Zoda's Revenge - StarTropics II (USA)
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), and the final game developed by Nintendo exclusively for the NES (Wario having also been released for the Super Nintendo), 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 regions.
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 tropical islands, 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 of finding the Tetrads (humorously modeled after Tetris pieces) and defeating Zoda's three clones.
Zoda's Revenge runs on a modified engine of the original StarTropics, with health continuing to be measured by Legend of Zelda style heart containers. Unlike the original StarTropics, Mike is no longer limited to moving in "squares", and now can move in eight different directions and can change directions in mid-jump. He now uses various weapons, including Tink's Axe, Cleopatra's Bronze Dagger, and Leonardo'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, Shooting Star and the Super Nova he had in the first game, only the psychic weapons are affected by the number of heart containers Mike has filled. Occasionally, Mike encounters enemies that react differently depending on which weapon is used to attack.
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 tropical islands, 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 of finding the Tetrads (humorously modeled after Tetris pieces) and defeating Zoda's three clones.
Zoda's Revenge runs on a modified engine of the original StarTropics, with health continuing to be measured by Legend of Zelda style heart containers. Unlike the original StarTropics, Mike is no longer limited to moving in "squares", and now can move in eight different directions and can change directions in mid-jump. He now uses various weapons, including Tink's Axe, Cleopatra's Bronze Dagger, and Leonardo'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, Shooting Star and the Super Nova he had in the first game, only the psychic weapons are affected by the number of heart containers Mike has filled. Occasionally, Mike encounters enemies that react differently depending on which weapon is used to attack.
Zoda's Revenge - StarTropics II (USA)
Technical
CPU
- maincpu N2A03 (@ 1 Mhz)
Chipset
- N2A03 (@ 1 Mhz)
Display
- Orientation Yoko
- Resolution 255 x 240
- Frequency 60.098 Hz
Controlers
- Number of players 4
- Number of buttons 2
- Kind of controler
- triplejoy (8 ways)
- triplejoy (8 ways)
- triplejoy (8 ways)
© Copyright author(s) of Wikipedia. This article is under CC-BY-SA
Zoda's Revenge - StarTropics II (USA) Screenshots
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 past. 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 (or "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 (whose middle name, "Tetris", is renamed as "Puzzle" in the Virtual Console rerelease), the leader of the Argonians and Mica’s father, appears from the tetrads. He leads the Argonians back to their home planet to rebuild.
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 (whose middle name, "Tetris", is renamed as "Puzzle" in the Virtual Console rerelease), 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 Capcom'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.
