StarTropics (video game) (2025)

StarTropics is the beginning of the legend that never was.

Released on December 1, 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, this top-down action-adventure title features Mike Jones traveling the eponymous StarTropics – a vast chain of tropical islands where every single thing has to be suffixed with -cola – in order to rescue his uncle, Dr. Jones, from aliens. Armed with his trusty Island Yo-yo, he is most definitely the main character of the game.

Development[]

StarTropics was developed by Nintendo Research & Development 3, and published by Nintendo. While many other Nintendo games of the era like The Legend of Zelda, Kid Icarus, and Metroid were designed with universal appeal in mind, it's said that the head of Nintendo R&D3, Genyo Takeda, was an advocate for making games that would specifically appeal to consumers in the United States.

Takeda, previously having created the Punch-Out!! series, went on to direct, produce, and write StarTropics. Because of his desire to appeal to an American market, StarTropics and its sequel have the unique distinction of being among the only Nintendo-developed games to have not been released in Japan (although the first game was released in Europe on August 20, 1992).

Plot[]

Chapter 1: Prelude[]

It all starts when Mike Jones, a high schooler from Seattle, takes a trip to the StarTropics to visit his uncle, Dr. Steve Jones. He lands on C-Island in a helicopter and visits the nearby village of Coralcola, only for Chief Coralcola, a friend of the doctor, to inform Mike of his uncle's recent abduction. The Chief grants Mike the Island Yo-yo and sends him off to Dr. Jones' lab, where he gains access to the Sub-C; Mike then departs from C-Island to search for Dr. Jones with his sweet new ride.

Chapter 2: Dolphins[]

Mike is sidetracked when a dolphin approaches him out of the literal and figurative blue with a cry for help – in a cave nearby, her son is being held captive by Octo the Huge, a monster with an all-encompassing hunger for dolphin flesh. As any self-respecting main character would, Mike destroys Octo the Huge and rescues the dolphin child. As thanks, the dolphin family shows Mike how to navigate the nearby craggy waters in his Sub-C, and he continues his triumphant tropical trek.

Chapter 3: Storm and Calm[]

A storm hits the seas and sends the Sub-C into some other crags that the dolphin family didn't prepare Mike for. Though the Sub-C is in bad shape, he happens upon the town of Miracola and strikes a deal with Chief Miracola– if Mike can wake his daughter, Bananette, from an endless sleep, then the villagers will repair the Sub-C so he may continue. He is directed to a hermit living at the top of a nearby mountain.

Mike continues, but finds his way forward blocked by a strait – to find away around, he heads to Shecola for information, but his entry is not permitted on account of the rock-solid masculine mayhem he brings to the table. He gets sidetracked all the way to Ghost Village, where he retrieves the crystal ball of a local fortune teller who proceeds to use her magic to make Mike crossdress so he can get into Shecola and find out how to pass the strait, and all he had to do was jump around a bunch. In any case, Mike ascends the now-accessible mountain, gets the secret sorcery spell from the hermit to cure Bananette, and babbles like an idiot in front of the sleeping young girl until she wakes up so his submarine will get fixed.

Chapter 4: Confession[]

Thus Mike carried on until his Sub-C got swallowed by a whale and he had to escape by lighting something on fire so it would sneeze and that's the whole chapter. Also Baboo is there.

Chapter 5: Captain Bell[]

Mike pushes onwards, but this time, instead of his way forward being blocked by a strait, his way forward is a strait, and the strait is blocked. After speaking to the people of Bellcola, it is decided that sinking a British vessel and destroying an important piece of the island's history is a perfectly acceptable thing to do, so Mike feeds a bird until it teaches him how to sing, sinks a ship, and then leaves.

Chapter 6: Reunion[]

Finally managing to pick up on a sign of Dr. Jones, Mike sets sail into a chain of islands – when the signal stops, he commandeers the Sub-C below the waves and uncovers a pathway into some ancient ruins with a giant melted bowling ball. He discovers Dr. Jones only to then realize the gravity of the situation: aliens.

Dr. Jones explains that the giant melted bowling ball's finger holes once housed three Magic Cubes which grant their holder immense power. Realizing that these cubes may now be in the hands of the evil alien leader, Prime Invader Zoda, Mike immediately gives chase and boards the nearby alien spacecraft.

Chapter 7: Alien Spaceship[]

Mike storms the spaceship and dies a whole hell of a lot probably because this dungeon is ridiculous. He manages to traverse the Overly Long Maze-like Hallways™ and find two of the three cubes, which together grant him the Super Nova – and he then moves towards the engine room with this powerful new weapon in hand, hoping to find the final cube and murder Zoda's teeth right out of his neck.

Chapter 8: Final Battle[]

Mike rips through the rest of the alien spaceship, destroying the engine in the process. And even when he turns into a xenomorph that vomits bloodmops, Zoda cannot withstand the rampaging highschooler and gets straight hamboned by the power of the Super Nova. As the ship begins to explode, Mike grabs the final Magic Cube and ducks into an escape pod. He falls into the sea but is rescued by the dolphins and taken back to C-Island to celebrate his victory back on Coralcola, and if I was old enough to drink, I probably would after writing this whole section in one sitting.

Gameplay[]

You move and jump and try not to die. I'm gonna write this later.

Scoring[]

Contrary to usual gameplay where scoring is based on enemies defeated, in Startropics, your score is penalized per non-essential enemy that you destroy. In some rooms, you must destroy all enemies to advance, others you do not, and still other rooms, the doors will open with the destruction of the correct enemie(s).