---

It's no secret that we love Startropics here at Lardpirates. Hell, it comes up on almost a monthly basis on our IRC channel that Nintendo needs to revive this series. Well, they still haven't after fifteen years, but this VC release is the next best thing.

Combining elements of a platformer and a Zelda game, you'll hop across platforms, find door switches and wall passages, fight enemies with yo-yos, baseball bats, bolas and other oddities, and occasionally fight a boss character. It also has a considerable amount of challenge; missing a jump or stumbling into a trap is usually an instant kill, and running out of lives forces you to restart the dungeon from the beginning. Worse, some room exits themselves are traps; you can be expecting to go into the next room only to find yourself walking into a yawning pit. So while much of the game is skill, there's a fair amount of trial and error in there as well.

Regardless, it manages to stay varied and interesting throughout, even when a single mistake can send you back several rooms or, in the worst cases, force you to restart a dungeon from the beginning. Just remember to check out the letter in the online manual if the game asks you for a password you can't find.

score:

A must-have. Hell, I say support it for no other reason that it may motivate the big N to do something new with this series.

---

- RedCappy <- 1:03:35 am, friday, april 18th, 2008 pdt <- (updated 1:03:49 am, fri, apr 18th, 2008 pdt)