The Legendary Starfy (series)

The Legendary Starfy (伝説のスタフィー, Densetsu no Sutafī) is a video game series developed by TOSE (who also developed the Game & Watch Gallery series) and published by Nintendo. The series is the only franchise for which TOSE owns the copyright, which they share with Nintendo. (As a result, TOSE, which normally doesn't put their company name on their games, does so in the Starfy series.) The series began in 2002 with Densetsu no Stafy for the Game Boy Advance, and four sequels were released. For its first seven years, Starfy games were not officially released outside of Japan. The fifth game in the series was released as The Legendary Starfy in North America on June 8, 2009.

Games

The following is a list of games released in the series.

Games predating Taiketsu! Daīru Kaizokudan were released exclusively in Japan. As a result, there are no official English language titles for these games. An official English language title may be given if any Nintendo division outside of Japan elects to localize any of these games or feature any of them in a game from another series.

Gameplay

The genre of the series is a special kind of platform game called "marine platform", due to the game being more about swimming than running and jumping around. Players control the protagonist of the series, Starfy, throughout each game; from the third title onward, Starfy's sister Starly is also playable occasionally. When on land, the controls are equal to the controls of most other platform games. When in the water, players can only move Starfy around using the control pad alone; however, if players want to make Starfy swim faster, they hold the A button down while moving him around. The games are usually composed of multiple stages or worlds, with each stage split up into four sub-stages. Boss characters hide at the end of each world's final sub-stage. Most of the other sub-stages' goals are centered around retrieving a lost or stolen item for another character. Most power-ups are vehicles and costumes. Some are new moves, and some are upgrades for moves and other power-ups.

Characters

Starfy as seen in The Legendary Starfy.

• Starfy, known as Stafy (スタフィー) in Japan, is the protagonist of the series. According to the lyrics of the series title song sung by TV personality Becky, he is 7 years old and is 36 cm (14.2in; 1 ft, 2.2in) tall. He is a relatively easy-going, clumsy, friendly character to get along with. Although he's fairly persistent in completing his goals, he is spacey, absentminded, and so forgetful that often he cannot remember how to perform his own techniques. He tends to maneuver better in water than on land. His signature technique is the "Star Spin", a spinning attack he uses to dispatch foes. He lives in Pufftop Palace (Tenkai, or "Sky-Sea" Palace in Japanese) with his younger sister Starly. Starfy can speak, but usually his dialogue in the games is limited to exclamations and sounds. In the commercials, he is voiced by Satomi Korogi. Starfy appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as an Assist Trophy, and has a Profile Trophy as well. Starfy has also been confirmed as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

• Starly, known in Japan as Stapy (スタピー) is the younger sister of Starfy. She is pink and wears a pinkish-red bow beside her head. She first appears as a playable character in Densetsu no Stafy 3. She appears to be really energetic and brave, and she always pushes her brother and his friend Moe to their limits in doing things. She can be pretty rude sometimes, and she gets over sad things faster than her brother does. Though weaker, she has very different abilities from her brother, making her unique. Unlike her brother, she has a Kansai accent.

• Moe, known in Japan as Kyorosuke (キョロスケ) and formally known in Japan as Kyororon (キョロロン),^[3] is a clam who is the best friend of Starfy. He often appears in levels to dispense advice to Starfy, except in Densetsu no Stafy 4, where he disperses advice through phone instead. Moe is easily angered, loud mouthed, arrogant, and rude. He has a soft spot for Ruby, and he becomes rather shy and incredibly polite in front of her. He is quick to run away and push responsibilities into Starfy's and Starly's hands. In the Japanese commercials, he is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi.

• Ruby, known in Japan as HadeHirari (ハデヒラリ), is a pinkish-purple zebra turkeyfish, who is the love interest of Moe. Ruby is a fish that likes dressing up and lives in a fashionable house in the corals. She is gentle, always cheering people on.

• Ogura (オーグラ, Ōgura) is the primary antagonist of Densetsu no Stafy and Densetsu no Stafy 2. He is accidentally released from a Magic Jar designed to keep him from causing chaos by Starfy, and utilizes large thunderstorms to create chaos. In Stafy 3, he sacrificed himself using the stones along with Starfy, Starly and Moe, to completely defeat Evil.

Other characters

• Old Man Lobber (known in Japan as Lobjii-san (ロブじいさん)) – A wise old lobster, and a kungfu master. In the second and fifth games, Old Man Lobber reveals that he and Papa Star once worked together to save and protect the kingdom of Pufftop.
• Mermaid - Mermaids who live in seashells. In the first three games, she is considered a check point. In the fourth and fifth games, she is considered a save point. In the fourth game and the Japanese version of the fifth game in the series, she often shouts "Hi hi!", but in the localized version of the fifth game, she simply shouts "Hi!"
• Herman (known in Japan as Yadokarita) - A easygoing blue and red striped shelled hermit crab.
• Konk (known in Japan as Bonboon) - A sea creature in a spiked seashell that spins it around to attack Starfy with it. He was the first boss in the first four games in the series. He was not the first boss in the fifth game, although he appears as a mini-boss in the secret level 9. Konk also has a crush on Ruby, just like Moe does.
• Evil - The primary antagonist of Stafy 3.
• Papa Star - Father of Starfy and Starly. Also the king of Pufftop.
• Mama Star - Mother of Starfy and Starly. She was once the damsel in distress in the second game of the series.
• Materu - The princess from Stafy 4. Starfy also has shown to have a crush on her.
• Koraru - The prince from Stafy 4.
• Dejeel - The primary antagonist of Stafy 4.
• Bunston (known in Japan as Rampa) A new friend of Starfy in The Legendary Starfy. Bunston is the prince of Planet Bunnera. He has the ability to turn Starfy and Starly into many different creatures including a fire breathing dragon, a seal, and a ghost.
• Moe's Family - Moe's siblings includes his two brothers, and his sister. They are all younger than Moe. Their parents, the father known in Japan as Kyorozō (キョロゾウ), and the mother known in Japan as Kyoromama (キョロママ), were once happy with each other, but later fussed and fought each other while becoming divorced. Kyoromama took the children and moved to a smaller, dirtier home. A short time later, she died of an unknown illness. Ten years later, in the third game Moe and his father reunited, until Moe got attacked by Evil, while his father sacrificed himself to save his son's life.
• Snips, Ronk, and Papes, also known as The Terrible Trio (known in Japan as the Dire Pirate Squad) - They represent rock, paper and scissors, and they work for Mashtooth at the beginning but helped Starfy defeat Mashtooth since they think that stealing and taking power is wrong. Snips is the leader, Ronk is the muscle, and Papes is the brain.
• Mashtooth - An evil space pirate and primary antagonist of The Legendary Starfy.
• Wario - Guest character in Stafy 3.

Marketing

Although there had always been plans to bring the series to North America, the reason why the series stayed in Japan until the announcement of the fifth game was because Nintendo of America had declared the series to be "too Japanese". Nintendo of America has also considered bringing the other four games to North America in some form as well as expanding the series to the Wii, depending on "fan response".^[4]

Commercials

The animated television commercials loosely take place in the plot of whatever title is being advertised, as well as its gameplay. The settings and actions were slightly different compared to the ones in the titles they advertised. For instance, in the first The Legendary Starfy title, Starfy was walking inside the Tenkai Palace while carrying some stuff, including the Magic Jar holding the antagonist, Ogura, until Starfy tripped and dropped the stuff he was carrying, while the Magic Jar fell into the ocean below the Tenkai Palace. But in one of the commercials for the first title of the series, Starfy was walking outside of Tenkai Palace while only carrying the Magic Jar, until he tripped and fell in the ocean along with the Magic Jar. Except for Densetsu no Stafy 3, its commercial is the only one in The Legendary Starfy series that has a different setting. Instead of taking place anywhere in the game, the commercial takes place in a sushi bar, where the characters are standing on plates while being moved around on a conveyor belt. In the Japanese commercials for Densetsu no Stafy 4 and Densetsu no Stafy Taiketsu! Daīru Kaizokudan go back to the way the commercials for the first two titles of the series were, by making them loosely based on the plots of whatever is being advertised.

While Densetsu no Stafy Taiketsu! Daīru Kaizokudan was being planned for release in North America as The Legendary Starfy, a new live-action English commercial for it takes place on a boat "The Falling Star", where an old man and his grandson, fishing, talk about catching a giant squid, the grandson is worried, until the old man assures his grandson that he doesn't have to worry, because he has Starfy. Starfy then pops out of the sea. This is the first North American commercial, airing on May 25, 2009.

Merchandise

During the release of each game in the series, there have been many kinds of merchandise related to the series released in Japanese retail stores, like plush dolls, pencils, birthday balloons and casino cards. Nintendo also officially produced a manga version of the Densetsu no Stafy series and later, Densetsu no Stafy R with Shogakukan. CD soundtracks from the Starfy series were also released. The one used to promote the first The Legendary Starfy game was sung by BECKY. Kazuki Saya sung to promote Densetsu no Stafy 2. The J-pop group Perfume became the first group to sing the theme song, which was used to promote Densetsu no Stafy 3 during the credits of a Japanese television show Oha-Sta. Despite that being made, it wasn't released in retail stores. In the commercials for Densetsu no Stafy 3, Perfume's song titled Vitamin Drop, was the only song played in a Starfy series commercial that isn't related to the series. Another J-pop group Cute recorded the theme song to promote Densetsu no Stafy 4. The Legendary Starfy, unlike other games in the series, was never promoted with a vocal song nor a CD album by a J-pop singer nor group.

Other appearances in media

While only one of The Legendary Starfy games was ever released outside of Japan, some references from the series have made cameo appearances in a few games that were released internationally. In Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance, a poster in the Yoshi Theater resembles the box art of the first game in the series also for the Game Boy Advance, but titled in English as "Legend of Stafy". In Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS, an enemy called "Starfish" resembles the Starfy sprites of Densetsu no Stafy 4, as well as The Legendary Starfy, but with sunglasses. In the Japanese version of Donkey Konga, one of the songs is the main theme song of the series. Starfy also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as one of the Assist Trophy characters, as well as a couple of Stickers and a regular Trophy, and is once again referred to as "Stafy". He attacks by using his signature spin attack against the opponents of whoever summoned him, but unlike most, he can be attacked and defeated.^[5]

References

1. ↑ 'ゲームボーイカラー ソフト情報一覧'. Nintendo (JP) (in Japanese). Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
2. ↑ "伝説のスタフィー　たいけつ！ダイール海賊団". Nintendo/TOSE. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
3. ↑ "伝説のスタフィー（仮称）". Nintendo Co. Ltd. 2000. Retrieved 2009-07-30. 
4. ↑
5. ↑ "Smash Bros. DOJO!! - Stafy". Nintendo. December 14, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-14. 

External links

• Feature: Legendary Starfy 101 at Nintendo Life
• Starfy Wiki

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