Space World 2001: Hands-onThe Legend of Stafi

The Legend of Stafi for the Game Boy Color was shown at last year's Space World. It was scheduled for a release during the holiday season last year in Japan, but it never appeared on store shelves. We were disappointed it was not released, because it was a fun and enjoyable action platformer. Thankfully Nintendo is bringing it back, this time for the Game Boy Advance.

You play as the starfish Stafi, who can swim, walk, run, glide through the air, and even execute spinning attacks to break blocks and kill enemies. From what we saw when we played it at the Space World event, the GBA version of the game is almost identical to the GBC version, though the GBA version is significantly superior in terms of graphics, with more colors and details on the characters. The dialogue texts are also much bigger and easier to read.

The Legend of Stafi is currently 60 percent complete and is scheduled for a January 2002 release in Japan.