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  This game was released in 1990. As of right now that's 27 years ago. Wow! It was even made by Nintendo and it was only ever released in North America and Europe, though, the game never got translated from English. It's an action adventure game starring Mike Jones, ace pitcher and all around rad dude who got an invitation from his uncle, Dr. J, to come on over and visit him on C-Island. Over the course of our adventure we'll travel to various other islands too and venture into the depths of caves. Some might say the game is reminiscent of Zelda because you also have to make use of various items you find to succeed in this test of island courage. Now the game is mostly known for its copy protection and I actually purchased a cartridge with the manual and everything to show that when it comes up.  Along with my mainly informative videos I'll post various supplemental materials, such as scans of manual pages. Mostly stuff found on this page. If you wanna take a peek ahead of time that's fine, of course. But be aware that while the manual itself only spoils stuff up to chapter 5, the actual guides posted there go right until the end of the game. Just in case you're worried about spoilers. I'll only be posting relevant parts for each episode. To celebrate the completion of the LP I also streamed a playthrough of Startropics 2 that is linked to at the end.  While this game is old enough to not worry about spoilers, it's also old enough that many people may not have played or even heard of this game, so I ask you to put everything we haven't seen yet behind spoiler tags and avoid turning your posts into CIA documents. Thanks!  Preemtively Answered Questions Q: Wait, I thought you only LP'd grimdark fantasy and lovely wrestling games? A: Sorry, can't hear you. Q: You know someone somewhere already did an LP of this game, right? A: Sorry, can't hear you. Q: Do you have bananas in your ears? A: Sorry, can't hear you. Q: I find the enlarged footage at the sides of the video disorienting, can you fix this? A: Sorry, can't... okay okay. There's a little 4:3 graphic on top of the episode banners, that'll take you to a playlist of the videos in fake 4:3 in addition to the regular ones, meaning I can continue with my flawless artistic vision and you get to not see it.                 
IGgy IGsen fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Aug 13, 2017 |
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Jul 5, 2017 11:02
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 Ooops, you went too far, there's nothing here but death. IGgy IGsen fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Aug 13, 2017 |
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Jul 5, 2017 11:03
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Let's begin our adventure! Below you'll find various pages from manuals, Nintendo Power and so on. You'll find that back in the old days manuals had a lot more charm than they do now. And it's quite interesting to see these old issues of Nintendo Power that tried to guide the player through the game. Manual      Nintendo Power        [
IGgy IGsen fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Jul 7, 2017 |
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Jul 5, 2017 11:03
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I understand it's a stylistic choice but boy am I not a fan of the "ends of the game screen mirrored to cover up the black bars" technique; it's just so distracting. Static images are better imo. This is a game I've always meant to get around to playing but never really bothered for one reason or another. Looking forward to the rest of this LP. drat, Mike Haggar really let it all go when he retired.
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Jul 5, 2017 14:43
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I did like the musical stylings in this game, for all that they bugged out now and then.
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Jul 5, 2017 21:49
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This was one of the games that gave a sense of accomplishment to beating when I was a kid, the dick moves in some parts just feel adversarial. I look forward to your journeys in the south Cs.
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Jul 6, 2017 13:44
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I always thought this was a pretty charming game, even if it could be rude at times.
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Jul 6, 2017 16:04
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Genocyber posted:I understand it's a stylistic choice but boy am I not a fan of the "ends of the game screen mirrored to cover up the black bars" technique; it's just so distracting. Static images are better imo. Personally, I think it's fine, but then again, static images on the sides wouldn't bug me either. Definitely keep up the thing where you stick images from the manual on the side at relevant points though. That's a nice touch.
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Jul 7, 2017 09:04
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When last we left we were on our way to save our uncle by aimlessly going some random direction with our submarine. Now dolphins appear. Cool. Manual  Howard & Nester Comic   Nintendo Power Walthrough        Nintendo Game Atlas Map 
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Jul 7, 2017 09:54
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Iunnrais posted:Personally, I think it's fine, but then again, static images on the sides wouldn't bug me either. Definitely keep up the thing where you stick images from the manual on the side at relevant points though. That's a nice touch. The real reason for me going 16:9 is that there will be 16:9 footage later and I for some reason value consistency between videos way too high. I personally prefer just having an enlarged reference of the game itself fill the bars as I think it's pretty elegant. But the reason I'm not changing that is also that I want to be consistent.
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Jul 7, 2017 09:57
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Oh man, I bought this game used back in the day, and it was pretty rad, but I was super bad at video games. I somehow managed to find a copy with the manual included but without the letter, so it's a good thing I was too much of a scrub to get close to where you needed it.
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Jul 7, 2017 17:34
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Genocyber posted:drat, Mike Haggar really let it all go when he retired. Also, it looks like Dean started doing drag.
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Jul 7, 2017 19:10
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There was a future issue of Nintendo Power (I wanna say Volume 58?) that had no maps for StarTropics, but did have a complete guide of where to go, what to get, and how to beat every boss. They also had a complete walkthrough of StarTropics 2 that was split up into two issues not long after, but the less said about that game the better. I wish Nintendo gave more recognition to StarTropics as a series, but since it never even came out in Japan, I doubt that'll happen.
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Jul 7, 2017 19:23
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Decided to check out this thread after seeing the GDQ run of this game the other day. In your first set of scans from Nintendo Power, one page appears twice while some other page seems to be missing.
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Jul 7, 2017 20:46
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Carbon dioxide posted:Decided to check out this thread after seeing the GDQ run of this game the other day. Ooops, that sailed past my radar. Should be fixed now. Thanks!
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Jul 7, 2017 22:06
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IGgy IGsen posted:Ooops, that sailed past my radar. Should be fixed now. Thanks! WOW! YOU'VE DONE IT!
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Jul 7, 2017 22:26
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Everyone on the field in a baseball team will eventually come up to bat, though there's a disagreement between the two major baseball leagues over whether or not the pitcher should have a permanent ringer to bat on their behalf. But as old as Mike is, he's probably a dab hand with a bat. No star, but enough to not be completely useless when it's his go in the lineup.
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Jul 8, 2017 01:53
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Yeah, the level of competition in high school is low enough that it'd be completely plausible for an athletic freak to simultaneously be the best pitcher and best hitter on the team. Mikey's got a good enough arm to be a starting pitcher at 15 and to kill a giant snake with a yo-yo, so I feel pretty good about his athletic freak status. I'd be curious to see the scouting report; obviously the arm is solid and you like the intensity but an offseason spent gallivanting around the South Pacific killing animals and using weird native PEDs points to makeup issues.
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Jul 8, 2017 03:09
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I mean, in the little amount of batting sports we did in high school, I found out I'm terrible at them because I can't hit a ball for the life of me. I'm quite sure that I could still swing a bat to hit a human-sized octopus, though.
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Jul 8, 2017 07:56
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Mike Jones is a baseball team captain at 15, as a freshman or sophomore in high school? More like Mike Trout if you ask me. 
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Jul 9, 2017 03:25
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Genocyber posted:I understand it's a stylistic choice but boy am I not a fan of the "ends of the game screen mirrored to cover up the black bars" technique; it's just so distracting. Static images are better imo. Oh man, seconding this. It was okay but annoying on the title screen and stuff, but once you started play it was really distracting and very annoying.
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Jul 9, 2017 08:19
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Since it seems to be bothering quite some people here's a thing. I know it says 4:3, but it's fake 4:3 (it's the video without anything in the margins, except the occasional snippets from the manual) Wow! I've done it!
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Jul 9, 2017 10:57
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Huzzah now everyone is happy!
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Jul 9, 2017 14:54
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So we crashed our ride. Time to walk it off. Manual  Nintendo Power      Nintendo Game Atlas 
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Jul 10, 2017 20:53
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I kinda like the little kid who wants to be a sailor until you tel him about your wreck.
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Jul 11, 2017 01:09
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In order to find a way to dress in drag we need to find a magic crystal ball in a graveyard? Checks out. Manual  This is the last manual page showing enemies. From here on out we're on our way into the unknown. Nintendo Power       Nintendo Game Atlas 
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Jul 14, 2017 10:49
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Man, they made this island huge. That's like two dungeons and you're not even done yet.
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Jul 15, 2017 05:00
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Shieet, whaddup bonedawg
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Jul 15, 2017 05:08
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vdate posted:Oh man, I bought this game used back in the day, and it was pretty rad, but I was super bad at video games. I somehow managed to find a copy with the manual included but without the letter, so it's a good thing I was too much of a scrub to get close to where you needed it. I found it as a kid one day and assumed it was Earthbound because of Smash 64. There's a bat and a yoyo!
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Jul 15, 2017 06:37
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RBA Starblade posted:I found it as a kid one day and assumed it was Earthbound because of Smash 64. There's a bat and a yoyo!
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Jul 15, 2017 07:27
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I think the third chapter is so long because there's a sort-of-not-really reward if you play through it all in review mode. I used to think there was more to that than there is. Maybe there is more and I just never found it.
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Jul 15, 2017 15:48
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I remember the ghost cave as a place where I had to turn off the game and do some soothing breathing exercises. The only games were this one, faxanadu and air fortress.
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Jul 15, 2017 22:44
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Today we will finally finish the beast that is chapter 3 and we'll be able to move on to new things. Like chapter 4. Nintendo Power      Nintendo Game Atlas 
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Jul 17, 2017 20:27
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Yeah, the weapon being tied to your health makes it kind of irritating to get hit in the first place. I suppose everybody wanted their own variation on a Zelda sword-beam, but the yoyo feels like too much of a downgrade.
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Jul 18, 2017 12:14
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Is it explained anywhere that it's tied to your health, or is that particular gently caress-you-for-not-being-perfect a secret until you work it out for yourself?
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Jul 18, 2017 12:25
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oldskool posted:Is it explained anywhere that it's tied to your health, or is that particular gently caress-you-for-not-being-perfect a secret until you work it out for yourself? The queen literally tells you when she hands it to you.
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Jul 18, 2017 12:27
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Nidoking posted:The queen literally tells you when she hands it to you.  The five seconds I looked away from the screen.
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Jul 18, 2017 13:41
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Probably the worst chapter in the game. But we'll also get to see an unboxing video of a 1990 video game, so it's all good. The Wet Letter (transcript) Mike, I found some strange ciphers in my last voyage. Since then, someone has been watching me! I put a tiny transmitter in my shoe It's Frequency is 747 MHz. Perhaps I worry too much, but better to be safe than sorry. Nintendo Power     Nintendo Game Atlas 
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Jul 21, 2017 19:24
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The manual is there to help you imagine the game as more than it is, you know? It's squat 8-bit sprites pretending to be a beautiful island and a bunch of adventures. If Startropics came out again today, the manual would be replaced by, like, the first ten minutes of the game. You'd actually see the village and hear the people talking to you and see all the special weapons and monsters.
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Jul 22, 2017 05:19
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I love that shecola castle just has the loving Venus symbol in the tilework. Oh the 80s...
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Jul 23, 2017 17:40
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