Densetsu no Starfy (GBC)

A scan from the Nintendo Spaceworld 2000 guidebook, detailing information about Densetsu no Starfy when it was under development on the Game Boy Color

Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy, and later for the Game Boy Color was a tentative Starfy game that was eventually canceled, though it was eventually released in the form of Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Advance on September 6, 2002. Any initial plans of releasing Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Color were abandoned in anticipation of the release of the Game Boy Advance.

History

See also: Nintendo World, Next Generation World Hobby Fair

Planning on this game began as early as November 1995 with the work of Hitoshi Yamagami (Nintendo) and later Yasuhiro Minamimoto (TOSE) as untitled balloon/bubble pushing games involving indirectly pushing a balloon, and later moving a Nintendo character in a bubble. At some point the game was changed to control the object manually, as the game was considered not very fun.

Development on this game continued through 1998 and as such. At some point, both a starfish and a jellyfish were considerations for changing the bubble to a marine creature to match the theme of the game. Nintendo encouraged TOSE to rework this game for the Game Boy Color. In 2000, the Game Boy Color version underwent a period of promotion, where details about the game began to surface on the official Japanese Nintendo website. A trailer of the game was presented in 2000's Nintendo World event, amongst highly anticipated titles such as Luigi's Mansion and Super Mario 128.

As the game was approaching its release for the Game Boy Color, it was again canceled and rebuilt for the Game Boy Advance which was only going to be released in 2001. Starfy was apparently going to be purely a starfish, until he was made to fall down from the sky, which supposedly invoked a community policy for TOSE to reply that Starfy is neither a star or a starfish when asked.

There are various differences between the Game Boy Color version and the final Game Boy Advance version still noticeable on Nintendo of Japan's page about the trial demo. For example, the official logo and some of the character artwork and names of characters were changed later in development, including Kyorosuke (Moe) who was originally known as "Kyororon". It should be noted however that the Nintendo Space World 2001 trial demo for the Game Boy Advance was promoted with the old logo used during the Game Boy Color period. There was also character artwork for the Game Boy Advance version from early in development, which although different (with the exception of Moe), were not final.

Gallery

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  An older version of the Densetsu no Starfy logo. It was hosted on Nintendo's official website, and was used for promoting Densetsu no Starfy at Nintendo Space World 2000 and 2001.

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  Moe as he appeared in the cancelled prototype version of Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Color.

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  Ootaruika as he appeared in the cancelled prototype version of Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Color.

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  Old Man Lobber as he appeared in the cancelled prototype version of Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Color.*

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  A stage which is probably an early version of Sea of Ice.

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  A stage which is probably an early version of Coral Reef.

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  A stage which is probably an early version of Stranded Whale.

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  A stage which is probably an early version of S.S. Logwater.

• The text can translate to the following; "Old Man Lobber: You want to go back to Pufftop, but you look a little frail.... What would be the best thing for us to do....?" (Japanese: よわっちぃ おまえさんが　テンカイに　もどれるかのう.... どうしたらよいか....).

Remaining footage

This article or section is incomplete.
	You can add to it by clicking the edit button at the top of the article. Reason given: Have someone skilled interpret what the narrator of the video on the left is saying in Japanese.

Although the Game Boy Color game was cancelled, a trailer of the game (right) is still available as a QuickTime movie on the official Japanese Nintendo website. At least one remaining clip of the game from the Nintendo Space World 2000 event also exists on the Internet. The video below (left) is an extract of footage filmed by Donald Allen; who was the creator and webmaster of the defunct website NintendoNation (formally NintendoNext).

Densetsu no Starfy trailer at Nintendo Space World (2000)

Official Nintendo website footage

In the Donald Allen footage, the two conversations Starfy has, can be interpreted in English as follows.

Mermaid (Japanese: マーメイド): "Pleased to meet you, Starfy." (Japanese:　はじめまして　スタフィー)

Moe (Japanese: キョロロン): "Phew, you saved me...... ...... Wait, someone else?! Who the heck are you?!" (Japanese: フー　たすかんなみ......。......ちがうっ！ だれだ オメエ！)

See also

• List of prerelease information
• Prerelease information (definition)

External links

• Official Nintendo Space World 2000 website (in Japanese).
• Densetsu no Starfy (tentative title) - Nintendo of Japan, 2000 (in Japanese).

Trivia

• During development, both the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color prototypes' names were marked （仮称, tentative）, which may suggest the name was not fully decided, but the game was released as Densetsu no Starfy anyway.

References