Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. One of the first reviews I covered for PWP was a little game called StarTropics. An island hopping Zelda-Esque adventure filled with yo-yos, monsters, aliens, and bananas in ears. Well, being fashionably late as always, I figured it’s high time to take a look at the lone sequel in the StarTropics legacy, and one of the final games to inhabit the great grey box in Startropics II: Zoda’s Revenge. Does this game hold up, or was it a sign that this tropical adventure wasn’t going to live on? Let’s find out.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1994
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
GENRE: Adventure
The original Startropics, while not being a massive sales success, had still made a decent profit. More than enough for Nintendo of America to work on a sequel several years later. However, instead of going for the obvious route and releasing a sequel on the SNES, they instead decided to make the game one of the final titles for the great grey box, as well as be one of the main games advertised for the brand new at the time model 2 NES.
The second StarTropics tile, aptly nicknamed Zoda’s Revenge , was released in stores in March of 1994. This is actually the 2nd last official Nintendo made game released for the NES, with the final title being Wario’s Woods. The game sold admirably for being one of the last of the console’s generation, and is a far easier final game to find than say, Panic Restaurant or Little Samson. The game has often garnered mixed reviews, even from fans of the original. But does it deserve that damning accolade?
COVER STORY
Nice creepy cover with Zoda holding the book that plays a major role throughout the game. The StarTropics title seems to have far less importance than the Zoda’s Revenge name, but that doesn’t hurt it either. It’s a far more cooler cover than the original StarTropics game, but I still have a softer spot for the nicer looking original. Either way, it’s definitely an solid eye catcher from the dying days of the great grey box.
STORY
It’s been a year since Mike Jones’ adventures on the islands of the StarTropics where he saved his uncle and an alien race from an evil being named Zoda. Now back home in Seattle, Mike gets a telepathic call from Mica, the princess of the Argonian children he rescued in the first game. He goes to see his uncle Dr. J, who is busy trying to decipher the ciphers he found during the first adventure. But when, Mike accidentally utters the magic saying “Paa Paa Paa Oom Papa Mow Mow” He ends up being flung inside a book called the Oxford Wonder World. Mike finds himself in stone age time, and as his adventure rolls on, he ends up in multiple time periods. Can Mike find his way back to his own time? And can he deal with the clones of his old enemy Zoda?
GAMEPLAY
StarTropics II: Zoda’s Revenge is a 1-player action adventure. You control Mike Jones as he must go through 8 different eras in order to stop the remains of the evil Zoda. You move Mike in all eight directions with the D-Pad (during action levels), attack with the B button, and jump/talk with the A button. Select button will cycle your abilities as you gain them throughout the game.
The object of this game is to get Mike from each different era. After the first chapter of the game which sets the whole story up, he starts chapter II in the ice age (yes, you actually start physically playing the game on the second chapter), as he must help a tribe of cavemen survive a dangerous beast named Yum Yum. After that, he winds up in Egypt where he must deliver a pizza to Cleopatra. The game finally adds the whole Zoda’s revenge element in the next era as you head to London England and meet Sherlock Holmes. You end up in the wild west, you meet Leonardo Da Vinci in olden Italy, head to Transylvania, meet King Arthur, and finally have the final showdown back on the C-Island from the first game, actually getting to re-enter the first cave from the original StarTropics.
After finishing a world in each chapter, Mike will find an item called a Tetrad. Yes, it’s literally just a Tetris piece, as Nintendo still had the rights to the Tetris license at the time. These will increase Mike’s hit points, which can go up to a whopping 20. In fact, as we learn at the end of the game’s, Mica’s father, the Argonian leader Hirocon’s middle name is Tetris (on the NES version, not the later Virtual Console release). Nintendo was weird with how they used the Tetris license, and this may be the weirdest one by far. Although perhaps a more interesting handling than Tetris 2.
The game for the most part plays similar to the first StarTropics game. You can even choose between three files similar to the Legend of Zelda just like the last game. The start of most chapters of the game are in an RPG style area where you’ll have to talk to certain characters, or perform tasks to advance. And after you do most of that, you’ll then go to the meat and potatoes of the game, the action levels, where Mike will actually do most of the game’s tricky platforming and action. But unlike the previous game, Mike now has an upgraded ability set. Mainly the ability to move in all eight directions as opposed to the more tank-like 4 from the original. This means you can move diagonally, giving better abilities to move in on enemies from a certain angle, or be able to dodge far better.
The only major downside is that it does make controlling Mike and getting him in the best position possible a total chore. Jumping is no longer as easy either as Mike has more control on his jump, meaning you can easily slip up and miss getting in perfect position for a jump, and more often than not lead to Mike’s death. Mike gets three lives like the last game. You can find more lives as you advance, but they can be pretty rare. There are also potion bottles that can be stored and can be used to heal you up in a tight spot. And throughout most areas in the game, there are big hearts that add to your total hit box.
This time around, Mike has ditched the Yo-Yo in favor of a set of different weapons he earns throughout the game. Stone axes, swords, katanas and daggers. Mike also learns how to focus his psychic powers, which as he advances in the game become increasingly powerful attacks. there are also disposable items like the bolas, rocks, and razor discs.
And that becomes a bit of a downer for me. One of the things I loved from StarTropics was that it was just you and what handy items you had. Mike’s Yo-Yo was a cool item to have, and now it’s replaced with bland items that nonsensically are thrown dozens of times and never run out. That, like a lot of the game really takes away some of the quirks that this franchise had going for it originally. It’s not a total deal breaker, but you miss using that yo-yo, or getting the cleats and clearing out an entire room.
Another weird gimmick that the game does is throughout the story, you’ll encounter a being that’ takes the form of different animals throughout the eras you travel. When you make it to medieval times, you learn that it’s Merlin the Magician. However, this revelation is soured, because you see Merlin every time you get game over. And trust me, you’ll be seeing him a lot. Why feel like this is a shocking reveal, when you’ve really been seeing him all game? At least in the first game, the shaman woman on the game over screen is a character you meet at the first chapter of the game. Here, it feels like an odd choice.
Also, where does Zoda fit in this game? As you’ll find out after the first fight in the sewers of London, this isn’t the real Zoda, but remaining clones of him trying to get the tetrads. As you progress, you face Zoda-X, Zoda-Y, and the final boss of the game, Zoda-Z. It’s an interesting way to keep the character involved throughout the entire adventure, but I’d rather face the real deal and not his remains.
So, despite some of the issues, the game is still contains a lot of the fun from the original. Despite the slippery controls, it’s still really fun to explore the different action areas, and solve the many puzzles the game has within it. The NPC characters in each world still have fun and quirky things to say, and even if this wasn’t the most perfectly handled title, in many ways it works well to wrap up the StarTropics adventure.
GRAPHICS
Graphically the game still looks similar to the previous title. Some of the cut scenes have been given a much more improved graphical overhaul, but for the most part, And enemy sprites are better detailed, giving off a more menacing look. Mike now sports a denim jacket, which isn’t too bad a new look for him. But for the most part, my biggest issue is that a lot of the new locales are rather bland. Especially the ancient Egypt and Wild West levels which look bright and bland. The main overworlds really suffer from this blandness, and it does hurt the feel of the game just a tad. It’s far from the worst looking game on the NES, but compared in a lot of ways to the original StarTropics, it does suffer.
MUSIC
The music is solid as expected. A few tracks like the opening ice age level and the wild west do have some solid sound to them. But easily the best tune of the game is the one when you return to the cave in C-Island, which has you hear that legendary cave music from the original game. The credits music at the end of the game is a track that also should be far more appreciated as it’s pretty catchy. While the game is not as perfect sounding as the original, it still churns out another good NES soundtrack.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
StarTropics II: Zoda’s Revenge is an okay sequel. It tries to add more to the story of Mike Jones, as well as wrap up the whole situation with the Argonians, and Zoda. But I think something really ends up missing, and it’s hard to pinpoint just what. But if I were to wager a guess, I’d say it was just the feel of the original. One of the things that made StarTropics such a fun game was the sense that you were on a real island hopping adventure, and you really never knew what would happen next. One minute you’re disguised as a girl to get inside a female’s only castle, the next you’re eaten by a whale. It’s a great sense of consistency and unpredictability that really engaged me. You’re a kid with a yo-yo and your wits in one amazing adventure.
StarTropics II doesn’t feel like it has that unpredictability or consistency. Despite some cool things like teaming with Sherlock Holmes, or getting to use Leonrado Da Vinci’s flying machine, a lot of it just doesn’t feel fresh. A lot of the eras and worlds traveled are ones you’d expect from this type of game (seriously, how many games often has you go through a haunted castle, or a desert level?) Add that with some controls that don’t feel too balanced, plus some really strange changes to the general gameplay like removing that “kid with a yo-yo” aesthetic, and you have a game that suffers. But even with all of that, I can’t hate this game. Even if it doesn’t fully feel like it, it is still StarTropics. And it’s still a franchise I feel should have kept going. And who knows, in a world where Ducktales is getting a HD remake, maybe Nintendo may actually give us a new StarTropics game someday. It’s doubtful, but you never know. In the end, I’d say at least give this one a play if you have finished up the original StarTropics, so you can get a sense of finality to the series, but don’t fully expect perfection.
RATING: Thumbs in the Middle