History VideoGame / Startropics

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In one time period, Mike is instructed deliver to Cleopatra a pizza from "[[ParodyNames Caesar's Hut]]" (a joke which works on at least three levels).

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Historical variant. In the second game, Mike meets Cleopatra, Sherlock Holmes, Leonardo Da Vinci, King Arthur, and Merlin in his travels through time.

Provides examples of:

* AnAxeToGrind: The first weapon Mike gets in the sequel.

** Coralcola's chief looks suspiciously like a certain Nintendo mascot. To add to speculation, he refers to Mike as a "power player" and later proves himself to be quite the ''Tetris'' maestro. ** Likewise, the chief of Bellcola is rail-thin and sports a curved mustache like Luigi.

* LawyerFriendlyCameo:
** In the Virtual Console release, the yo-yo was renamed to "Island Star" on account of a company in Canada owning a trademark on that name in said country.
** Similarly, in the sequel's VC release, the "tetrads" were renamed to "blocks", and Chief Coralcola's middle name was changed from "VideoGame/{{Tetris}}" to "Puzzle" on account of potential trademark infringement.

* WritingAroundTrademarks: In light of "yo-yo" becoming a trademarked term, for the VirtualConsole release of ''StarTropics'', Nintendo changed the weapon's name to "Island Star." In addition, Tetrads are known as 'Blocks' in the sequel's Virtual Console release. On a related note, [[spoiler:the chief's middle name is no longer 'Tetris,' but 'Puzzle.']]

** StarterDungeon: C-Cave

* BruceLeeClone: The Spike Shoes temporarily transform Mike into a karate-kicking tordano of justice. In practice, the item acts as a weak SmartBomb.

* BagOfSpilling: Because losing everything between games isn't annoying enough, you lose all of your medicine, special weapons, and bonus lives between levels in both games. In the first game it resets your heart level to three after each chapter as well. This is especially obnoxious at the end of Chapter 7 of the first game where it fully restores your health, only to be back to 3 hearts at the start of Chapter 8 (which begins with a boss fight and ''no way to heal before it'').
* BigBad: Zoda

After a short while, Mike discovers that his uncle was abducted by aliens. After a series of sidequests involving talking dolphins, witch doctors, a giant octopus, an obstinate parrot, and zombie pirates, Mike reunites with his uncle - who has been trying to save a bunch of good aliens from an evil alien overlord named Zoda. Mike climbs aboard the alien craft and defeats Zoda, rescuing an [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses alien princess]] and a bunch of alien kids in the process.

The sequel, ''Zoda's Revenge'', was released in 1994. Mike, his uncle, and the aliens discover an alien code that lets Mike travel through time via a magic book. Mike travels through the stone age, ancient Egypt, 19th Century London, the Wild West, the Renaissance, 1800s Transylvania, and Camelot. Along the way, he defeats duplicates of Zoda and is helped by Merlin, who reincarnates himself into several forms. Mike returns to C-Island to rescue his friends, who were taken hostage by the last Zoda clone, and the plot coupons combine to reveal the king of the good aliens.

->''"Help! Captured by evil aliens. Tell me nephew to use code 1776."''

* YouShouldntKnowThisAlready: You have to jump on the tile ten times to create a bridge in Chapter 3, but it won't work until after you are told to do so in Shecola, supposedly because you have to shout a magic word to make it work.

The games are overhead-scrolling dungeon crawlers reminiscent of ''TheLegendOfZelda'' with a few twists, such as the ability to jump. The first game features a distinctive control system where all player and enemy movements take place on a grid, limiting where you can stop or turn but making it easy to line up jumps and attacks. The sequel uses a more conventional system where you can stop or turn at any time. [[ContestedSequel Opinions differ]] as to which scheme is better.

* ButThouMust: Whenever Mike is asked if he'll do something, the game will not proceed until you give the answer the game is looking for. So literally that if you're given a yes/no question and you answer "no", the game will just repeat the question over and over and over and over until you say "yes".
** Averted in one instance in the sequel when [[spoiler:King Arthur]] asks you to defeat the dragon. If you say no he will tell you to go away and won't speak to you again, forcing you to reset in order to say yes and continue.

** The trap-filled Captain Bell's Cave in the first game, with collapsing floors, spear-shooting walls, and giant rolling bowling balls, feels like something right out of an IndianaJones movie.

** According to Leonardo DaVinci (who gives it to Mike), it's one of Marco Polo's katanas.

* PsychicPowers: In ''Zoda's Revenge'', Mike gains the ability to shoot Psychic Shock Waves. [[{{FakeDifficulty}} Too bad their power is dependant on his life meter.]]

** In the second game, '''[[LeonardoDaVinci Leonardo]]''' [[LeonardoDaVinci da Vinci]] gives you a [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Katana]].

* TotallyRadical: Mike fell into this a bit in the second game.

* KatanasAreJustBetter: This is the best weapon Mike can get in ''Zoda's Revenge'', however if the life meter is full enough this weapon is overshadowed by his Psychic Shock Wave

** In the second game, LeonardoDaVinci gives you a [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Katana]].

** In the second game, LeonardoDaVinci gives you a [[TMNT Katana]].