User:Torchickens/Series review

My favourite Starfy game would probably be Densetsu no Starfy 2, closely followed by Densetsu no Starfy. When I compare the first two Game Boy Advance games, I'm inclined to think of the Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, in the way that both games offer great gameplay, but Densetsu no Starfy uses simpler gameplay mechanics than Densetsu no Starfy 2.

However, the great thing about most games in the The Legendary Starfy series is that when you look for it, there are lots of things to do after completion of the main game. In this way, Densetsu no Starfy isn't 'too short', or 'too simple', offering a level select, the Kigurumi ability, an unlockable music room, several treasure chests to collect in every stage after defeating Ogura, different endings and an incentive to completing the Picture Book and Photograph. Combined with its great music and a sense of being 'pure' to the series, the original Densetsu no Starfy feels like a hit classic for me, and this is why Densetsu no Starfy only falls a little short to being my favourite Starfy game.

Densetsu no Starfy 2 also had its own sense of being 'pure' to the series, with its simple level select screen music really appealing to me. It did introduce a negative aspect to the series, which later Starfy games would repeat, namely the potentially annoying amount of times you need to speak to characters. However, I believe if I understood Japanese I probably wouldn't recognise this problem as much. Densetsu no Starfy 2 already wasn't a short game, offering individual levels for its eleven stages (the most in the series tied with Densetsu no Starfy 4) as well as its upgraded mechanics, such as the addition of the Duck and Air Jump abilities that made the game feel more of a 'Sonic 2'. The great thing about it was that Densetsu no Starfy 2 essentially 'doubled' the amount of stages you had access to once defeating Ogura, as well as offering upgraded versions of the vehicles which really made my experience last. While Densetsu no Starfy 3 is still a good game, for some reason I wouldn't feel the same way. The main story before you defeat Evil felt shorter than Densetsu no Starfy 2, and longer than Densetsu no Starfy but in my view it didn't feel 'pure'. The game had more of the mischief and dark humour compared to the 'jolly' or 'go ahead' vibe which Densetsu no Starfy and Densetsu no Starfy secured (even though Starfy almost never shows it seriously because he smiles by default, sometimes keeping his smile at the wrong times). While there is lot of gameplay after completing the main game when you look for it, for some reason I didn't feel as much of an incentive for doing so. Additionally, while the introduction of Starly and her different techniques was good you don't get to swap between Starly and Starly freely until after completion of the main game, which somewhat limited the potential that Nintendo/TOSE could have possibly invested in for puzzles. For example, it would have been great if there was a boss battle where you actively had to switch between Starfy and Starly to defeat it.

When discussing the Nintendo DS games, I prefer The Legendary Starfy over Densetsu no Starfy 4, however I feel there are various factors in which The Legendary Starfy could have been improved upon. The Legendary Starfy was my first Starfy series game, but it somewhat didn't strike me as enjoyable as Densetsu no Starfy and Densetsu no Starfy 2 would later become. Mobiclip, who had earlier produced the cutscenes in the Professor Layton series collaborated with Nintendo and TOSE to create the story scenes in The Legendary Starfy. These were really great storyboard style cutscenes, but for some reason I feel that The Legendary Starfy in a similar way to Densetsu no Starfy 4 focused too much on the story and not as much on the actual gameplay. The Legendary Starfy felt really cheerful and I enjoyed it, but it seemed to feel watered down in terms of what the game offered. Some of the positives to the gameplay included the Big Bossdown mode, hidden treasure chests in every level, secret updates to Bunston's abilities, the unlockable ???? levels for every stage, the unlockable minigames and the hidden Pufftop and ??? stages. I liked these, because they contributed to getting more out of the game, though I feel that there wasn't much else to the game than unlocking all of the Stuff, buying all the Toys and getting a hidden 'Living Legend' ranking on Lobber's Logbook. Once you beat Master Lobber in the ??? stage, I would have liked if there was a reward, such as the addition of extra levels in past stages. A few subtle changes to the gameplay were made in the localisation of The Legendary Starfy, for example an announcer used to say the name of the game after the title screen had loaded and the storyboard scenes originally read from right to left. Personally, I would have preferred if the storyboards were kept the way they were, but with the shortening of the game's title I'm not sure if I would have liked the announcer to say 'The Legendary Starfy'. The Legendary Starfy was designed in view of a younger target audience, for instance with its changes in artwork that made the character profiles look more like plush toys. I feel that it would have been more enjoyable if the cutscenes were kept, but reduced to only when they were needed. The Side Quests in The Legendary Starfy were not strictly Side Quests, and were designed more as simple tasks to unlock the secret ???? levels. I feel it would have been interesting if the Side Quests were more like quests in the broad sense, for example it would have been interesting if one could involve Starfy finding an item from a past level or stage and giving it back to the NPC who offered Starfy the quest.

Densetsu no Starfy 4 was rather unique, because it played differently to past games in the series, being themed in the Amy Kingdom, rather than the Pufftop Kingdom and revolving around a story in which Starfy, Starly and Moe have to save the Amy Kingdom and Mattel from Dejeel, while Starfy is in love with Mattel and Starly is in love with prince Koraru. It was enjoyable, but for some reason or another, like Densetsu no Starfy 3, it didn't feel quite as pure. I also missed the former antagonist Ogura, who appeared in the previous Starfy games and I found the post-stage cutscenes a little repetitive as the story went on (in a similar sense to the cutscenes in Super Princess Peach). The games levels are often themed around tasks for finding items for other NPCs on the stage's map screen, before returning to the entrance of the level, exiting to the map screen and then tapping a button from the touch screen to progress to the next one after conversing with the NPC. I feel that perhaps it would have made the game more enjoyable if the player if there were more levels themed around Starfy or Starly simply arriving at the goal. On the other hand, in order for this to work, the map screen would have to be completely changed to one like in The Legendary Starfy. This would have limited or restricted the way in which you could tap enemies for Pearls on the map screen and talk to the main characters from each stage, which is actually quite fun.