Densetsu no Starfy (GBC)
Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy, and later for the Game Boy Color was a tentative Starfy title which was eventually canceled, though it was eventually released in the form of Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Advance on September 6, 2002. Any initial plans of releasing Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Color were abandoned in anticipation of the release of the Game Boy Advance.
History
See also: Nintendo World, Next Generation World Hobby Fair
Planning on this game began as early as November 1995, for the original Game Boy when Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamagami was asked by his boss to come up with some kind of 'floaty platformer', which originally featured a balloon. [1] Hitoshi Yamagami received a directive from his boss to make it but had difficulties on having the balloon move where it was intended to. According to Hitoshi Yamagami, it turned out to be an "annoying game that wasn't any fun at all". Hitoshi Yamagami asked his boss if he could operate the balloon itself and he approved his request.
In a 2009 conference call between Nintendo Life and six developers of The Legendary Starfy, Hitoshi Yamagami states that he worked on the idea of a floating character being pushed through a maze for six months. It is unclear whether he is referring to the balloon or not.
Hitoshi Yamagami would later collaborate with TOSE producer Yasuhiro Minamimoto. Hitoshi Yamagami talked about the the game with Yasuhiro Minamimoto and they came up with the idea of changing the balloon into a bubble with a Nintendo character in it but Hitoshi states in Nintendo Power that this "wasn't a very practical setup". [2] Later, Hitoshi asked if they could take control of the floating character, rather than just moving it around. Hitoshi and Yasuhiro both decided that using a water based character would be a good idea, as long as that character fit the environment. Both a jellyfish and a starfish were initial considerations, and a starfish, was eventually chosen for this game. Development on this game continued through 1998 and as such, Nintendo encouraged TOSE to rework this game for the Game Boy Color. In 2000, the Game Boy Color version underwent a period of promotion, where details about the game began to surface on the official Japanese Nintendo website. A trailer of the game was presented in 2000's Nintendo World event, amongst highly anticipated titles such as Luigi's Mansion and Super Mario 128.
As the game was approaching its release for the Game Boy Color, it was again canceled and rebuilt for the Game Boy Advance which was only going to be released in 2001. Starfy was apparently going to be purely a starfish, until he was made to fall down from the sky, which supposedly invoked a community policy for TOSE to reply that Starfy is neither a star or a starfish when asked.
There are various differences between the Game Boy Color version and the final Game Boy Advance version still noticeable on Nintendo of Japan's page about the trial demo. For example, the official logo and some of the character artwork and names of characters were changed later in development, including Kyorosuke (Moe) who was originally known as "Kyororon". It should be noted however that the Nintendo Space World 2001 trial demo for the Game Boy Advance was promoted with the old logo used during the Game Boy Color period. There was also character artwork for the Game Boy Advance version from early in development, which although different (with the exception of Moe), were not final.
Gallery
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An older version of the Densetsu no Starfy logo. It was hosted on Nintendo's official website, and was used for promoting Densetsu no Starfy at Nintendo Space World 2000 and 2001. -
Moe as he appeared in the cancelled prototype version of Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Color. -
Ootaruika as he appeared in the cancelled prototype version of Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Color. -
Old Man Lobber as he appeared in the cancelled prototype version of Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Color.* -
A stage which is probably an early version of Sea of Ice. -
A stage which is probably an early version of Coral Reef. -
Another stage. -
A stage which is probably an early version of S.S. Logwater.
- The text can translate to the following; "Old Man Lobber: You want to go back to Pufftop, but you look a little frail.... What would be the best thing for us to do....?" (Japanese: よわっちぃ おまえさんが テンカイに もどれるかのう.... どうしたらよいか....).
Remaining footage
Although the Game Boy Color game was canceled, a trailer of the game (right) is still available as a QuickTime movie on the official Japanese Nintendo website. At least one remaining clip of the game from the Nintendo Space World 2000 event also exists on the Internet. The video below (left) is an extract of footage filmed by Donald Allen; who was the creator and webmaster of the defunct website NintendoNation (formally NintendoNext).
See also
- List of prerelease information
- Prerelease information (definition)
External links
- Official Nintendo Space World 2000 website (in Japanese).
- Densetsu no Starfy (tentative title) - Nintendo of Japan, 2000 (in Japanese).
References
 Prerelease information and Unused content
| |
|---|---|
| List of prerelease information | Densetsu no Starfy • Densetsu no Starfy 2 • Densetsu no Starfy 3 • Densetsu no Starfy 4 • The Legendary Starfy |
| Lists of unused content | Densetsu no Starfy • Densetsu no Starfy 2 (test stage) • Densetsu no Starfy 3 (test stage) • Densetsu no Starfy 4 (test stage, unused models) • The Legendary Starfy (Helpful Stuff, test stage) • Test Stages (general information) |
| Unreleased games | Unused balloon/bubble pushing games / Densetsu no Starfy (Game Boy/Color) |
| Events and TV shows | Nintendo Space World (2000, 2001) • World Hobby Fair (2002, 2006) • Oha Suta • E3 (2009) |
| Media with relevant information | Game Boy Encyclopedia • Gekkan Nintendo • Nintendo Dream • Nintendo Power • Nintendo Spaceworld Official Guidebooks • Websites |
