Starfy's gameplay isn't as dynamic or satisfying, however, as it was in Mario's last handheld outing. The game's artwork and characters are cute as heck (almost sickeningly so), making it suitable for any DS-playing rugrats you have running around. As a pure platformer, though, it didn't have the chops to satisfy me in the same way other, more refined games (many from Nintendo itself) have done.
The Legendary Starfy is a joy to look at, full of big, colorful, well-animated sprites and a tasteful combination of 2D and (where appropriate) 3D backgrounds. You've got all these exaggerated characters based on all kinds of marine wildlife--starfish, lobsters, clams, a space rabbit (?)--yapping away at each other in nicely animated cutscenes that tell the game's simple storyline.
When you do get into the gameplay, you'll find Starfy has a rather basic set of platforming moves: double jumps, gliding, a spin attack, and so on. You can team up with your space rabbit friend to assume a few alternate animal forms with special powers, and there's the occasional special level that has you doing things like riding in a mine cart. But mostly, the game is about exploring simplistic levels to look for hidden items, spin your way through some benign enemies, and find the doorway to the next section of the level.
You do get different controls depending on whether Starfy is underwater, where you can swim very quickly, or on dry land, where the game plays more like a traditional platformer. This helps give the gameplay a little more variety, but there were also times where I felt like I was switching between the two styles--which use some of the same buttons for different actions--too quickly to keep up with which button did what. The collision detection is also a little weird in spots, so overall the action doesn't feel as precise as you'd expect it to in a game like this.
The Legendary Starfy really seems targeted at a younger audience. With its cartoon-like visuals and light challenge level, kids will probably eat it right up--and it's surely a higher quality game than most of the child-oriented DS games on the market, coming as it does with the highly polished sheen characteristic of all Nintendo games. Maybe if Starfy had been around in the Western market for years and engendered the same sort of nostalgia that we older gamers feel for franchises like Mario, I'd be more forgiving of this game's simplistic nature--but as a newcomer to the series, I found myself wanting for a platformer with a little more meat on its bones.
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