StarTropics 1990

Is it still worth playing?

Nintendo's 1990 action adventure for the NES, released only in North America and Europe, in which the teenager Mike Jones sets out to rescue his uncle. It is played top down in chapters. In each you explore settlements, talk to characters for information and then usually look for the source of a local calamity. In dungeons the view gets closer, with obstacles and enemies to get past or destroy. Mike mostly fights with a yo-yo, and you unlock more weapons and tools, some influenced by baseball. The original release came with a physical letter that set up the story and had to be dipped in water during play to reveal a code. Each chapter ends on a solved local trouble, which still keeps the quest easy to follow.