Magical Starsign

Magical Starsign, known in Japan as "Magical Vacation: Itsutsu no Hoshi ga Narabu Toki" (translates to "Magical Vacation: When the Five Stars Align"), is a role-playing game (RPG) developed by Brownie Brown (now 1-UP Studio). It was first released for the Nintendo DS on June 22, 2006 in Japan. It is the sequel to Magical Vacation, and the second game in the Magical Vacation series.

Plot
Magical Starsign takes place roughly 800 years after the events of Magical Vacation. The game starts as Miss Madeleine is sent off to search for Master Kale by Principal Biscotti, but goes missing three months later. Her students, specifically Lassi, become worried about their missing teacher. After hijacking Will-o'-Wisp Academy's hidden rockets, the group sets out on an adventure far beyond the scope of a rescue mission, across several elemental planets. The player and their friends encounter many strange civilizations, meet many characters, fight loads of threatening battles, and explore many dungeons in an attempt to bring Madeleine home.

Some characters from Magical Vacation return for brief cameos in the story, and help tie the two games together.

The game itself takes place in the Baklava Solar System, and the player visits each planet in the system at least once by using a spaceship. Each planet plays an important part in the story and battle system. While each planet varies in races and scenery, the overall genere of the game is a blend of science-fiction and high fantasy similar to other popular JRPGs like Skies of Arcadia or even Final Fantasy.

Gameplay and Features
This game utilizes a lot of functions of the Nintendo DS hardware, including the touch screen and both LCDs. Players can use the touch screen to navigate the world and interact with the environment, and the top screen is used to display information like the map, time, and planetary orbit.

When starting a new save file, the player can choose their gender (male or female), and their preferred element (light or dark) as well as change their name and the names of other party members. Light magic gameplay is significantly easier than dark magic, as there are more enemies aligned with dark in the game versus light. Aside from this and some minor changes to characters, learned spells, and dialogue, light and dark magic gameplay is relatively the same and there are no advantages/disadvantages to either element.

Battle System
The combat system is turn-based, and focuses primarily on the use of magic attacks. All characters are associated with a particular element/planet, and this can make or break a battle depending on how a player utilizes their strengths and weaknesses.

The game has several different mechanics that influence combat, including a type matchup system, buffs and debuffs, planetary orbit, and rows. The type match system goes as follows:

"Fire -> Wood -> Wind -> Earth -> Water -> Fire"

In other words, fire is strong against wood, wood against wind, wind against earth, earth against water, and water against fire. Light and dark magic are unaffected by this circle, and are instead weak against each other.

Rows also influence magic. According to Madeleine, magic from the back row is weaker because it is more spread out, but it's a fair trade-off because back row magic can hit all enemies. In addition, melee can not be used if a character is in the back row, or on a character who is in the back row. The only way a back row user can get hit is if they are attacked with magic. Back-row buff spells like Minty Freshness and healing spells like Healing Wing will also affect all players.

Additionally, there are some other uses for the touch screen in battle. When a member of the player's party is casting, they can be quickly tapped right before executing a spell to perform what is called a "spellstrike", and when they are being attacked, they can be quickly tapped to perform a "reflex guard".

Astrolog
The planetary orbit system, also known as the astrolog, is also a key feature. When a planet is in their line of orbit, every character of that element is powered up until the planet exits that area. Light magic is powerful in the daytime, and dark magic is powerful at night time.

Each planet has a different orbit, going slower or faster depending on how far they are from the sun. The planets and day/night cycle out in real time, so it can be important to plan battles at specific times to ensure an advantage. The player can view the astrolog at any time in and out of battle, and it's a very useful tool.

The alignment of planets from furthest to closest to the sun are as follows: Erd, Cassia, Puffoon, Gren, and Razen. In the middle is the sun or the moon depending on the time.

The player can also try and align the 5 planets in a straight line from the sun to unleash a very powerful spell. The AI can also try and do this if they see the alignment as well.

Amigo and Tag Modes
Main Articles: Amigo Mode, Tag Mode

If the player wants to take a break from the main storyline and have some fun with another person(s) who owns the game, they can activate the local multiplayer mode known as Amigo Mode. Unfortunately, this feature is local only, so are is no Nintendo WFC features.

Participants of Amigo Mode (up to six) can explore a dungeon where they work together to defeat monsters and rush to collect as much treasure as possible. When time is over, the player with the most points wins. EXP and treasure collected in this game mode is transfered over to the main game, and many items found here are unobtainable otherwise.

In addition to Amigo Mode, there is also Tag Mode. In Tag Mode, players connect via local connection to exchange player data and items. Up to 100 people can be recorded on a player's list, and items collected via this mode can vary depending on progress in the main game, and the protagonist's element. In addition, players who use the tag mode function frequently will often recieve Egg Characters, special characters that can join your party in the main game and battle with you. These characters only level through tag mode and do not gain experience like other characters. The player can swap out members of their party at any time after successfully visiting the incubation room in Neumann, the your egg character has hatched.

Development
Magical Starsign was met with multiple obstacles in development, including the studio's concurrent work on Mother 3, that had recently restarted development. The game was intended to show the capabilities of the Nintendo DS hardware by utilizing top and bottom screens for different things, and the touch screen in combat. Eventually, the game was released in Japan on June 22nd, 2006. Later it was localized in North America and Europe.

Some speculate that Magical Starsign's release very early in the Nintendo DS's lifespan is the reason why Nintendo opted to localize it instead of Mother 3, which was still a very niche franchise at the time.

Reception and Localization
Magical Starsign was received very warmly in gaming magazines at the time, and the game scored an average of 71% on GameRankings (now MetaCritic). Currently, the score is at 69%, and user reviews rank it a 7.9. IGN ranked the game at a 7.5/10, praising the game for it's nostalgic feel and true-to-classic-RPG style. EuroGamer gave it an 8/10 and stated that it was a great RPG for any JRPG fan looking for an experience on the Nintendo DS. The now-defunct PressStartOnline also gave it warm reception, and in Famitsu Magazine the game received a fantastic score of 31/40.

When the game was localized, many character and item names were changed, as such was common during the time. Some differences in the game include planet names, like Cassia being named Rig Maha in the Japanese version, and character names like Lassi being called Jasmine. However, what remains consistent in the games is the continuous use of food names or puns. A lot of races are named after a specific type of food, like the Spiny Moles who are named after various cheeses.

However, potentially because of the early release in the Nintendo DS's lifespan, the game unfortunately did not sell as well as Nintendo had hoped, and was not localized at all in Australia.

Legacy
Despite low sale numbers, the legacy of Magical Starsign seems to continue on, and it has gained some status as a cult classic. Although the game has a very small and niche fanbase, fans of the game stick together and actively participate in online discussion of the series. Magical Vacation, its prequel, also remains popular online. A playthrough of the game was featured on the Something Awful forums, helping continue the game's legacy.

Some people also believe that because of Magical Starsign 's closeness to release with Mother 3, another Brownie Brown title, that the game was chosen to be localized instead of the coveted cult classic.

Characters from the Magical Starsign series also appear in another Nintendo title, Super Smash Bros. In Brawl and Ultimate, two characters have been featured as trophies and/or spirits: Mokka the Traveling Putty. In addition, a Pyrite Onwas also featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and has not returned since.

Website
There was once an official website, www.magicalstarsign.com, but it has since been taken down and no longer redirects to the Nintendo website. There is, however, a preserved version on the WayBack machine visible here.

On the website, viewers could explore a flash-based version of the Baklava Solar System to learn about each planet, watch promotional videos, collect sugarstars for goodies, and view more about the game and characters at the Will-O-Wisp Academy section.

Unfortunately, a lot of the website is inaccessible at this time and may be lost for good.