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The Legendary Starfy (JP) is a TOSE developed, Nintendo published video game for the Nintendo DS. It is one of the few if not only titles that sport TOSE's logo, with their name being dug deep into the game's credits in most titles that they co-work on. It is the fifth game in the Starfy series and the first to be released outside of Japan. Like previous games in the series, The Legendary Starfy is a platformer that takes place in the sea.
Gameplay
In the game Starfy will travel both in the water and on land, with the controls being different for both areas. In the sea Starfy can perform his spin attack by pressing the Y button on the DS, can swim faster by holding the B button, can can swim normally via the directional pad. While on land Starfy can slide, jump, duck and run faster coupled with his popular spin attack. Starfy's spin is his most basic attack, though he can only spin three subsequent times before getting dizzy. To avoid this, the player must have a quick pause before he starts spinning again.
Transformations
Starfy games are usually noted as "the game that's similar to Kirby." Making it even more similar are the transformation that Starfy can undergo. However, transforming is not done by swallowing an enemy as it is done in Kirby. Rather, simply touch the character's thought bubble and they'll transform into one of the four different creatures, which include a dragon, a seal, a chicken, and a ghost. Each transformation also has an upgrade that the player can collect.
Promotion
In America, Nintendo produced two commercials for the game, one that acted as a teaser for the second one. In the first one a kid is asking his grandfather about fish when his grandfather tells him that a giant squid lurks in the bottom of the ocean, but tells him not to worry because a there's a legend on there side. While talking, the CG squid boss from the game is shown in the ocean while the back of Starfy is briefly shown. In the second commercial, a guy is on a boat called the Falling Star. Suddenly, Starfy comes flying down from above and crashes into the ocean. The guy wakes up and the viewer sees Starfy battling the squid from the previous commercial. The squid knocks Starfy out of the ocean, though he comes back with a dragon costume before the squid can engulf the boat. An announcer then explains the game in short detail and clips from the title are shown, followed by the slogan "A Fierce Friend". The first and second commercials were shown before the feature film Up by Disney•Pixar, though the commercial that was shown was random.