Negative World has spoken: 9 out of the 28 cool people who voted chose our first Retro Game Club game, easily obtainable on the Virtual Console for the low price of $5:
Background1991. Things happened that year. Operation Desert Storm started in Iraq. An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles, California police officers. But above all, people will remember 1991 as the year Nintendo released StarTropics on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Well, alright, maybe not.
StarTropics was made by a team of Japanese designers living in the United States (
Nintendo Integrated Research & Development, the developers of Punch-Out!!), for the American and European markets. Not only was it not made for the Japanese market in mind, they had no plans to release it there at all.
The game is almost classic Zelda and wears its inspiration on its sleeve: the menu for starting a game or choosing a save file, the hearts, dungeons, puzzles... the game will be instantly familiar to most of you.
You play as Mike Jones, a typical American kid. Loves yo-yos. Plays baseball. Umm, wears a t-shirt? That's basically the extent of his "personality". Mike is visiting his uncle, an archeologist, on C-island, but upon arrival learns that his uncle has been kidnapped. From there, it's all dank caves, snakes, submarines and yo-yos.
Be warned: the game can be tricky. There are rooms that you will learn you should not have explored only once it's too late, and secret passages you need to push up against. Oh, and if you ever need a "code" for something, don't explore the map twice over. Instead, RTFM!
Progress Milestones
Here I'll try to give a rough idea of how long it takes to get to certain milestones, i.e. "Dungeon 2, about an hour into the game". I'd appreciate help from you guys too, for this!Chapter 1Takes no more than 20 minutes to complete. If you need help for this one...
Chapter 2 - DolphinsTo get to the bottle,
go through the mountain.To get the heart,
same damn thing as above.Takes about 25 minutes to go through depending on how much you die in the dungeon.
Chapter 3 - Storm and CalmTips from Triforcebun: Where there is a slug,
don't forget to check for a wall passage right before one of the exit stairways. In the tomb,
you must navigate through a labyrinth of false walls and dark rooms. When you reach an area that looks like a dead end (lots of water on the north and south sides), head south, and Mike will jump to the next screen.Takes about 2-3 hours to finish, but thankfully that is spread out over about 4 dungeons.
Chapter 4 - ConfessionsTip from Triforcebun:
Listen to what NAV-COM says verrry closely. If you're playing this on the VC, you've got access to what you need to do. If not, you better hope you have more than just the cartridge available! If you really want to know the secret password, it is 747.Done in about 15 minutes.
Chapter 5 - Captain BellIf you hit a dead-end in those mountains,
you missed a fork in the path.Done in... I dunno, 1.5 hours?
Chapter 6 - ReunionI did this one in two sittings, and lost track. About 2 hours?
Chapter 7 - Alien SpaceshipTough, but don't get discouraged! Keep a cool head and don't rush at the enemies, and you will overcome.
Chapter 8 - Final BattleThe PlayersPandareus - Finished it!
Zero - Starting chapter 6
Anon_Mastermind - Starting chapter 5
X-pert74 - Mired in chapter 2
TriforceBun - Starting chapter 7
Paleo_Orca - In chapter 2? (give us updates!)
ShadowLink - In chapter 1? (give us updates!)
CPA Wei? Ploot? Orbital74?
Below: the discussion!Feel free to discuss every aspect of this game or your experience with it! Music, graphics, gameplay, story, or your personal history with this game! Maybe try to be mindful of spoilers, though? Simply mention which dungeon or chapter you are at, and then use the spoiler tag appropriately.
URL to share (right click and copy) 
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