

As was later the case with Paper Mario, StarTropics was presented in a series of chapters, each of which took Mike to a different island with a unique set of challenges. Ultimately, it was revealed that Uncle Steve had been abducted by aliens, led by the almighty Zoda. Mike ended up boarding the ship and fighting the aliens, eventually dueling with Zoda himself. Following a difficult battle, he rescues a group of children from another world, who end up residing on Earth. Zoda was gone forever...or so everyone thought. I will get to that part later on.

StarTropics played very much like the Zelda games, with dungeons, puzzles, heart containers, and other features seemingly taken straight out of those games. The game could be quite challenging, with tough puzzles and monsters (made harder by having a rather weak weapon in the form of the yo-yo, though it could later be upgraded into more powerful weapons), difficult bosses (which could kill Mike in one hit as a result of direct contact), and the requirement of finishing a dungeon in one shot. Some other faults included somewhat imprecise controls and the inclusion of rooms where Mike would get killed upon entering, resulting in the bad kind of trial and error. On the plus side, the storyline was engaging and sometimes humorous, the dungeons could be fun to play through, and the challenges were of a nature that do not seem all that common anymore. To show you a good example of the latter, here is one of the game's puzzles that had a very unusual way of solving it.

At one point, Mike is required to dip a letter in water to reveal an access code that will lead him to the next part of his journey. One would think the letter would be hidden somewhere in the game. Instead, it was included in the actual game box! Yes, people actually had to physically take the letter included with the game, expose it to water, and obtain the code that way. In the years before the Internet became a rich source of game hints and cheats, those without the letter (i.e. people who may have rented it and did not get the letter) would have to endure trial and error to get the code exactly right. It is not often that a solution to a game puzzle required some action in the real world, and it just went to show how some challenges had to be overcome back before games were dumbed down so that people would not have to rely on a guide as often.

Even though StarTropics was not that big of a hit, it did spawn a sequel, released in 1994 near the end of the NES' life, entitled Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics 2. This time, Mike found himself using a book to travel back through time, from the Stone Age, to Ancient Egypt, to medieval times, in hopes of stopping Zoda once again. To do this, he collected Tetrads which would help the children saved at the end of the first game reunite with the leader of their home planet Argonia. Along the way, he would meet with historical figures such as Cleopatra, Leonardo da Vinci, and King Arthur, before ultimately returning to his own time for the final showdown against Zoda.

In terms of game play, the sequel played much like the first game, with dungeons to complete, characters to speak with, and puzzles to solve. There were, however, some notable additions, such as a change from walking in four directions to walking in eight directions, the elimination of death trap rooms, and a boss rush mode towards the end, where Mike had to kill many of the game's bosses a second time before facing off with Zoda himself. As with the first game, there were numerous challenges, and Mike had to finish a dungeon in one shot or else he would have to repeat it. Thus, Zoda's Revenge fixed some problems of its predecessor while leaving some others intact.

By the end of 1994, the NES was history...and seemingly so was the StarTropics series, as Nintendo has not made a new entry in the last fifteen years. It is a shame, as the series, for all its faults, is pretty good for its colorful graphics, hummable soundtrack, challenging puzzles, and action-packed battles. While it does seem to virtually plagiarize the Zelda series at times, it still possesses its own style and its intriguing story lines give players the desire to keep playing to see what happens next. The games would be all but completely forgotten now, if not for Nintendo releasing both titles on the Wii's Virtual Console. This allows players to relive, or experience for the first time, Mike's island and time traveling adventures. I happen to have both titles on my Wii, and I find them to be exciting and addictive like many of Nintendo's titles.

With the VC releases of the StarTropics games, and the series itself still possessing a loyal fan base, perhaps now might be the time for another entry, either for the Wii or the DS. The Zelda series made a successful transition from 2D to 3D, so StarTropics could likewise do so if it were released for the Wii. The puzzles would be updated for the new dimension, and other perks like voice acting and targeting that were not possible on the NES could materialize in a 3D sequel. If a sequel were released for the DS, it would play a lot like the older games, with modern twists like save points for dungeons and somehow utilizing the touch screen controls. A sequel for today's systems would be an ideal way to give the StarTropics series a new lease on life. It happened to Metroid, and it will soon happen to Punch-Out, so why not give StarTropics a reboot? Here's hoping that Nintendo will accomplish that task someday, and give it the recognition and popularity it rightfully deserves.