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3) StarTropics
Last Title: Zoda’s Revenge: StarTropics II (NES, 1990)
A lot of readers might be scratching their heads and wondering what StarTropics even is. Don’t feel alone, as this is one of the more obscure titles in Nintendo’s history. Debuting on NES, StarTropics starred Mike Jones, a Seattle teen who was a huge baseball fan. Mike’s uncle, Dr. Jones, was abducted by aliens from his home on C-Island, and it was up to the young nephew to find and rescue him. Both StarTropics games shared elements from The Legend of Zelda, including that game’s overhead perspective and light RPG elements. Unlike Zelda, however, Mike’s adventures featured shifting gameplay. Initially, stages began with Mike talking to non-playable characters in order to solve puzzles, then traveling underground or into caves for combat and jumping action. Gameplay takes place from an overhead, third-person perspective for the duration, but shifts closer to Mike in the second half of each level as he starts knocking heads with enemies. The combat is simple but rewarding, and there are various weapons to attain in these segments. StarTropics is a special franchise, with amusing characters, potent gameplay, and unique settings.
A return trip to C-Island is long overdue. Bring the setting back firmly to modern times (Zoda’s Revenge featured time traveling) and everyman lead character Mike, as both would be a nice departure from Nintendo’s usual games. While the actual play mechanics would probably feel different in a sequel, so long as the spirit of the series is maintained, a new StarTropics might finally find the audience it deserves. One feature from StarTropics that’s fondly remembered is a piece of paper that came packaged within each copy of the game. Once submerged in water, this piece of paper revealed a hidden message that helped solve a puzzle in the game. That sort of quirky, outside the box creativity would be more than welcome in a new sequel; perhaps some sort of unique use of the GamePad’s NFC capabilities could facilitate similar results. However Nintendo does it, StarTropics is a franchise too good to remain languishing on Wii’s Virtual Console.
I can’t agree with you more on Advance Wars and F-Zero. I distinctly remember Days of Ruin ending on a cliff hanger, and it’s been far too long since the last Advance Wars entry. I also can’t help but feel that F-Zero is perfectly suited for the 3DS, which is currently in dire need of good racing games.
I’d also add Star Fox to this list. Not only has it been a very long time since the last Star Fox game (excluding the 3DS remake), but there has yet to be a game in the series that matches the quality of the Nintendo 64 entry. They didn’t just remake Star Fox 64 for no reason…right? :o
I was within inches of sticking Star Fox in. It’s ironic you mentioned the 3DS remake, because it was the main reason I excluded it; I guess it gave me too much hope when I played it that something would be coming eventually. I actually grappled back and forth over it a lot. I put Excitebike on here despite it getting a 3D remake, too, but I kept it on because it felt like such a minimal tweak. IDK =/
Haha well it was a really good list, so I really have nothing to complain about :)
I’d love to see a return to the Custom Robo series sometime. I only ever played the GameCube game that came out in America, but it was still interesting. It was really a good concept that suffered from some subpar execution. Think about Custom Robo on Wii U: Hundreds (if not thousands) of robot parts could be made available. You could duke it out in online HD robo battles! And the customization could mean millions of different robots!
Great list Robert. Couldn’t agree more with your choices.
Hard to believe it’s been almost 10 years since we’ve had a new entry in the F-Zero franchise.
You touched on a franchise near and dear to my heart: Excitebike. Everything about the original brings on a wave of nostalgia. The original is still fun, but I couldn’t agree more with your ideas about updating World Rally for the Wii U.
I love that you included Waverace. I would love me some HD wave physics.
Makes me wish they’d also update 1080, in the original style, not the trick based Gamecube sequel. The gamecube game was one of those rare Nintendo games that actually copied what every one else was doing at the time (making racing games all about tricks! Thank you very little Tony Hawk.) In my opinion, this made 1080 Avalanche inferior to the N64 original.
Lastly, how about Forgotten Nintendo “Services” that need sequels (or updating.) I’m talking about the virtual console. It is a disgrace. Only 21(?) Nintendo 64 games on the North American Wii version, and ZERO N64 games on the Wii U eShop?! The virtual console just doesn’t live up to its potential. To me, the virtual console is defined by what games it doesn’t have, not what it does have.
The reason I’m mentioning the virtual console here? Because your list made me wish I could play Excitebike 64 again. In my opinion, this was an underrated, and probably underplayed game which was also released (much like the wiiware title) at the wrong time… a little late in the N64’s lifecycle after years of almost constant racing game releases.
Again, great list!