Magical Starsign



Magical Starsign, known in Japan as "Magical Vacation: Itsutsu no Hoshi ga Narabu Toki" (which translates to "Magical Vacation: When the five stars align"), is a role-playing game (RPG) developed by Brownie Brown and released on the Nintendo DS. It is the sequel to Magical Vacation, and the second game in the series.

It was originally released in Japan on June 27th, 2006. Unlike its predecessor, it was released outside of Japan (on October 23rd, 2006 in North America, and on February 9th, 2007 in Europe), and was translated to languages other than Japanese.

Plot
Magical Starsign takes place roughly 800 years after the events of Magical Vacation. The game starts as Miss Madeline is sent off to search for Master Kale by Principal Biscotti, but soon after goes missing. The students then grow worried and set off to find her; they soon learn that it isn't such an easy task!

As they search for their teacher, problems arise in planets and the crew faces clashes from the Space Police, depression, death, hardship, and the means of keeping it together.

Setting
Magical Starsign takes place within the seven planets of the Baklava Solar System, which the protagonist and friends travel through using Neumann the Magical Rocket.

Kovomaka
Kovomaka is a little known planet on the very edge of the solar system. Magic has always been an important part of its civilization. The planet is so obscure, some dismiss its existence entirely. While inhabitants that live on bigger planets disregard its existence, Kovomaka's inhabitants disregard the existence of the bigger planets as well.

Erd
Erd (Hikarabita (ヒカラビータ),)) is the earth planet, where the player makes a crash landing at the beginning of the game. The planet is covered with stone mountains and desert, and is mostly populated by Ancient Robots and Spiny Moles. Ancient ruins are located all across the planet left by the ancient Espresso civilization which lived on the planet before becoming extinct after their robots began to harvest them for gummification to power their robot power cells. There were also nine Stone Giants who once roamed the planet, the last one being Tektos, who was killed in an attack against Magnus Muzzleflash and gave the Earth Millennium Gummy to the children as a parting gift.

Cassia
Cassia (Rig Maha リグ・マハ) is the water planet, which consists of two large islands, and is mostly covered by sea. The planet is mainly populated by Otters. Ambergis Prep, a magic school established prior to Will-O'-Wisp is located on Granule Island, home to Sturgeon, the teacher of Miss Madeline. When the protagonist first arrives, Cassia is frozen to a near arctic level, due to Chard and the Pirate Otters The planet is home to the Aquarino, a water particle that neither freezes or evaporates as a side effect of being set on fire by the Fire Otter. The planet is also home to the Holy Water Pyramid, home to the Water Millennium Gummy and the Water People.

Puffoon
Puffoon is possibly the most civilized of the planets, with large cities and even an organized government that holds power over the entire solar system. Miss Madeleine was said to travel to here at the beginning of the game, and was the original destination for Lassi to travel to.

Gren
Gren is the Wood Planet, where Salamanders and Felins reside. The planet is covered with plantlife and a jungle. A giant tree, Yggsalad, sprouts from the northern part of Gren. The Pirates invade Gren and set up a base here.

Razen
Razen is the fire planet and is mostly inhabited by Potfolk and Dwarves. Razen is so extremely hot, regular rockets can't get there.

Nova
Nova is the light planet. It floats inside the sun and cannot be traveled to with regular ships. Inside the light planet, there is Sparklin Palace ruled by a queen.

Shadra
Shadra is the dark planet. Sharing space with Nova, it floats inside the sun and cannot be traveled to with regular ships.

Development
Magical Starsign met with multiple obstacles in development, such as the fact that after work started on it, Brownie Brown also began work on Mother 3, and took a back seat to the project.

Reception
Magical Starsign has received mostly positive reviews. IGN scored it at 7.5 and referred to it as a "true classic." RPG Fan gave it an 83/100. Nintendo Power scored it at 7/10, remarking that it's true strength lay in "good writing and compelling characters over deep gameplay".