Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II
Encyclopedia
Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II is a video game released only in North America
in 1994
. It was developed and published by Nintendo
for the Nintendo Entertainment System
as the sequel to the 1990 game, StarTropics
. It is the second to last licensed game released on the NES
, Wario's Woods
being the last. It was also the very last NES title Nintendo released, excluding re-releases and international distributions of others also by Nintendo. It was later released on the Wii
's Virtual Console
on December 29, 2008 in North America, and on July 10, 2009 in the PAL region
s.
island
s, its sequel takes place in a variety of locales, such as a caveman era, Ancient Egypt
, the Wild West
, the Medieval Times
, and England
in old time periods.
During the game, Mike meets many important historical and fictional figures throughout his journey through time. These consist of Cleopatra, Merlin
, Sherlock Holmes
, Leonardo da Vinci
and King Arthur
, who help him to achieve his goal, finding the tetrads (Tetris
pieces) and defeating Zoda's three clones.
Unlike the original, Mike is no longer limited to moving in "squares", and now can move in 8 different directions . He now uses various weapons, including Tink's Axe, Cleopatra's Bronze Dagger, and Leonardo da Vinci
's Katana
, as well as an upgradable projectile magic attack that he learns from Merlin
called the Psychic Shock Wave, as opposed to the Island Yo-Yo
(Island Star in the Virtual Console
version of StarTropics), the Shooting Star and the Super Nova he had in the first game. Of note, the main weapon in this game, axe, dagger or katana, is not affected by Mike's number of hearts, unlike the first game. Instead, the strength of the Psychic Shock Wave is dependent on the number of hearts. Once upgraded, the Psychic Shock Wave's strength and range are far superior to the weapon that Mike has. Occasionally the player will face enemies that react differently depending on which weapon is used to attack.
While the first Startropics game had a wide array of secondary weapons and special items, Zoda's Revenge only has a few weapons and items. The only special items in the game are potions and Big Stars, and the latter can only be found in one level. The only secondary weapon provided to the player is the bola, which has a great range but is weaker than the player's standard weapons and the Psychic Shock Wave. Also- in the first level, before the axe is obtained- the player must scavenge rocks to throw at enemies.
. He arrives in the Stone Age
. After helping a tribe of cave men retrieve their children from a flesh-eating wild boar, he finds an object, which Mica telepathically identifies as a Tetrad ("Block" in the Virtual Console version). He must travel to different eras throughout Earth
’s history and retrieve the rest of the Tetrads.
During one time jump, in which Mike helps Sherlock Holmes
prevent a robbery at the museum, he discovers that Zoda, the antagonist of the previous game, is alive in Holmes’ time period, and is also trying to collect the Tetrads. Mike defeats Zoda again and claims the Tetrad that Zoda tried to steal. Based on the fact that Zoda referred to himself as “Zoda-X”, Holmes deduces that there are likely to be a Zoda-Y and Zoda-Z somewhere in time, as well. This is proven to be true, as Mike later faces and defeats Zoda-Y in Transylvania
. After he recovers the last of the Tetrads, Mica contacts Mike and tells him that Zoda-Z has attacked C-Island, where the Argonians are staying. Mike returns to the present and faces Zoda-Z in combat. After finally defeating Zoda, the Chief of C-Island helps Mike put the Tetrads together. When they are together, Hirocon, the leader of the Argonians and Mica’s father, appears from the tetrads. He leads the Argonians back to their home planet to rebuild.
's Mega Man 6
and the NES version of Wario's Woods
, which were also published by Nintendo in North America during the same time. Their plan was to release the top-loading NES-101 for a retail price of $49.99 to attract consumers to buying the updated version of the original NES along with one or more new games for the console. Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II marks the era that Nintendo Integrated Research & Development (Nintendo IRD) had the most activity in the software development section. During this period, Nintendo IRD was producing the Super NES
version of Super Punch-Out!!
along with Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II.
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in 1994
1994 in video gaming
-Events:*Nintendo calls this year "1994: The Year of the Cartridge".*Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd is established and opened by Hiroshi Yamauchi and effectively ends Mattel Australia's distribution of Nintendo's products throughout Australia.*"Project...
. It was developed and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
as the sequel to the 1990 game, StarTropics
StarTropics
StarTropics is an action-adventure video game released by Nintendo in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Unlike most of Nintendo's games, it was never released or intended to be released in Japan. It was released only in North America and Europe, although designed by Japanese designers...
. It is the second to last licensed game released on the NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, Wario's Woods
Wario's Woods
is a puzzle game, developed and published by Nintendo, for both the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The NES version was released in Japan on February 19, 1994, and both versions were released simultaneously in North America on December 10, 1994...
being the last. It was also the very last NES title Nintendo released, excluding re-releases and international distributions of others also by Nintendo. It was later released on the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
's Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
on December 29, 2008 in North America, and on July 10, 2009 in the PAL region
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...
s.
Gameplay
Zoda's Revenge runs through nine chapters, although the first is story-only. Each chapter besides the first takes place in a different time and place and holds one or more bosses, multiple areas, many weapons, medicine, obstacles and puzzles. While the original StarTropics took place almost exclusively on a series of tropicalTropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
s, its sequel takes place in a variety of locales, such as a caveman era, Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, the Wild West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
, the Medieval Times
Medieval Times
Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament is a family dinner theater featuring staged medieval-style games, sword-fighting, and jousting performed by a cast of 75 actors and 20 horses. Each location is housed in a replica 11th-century castle, with the exception of the Toronto location, which is housed...
, and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in old time periods.
During the game, Mike meets many important historical and fictional figures throughout his journey through time. These consist of Cleopatra, Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
, Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
and King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
, who help him to achieve his goal, finding the tetrads (Tetris
Tetris
Tetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was released on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
pieces) and defeating Zoda's three clones.
Unlike the original, Mike is no longer limited to moving in "squares", and now can move in 8 different directions . He now uses various weapons, including Tink's Axe, Cleopatra's Bronze Dagger, and Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's Katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
, as well as an upgradable projectile magic attack that he learns from Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
called the Psychic Shock Wave, as opposed to the Island Yo-Yo
Yo-yo
The yo-yo in its simplest form is an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a length of twine looped around the axle, similar to a slender spool...
(Island Star in the Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
version of StarTropics), the Shooting Star and the Super Nova he had in the first game. Of note, the main weapon in this game, axe, dagger or katana, is not affected by Mike's number of hearts, unlike the first game. Instead, the strength of the Psychic Shock Wave is dependent on the number of hearts. Once upgraded, the Psychic Shock Wave's strength and range are far superior to the weapon that Mike has. Occasionally the player will face enemies that react differently depending on which weapon is used to attack.
While the first Startropics game had a wide array of secondary weapons and special items, Zoda's Revenge only has a few weapons and items. The only special items in the game are potions and Big Stars, and the latter can only be found in one level. The only secondary weapon provided to the player is the bola, which has a great range but is weaker than the player's standard weapons and the Psychic Shock Wave. Also- in the first level, before the axe is obtained- the player must scavenge rocks to throw at enemies.
Plot
The story begins with Mike Jones, the protagonist, receiving a telepathic message from Mica, the princess of the Argonians, whom Mike had rescued in the previous game. She tells Mike how to solve a cipher that he and his uncle, Dr. J, found on the side of the Argonians’ space pod. Mike goes to see Dr. J, and together, they solve the cipher and read it aloud. This causes Mike to be flung into the pastTime travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
. He arrives in the Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
. After helping a tribe of cave men retrieve their children from a flesh-eating wild boar, he finds an object, which Mica telepathically identifies as a Tetrad ("Block" in the Virtual Console version). He must travel to different eras throughout Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
’s history and retrieve the rest of the Tetrads.
During one time jump, in which Mike helps Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
prevent a robbery at the museum, he discovers that Zoda, the antagonist of the previous game, is alive in Holmes’ time period, and is also trying to collect the Tetrads. Mike defeats Zoda again and claims the Tetrad that Zoda tried to steal. Based on the fact that Zoda referred to himself as “Zoda-X”, Holmes deduces that there are likely to be a Zoda-Y and Zoda-Z somewhere in time, as well. This is proven to be true, as Mike later faces and defeats Zoda-Y in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. After he recovers the last of the Tetrads, Mica contacts Mike and tells him that Zoda-Z has attacked C-Island, where the Argonians are staying. Mike returns to the present and faces Zoda-Z in combat. After finally defeating Zoda, the Chief of C-Island helps Mike put the Tetrads together. When they are together, Hirocon, the leader of the Argonians and Mica’s father, appears from the tetrads. He leads the Argonians back to their home planet to rebuild.
Development
Before the NES era in North America was about to end, Nintendo of America made a plan to help sell Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II along with CapcomCapcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
's Mega Man 6
Mega Man 6
Mega Man 6, known in Japan as , is a video game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It is the sixth installment in the original Mega Man series and was originally released in Japan on October 5, 1993 and in North America the following March. It was included in the Mega Man...
and the NES version of Wario's Woods
Wario's Woods
is a puzzle game, developed and published by Nintendo, for both the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The NES version was released in Japan on February 19, 1994, and both versions were released simultaneously in North America on December 10, 1994...
, which were also published by Nintendo in North America during the same time. Their plan was to release the top-loading NES-101 for a retail price of $49.99 to attract consumers to buying the updated version of the original NES along with one or more new games for the console. Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II marks the era that Nintendo Integrated Research & Development (Nintendo IRD) had the most activity in the software development section. During this period, Nintendo IRD was producing the Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
version of Super Punch-Out!!
Super Punch-Out!!
is a 1984 arcade game by Nintendo. It is a boxing game with the same gameplay and digitized speech of its arcade precursor, Punch-Out!!. This second game in the Punch-Out!! series introduced recurring video games characters such as Bear Hugger, Dragon Chan, Vodka Drunkenski, Great Tiger and Super...
along with Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II.
External links
- Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II at NinDB
- RPGClassics Shrine
- StarTropics.com, a fan-run information base