4.5/5 ★ – TNGLiam's review of The Legendary Starfy.

Platform: Nintendo DS (Emulated) Time Played: 15.75 hours Status: Completed ⟳ This is it, the final entry in the Starfy series, and one of the most nostalgic platformers from my childhood, and after playing it years later, it is definitely the best game in the series by far as it improves on everything from the past four games. The game was clearly made with the intention of eventually releasing outside of Japan and into English territories, as unlike previous game, many story elements and plotlines from previous entries are rarely talked about, or glossed over in both the Japanese and English versions of the game. When Starfy and Moe meet Old Man Lobber in this game, there are inconsistent statements regarding whether or not the two have met him before, but this honestly didn't end up being a big deal, although it was certainly welcome. Speaking of the story, this game follows the previous game's template of having the game's story build up heavily overtime, with the latter half of the game holding way more story moments and developments than the other half. The story is fairly basic with Starfy and Moe having to help their new companion Bunston recover his lost memories, and eventually get back to his home planet to thwart off the evil invaders. Besides that, the Terrible Trio that chases after Buston in an attempt to capture him throughout the game, Snips, Ronk, and Papes, gain a surprising amount of character development throughout the game, as they realize over the course of the story that Starfy and friends are living a much more fulfilling and happier life by helping others instead of hurting others in an attempt to gain power, and this specific story element is enhanced by the notes that can be found in the game's many treasure chests hidden throughout the levels. The climax of the game with the final showdown against Mashtooth is an incredible and moving end to not only this game's story, but Starfy's story as a whole with Starfy saving not just his world, but the entire galaxy, as he hears just how far his legendary status has travelled. Also Mashtooth is definitely the best design for any enemy in this series, and he is very iconic in my mind despite how little he appears in the game, as he only really shows up during Stage 7. I mistakenly said in my review of Densetsu no Stafy 4 that both that game and this game share the same engine, but it turns out that isn't the case, and it is certainly for the better. This game controls so smoothly and is just incredibly fun and rewarding to play, and I am so glad that the developers at TOSE decided to change up the engine to improve the overall gameplay and graphical experience. Of course it is 'technically' the same, but it is tweaked to perfection. A lot of the graphics from the previous entry have been transferred over to this one, but that is not at all an issue, I mean, even the first three entries did the same thing and shared the same engine. The level design and themes in this game aren't as original and unique as Stafy 4, but nonetheless they are all still great, with each one essentially being staples from the GBA titles. Of course we have the opening level with a green basic ocean level, a hot spring level replacing the traditional lava level, an ice level with a snowball gameplay section, a forest level with some cool twists to make it stand out more, a cool mine with colorful gemstone backgrounds and a few cool minecart gameplay section, a cloud section with some cool differences that make it stand out from previous cloud levels, a sunken ship level that acts as a combination between previous haunted areas and sunken ship areas, and this is honestly one of the best level themes, and the Planet Bunnera acts as an outer-space/castle set of levels and are some of the most original level themes from the entire series. The background tracks for each level fit perfectly and are all very catchy and memorable. Speaking of the soundtrack, this game's soundtrack is by far the best overall of the series, although the ladder half of Stafy 4 definitely had its fair share of bangers, and although this game definitely has its bangers, the overall soundtrack is definitely the best. The track that plays during the final boss is honestly one of the most amazing final boss tracks I've ever heard in a game and I cannot express that enough, that specific track is just so utterly good and perfect. They've gotten rid of pretty much all of the classic tracks from the previous games except for the title screen theme and the Starfy dance theme, but what themes like the original boss theme is replaced by is an incredibly great and much more suspenseful and epic than the original. The theme for the room before the boss is from the original games but it once again is much more suspenseful and really gets you tense and ready before the boss. The game's setup has been heavily improved from the previous entries. In all four previous entries, the player makes their way through the story, defeats the final boss, and is thrown back into the world and told to collect all of a certain item in order to fight a harder version of the final boss in order to get the real ending, or to even get an ending when it comes to the third and fourth game. There is none of that pace-breaking shenanigans in this game. The player can collect each of the game's treasure chests and transformation upgrades as they play through the story, and everything is optional, but finding treasures feels incredibly rewarding, and I am so glad that collectibles are no longer tied to the postgame only. There are even secret doors in the second, third and fourth levels of each stage where you can do short minigame-esc tasks for a majority of the side characters. Each of these are pretty unique and fun to go through, and they all reward you for going out of your way by unlocking one of the three secret levels hidden throughout each world. This setup is far more rewarding than having extra and more difficult levels unlock in the postgame like in games 2, 3 and 4. Just the overall setup and structure of the game and postgame is great in this entry, and it definitely makes it the most rewarding to see through fully and to 100% complete. Case in point as this is the only game in the series that I bothered to fully complete. The postgame in this game is also very creative in the fact that you are granted a ninth bonus world/stage that takes place during the main game's story, where the player plays as Starly in Pufftop while Starfy was off searching for crystal shards with Moe and Bunston. Playing as Starly has never felt so fluid and smooth and this is definitely a result of the game's new and heavily improved engine, but it makes me miss having tag-team levels where Starfy and Starly assist each other to complete puzzles like in games 3 and 4. Sure you can have Starfy and Starly play through levels together, but only through local multiplayer with someone else, and even then, the levels just allow Starly to help the main player to collect more Pearls in a singular room, or to fight the stage's boss together. Getting back to Stage 9, it provides a majority of the game's fan-service by not only featuring Konk, a boss that appeared in every entry in the series, but Starly can talk to some of Pufftop's guards in order to hear vague and short summaries on the plots of the previous entries in the series. The castle theme used for Pufftop's levels are pretty great, and it acts as a great postgame. The secret Stage 10 acts as the extra difficult levels that occupied the entire postgame in previous games. Each level in Stage 10 are fairly difficult time attacks, and by completing the levels in a short enough time, the player can unlock the secret final boss, Master Lobber, which for fans of the previous games is an incredible end to the series as Lobber had previously been seen using anime-inspired powers in the climax of Densetsu no Stafy 2, and in flashbacks in Stafy 3. Getting to fight Master Lobber with his anime powers and literal Super Saiyan form while the final battle music plays in the background is an incredible piece of fan service for longtime fans such as myself, and is a great way to end the series. Here are my two very minor nitpicks. This is definitely the easiest game in the series, and that isn't the best choice in my opinion. Sure, it isn't the worst decision, but I feel like the previous four games nailed the difficultly level throughout those respective games, meanwhile this game is just too easy for myself, now much more experienced than I was when I was younger and found this game difficult. Besides that, this game doesn't try to be as funny as previous entries, but it makes up for it in more wholesome dialog between characters. The lack of comedic humor may also be a result of the English localization which may have made the dialog less comical. The cutscene format is also just somewhat static sprites of plush doll renditions of all of the characters talking. I feel like I would prefer the style of cutscenes from Stafy 2 and 3, but what is here in this game is still pretty good, and it's nice to see the characters in this new plush-like art style. Although, a few of the characters didn't translate well to this style, such as the Mermaid and Mega Mashtooth. For instance, Mega Mashtooth's 3D model in the final battle and his overall design looks great, although his plush design in the manga/motion cutscenes along with his sprite in the toy collection just look odd. But as I said, both of those things are just nitpicks. To conclude, this was a great way to end off my Starfy journey, and the series in general, as the last time any hints towards a new entry was when the series director said back in 2009 that there were plans for a sixth game. But as I said at the start of this review, this game pretty much perfects pretty much every issue I had with previous entries in this series, and my pure nostalgia for this game is incredibly immense, and I have always fondly remembered so much of this game. I cannot recommend this game enough to people who want a cool marine/swimming twist on traditional 2D platformers, or just to have a fun and heart warming experience in general. Please check this game out!! I implore you to!!!