Perfect Startropics

[shinigamihedgehog]

Previously "Here's what I need". Changed to new topic, so I don't abuse of new thread usage.

[Michael Jones]

All of those would of been great titles if those games were real . I like how the Game Boy game gets a huge spin off name like every other Game Boy game out there did .

[shinigamihedgehog]

The perfect StarTropics (3) to me would be like this..

Mechanics:

-No movement grid. Freedom is the way to go.
-Move and look at the same time. Not look first, move later.
(basically, ZR controls)

Levels:

-50% Island based dungeons
-50% Argonian themed.


Music:

-Different for every dungeon.
-Sci-Fi-ish dungeon themes for Argonian levels.
-For tradition's sake, have the first dungeon's song (ST1) somewhere.

Weapons:

-Bring Yo-yo back, in the shape of a powered down SuperNova (unable to shoot). Because of the trademark issue, and a possible loss of charm in the yoyo itself, Mike needs to have a weapon with a name. And by saying that the Nova (or powered down SueprNova) is a yoyo, there's no copyright infringement.
(Island Star sucked for a name...) Eventually you upgrade the Nova to UltraNova (shooting star), and then SuperNova.

-Psychic Shockwave could be back, but since it'd basically become a SuperNova clone, then Mike would have to find another use for it, such as a 3-Way shot with limited range, or a spreadshot like the SuperLaser from Chapter7, etc. Possibilities are endless.


Plot:

-Linearity is ST's style, but it wouldn't hurt to add some secret non-obligatory (HARD) dungeons here and there for early powering up, etc.
-Zoda is BACK. What would ST be without Zoda? It's like Punch Out without Bald Bull, or Zelda without Ganon!


Unlockables:

-If you collect a certain number of special items, throughout the game (for example, Perfection! pieces) you unlock cool stuff, such as playable Mica, the original Zoda, etc..

-Change Mike's looks (be able to play with Mike with his clothes from ST1 or ST2).


-Others:
Keep jokes light hearted.
Keep up the humor.
Have a serious plot but don't take it seriously.
Bring back some jokes such as edible stuff that doesn't make things happen.
and...
CAMEOS.


That's it.

Thoughts?

[barockmanobama]

The ST3 I was thinking of featured the REAL Zoda as the final boss, with the one at the end of the first game being the W clone. The game, aside from three dungeons, would take place on Argonia, and Mica was a playable character, as well as a third, mysterious character named Zakore.The first dungeon theme from ST1 is featured not once, but TWICE, as the first and last dungeon themes. Although I didn't like ST2 NEARLY as much as the original, its control scheme will be returning in this one, with every room in every dungeon revolving around being able to utilize the controls to their fullest. So yeah, some things in this sequel I've been planning fall along your ideas as well, Shin.

[shinigamihedgehog]

The alien dungeon music should be back too. How could I forget!

I've been reading comments from fans and non-fans on ST. If they think the game would work.

Well, some of them had a point, seeing how the game's definition of "modern" dates almost 20 years in the past. And tendencies, expressions, and other things have changed a great deal since then...

Then again, I see "Radical" as a nice trademark for Mike. Seriously, when you hear the word "Radical", who pops into your head first?

Besides, modern times don't really show much in a tropical setting, right?

[maetch]

My STIII, like others, would involve a playable Mica. However, my idea is that you're controlling both at once. Right now, my concern is the gameplay, so don't be bringing up plot issues (I'll get to that later).

Here's how it would work:

*Mike and Mica take turns at leading. The inactive character follows closely behind. They both share the same life meter, so if either character dies, you lose a life.

*Mike is the main fighter. His Yo-Yo and his ability to use pick-up weapons makes him more powerful in combat. He still has the Shockwave, but it's now used as a Mega Man-style charge shot (and it's only as powerful as Mike's Yo-Yo), so he can't rely on it.

*Mica, on the other hand, is more limited. Though she has a Shockwave as her main weapon, it's used in the traditional rapid-fire and is weaker than the Yo-Yo. Also, aside from indirect weapons like the Mirror, she can't use pick-up weapons. However, she moves faster and jumps farther than Mike (three tiles, as opposed to Mike's two), and her powered-up Shockwave grants it a spread-shot feature, which makes up for the limited power.

*On several occasions, Mike and Mica will have to split up in order to proceed farther. An example is that Mica can easily bridge a jump above water, but Mike can't. Therefore, Mike will either need to find a way to make the gap smaller or find an alternate route. When separated, control between the two can be passed in any room where there are no enemies (so that no one gets attacked without the player knowing)

[shinigamihedgehog]

I forgot to mention something important.

Have as many invincibility frames as in the original ST. Because in ZR, the time to get out of a bad situation was extremely limited! Sometimes you just couldn't shake off an enemy. This should be corrected.

[maetch]

May 5, 2009 12:14:55 GMT -5 shinigamihedgehog said:

I forgot to mention something important.

Have as many invincibility frames as in the original ST. Because in ZR, the time to get out of a bad situation was extremely limited! Sometimes you just couldn't shake off an enemy. This should be corrected.

Oy, tell me about it. Once an enemy gets on top of Mike, you're gonna lose a lot of hearts before he lays off. Especially bad with the Skull Chickens in ST1.

[shinigamihedgehog]

I just figured something else... thanks to Crispy Gamers pointing it out in "Enemies that are Jerks" article. (They compared how silly it was for a snake to reach "ultrasonic speeds" and MIke, being an ace pitcher, not being able to outrun them).


Well.. Mike IS an ace pitcher, alright... So if they made a new StarTropics, they should totally add a "dash" button. Think about it, if you dash, you can get out of enemy ambushes easier.

And while they're at it, a dash option would allow you to jump twice as much as you normally would!
(So if you normally hop over one tile, while dashing, you'd jump over two. If you're wearing the anklet, then you'd jump over three or four!)

[brucependragon]

I like the tag-team idea prompted by Maetch. Sort of reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country. And Mica's 3-way-shockwave also makes sense. And the Dash-button idea also makes a bit of sense, although not necessarily for the "why-can't-Mike-outrun-snakes" reason. (seriously, have you ever tried to run from an angry copperhead? 'Tain't easy, folks). But if I had any game designing skills at all (which I don't, but I digress), I would make a Startropics 3 with two different play options: play as Mike and Mica tag-teaming, or 2 players, with Mike being player 1 and Mica being player 2. I would probably have the dungeons themselves be the same in both forms.
-As for the mechanics, this would give the players the advantage of having separate life meters, enabling one character to go on if the other falls. Of course, if one character leaves a room, both would have to, and you would also lose the ability to have rooms stretching more than one screen, lest one character be scrolled off by mistake (I remember how annoying it was when this happened in the Sega Genesis rendition of Ms. Pac-Man.
-This also presents the possibility of having hidden rooms throughout where, if your team-mate had fallen, you could revive them. Or perhaps there would be an item that enabled you to do this. One of the two.

And "Radical" does work as a catch phrase for Mike. But to answer your question, Shini, the "Mike" that pops into my head first when I hear this word is Michaelangelo from TMNT. Mike Jones comes in second though. =P

[sonic332]

Some ideas I've had:

Title- StarTropics III: Island Courage. Why? Well, it hearkens back to the ol' catchphrase on the front of the first game's box ("A test of island courage!"), not to MENTION that would mean bringing back the island-hopping. Honestly, no TROPICS (save a short stay on C-Island) in the second StarTROPICS felt odd, y'know? So, nostalgia factor plus getting the series back to what made it so great (the merging of South Pacific flavor, sci-fi action, and crazy humor). Incidentally, I did a lil' sketch of the idea and put it up.

Bring back the yo-yo. And the Shooting Star. And the Super Nova. As long as those three core weapons are there and intact, they could experiment a bit- maybe bring back Tink's Axe or whatever from Zoda's Revenge, or give you some all-new weaponry. Just make sure that you have the big three to fall back on.
As far as the copyright issue with the word 'yo-yo', and in regards to 'Island Star'... I personally thought they should have gone with "Island Spirit". Definitely a superior name for that thing.

As for how to make sure the Psychic Shockwave isn't just a Super Nova ripoff, why not make it an actual SHOCKWAVE rather than a ball of energy? Whether it just fires in an arc ahead of you or 360 degrees, let's see it be a little more UNIQUE.

All the baseball-themed weapons HAVE to be intact- the baseball bat, the Wonder Horsehides, even the Spikes (since they're basically cleats). Mike's a pitcher, people! Let's play that up!

I'd also like to see some new sub-weapons and items, along with the return of classic magic items like the Rod of Sight and the Snowman Doll.

I'd like to see more of the series' trademark oddball humor and pop-culture references. As long as there are bananas-in-your-ears jokes, I'm good on that front.

Sub-C and Nav-Com NEED to return. I really missed the seagoing element in the sequel, and Nav-Com is just awesome. Perhaps they could make one or two piloting levels where you drive the Sub-C from a first-person perspective or something?

Speaking of gameplay, I want Mica playable. I saw a lot of ideas about making Mica and Mike both playable on here, and I like all of them. Besides- what better way to necessitate the return of the Argonians than having Mica be needed somehow? One idea I saw here that I really liked was maybe giving Mica the Psychic Shockwave and leaving Mike with his pitching schtick and various sub-weapons. Something I'd like to add to that is that when playing as Mica, her psychic abilities allow her to find hidden passageways and switches Mike wouldn't be able to, or make the ones you find anyways show up in neon or something.

Something else I'd like to see, gameplay-wise, is the return of all those little quirks- like Mike jumping into and out of every room, new passageways that basically EXPLODE out of walls, and of course, tiles of all sorts. For the switch tiles, let's see the return of the big footprint that shows you've jumped on one- that was a GREAT touch, and much better than having the tile just turn a different color.

As for a plot, it has to involve the Argonians somehow... perhaps explore their funky seal-themselves-in-blocks technology a la the stasis cubes and the Tetrads. Either way, you'd also explore some more of the islands, maybe revisit a few key locales (C-Island is a MUST!), and learn more about the history of the island chain. I'm thinking things like Captain Bell's ship on Bellcola. I LOVED getting little hints about the history of those islands, you could tell there had to be a million and six other stories we didn't get time to delve into. Perhaps make it something special about those particular islands being why the Argonians decided on Earth, and that particular island chain. Oh, and we NEED Zoda. And the return of some classic monsters like Rattuses and Jellies... maybe some classic bosses revived and made even tougher (like, say, Octo the Huge with a tentacle attack in addition to the ink blobs) and otherwise just taking advantage of their no longer being restricted to an NES setting.

As far as music, I'd like to see some classic tunes from both games return, as well as new music. The main dungeon themes for StarTropics and Zoda's Revenge, the spaceship dungeon theme from StarTropics, maybe a few others.

I'll post more of my ideas as I remember them; in any case, I agree with basically most to all of shinigamihedgehog's.