You really can't say Nintendo is a company with a dearth of cute, character-driven 2D platformers, but nevertheless, the company is adding one more such game to its roster--at least in the Western Hemisphere. The Legendary Starfy is a platforming series that's already had four popular installments on the Game Boy Advance in Japan, but the series has never made it out of its native land. Now Nintendo has finally elected to bring the series' fifth entry (and its first on the DS) to North America next month.
In a developer teleconference yesterday, reps from Nintendo and developer TOSE allowed that Starfy's long-in-coming Western release is essentially riding on the coattails of the DS' massive global success. Since the DS is a bona fide worldwide phenomenon, Nintendo decided it was time to bring Starfy to the same massive audience. The design team thus went into development of the DS version of Starfy with that global audience in mind.
Nintendo currently has no intention of bringing the first four GBA games out on these shores, via DSiWare or otherwise. But the company admitted that if the new game is a big enough success, that possibility could be revisited.
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Is there room in your life (and your heart) for more Nintendo handheld platforming?
CORRECTION: This is actually the second DS iteration of the Starfy series. Thanks to those who pointed that out. I'll go bury my head in the sand now.