Starfy Series with The RPG Monger, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Final Thoughts

[00:00:08] Welcome to Tokyo Game Life, a Tokyo-based video game podcast focusing on Nintendo and gaming culture in Japan's capital.

[00:00:15] Your host Mono here to bring you a slice of gaming life from Tokyo.

[00:00:19] Today I'm joined by YouTuber, the RPG Monger as we feature the Starfy series.

[00:00:24] We get into all the details about one of Nintendo's most under-the-radar platformer franchises that has mostly been Japan only until recently.

[00:00:32] Is the series too Japanese for Western audiences?

[00:00:35] How is it different from Mario and Kirby?

[00:00:37] Is Starfy even a star?

[00:00:39] All will be answered.

[00:00:40] In the game section, I share my final thoughts on The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, plus a bit of news including Sega stores and Nintendo clocks.

[00:00:49] Let's jump into the feature on the Starfy series with the RPG Monger.

[00:01:00] Today's feature is about Densetsu no Starfy or the Legendary Starfy series.

[00:01:04] Once a Japan-only franchise, it eventually got a Western release and has found new interest thanks to the first three titles,

[00:01:10] hitting the West for the first time ever thanks to Nintendo Switch Online.

[00:01:14] Joining me to chat all about the series is a special guest.

[00:01:17] So guest, please introduce yourself.

[00:01:19] Hello everyone.

[00:01:19] I am the RPG Monger, that Mughal guy on the internet, and I've covered various games and various retrospectives and all that.

[00:01:27] And I'm here.

[00:01:28] I'm excited to talk about Starfy.

[00:01:30] Yes, thanks for joining me.

[00:01:31] The first question is always the most obvious.

[00:01:33] What is the Densetsu no Starfy franchise?

[00:01:36] Well, it's these five little floaty platformers that span from the Game Boy Advance to the DS.

[00:01:45] And unfortunately, for pretty much the entire world, people only really knew this series from the fifth and final game in the franchise, which came out everywhere.

[00:01:55] It's just the legendary Starfy.

[00:01:57] But in reality, it had four other games that came out only in Japan.

[00:02:02] Yeah, Nintendo certainly has its fair share of platformers, but Starfy is definitely one of the more under the radar series for Western gamers.

[00:02:08] When did you first become aware of the series?

[00:02:10] Was it through the DS game?

[00:02:12] Yeah, actually, it's a game I had as a kid.

[00:02:14] Mm-hmm.

[00:02:14] So I remember the story was, I was in GameStop and I wanted to get a copy of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky.

[00:02:23] And I was about to get it.

[00:02:25] And I remember one of the employees that came up to me and was like, hey, you could get this game, but you could also get this game that's new and you've never played before.

[00:02:33] And I was like, okay, you know what?

[00:02:35] Why not?

[00:02:36] And I got that game pretty close to around when it came out.

[00:02:39] And I loved it.

[00:02:40] I played it a ton as a kid.

[00:02:42] Was it also more expensive than Pokemon Mystery Dungeon?

[00:02:45] I mean, I can't say I remember the exact price, but it probably was a little bit more expensive because I think I was taking Mystery Dungeon out of the used box.

[00:02:54] But yeah, no.

[00:02:55] So that's how I first found out about Starfy.

[00:02:58] And back then I didn't know anything about the other games that I only recently discovered.

[00:03:02] Yeah, this is definitely a trend when talking about obscure Nintendo franchises on this podcast.

[00:03:06] But I want to say I maybe heard of it first through Smash Brothers.

[00:03:10] Starfy does have an assist trophy in Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

[00:03:14] So one of the first assist trophies ever.

[00:03:17] And he's appeared in the subsequent Smash games.

[00:03:19] And he even had his own page on the legendary Smash Dojo website.

[00:03:24] And it was about a year later when a Starfy game finally hit Western Shores, the one you just talked about.

[00:03:29] But before that game, it actually has quite a long history.

[00:03:33] What can you tell us about the origins of Starfy as a franchise?

[00:03:37] Well, real quick, outside of Smash, Starfy also had a little bit of a cameo in Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga.

[00:03:42] Oh!

[00:03:42] That's the other.

[00:03:43] Yeah, no, that one's even more obscure because it's just like this little poster in a movie theater.

[00:03:47] But the origins of Starfy, it's interesting because it had a really bizarre development for like the first one.

[00:03:55] If I remember correctly, it started out as Nintendo wanted Tose, which is this little, it's this other development company that's pretty closely associated with Nintendo.

[00:04:06] And they do work on a lot of different games.

[00:04:10] And they basically wanted them to make a floaty platformer.

[00:04:14] And so first it started out as a Game Boy game, but by the time it was actually making progress, the Game Boy Color had already come out.

[00:04:21] So then they switched to the Game Boy Color and that version got close to release to the point where they were showing off little demos of it at one of the old space world conventions.

[00:04:33] And unfortunately, the exact same thing happened by the time that was almost done.

[00:04:38] The Game Boy Advance was coming out.

[00:04:40] So then they switched again and the first Starfy game came out on the Game Boy Advance after all that time.

[00:04:46] Yeah, I want to go back to Tose.

[00:04:48] It is important to know that it is a Tose developed game and Tose, of course, one of the most important Japanese developers ever as they have secretly worked on hundreds of games.

[00:04:56] And they're in Kyoto and they have very close ties with Nintendo and they don't offer any creative input.

[00:05:02] But if you need somebody to help code your game, you go to Tose.

[00:05:06] They're like the kind of animation studio you see people just have work on everything, just a place to outsource work to.

[00:05:12] That's kind of what Tose is for video games.

[00:05:15] But they actually do co-own Starfy, which is one of the few, if not only, franchise that Tose actually has some degree of ownership in.

[00:05:22] Why do you think Nintendo entrusted Tose, which is normally seen as a ghost developer, to create a brand new series?

[00:05:28] Well, I'm not entirely sure.

[00:05:31] Most likely, if I had to guess, it's probably just the simple reason of they probably already had a lot of other companies working on things.

[00:05:41] And I mean, they're a pretty good candidate for something like this with how much they've worked on.

[00:05:46] All right. We're going to get into the actual games, but the most important question, what is Starfy?

[00:05:50] I think many assume he is a starfish, but he lives in the sky, but he's not from space.

[00:05:55] So I don't know if he would technically be a star.

[00:05:57] So is he some sort of new species or has anyone definitively said what he is?

[00:06:02] I think funnily enough, I might be just completely wrong, but I vaguely remember the devs or Nintendo or some official entity saying that Starfy isn't a starfish.

[00:06:15] So I don't know. I suppose he's just a protoplasm Kirby.

[00:06:20] Okay, let's get into the first game, the Japan only Densetsu no Starfy, which launched in 2002.

[00:06:26] First of all, why do you think this franchise was Japan only for so long to begin with?

[00:06:30] Okay, well, that actually does have a little bit of a story behind it.

[00:06:33] So they did want to localize the first Starfy, but it's Nintendo of America that kept that from happening.

[00:06:40] Because, unfortunately, back in the 2000s and also before then, localizing games from Japan was very different compared to how it is today.

[00:06:49] In that if a game was deemed to be too foreign or, you know, too quote unquote Japanese, oftentimes it wouldn't get localized.

[00:07:00] And Starfy was the victim of that because executives at Nintendo of America deemed the first Starfy game to be, you know, too Japanese for American audiences at the time.

[00:07:10] Which is kind of insane because it really, you know, I know you've played the first one.

[00:07:16] It really isn't even that much.

[00:07:17] It has references to Japanese culture, but it's nothing crazy.

[00:07:20] Yeah, even though I played it in Japanese, I never really thought it was very steeped into Japanese culture.

[00:07:26] It's not like Splatoon, which definitely ties into a lot of cultural elements regarding fish and seafood.

[00:07:31] It feels very much just a fantasy world with cartoon fish in them.

[00:07:35] And I definitely think if this series did come over during the GBA days, it would have absolutely gotten at least a cult fan base in the West.

[00:07:43] And the first game has quite a lot of text, which did surprise me, though.

[00:07:47] Can you give us an overview of the structure of the Starfy games in general?

[00:07:50] Well, it mostly has they mostly have the same structure throughout them all.

[00:07:55] Basically, it's your typical little platformer where the main unique thing is it kind of alternates between being completely underwater and being on land and sometimes a mix of the two.

[00:08:08] And that at its core is honestly already mostly enough for the game to stand on its own.

[00:08:13] But on top of that, they also throughout the series have a little gimmicks where at least in the fifth one, the one everyone knows, Starfy would have these little times where you could like transform into a dragon or a seal and stuff like that just for little special segments.

[00:08:29] And this is a really delightful little series.

[00:08:32] They're very fun.

[00:08:33] Yeah, it has an unexpected emphasis on story and quest to progress instead of just hitting a goal at the end.

[00:08:39] It does.

[00:08:39] Normally, you know, even in Kirby or Mario, you just, you know, go to the right.

[00:08:43] The Starfy is a bit more complex in how you actually complete the level.

[00:08:47] And this really helps separate it from a lot of Nintendo platformers because it does mix action and puzzles together, making it a bit closer to Kirby.

[00:08:54] It does.

[00:08:54] But it does feel like its own thing.

[00:08:56] So what are your thoughts on the first game, Dinsetsu No Starfy overall?

[00:09:00] It's a nice little game.

[00:09:01] It's not very long because this game actually, it's the only game that has an English patch that fans have actually translated for it.

[00:09:09] And that's how I played the first one.

[00:09:11] And it's a good little game.

[00:09:12] There's not that much to it compared to all the later ones, but it's a very good foundation for the series.

[00:09:17] Yeah, I played it to completion a few weeks ago, thanks to Nintendo Switch Online.

[00:09:20] We'll get into the NSO releases soon, but I quite liked it.

[00:09:23] It is quite short.

[00:09:24] It's only three or so hours, but the structure is just very unique for a Nintendo platformer.

[00:09:29] And while Starfy, he doesn't have a ton of abilities.

[00:09:32] The ones he does have are pretty fun to use.

[00:09:35] I really like hurling myself out of the water at Mach speed with a spin attack.

[00:09:39] That's always really fun.

[00:09:41] And it is kind of neat to see Starfy get dizzy if you spam the spin attacks too much.

[00:09:46] His main attack is just a spin attack.

[00:09:48] So the devs, they did want you to hold back or do rhythmic spins to navigate the stages instead of just mashing a, which is kind of an interesting mechanic.

[00:09:57] Oh yeah, it'd be too easy otherwise.

[00:09:59] And it probably has maybe some of the best swimming ever in a 2D platformer.

[00:10:03] You just move so quickly that it never feels like you're being hindered by being underwater.

[00:10:07] And the graphics are also really fantastic.

[00:10:10] The giant bosses look great.

[00:10:11] And Starfy is also very emotive.

[00:10:14] Now I haven't touched two or three yet, which are also on the GPA.

[00:10:17] So how did those games compare to the first title?

[00:10:20] Oh, they're much better.

[00:10:22] They definitely get a bit more challenging, especially in the third one.

[00:10:25] Not only does that one have probably the hardest fights in the series, but that one, you're talking about how the first one has a good emphasis on story.

[00:10:34] The story actually in that one gets kind of like a bit heavy with how it deals with the characters.

[00:10:40] I won't go into specifics.

[00:10:41] I don't want to spoil you, but I definitely recommend you play it.

[00:10:44] I know you'll like it.

[00:10:45] Do you have a favorite title from the GBA trilogy?

[00:10:48] Oh, the third one for sure.

[00:10:49] The second one's good, but the third one beats the, you know, the first two out of the water.

[00:10:55] Okay.

[00:10:55] So it really seems like they really iterated upon each of the entries.

[00:10:59] Oh, absolutely.

[00:11:00] Yeah.

[00:11:00] I should also mention that inside the game, there are also different mini games.

[00:11:05] Oftentimes you're knocking Starfy around, which I don't know how I feel about that because he does get beat up quite a bit in these mini games.

[00:11:11] I do have a favorite mini game from the GBA series.

[00:11:13] I do have a favorite mini game from the fifth one.

[00:11:17] Uh, cause I, I don't remember the mini games from the GBA ones too well, but I played a ton out of the mini games in that and the one that came out to America because I remember it had, it had like this little fishing mini game that I played a ton of.

[00:11:33] And it had another mini game where if I'm not mistaken, you were cooking Takayaki and that was so fun.

[00:11:39] I love that mini game.

[00:11:41] I definitely recommend you try those out.

[00:11:42] They're great.

[00:11:43] I noticed the villain from the first game.

[00:11:45] Ogre comes back.

[00:11:46] Is he the Bowser of the Starfy series?

[00:11:48] Kinda for the, for the first three years.

[00:11:51] Uh, he doesn't come back for the fourth or fifth one, but for the first trilogy, it kind of revolves around him as a villain.

[00:11:58] What is he anyways?

[00:12:00] Is he like a duck or a sea slug or what?

[00:12:02] Beats me.

[00:12:03] I wouldn't know.

[00:12:04] He's a little creature.

[00:12:05] Yeah.

[00:12:06] I got big duck vibes.

[00:12:07] I guess it's his beak, but he does kind of look like a ghost maybe as well.

[00:12:11] His final form is like a ghost.

[00:12:13] So he's some sort of mix between a lot of different things.

[00:12:16] So like Starfy, he has an ambiguous origin, I guess.

[00:12:19] Yeah.

[00:12:19] I wouldn't know in the second game, he like gives birth to eight children out of his nose.

[00:12:24] So yes, the series did continue on the DS with, it didn't sense to know Starfy 4 in 2006.

[00:12:30] So Tose was really cranking out almost a Starfy game a year.

[00:12:33] The first one in 2002.

[00:12:34] Oh yeah.

[00:12:35] No, they were going crazy.

[00:12:36] Yeah.

[00:12:36] It was the GBA trilogy was 02, 03, 04, then a little break and then 06 for the DS.

[00:12:42] So what were the big gameplay changes for the Starfy series now that it hit the DS?

[00:12:47] Well, for one, the second they hit the DS, they were already starting to use a lot of more 3D elements, even in the fourth one.

[00:12:54] While they went a little bit harder with it in the fifth one, even in the fourth one, I remember one of the biggest changes was just the graphical style with all the backgrounds now being 3D instead.

[00:13:04] And it has this little cool thing where if you swim above the water, you can see the background also emerging out of the water.

[00:13:11] And it's a really cool little detail.

[00:13:13] Okay.

[00:13:14] We can finally get to the Starfy game.

[00:13:15] Some of my listeners have maybe actually played the legendary Starfy in English, which is, I guess, kind of a more direct translation of Densetsu no Starfy.

[00:13:23] You could call it the legend of Starfy, but maybe they wanted to separate it a bit from Zelda.

[00:13:28] And it hit Japan in June 2008 and it took a year for it to hit the West in 2009.

[00:13:33] So how did the game get a worldwide release?

[00:13:36] Is this the least Japanese of the Starfy series?

[00:13:39] Kind of.

[00:13:40] It's interesting.

[00:13:40] So while the fifth game is very good, they did in an attempt to make the series appeal to more.

[00:13:49] Because by the time the fifth game came out, it already, the series wasn't doing that great in Japan anymore.

[00:13:54] So the fifth was kind of the last ditch effort of the series to gain some momentum again by, you know, going overseas.

[00:14:02] And in that, it's weird.

[00:14:04] The game does lose a bit of what makes the Starfy series so interesting in the first four where, and it's not even things relating to like the Japanese aspects.

[00:14:15] It's just random little things.

[00:14:16] I remember one thing that's not in that game for whatever reason is in the first four, every time like you go up to a boss, they have the little dialogue spiel they give you.

[00:14:26] And it's this cool little unit thing that you don't see games do really.

[00:14:29] And that's just not in the fifth game for whatever reason.

[00:14:32] And it's just little things like that are kind of missing.

[00:14:35] So when you play the first four and go to that one, you can tell they were trying to change it up a bit.

[00:14:40] But it's still a great game.

[00:14:42] The gameplay is great.

[00:14:43] The fights are great.

[00:14:45] There's a certain fight in that game where you have to mash the button and it completely annihilated me as a kid.

[00:14:49] The only way I was able to beat it was I had to get my friend to come in and mash the button for me to be able to beat it.

[00:14:55] It's a great game.

[00:14:56] Besides the changes in presentation, is there any specific gameplay mechanic that makes it stand out against the other four?

[00:15:02] It kind of follows the same more or less formula where it's still the same platforming.

[00:15:09] You're still the same attacks.

[00:15:10] You can still speed through the water and all that.

[00:15:12] The main change is just the gimmick for that game where you have those transformations where you can become the dragon, the seal.

[00:15:19] There's another one that I'm definitely forgetting.

[00:15:22] And also the plot is pretty much completely separate from all the others.

[00:15:25] There's not really any...

[00:15:28] Actually, no.

[00:15:29] There is one reference to the plot of the other games where at the very, very end there is a character that mentions Ogura just offhandedly.

[00:15:37] And that is the only link to the other four.

[00:15:41] So would you say that the fifth game is your favorite in the series?

[00:15:44] It's a good game.

[00:15:45] I definitely have a lot of nostalgia for it, but I don't know.

[00:15:48] Objectively, I do kind of lean towards the third one because the third one really does have a kind of crazy story.

[00:15:54] And even though when I played it, well, you know, I was just playing the Japanese version and I was just cross-referencing between playing the game and looking at all the dialogue that people had translated and posted the forums online.

[00:16:05] And that's how I was able to read the dialogue for that game.

[00:16:09] Even like playing it, the story's genuinely pretty crazy for a little platformer aimed towards kids.

[00:16:14] It's really cool.

[00:16:15] Yeah, I really want to try out the DS games and compared to the other Starfy games, for whatever reason in Japan, the fifth one is actually the cheapest to buy used.

[00:16:22] So I might pick that one up eventually.

[00:16:24] The GBA games are, I don't say super expensive, but they will sit back.

[00:16:28] They're maybe 30-ish to 40-ish dollars US.

[00:16:31] So I am glad that they just added them to NSO.

[00:16:34] That saved me a lot of money.

[00:16:35] Yeah, no, be glad you're not here.

[00:16:37] The retro game market in America is insane.

[00:16:40] You have no idea.

[00:16:41] Now, while Starfy got five games in a six-year span, since then it's gotten zero.

[00:16:46] What happened to the Starfy series?

[00:16:48] Did it just not sell well enough or did some key people leave the dev team or what are your other theories?

[00:16:53] Oh, definitely selling has a lot to do with it because by the time the fifth one came out, it was already in decline.

[00:17:00] Sadly, the Starfy series had been giving diminishing returns every release and that held true with the fifth one.

[00:17:07] I'm pretty sure it performed worse out of the entire series in Japan and worldwide.

[00:17:12] It did get some sales, but nothing crazy.

[00:17:15] And it wasn't helped by reviewers at the time because this was around when it came out.

[00:17:22] This was right around when you just see a ton of game reviewers dismiss all sorts of games just because they kind of look like another game.

[00:17:29] I know Starfy was a victim of just being called a Kirby clone and other ridiculous things.

[00:17:33] And that didn't help. That and any new little franchise like that, it's never gonna be that easy to get off the ground.

[00:17:40] That's unfortunately all comes down to luck a lot of the time.

[00:17:44] So it didn't have anything going for it.

[00:17:47] The entire history of this series, it really is an underdog story where from the very beginning, they kept being met with setbacks, but still were able to produce five great games.

[00:17:58] In terms of the future, I don't know. I mean, Tose sure hasn't really shown any sign of working on Starfy again, but also with how much they keep to themselves in terms of the stuff they do.

[00:18:13] It's hard to really say whether or not they would ever go back to it.

[00:18:16] But honestly, the only real anything about Starfy is the releases on Nintendo Switch Online.

[00:18:22] That was super out of left field for me. I could have never predicted that would happen.

[00:18:26] I had accepted at this point that Starfy is just, you know, one of the many forgotten franchises to be left in the dust.

[00:18:33] But somehow it's on Switch Online and now people are playing it, which makes me very happy.

[00:18:40] Yes, not quite totally forgotten because as you said, Nintendo did add the first three Starfy games to Nintendo Switch Online, not only in Japan, but they also got their first ever Western release.

[00:18:50] And these were not translated, but you can still play them on the US app, which a few games are like that.

[00:18:55] But I would say this one is a bit more text heavy than say Mario Super Picross.

[00:18:59] So what was your reaction to seeing the Starfy games come back after all these years?

[00:19:04] I could have never predicted it, especially with how, oh, you know, not well it did in America.

[00:19:11] I never thought they would ever do anything with Starfy ever again outside of a little cameo here and there.

[00:19:16] But no, it's great.

[00:19:18] And it does suck that it's untranslated because it's not that much work to translate them.

[00:19:24] There's dialogue, but it's nothing crazy, which it's a little bit unfortunate.

[00:19:28] And I don't know, maybe they'll put out a translation patch, but that's extremely wishful thinking.

[00:19:33] But I mean, as opposed to radio silence for maybe more than 10 years now, it's definitely better than that.

[00:19:41] Yeah, I'm trying to think of a person who knew zero Japanese could complete Starfy 1.

[00:19:45] And I think maybe since the game does a pretty good job in pushing you to the next objective.

[00:19:50] But I still think most people would need a guide.

[00:19:53] Where do you think people should start with the series?

[00:19:55] Should they just try out the NSO games or try to pick up the English game on DS?

[00:20:00] Well, you can't go wrong with the English game on the DS because as I said, it doesn't really have too much links to the rest of the franchise.

[00:20:07] I'd say play that one. And if you want more, you can then go check out the older ones because you're definitely not getting a new one.

[00:20:14] If they made a six Starfy game, what would you like to see in it?

[00:20:18] Oh man, I'd like to see Starfy and like to see him swimming around.

[00:20:21] That would be enough to put a smile on my face.

[00:20:23] Yeah, I mean, it would be great.

[00:20:25] They could do so much because gosh, last game was on the DS.

[00:20:28] So putting a game like that on modern consoles, they could do all sorts of things.

[00:20:33] My God, they could even make a 3D platformer if they wanted.

[00:20:35] But yeah, I mean, I'd be happy to see any new content from this series because I think it's such a shame that it's been kind of abandoned for the most part now.

[00:20:45] Except for recently, I suppose.

[00:20:47] Well, Starfy is technically in HD in a game 25 million people have played.

[00:20:51] Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

[00:20:53] He's an assist trophy, his third appearance in Smash as an assist trophy.

[00:20:57] And some other characters like Moe are also spirits in the game.

[00:21:00] I believe Starly is also another spirit.

[00:21:02] Now as an assist trophy, he is very comically weak.

[00:21:05] Why is he so pitiful in Smash?

[00:21:07] Does Sakurai have some beef with Starfy?

[00:21:10] I mean, Sakurai created Kirby.

[00:21:12] There can be only one cutesy franchise on the block, I suppose.

[00:21:15] Yeah, I don't know.

[00:21:17] I guess maybe he just hasn't played the Starfy games, maybe.

[00:21:20] He's got to study up.

[00:21:22] If Starfy became an actual playable character in Smash, what moves should he have?

[00:21:26] And what should his final Smash be?

[00:21:27] It's more likely for him to get another game.

[00:21:29] I mean, geez, well, they have a lot of things they could pull from.

[00:21:33] There's all the little gimmicks in the, I guess not the first game, but the four that came after it all have their own little thing going on.

[00:21:40] So they could draw from that.

[00:21:41] Though, odds are if they were to base him off of anything, it would probably be mostly the fifth game as that is what most people know Starfy for now, at least outside of Japan, that is.

[00:21:53] And I could only hope that the final Smash would involve me button matching so I could relive my memories of not being able to do it.

[00:22:00] What about his stage? Where should Starfy's stage be?

[00:22:04] Hmm.

[00:22:05] Ah, I feel like it'd be better off to just set it in the beginning areas, because that's the one thing that's consistent throughout all five games.

[00:22:13] They all start off in that little coral reef type area.

[00:22:17] So, I'd say that would probably be it.

[00:22:20] Either that or something crazy, where the final boss fight takes place in the fifth game, because you're in space at that point.

[00:22:28] Oh, okay.

[00:22:28] So they could do something with that.

[00:22:30] But, yeah, no, they do have a good bit they could pick from.

[00:22:33] Yeah, and I think Starfy has a better shot than most.

[00:22:35] So let's hope the Switch 2 Smash game gives him a buff.

[00:22:38] But that was a look at the Dincessary No Starfy series.

[00:22:41] Definitely worth checking out if you're into Nintendo platformers, because it does stand out in some very unique ways.

[00:22:46] So, the RPG Monger, where can people find you?

[00:22:49] Well, you can find me on my YouTube channel, the RPG Monger, where I haven't uploaded since the beginning of the year, but I will be putting out a video very soon.

[00:22:58] I'm currently working on one right now, so keep an eye out for that.

[00:23:02] I am on Blue Sky, where I post pictures of my gecko and not much else.

[00:23:06] I stream on Twitch, though I haven't done that in a bit.

[00:23:09] Those streams will resume when the aforementioned video comes out.

[00:23:13] But who cares about that?

[00:23:15] Go play Starfy, people listening to this podcast.

[00:23:17] They're very good.

[00:23:18] You know, it's not worth checking me out.

[00:23:19] Go play those games.

[00:23:20] That's a much better use of your time.

[00:23:22] Go do that.

[00:23:22] You can do both, listeners.

[00:23:23] So please do both.

[00:23:25] Play Starfy and also check out the RPG Monger's YouTube channel, including his amazing Starfy video, if you want to see some more.

[00:23:31] Thank you.

[00:23:31] So the links to everything will be in the podcast description, so listeners, check it out.

[00:23:35] RPG Monger, once again, thanks for joining me.

[00:23:37] For sure.

[00:23:39] Happy to talk about Starfy.

[00:23:46] Thank you.

[00:23:46] Roll credits on The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom.

[00:23:49] This is the latest Grezzo joint where you play as the titular Zelda and summon all manner of objects in your quest to save Hyrule.

[00:23:55] I gave some early impressions last episode, but now here are my final thoughts on Echoes of Wisdom.

[00:24:00] Although honestly, not really, because I highly enjoyed the game and I'm sure it will pop up again on the game of the year episode, which is sooner than later.

[00:24:09] It's getting that time of year.

[00:24:10] Last episode, I had cleared four dungeons.

[00:24:12] And so about halfway through.

[00:24:14] And I got to say, the game notably improves in the back half of the game.

[00:24:18] More side quests open up.

[00:24:19] There's more things you can interact with in the world.

[00:24:22] I don't want to say the real game starts from the fourth dungeon on, but I was pretty surprised at just how much content seemingly appears out of nowhere.

[00:24:29] Once you reach the midway point, the dungeons alone are much better in the back half of the game.

[00:24:35] The early ones are a bit random, but the later ones are more coherent in terms of the gameplay structure and how the puzzles build upon themselves.

[00:24:43] The later dungeons, especially the ice dungeon, which is by far the best dungeon in the game, get much more complex in terms of puzzles.

[00:24:50] And now that you've built up a good arsenal of Echoes, you feel the strengths of the game's flexibility and openness.

[00:24:55] You'll start to encounter puzzles and challenges that will stump you.

[00:24:58] And when you do solve them, you'll likely think there was no way what I did was the intended solution.

[00:25:04] And that's great.

[00:25:05] It's what you feel often in Breath of the Wild.

[00:25:07] And it's amazing that Grezzo and Nintendo managed to recapture that feeling in a top down Zelda.

[00:25:12] There has always been a sort of hard line between 2D and 3D Zelda in terms of the gameplay features.

[00:25:17] And that's become emphasized even more now that we have the Switch open air Zelda titles.

[00:25:21] But Echoes of Wisdom manages to weave in the freedom and creativity of those titles while still emphasizing the good parts of the traditional 2D Zelda games.

[00:25:29] It manages to feel familiar and cozy, but also very new and exciting thanks to the incredibly fun Echoes mechanic.

[00:25:36] You get a lot of reliable Echoes early on, but there are plenty of hidden and late game Echoes that will absolutely make you perk up.

[00:25:42] As you level up your little fairy buddy, some of the Echoes will cost less.

[00:25:45] So an Echo that you could only summon one of early on in the game, eventually you'll be able to summon three of them.

[00:25:51] You max out at six triangles and I wondered, is the game going to let me summon six one triangle objects?

[00:25:57] And the answer is yes.

[00:25:58] The game never feels like it's punishing or restricting you at all.

[00:26:01] If you've got the ammo, you can use it.

[00:26:03] I've gained an even greater appreciation of the Echoes system by hearing about how other players are using them.

[00:26:08] It really does feel like everyone has their own personal favorites when it comes to Echoes, both in combat and puzzle solving.

[00:26:14] I think early on a lot of people will have the quote unquote bed criticism where everything can be simply solved by just stacking beds.

[00:26:20] And yes, stacking beds is reliable throughout the entirety of the game, but there are definitely sections where that is not viable.

[00:26:26] And again, the game has plenty of puzzles.

[00:26:29] So a traversal challenge you saw via beds is not the end of the world.

[00:26:33] Imagine if you had to do a shrine level puzzle challenge every time there was a gap, you'd go crazy.

[00:26:37] The game doesn't care if you bed or water block your way across some gaps, which again ties in with the game, letting you completely off the leash and allowing players to interact with the world how they want.

[00:26:47] But back to specific Echoes, one underrated Echo is the seagull.

[00:26:51] These are very aggressive, they can fly and they're cheap.

[00:26:54] So I was just summoning hordes of seagulls to dispose of foes later on in the game.

[00:26:57] There are also some big boy enemy Echoes you can get like enhanced versions of Darknuts and Lizalfos and other enemies I won't spoil.

[00:27:05] But it is surreal to summon some of these iconic classic Zelda enemies just to do your bidding.

[00:27:10] There are also a great deal of brand new objects and enemies that serve as Echoes.

[00:27:13] One of the cooler ones being a ball that shoots out air, which allows you to do some fun traversal maneuvers.

[00:27:18] If Grezzo's next game was just Echoes of Wisdom 2, I wouldn't complain at all.

[00:27:23] I think this is such a fascinating mechanic that I really haven't seen in other games and it can be almost an entire own subgenre of Zelda.

[00:27:30] Touching on some other gameplay elements, the game nails exploration and there are so many secrets and optional areas to encounter.

[00:27:36] There are multiple mini dungeons with completely unique bosses, including one returning boss that I never imagined would show up again in Zelda.

[00:27:43] And it talks.

[00:27:44] I'm all for talking bosses.

[00:27:46] I'm tired of guttural roars.

[00:27:48] There are also a lot of optional items to find as well, and you can equip them to Zelda to give you buffs.

[00:27:53] You never know what's going to be in a cave.

[00:27:55] It could be a brand new Echo, some game changing equipment or a treasure box with a pumpkin in it.

[00:28:00] I can definitely see some people being a little annoyed at the reward balance in the game since you do get a lot of smoothie mats.

[00:28:06] I used smoothies quite often and found them to be quite useful for resistances, but I can understand if some people ignore them to save money and just heal via the bed.

[00:28:15] Having to buy smoothies is kind of annoying since you can just cook for free in Tears of the Kingdom, but I think that is there to balance out the economy.

[00:28:23] Also, the business scrubs are greedy.

[00:28:25] They just make sense lore-wise.

[00:28:27] Speaking of lore, this game goes into quite some unpredictable directions and dishes out quite a bit of Zelda lore for those who are really into that, such as myself.

[00:28:35] I love all the new lore tidbits.

[00:28:37] It touches on some interesting aspect of Hyrule's history without contradicting something like in a lot of other Zelda games.

[00:28:43] Plus, the game story overall, smartly ties in Zelda's unique position and her powers, which helps her stand out from Link.

[00:28:49] This is something a lot of people might not think about unless they are lore heads, but I did like how Zelda's challenges, abilities and benefits are distinctly different from what Link can do or what he would experience.

[00:28:59] I'm glad they didn't just make her girl Link in terms of capabilities, but yeah, she does turn into Link sometimes and I do understand that there's still a subset of players who want to see Zelda just swing a sword around and do everything Link can do.

[00:29:11] For me though, I like the delineation between the two.

[00:29:14] Other good stuff, music, amazing.

[00:29:16] The field music slightly changes in the second half of the game and it's a wonderful, beautiful moment.

[00:29:22] It's wild how Nintendo just nails these small but meaningful things.

[00:29:26] I still love the art style. It's much improved from the Wind Waker art that many handheld Zeldos were locked to for years and I wouldn't mind them sticking with this for a few more games.

[00:29:34] But in terms of performance, it definitely chugs more than Link's Awakening ever did.

[00:29:39] I know a lot of people complained about Link's Awakening's performance, but it honestly never bothered me.

[00:29:44] I think I remember it chugging just once, but here it's much more noticeable.

[00:29:49] Where are you switched to?

[00:29:51] Some issues I had early on in the game still bugged me to the end.

[00:29:54] I do think that the world is just too big.

[00:29:56] Like I said earlier, there's a ton of secrets and interesting places to find, but there's also a lot of nothing.

[00:30:02] There are these huge areas with literally nothing to do or see in them, especially once you start crossing borders of the regions.

[00:30:08] I mean, put something here.

[00:30:10] Let us just have 30 hearts and throw some heart containers here.

[00:30:13] There is a quasi-Quarox seed mechanic in the little bits of might you collect,

[00:30:17] but these are not tied to puzzles and you can easily just wander into them, making them a bit less fun than Quarox seeds.

[00:30:24] I kind of get why there's so much empty space since they want to give you some room to experiment with your echoes,

[00:30:28] but I think compacting the game world a little bit more would do a lot more good than harm.

[00:30:33] The game took me about 25 to 30 hours to complete.

[00:30:36] I got all of the heart pieces, all echoes, all side quests done.

[00:30:40] I still have about 40 or more of those might seeds to get, but I'll probably just skip that.

[00:30:45] But it is a meaty game overall.

[00:30:47] Maybe technically the longest 2D Zelda game.

[00:30:50] I mean, most 2D Zelda games are 15 hours, maybe 20.

[00:30:53] Even Ocarina of Time is like a 20 to 25 hour game.

[00:30:57] But it definitely feels a lot faster and breezier than Tears of the Kingdom.

[00:31:01] I did have a Mario wonder moment with this game where I thought,

[00:31:04] man, this game feels really short.

[00:31:06] I think I've only played it for about 5 hours.

[00:31:08] But then when I checked my clock,

[00:31:09] oh, I have more than 20 hours into the game.

[00:31:12] It just flew by.

[00:31:14] While I loved the game, I would still put Link's Awakening at the top when it comes to 2D Zelda games.

[00:31:18] It's just overall a more consistent package when it comes to overworld exploration and dungeons.

[00:31:22] But Echoes of Wisdom is by far grander in scope,

[00:31:25] so I understand people preferring this game.

[00:31:27] In Link's Awakening, you get an item called Rock's Feather,

[00:31:30] which lets you jump over a one square gap.

[00:31:32] But in Echoes, you've got a jump button.

[00:31:34] And you can just ride flying tiles across gaps,

[00:31:37] or make a water block tower to swim up, or a bed staircase.

[00:31:40] We've come a long way from Rock's Feather.

[00:31:42] So Echoes of Wisdom, highly recommended.

[00:31:45] I think this is actually a pretty good entry point for Zelda,

[00:31:47] since it's not that hard or combat focused.

[00:31:50] I think it would be a pretty easy game to hand off to a young kid

[00:31:53] as their first action adventure game,

[00:31:54] as opposed to Tears of the Kingdom, which is significantly more complex.

[00:31:58] I can definitely gush more about the game,

[00:32:00] but let's save that for the game of the year talk.

[00:32:02] All right, that's it for games.

[00:32:03] Now for some news.

[00:32:11] A-L-A-R-M-O.

[00:32:14] Nintendo Sound Clock Alarmo.

[00:32:16] An alarm clock from Nintendo.

[00:32:18] This was the big shocker announcement a few days ago,

[00:32:20] although it wasn't too shocking since there were trademark leaks

[00:32:23] regarding some device Nintendo was working on.

[00:32:25] We knew it didn't have a battery, but I assumed this was some sort of Pokemon themed peripheral.

[00:32:30] A special alarm clock that plays Nintendo music was not on my bingo card.

[00:32:34] Sleep tech has become much more popular these past few years.

[00:32:37] Just look at Pokemon sleep.

[00:32:38] There's no shortage of apps or devices that can tell you everything about your sleep cycle.

[00:32:43] I'm not too educated in this field, but I don't know how Alarmo compares tech-wise

[00:32:47] compared to some of these devices.

[00:32:49] But none of those devices play jump up superstar.

[00:32:52] So what are you going to do?

[00:32:54] It's $100 and I kind of wanted to buy one ironically,

[00:32:56] but it seems much more focused on people who sleep by themselves in a bed, which I don't.

[00:33:01] So it recommends that I use button mode,

[00:33:03] but isn't the appeal to have all the extra data and features as well?

[00:33:07] So I think I will skip Alarmo, but it is a fascinating object.

[00:33:10] Nintendo actually released a lengthy developer interview about the creation of Alarmo,

[00:33:14] and it's been something that Nintendo has worked on for years.

[00:33:17] I can see them gradually shifting more towards trying out these quality of life devices.

[00:33:21] But again, this is a very competitive market.

[00:33:25] I kind of feel Nintendo will always be a little bit behind on tech when it comes to this field,

[00:33:29] relying mostly on their IP to drive sales.

[00:33:32] And yeah, will non Nintendo fans pick up Alarmo?

[00:33:35] Or is the intent just to be some extra thing to sell specifically to Nintendo hardcores?

[00:33:40] I do wonder how many Alarmo Nintendo wants to sell,

[00:33:43] like how many units would be considered a success.

[00:33:46] I will say that it sold out at Nintendo stores in Japan after a day.

[00:33:49] I did swing by Nintendo Tokyo and while they do have an Alarmo on display

[00:33:53] and a lot of ads running on the big screens,

[00:33:55] there's nary an Alarmo to be sold.

[00:33:57] I think they'll have no issue getting through that first wave of stock,

[00:34:00] but let's see in a year or two how many people are picking up an Alarmo.

[00:34:04] It would be funny if we got Alarmo updates through a Nintendo Direct.

[00:34:07] Imagine shifting from a brand new 3D Mario trailer to news that Alarmo now has Donkey Kong music.

[00:34:13] The other big piece of news is the big Pokemon leak or the Game Freak leak,

[00:34:18] or Freak leak as I like to call it.

[00:34:19] In August, somebody was able to hack into Game Freak's files and downloaded quite a lot of info,

[00:34:24] including personal information of Game Freak employees,

[00:34:26] which is bad and illegal.

[00:34:28] Please don't do that.

[00:34:29] But most people don't care about that info

[00:34:31] and instead they're digging through the thousands of files,

[00:34:34] unreleased concept art, lore bibles, betas,

[00:34:36] and all sorts of Pokemon related treasure troves.

[00:34:39] I can't get into everything in the leak because there is truly an insane amount,

[00:34:43] but it does make me badly want a Pokemon Historia.

[00:34:46] Game Freak really is sitting on a lot of fascinating development docs

[00:34:49] that could easily compile into a book or an exhibit.

[00:34:52] Just look at Itoi and how he turned some papers he found in boxes

[00:34:55] into a popular exhibit here in Tokyo,

[00:34:57] and he's releasing a book in a few weeks.

[00:34:59] I talked about Tears of the Kingdom Masterworks a few episodes ago

[00:35:02] and talked about how I would love retro versions of this type of book.

[00:35:05] I think it would at least maybe alleviate info that gets out from leaks,

[00:35:09] but there's always someone out there who wants to cause havoc.

[00:35:12] Last bit of news.

[00:35:13] There's apparently a Sega store coming to my beloved Shibuya Parko.

[00:35:16] This is home to Nintendo Tokyo, Capcom store,

[00:35:19] a Pokemon center, and a lot of other gaming and otaku hotspots.

[00:35:22] According to VGC, Sega's transmedia boss, Justin Scarpone,

[00:35:25] noted that a Sega store is coming to Parko.

[00:35:28] So this was kind of a thrown off little piece of info

[00:35:30] and not a huge announcement with a floor plan and whatnot.

[00:35:33] He also just said Parko,

[00:35:34] so it could technically be any Parko, but I have to assume it will be the Shibuya Parko.

[00:35:39] This is intriguing news since there's not really a Sega store anywhere in Tokyo or Japan,

[00:35:43] although there's plenty of places where you can buy Sonic merch and whatnot.

[00:35:47] My question is, where are they going to put it?

[00:35:49] Shibuya Parko is a massive complex,

[00:35:52] but all the game and otaku stuff is on the sixth floor

[00:35:54] that's mostly dominated by a Pokemon center in Nintendo Tokyo.

[00:35:58] If you look at the floor plan,

[00:36:00] there's literally no room unless they close another shop.

[00:36:03] So I have to imagine something will be closed or they're going to have to knock down a wall or something.

[00:36:07] I'm curious to see what kind of merch they will sell.

[00:36:09] I mean, Sega has a lot of IP and there's no shortage of things they can make.

[00:36:13] Burning Rangers garden hose, for instance.

[00:36:16] And hey, when they open it, I'll be sure to talk about it on the podcast.

[00:36:19] But for this episode, let's wrap it up.

[00:36:21] Thanks, as always, for listening.

[00:36:23] Be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast on your favorite app.

[00:36:26] Leave a five star review as well.

[00:36:27] It really helps with visibility.

[00:36:29] This podcast is also available on YouTube.

[00:36:31] So like and subscribe there as well.

[00:36:33] I'm on Twitter, Threads, Blue Sky, Instagram.

[00:36:35] Just search for Tokyo Game Life or find the links in the podcast description.

[00:36:39] If you like the podcast, be sure to share with your friends and on social media.

[00:36:42] If there's anything you want to talk about or cover, feel afraid to message me.

[00:36:45] See you next time.

[00:36:47] Matane!