History VideoGame / Startropics

* ShoutOut:
** Mike's uncle is an archeologist named [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk Doctor Jones]].
** Nav-Com, the robot that pilots Sub-C, looks like Nintendo's VideoGame/RoboticOperatingBuddy.
** In chapter 6 of the first game, to ''Literature/RobinsonCrusoe'' of all things. You can find his skeleton, although Mike thinks the initials RC must stand for "[[GotMeDoingIt Rob Crusocola]]".
** 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.
** If you don't want to listen about the ABC's of fishing the NPC states: [[Magazine/NintendoPower Are you Nester?]]
** Likewise, the chief of Bellcola is rail-thin and sports a curved mustache like Luigi. (Guess [[JokingMode that makes Wario]] the chief of Miracola?)
** The Egyptian pizza delivery man rides a Koopa Troopa on horseback.
** The sequel contains a major ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'', (all the plot coupons are magic Tetris pieces!) although it was removed for the Platform/VirtualConsole release.
** 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 ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' movie.
** In the second game, '''Creator/{{Leonardo|DaVinci}}''' [[Creator/LeonardoDaVinci da Vinci]] gives you a [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Katana]]. (Which he claims he got from [[Literature/TheTravelsOfMarcoPolo Marco Polo]], of all people)
** Zoda's GasMaskMooks look a lot like [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Zakus.]]
** Also in the second game, Zoda-Y fights you by {{Teleport Spam}}ming and firing bats and fireballs in sets of three. Further, you fight him in a [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Transylvanian castle]]?

* NintendoHard:
** Especially the last two chapters of the first game, full of aliens/robots/alien robots with rayguns and a small army of robotic bosses, including one that looks (and walks) bizarrely like a giant chicken. Extra points for the fact that the only way to kill this boss is to push it back against the wall--not once, but twice. And did I mention that taking the wrong teleporter (which you have no way of telling apart) could put you in a room FULL of enemies?
** Level 8 of the first game is an odd aversion. During the section where Mike has to destroy the spaceship engine, there's a secret (but easy to find) room Mike can fall into with an infinitely respawning super-vitamin that restores his entire lifebar, so if he messes up he can just fall into a hole, get the vitamin and try again. Then after the engine is destroyed, there are a few screens full of infinitely respawning Zoda-spawn that are very generous when it comes to dropping life refilling items. Though the Zoda-spawn stop being as generous when you reach the final boss.

* ScoringPoints: In both games. Its presence has no impact whatsoever. You only see it after you beat a dungeon and there's no explanation as to how you score points. Nor do you even see your final score after beating the games, nor is there a high score list.

* WaterGeyserVolley: At one points of the game, the protagonist jumps on a water geyser that sends him atop of a mountain.

* WombLevel: The whale in the first game. Learn of Baboo making for the east after arriving on the chapter's island, then sail that way yourself...''Nom''.

''[=StarTropics=]'' is an action-adventure video game released by Creator/{{Nintendo}} in 1990. The main character, Mike Jones, is an [[{{Eagleland}} all-American]] teenager who visits the tropical C-Island to see his uncle. Mike finds out upon his arrival that his uncle is missing, so he sets out on a rescue mission, with his trusty yo-yo as his only weapon.

%%* KillerYoyo: [[IconicItem Mike's signature weapon.]] Surprisingly, he never wields one in the second game.

** In light of "yo-yo" becoming a trademarked term, for the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole release of ''[=StarTropics=],'' ''Nintendo'' changed the weapon's name to "Island Star."

Both games are available for the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole on the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and UsefulNotes/WiiU for those who bought them, and the first game was included on the NES Classic mini-console as well as being part of the NES Online package for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* BlahBlahBlah: How Mike relates adventures to the historical figures he meets. Well, it beats [[Videogame/SuperMarioRPG jumping up and down]].

* GiantHandsOfDoom: The first phase of the Zoda fight involved these.
* GiantSquid: Octo the Huge.
* {{Gonk}}: [[spoiler: The queen of Shecola, despite rumors to the contrary.]]

* HauntedHouse: Chapter 7 of ''Zoda's Revenge'' is set in one.

* KillerYoyo: [[IconicItem Mike's signature weapon.]] Surprisingly, he never wields one in the second game.
* LadyLand: Shecola.

** The sequel contains a major ShoutOut to VideoGame/{{Tetris}}, (all the plot coupons are magic Tetris pieces!) although it was removed for the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole release.

* SongsInTheKeyOfLock: "Do me so far, do me?"

* SueDonym: Mike eventually comes to "Michelle" when he does this.

* TimeTravel: A major contributor in the second game's plot.

* WarmupBoss: C-Serpent. ([[PunnyName Geddit]])?

* {{Feelies}}: The game came with a letter that had to be dipped in water to obtain a code...and if you didn't have it, you're screwed... until now. [[spoiler:747.]] You're welcome.
** Even if you had the letter, it could take a while for you to realize that when the in-game characters were talking about "the letter attached to the instructions" they weren't referring to some in-game item you had to find...
** As game manuals are easy to lose and not included with rentals, this issue generated tons of calls to Nintendo's tips hotline and letters to Nintendo Power. The code was eventually published in Nintendo Power.
** To get around this roadblock in the Virtual Console release, the letter is simulated inside of the game's operations guide on the Wii, and actual scans of the letter before and after water are included on the Wii U version. Unfortunately, the version included in the Nintendo Switch Online NES application doesn't mention the code at all.
** It is possible to guess the right code, either by [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish guessing obvious number possibilities]], or simply brute forcing every possible answer one by one until you get the right one. It works eventually as long as you are patient to the point of obsessive.
-->''Caution: Do not taste, eat or otherwise consume this paper''
-->''Note: This letter is very important, so please hold onto it until the end of the game.''

* PublicDomainSoundtrack: "God Save the Queen", the then national anthem of the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom, plays when Captain Bell's ship sinks after solving the piano puzzle and finishing the dungeon that the puzzle unlocks. American players may be confused as to why "My Country, Tis of Thee" is playing, as the tunes are identical.

* TropicalIslandAdventure: As the title of the games suggest, they mainly take place on tropical islands.

* PublicDomainSoundtrack: "God Save the Queen", the then national anthem of the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom, plays when Captain Bell's ship sinks after solving the piano puzzle. American players may be confused as to why "My Country, Tis of Thee" is playing, as the tunes are identical.

* HeroicDolphin: Mike rescues a dolphin in the second stage. [[spoiler:[[AndroclesLion It returns the favor at the end of the game.]]]]

Both games are available for the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole on the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and UsefulNotes/WiiU, and the first game was included on the NES Classic mini-console as well as being part of the NES Online package for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

** It is possible to guess the right code, either by [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish guessing obvious number possibilities]], or simply brute forcing every possible answer one by one until you get the right one. It works eventually as long as you are [[SuperOCD patient to the point of obsessive.]]

* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: Broken Joe is a disembodied Moai head that attacks Mike in the ruins. The only way to beat Joe is to hit him in the open mouth with baseballs.

* InexplicablyPreservedDungeonMeat: One of the sealed caves that Mike can blast open in the Wild West looking for gold nuggets contains a giant ''chicken'' nugget. It tastes delicious!

* AnAxeToGrind: The second weapon Mike gets in the sequel. He hurls it [[VideoGame/AdventureIsland Master Higgin]]s-style at enemies.

** In the second game, his primary weapons consist of an {{a|nAxeToGrind}}xe, a [[DeviousDaggers dagger]], and a {{katana|sAreJustBetter}}. He attacks with all three by [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throwing them]].

* BreatherLevel: The Ocean Passage in Chapter 3. It's full of the same ocean based monsters you fought in Chapter 2, only, now that you've got the Shooting Star you can blaze right through them. No puzzles either, unless you count raising the bridge to enter the dungeon in the first place.

* BossRush: The second half of the last level in the sequel. Mercifully, there's a maze right before where you can get as much as 6 jars of medicine with some heavy jumping, although the correct path is TrialAndErrorGameplay for that much ([[spoiler:take the bottom path]]), and if you got past the [[spoiler:C-Serpent]] without too much trouble (not terribly difficult if you know what to expect), you should still have the medicine from the first half of the level. Be sure to get all of this, especially in case the rematch with ThatOneBoss gets really irksome.

** In the sequel, you had a psychic attack that got weaker as you lost health, but your regular weapon always stayed the same strength, taking some of the pain out of continuing.
*** The sequel also starts you off with five hearts instead of three when you respawn.

** It's made slightly more cryptic by the fact that the musical tune that must be played is "Do Mi Sol Fa Do Mi" which has been warped by generations of parrots playing the telephone game into the final "Do me so far, do me." Or possibly a translation error based on the translator not being familiar with solfège. Also, you have to exit and enter the tower again if you mess up.[[note]]For those that STILL find this clue to be too ambiguous, the simplest translation is: 135413.[[/note]]

** A little later in the first game, you enter a room with two tile paths leading upward on either side of the room. After jumping from tile to tile for two rooms, you have to jump upwards at the top edge of the room. One path leads to safety, the other path leads to instant death, and there is no way to know this ahead of time. Hint: [[spoiler: the right path is right.]]

* UniqueEnemy: Squidos appear on just one screen in the game, mostly so you can try out your new SmartBomb attack.

* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: Broken Joe

** Especially the last two chapters of the first game, full of [[GoddamnedBats aliens/robots/alien robots with rayguns]] and a [[QuirkyMinibossSquad small army of robotic minibosses]], including one that looks (and walks) bizarrely like a giant chicken. Extra points for the fact that the only way to kill this boss is to push it back against the wall--not once, but twice. And did I mention that taking the wrong teleporter (which you have no way of telling apart) could put you in a room FULL of enemies?

* ScoringPoints: In both games. Its presence has no impact whatsoever.

** When speaking to an NPC, the generic response Mike gets is, "You're from Americola?", or, "Spacycola....?"

* WarmupBoss: C-Serpent. ([[PunnyName Geddit]])

* 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.

* PublicDomainSoundtrack: "God Save the Queen", the national anthem of the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom, plays when Captain Bell's ship sinks after solving the piano puzzle. American players may be confused as to why "My Country, Tis of Thee" is playing, as the tunes are identical.

[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/startropics.png]]
[[caption-width-right:256:Some vacation.]]

* BigBad: Zoda.

* ContinuingIsPainful: If you die at any point, you restart with only 3 hearts. This wouldn't be so bad if

** In the second game, his primary weapons consist of an {{a|nAxeToGrind}}xe, a [[KnifeNut dagger]], and a {{katana|sAreJustBetter}}. He attacks with all three by [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throwing them]].