“We’ve got a legend on our side.”

After being two months lost at sea, I ran into a small little dude. His name was Starfy, and he--yeah forget it, let’s review The Legendary Starfy for the Nintendo DS.

==Story==
This is the first Starfy game released in the US, and the fifth released in Japan, but the story is made in a way so that it doesn’t matter if you played any of the previous games.

The story begins high in the clouds, in the Kingdom of Pufftop. The prince of the kingdom, Starfy, is taking his nap, when suddenly, a loud crash wakes him up to find a huge hole in his wall, and three goons chasing after a rabbit in a space suit. Starfy seems to be pretty pissed by this, and he helps out the bunny dude by taking out the three thugs. He tries to calm down the rabbit, but he falls into the ocean, as Starfy’s best friend Moe, comes to the scene. He tries to hold Starfy back from jumping off the clouds into the sea, but he fails, as both heroes go plummeting into the deep blue below. Who is the astronaut rabbit, and why was he being chased by those three goons? Starfy’s gonna find out as he heads towards his next journey…

==Gameplay==
One of the reasons why The Legendary Starfy stands out more than other games on the DS, is the gameplay. There are two ways to play; underwater and on land. Underwater, Starfy moves a lot faster, and can swim in all 8 directions, while on land, he’s a bit slower, but can use most of his abilities he obtains throughout the game. Those moves include various upgrades of Starfy’s signature move, the Spin Attack, the ability to glide, and swim through heavy currents. At one point in the game, Starfy gets the power to don costumes, such as a dragon, seal, & a ghost. Each one comes with it’s own special attacks and abilities, and can be leveled up by finding special treasure chests throughout each stage. Treasure Chests contain health upgrades, journal entries from various characters you’ve met in the game’s story, and extra levels. Most of the treasure you’ll find are costumes and accessories that can be used to dress up Starfy (and his sister Starly). While the clothes can’t be used in the game itself, it’s a nice little touch. The game has a ton of extra features aside from the main game, such as the Dress-Up feature just mentioned, five mini-games (two of them must be found in-game), including fishing and dumpling making, a boss rush mode (which must be unlocked), and even a talk show with various characters from the story, with the show’s host being…Moe, the clam.

The game’s story is told with a span of 8 worlds, each with 10 stages or more, including a boss stage for each world. Each world, of course, has it’s own theme, such as a beach (pretty obvious), volcano, arctic lands, and a sunken pirate ship. Each stage has a certain amount of treasure chests inside, and with over 100 levels, including the extra levels, there’s a ton of replay value to be had. As for bosses, I can say none of them provided a real challenge. The only one that caused a tiny bit of trouble was the second phase of the final boss. The game as a whole is pretty easy, but it doesn’t detract from the game’s fun factor.

==Audio & Graphics==
The game’s visuals are a sight to behold. Each world has it’s own graphical charm, with vibrant colors and textures that do the DS major justice. The game’s cutscenes are done in a comic book fashion, and unlike Sonic Chronicles, they don’t suck ass. Like the rest of the game, they’re vibrant with color. The only gripe I have about the cutscenes is the dialogue at points. While characters like Moe give the game humor, some (especially towards the end of the game) is pretty corny.

While none of the music in The Legendary Starfy is too memorable, I wouldn’t say it sucks. Each track provides the levels with it’s own special feeling, like the arctic lands’ music give the feeling of “ice” and “snow”.

==Final Thoughts==
While The Legendary Starfy isn’t a fantastic game, it’s still a lot of fun. It’s not legendary by any means, but more like…”it's pretty great”. If you’re a plat forming fan, I’d recommend that you’d give it a try.

Please comment on your thoughts on the game.