The Legendary Starfy (series)

The Legendary Starfy (伝説のスタフィー) series is a video game series developed by TOSE (who also developed the Game & Watch Gallery series) and published by Nintendo. The series is the only franchise that TOSE owns the copyright for, although Nintendo owns the copyright as well. The series began in 2002 with Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Advance, and four sequels were released. For its first seven years, no Starfy games were officially released outside of Japan. The fifth game in the series was released as The Legendary Starfy in North America on June 8, 2009.

Games
The following is a list of games released in the series.


 * Games predating Taiketsu! Daiiru Kaizokudan were released exclusively in Japan. As a result, there are no official English language titles for these games. An official English language title may be given if any Nintendo division outside of Japan elects to localize any of these games or feature any of them in a game from another series.

Gameplay
The genre of the series is a special kind of platform game called "marine platform", due to the game being more about swimming than running and jumping around. Players control the protagonist of the series, Starfy, throughout each game (sometimes Starly in the third, fourth and fifth titles of the series). When on land, the controls are equal to the controls of most other platform games. When in the water, players can only move Starfy around using the control pad alone; however, if players want to make Starfy swim faster, they hold the A button down while moving him around. The games are usually composed of multiple stages or worlds, with each stage split up into four sub-stages. Boss characters hide at the end of each world's final sub-stage. Most of the other sub-stages' goals are centered around retrieving a lost or stolen item for another character. Most power-ups are vehicles and costumes, some are new moves and some are upgrades for moves and other power-ups.

Characters

 * Starfy (スタフィー), sometimes known as Stafy, is the protagonist of the series. He is 7 years old and is 36 cm (14.2in; 1 ft, 2.2in) tall, and is a relatively easy-going, clumsy, friendly character to get along with. Although he's fairly persistent in completing his goals, he is spacey, absentminded, and so forgetful that often he cannot remember how to perform his own techniques. He tends to maneuver better in water than on land. His signature technique is the "Star Spin", a spinning attack he uses to dispatch foes. He lives in Pufftop Palace (Tenkai, or "Sky-Sea" Palace in Japanese) with his sister Starly. Starfy can speak, but usually his dialogue in the games is limited to exclamations and sounds. In the commercials, he is voiced by Satomi Korogi. According to Hitoshi Yamagami, producer of the series on Nintendo's side, said that Starfy is neither a star nor a starfish. Starfy appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as an Assist Trophy, and has a Profile Trophy as well.


 * Starly, known in Japan as Stapy (スタピー) is the sister of Starfy. She is pink and wears a pinkish-red bow beside her head. She first appears as a playable character in Densetsu no Starfy 3. She appears to be so energetic and brave, and she always pushes her brother and Moe to their limits in doing things. She can be pretty rude sometimes, and she gets over sad things faster than her brother does. Though weaker, she has very different abilities from her brother, making her unique.


 * Moe, known in Japan as Kyorosuke (キョロスケ) and formally known in Japan as Kyororon (キョロロン), is a clam who is also the best friend of Starfy. He often appears in levels to dispense advice to Starfy, and in Densetsu no Starfy 4, he disperses advice through phone instead, and teams up with him for powerful attacks. Moe is easily angered, loud mouthed, arrogant, and rude. He has a soft spot for Ruby, and he becomes rather shy and incredibly polite in front of her. He is quick to run away and push responsibilities into Starfy's and Starly's hands. In the Japanese commercials, he is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi.


 * Ruby, known in Japan as HadeHirari (ハデヒラリ), is a pinkish-purple zebra turkeyfish, who is the love interest of Moe. Ruby is a fish that likes dressing up and lives in a fashionable house in the corals. She is gentle, always cheering people on.


 * Ogura (オーグラ) is the primary antagonist of Starfy games 1 and 2. He is accidentally released from a Magic Jar designed to keep him from causing chaos by Starfy, and utilizes large thunderstorms to create chaos. In Starfy 3, he sacrificed himself using the stones along with Starfy, Starly and Moe, to completely defeat Evil. After they defeated Evil, Ogura said his final words before passing away.

Other characters

 * Old Man Lobber (known in Japan as Lobjii-san (ロブじいさん)) – A wise old lobster, and a kungfu master. In the second and fifth games, Old Man Lobber reveals that he and Papa Star once worked together to save and protect the kingdom of Pufftop.
 * Mermaid - Mermaids who live in seashells. In the first three games, it is considered a check point. In the fourth and fifth games, it is considered a save point. In the fourth game and the Japanese version of the fifth game in the series, she often shouts "Hi hi!", but in the localized version of the fifth game, she simply shouts "Hi!"
 * Herman(known in Japan as Yadokarita) - A easygoing blue and red striped shelled hermit crab.
 * Konk (known in Japan as Bonboon) - A sea creature in a spiked seashell that spins it around to attack Starfy with it. He was the first boss in the first four games in the series. He was not the first boss in the fifth game, although he appears as a mini-boss in the secret level 9. Konk has a habit of saying KONK in mid-sentence. He also has a crush on Ruby, just like Moe does.
 * Evil - The primary antagonist of Starfy 3.
 * Papa Star - Father of Starfy and Starly. Also the king of Pufftop.
 * Mama Star - Mother of Starfy and Starly. She was once the damsel in distress in the second game of the series.
 * Materu - The princess from Starfy 4. Starfy has a soft spot for her.
 * Ateru - The prince from Starfy 4. Starly has a soft spot for him.
 * Dejeel - The primary antagonist of Starfy 4.
 * Bunston (known in Japan as Rampa) A new friend of Starfy, Moe and Starly in Starfy 5. Bunston is the prince of Planet Bunnera. He has the ability to turn Starfy and Starly into many different creatures including a fire breathing dragon, a seal, a rooster, and a ghost.
 * Moe's Family - Moe's siblings includes his brother, his sister and the baby clam. They are all younger than Moe. Their parents, the father known in Japan as Kyorozō (キョロゾウ), and the mother known in Japan as Kyoromama (キョロママ), were once happy with each other, but later fussed and fought each other while becoming divorced. Kyoromama took the children and moved to a smaller, dirtier home. A short time later, she died of an unknown illness. Ten years later, in the third game Moe and his father reunited, until Moe got attacked by Evil, while his father sacrificed himself to save his son's life.
 * Snips, Ronk, and Papes, also known as The Terrible Trio (known in Japan as the Dire Pirate Squad) - They represent rock, paper and scissors, and they work for Mashtooth at the beginning but helped Starfy defeat Mashtooth since they think that stealing and taking power is wrong. Snips is the leader, Ronk is the muscle, and Papes is the brain.
 * Mashtooth - An evil space pirate and primary antagonist of The Legendary Starfy.
 * Wario - Guest character in Starfy 3.

Marketing
Although there had always been plans to bring the series to North America, the reason the series stayed in Japan until the announcement of the fifth game was because Nintendo of America had declared it to be "too Japanese". Nintendo of America has also considered bringing the other four games to North America in some form as well as expanding the series to the Wii, depending on "fan response".

Commercials
The animated television commercials loosely take place in the plot of whatever title is being advertised, as well as its gameplay. The settings and actions were slightly different compared to the ones in the titles they advertised. For instance, in the first The Legendary Starfy title, Starfy was walking inside the Tenkai Palace while carrying some stuff, including the Magic Jar holding the antagonist, Ogura, until Starfy tripped and dropped the stuff he was carrying, while the Magic Jar fell into the ocean below the Tenkai Palace. But in one of the commercials for the first title of the series, Starfy was walking outside of Tenkai Palace while only carrying the Magic Jar, until he tripped and fell in the ocean along with the Magic Jar. Except for Densetsu no Starfy 3, its commercial is the only one in The Legendary Starfy series that has a different setting. Instead of taking place anywhere in the game, the commercial takes place in a sushi bar, where the characters are standing on plates while being moved around on a conveyor belt. In the Japanese commercials for Densetsu no Starfy 4 and Densetsu no Starfy Taiketsu! Daiiru Kaizokudan go back to the way the commercials for the first two titles of the series were, by making them loosely based on the plots of whatever is being advertised. While ''Densetsu no Starfy Taiketsu! Daiiru Kaizokudan was being planned for release in North America as The Legendary Starfy'', a new live-action English commercial for it takes place on a boat "The Falling Star", where an old man and his grandson, fishing, talk about catching a giant squid, the grandson is worried, until the old man assures his grandson that he doesn't have to worry, because he has Starfy. Starfy then pops out of the sea. This is the first North American commercial, airing on May 25, 2009.

Merchandise
During the release of each game in the series, there have been many kinds of merchandise related to the series released in Japanese retail stores, like plush dolls, pencils, birthday balloons and casino cards. Nintendo also officially produced a manga version of the Densetsu no Starfy series and later, Densetsu no Starfy R with Shogakukan. CD soundtracks from the Starfy series were also released. The one used to promote the first The Legendary Starfy game was sung by BECKY. Kazuki Saya sung to promote Densetsu no Starfy 2. The J-pop group Perfume became the first group to sing the theme song, which was used to promote Densetsu no Starfy 3 during the credits of a Japanese television show Oha-Sta. Despite that being made, it wasn't released in retail stores. In the commercials for Densetsu no Starfy 3, Perfume's song titled Vitamin Drop, was the only song played in a Starfy series commercial that isn't related to the series. Another J-pop group C-ute recorded the theme song to promote Densetsu no Starfy 4. The Legendary Starfy, unlike other games in the series, was never promoted with a vocal song nor a CD album by a J-pop singer nor group.

Other appearances in media
While only one of The Legendary Starfy games was ever released outside of Japan, some references from the series have made cameo appearances in a few games that were released internationally. In Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance, a poster in the Yoshi Theater resembles the box art of the first game in the series also for the Game Boy Advance, but titled in English as "Legend of Stafy". In Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS, an enemy called "Starfish" resembles the Starfy sprites of Densetsu no Starfy 4, as well as The Legendary Starfy, but with sunglasses. In the Japanese version of Donkey Konga, one of the songs is the main theme song of the series. Starfy also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as one of the Assist Trophy characters, as well as a couple of Stickers and a regular Trophy, and is once again referred to as "Stafy". He attacks by using his signature spin attack against the opponents of whoever summoned him, but unlike most, he can be attacked and defeated.