Just bought three physical copies of Starfy 1-3 so I could finally own them legally. Hopefully if Starfy 6 becomes a thing, it'll revive the forum 
(End of sad rant… I think. 10 shoutbox messages, wow!)
Post by Evie(Torchickens) aspiring mum on Sept 25, 2015 20:23:11 GMT
I like various things about Densetsu no Starfy 4 that made it stand out from the first three Legendary Starfy games.
First, the health point system was cool, and I think it's great how you can make the game more challenging by avoiding Konpeitou (like avoiding the Heart Gems, which are known as Konpeitou in Japanese in The Legendary Starfy).
I love the mini-map system (a map on the Touch Screen that fills up as you explore) and like the overall maze structure of the stages. In this game, instead of advancing to a goal, you go as far as going to a point in the level where there is something like an item you must pick up, or a task that you must fulfill, like fixing the water purifiers (called "appliances") in Tear Lake and then going back to the beginning of the area and re-visiting a character on the stage map (described in the second paragraph below). To get you back to the beginning of the area (level) immediately, there are statues found at the end points called the Warp Jizou that can warp you there, and each stage's Warp Jizou looks different. An interesting detail is that there are actually no bottomless pits in Starfy 4; while other Legendary Starfy games have them. In the first three Legendary Starfy games (and Starfy 5), the gameplay focused on moving around areas to get to a goal and they didn't use any mini maps.
Densetsu no Starfy 4 introduced an interesting new mechanic called "Spill". New Spill points are taught by characters known as "sages", such as the cherry blossom tree Amiiyoshino) You have a SP (Spill Points?) bar, and there are four Spill abilities; Monamu Heal (which temporarily heals you health points over time) Magical Coin (which spins a coin, if it lands on the star, characters are turned into pearls, if it lands on... poop, characters are turned into poop), and two Spill abilities exclusive to Starfy and Starly. For Starfy, it is Powerful Spin (where Starfy spins around with Moe and only Starfy can use it) and for Starly, it is Pufftop Barrier, which temporarily turns Starly invincible.
The stage map system (individual stage maps are referred to as "cities") was great. I loved how you could interact with many of the characters and get them to set you quests, and the way that you could tap creatures/objects on the cities to obtain pearls was a nice touch.
I enjoyed the Spring of Love minigames that you can play before advancing to the next stage. They are accessed by a character known as Lovewizumi and there are eight unique courses. The screen scrolls up and you have to tap a place on the Touch Screen to move Starfy up the course, collect Pearls and avoid obstacles. They are short but I thought they were really fun.
It's a shame that Densetsu no Starfy 4 didn't have any other minigames, as I would have loved to play some more like it.
I love that Densetsu no Starfy 4 featured a contest called "Wanted Kisekae", where participants had a chance of having their drawings for clothes, accessories to dress up Starfy (Stuff) to make it in the final game, and how Staff Roll 1 features many of these designs.
Since Densetsu no Starfy 4 has mechanics that are so different, I personally view it as the most interesting title in the series.
There are some interesting more subtle differences as well. Many of the tunes in Densetsu no Starfy 4 are considerably short for some reason. JapanCommercials4U2 (who uploads playthroughs of many Nintendo franchises on Youtube) commented that the volume of the music in Densetsu no Starfy 4 also seems to be louder than other Nintendo DS games.
In the game's data, much unused content can be found, including Starfy test models/panoramas, and there are interestingly models that seem to be from other projects. For example, Galaga graphics and models of ninjas from an unknown game.
First, the health point system was cool, and I think it's great how you can make the game more challenging by avoiding Konpeitou (like avoiding the Heart Gems, which are known as Konpeitou in Japanese in The Legendary Starfy).
I love the mini-map system (a map on the Touch Screen that fills up as you explore) and like the overall maze structure of the stages. In this game, instead of advancing to a goal, you go as far as going to a point in the level where there is something like an item you must pick up, or a task that you must fulfill, like fixing the water purifiers (called "appliances") in Tear Lake and then going back to the beginning of the area and re-visiting a character on the stage map (described in the second paragraph below). To get you back to the beginning of the area (level) immediately, there are statues found at the end points called the Warp Jizou that can warp you there, and each stage's Warp Jizou looks different. An interesting detail is that there are actually no bottomless pits in Starfy 4; while other Legendary Starfy games have them. In the first three Legendary Starfy games (and Starfy 5), the gameplay focused on moving around areas to get to a goal and they didn't use any mini maps.
Densetsu no Starfy 4 introduced an interesting new mechanic called "Spill". New Spill points are taught by characters known as "sages", such as the cherry blossom tree Amiiyoshino) You have a SP (Spill Points?) bar, and there are four Spill abilities; Monamu Heal (which temporarily heals you health points over time) Magical Coin (which spins a coin, if it lands on the star, characters are turned into pearls, if it lands on... poop, characters are turned into poop), and two Spill abilities exclusive to Starfy and Starly. For Starfy, it is Powerful Spin (where Starfy spins around with Moe and only Starfy can use it) and for Starly, it is Pufftop Barrier, which temporarily turns Starly invincible.
The stage map system (individual stage maps are referred to as "cities") was great. I loved how you could interact with many of the characters and get them to set you quests, and the way that you could tap creatures/objects on the cities to obtain pearls was a nice touch.
I enjoyed the Spring of Love minigames that you can play before advancing to the next stage. They are accessed by a character known as Lovewizumi and there are eight unique courses. The screen scrolls up and you have to tap a place on the Touch Screen to move Starfy up the course, collect Pearls and avoid obstacles. They are short but I thought they were really fun.
It's a shame that Densetsu no Starfy 4 didn't have any other minigames, as I would have loved to play some more like it.
I love that Densetsu no Starfy 4 featured a contest called "Wanted Kisekae", where participants had a chance of having their drawings for clothes, accessories to dress up Starfy (Stuff) to make it in the final game, and how Staff Roll 1 features many of these designs.
Since Densetsu no Starfy 4 has mechanics that are so different, I personally view it as the most interesting title in the series.
There are some interesting more subtle differences as well. Many of the tunes in Densetsu no Starfy 4 are considerably short for some reason. JapanCommercials4U2 (who uploads playthroughs of many Nintendo franchises on Youtube) commented that the volume of the music in Densetsu no Starfy 4 also seems to be louder than other Nintendo DS games.
In the game's data, much unused content can be found, including Starfy test models/panoramas, and there are interestingly models that seem to be from other projects. For example, Galaga graphics and models of ninjas from an unknown game.
