Crispy Adventurers Club: StarTropics: The Adventure Begins

Visit the Mysterious StarTropics with the Crispy Adventurers Club Play along and hit the forums. Our destination: Adventure!
7/1/2009 6:33 PM | 5 Comments | Page 1 of 1

After a sometimes contentious vote, it's been decided that the Crispy Adventurers Club's first foray into the kudzu of gaming past will be StarTropics. And I don't want to hear anything about the ballot boxes that mysteriously turned up in a Florida swamp. Truth is, Evan Narcisse and I gave StarTropics the tiebreaking vote because it's an interesting sidenote in the history of the NES that deserves a fresh look.

Here's how this will work. Any Crispy reader who wants to join the Club is invited to play StarTropics throughout July and comment on the Crispy forums. You can chat in the main thread or start up your own side conversation. Evan and I will be piping up regularly, of course, but don't let us run the show. This is a group expedition. We'll work through the game together, trade insights, pass along tips, and generally have a smashing good time.

There is, of course, the matter of acquiring the game. Here are a few ways to get your own copy.

Option 1: Buy it on Wii Virtual Console. Probably the most straightforward approach for those who own a Wii. StarTropics is available for 500 Wii Points, i.e., five bucks.

Option 2: Buy the original cartridge. Those of you with a working NES can get the authentic experience, usually for less than $10 on eBay or at a used-game store. There's one small catch: Used copies of the game typically won't come with the paper letter that came packaged in the original box. The letter revealed a code when you dipped it in the water. But the code is ridiculously easy to find on the web, so don't sweat it.

Option 3: Play a ROM of the game with an emulator. If you know what the previous sentence means, then I don't need to say anything more. If not, well, it's a bit of a legal gray area, so I can't go into detail.

So it begins. We'll have updates on the main Crispy Gamer site throughout July, but the real action will happen in the forums. See you there, adventurers!