When I choose to look into an old game, it’s for any number of reasons. In some cases, I intentionally seek out games at random to see if I can uncover some lost gem I’ve never even heard of before. In the case of Tecmo Secret of the Stars (known as Aqutallion in Japan), I’d not only heard of it, but I’d played it as a child in the mid-90s, albeit only as a rental. My memories of the game were incredibly hazy. The only thing I could really remember was that it was a simplistic RPG in which there was a character named Evelyn. That specific recollection is confusing in retrospect, but more on that later. What I do remember for sure, though, is that the game was popularly considered pretty bad. When I decided to check it out again for the first time in 30 years, I became invested in learning just why that was.
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Secret of the Stars in context
In 1995, Secret of the Stars already felt out of place. Its design conventions are rooted more in JRPGs from the NES and early SNES era. It genuinely feels like Tecmo’s take on Final Fantasy IV in that you field a roster of five static characters with their own unique set of abilities—and that’s absolutely not where the similarities stop. It’s important to note that despite releasing in 1995 in the US, Aqutallion was released in 1993 in Japan. In those days, technology surrounding game design was advancing rapidly. Games released two years apart looked radically different from each other, so Secret of the Stars really must have looked like a step back.
With the benefit of hindsight and decades worth of experience with this genre and with games as a whole, I find that the graphics of Secret of the Stars have aged nicely. I’m particularly fond of the colorful sprites for your party members in combat, especially since contemporaries like Dragon Quest or even Earthbound don’t display your characters in combat at all. That’s not to say the graphics are totally beyond reproach, of course, since there is a tremendous amount of repetition in terms of tileset usage. Many dungeons look identical to each other, as well as virtually all towns. This is not a unique problem for RPGs of the time, of course, but it’s worthy of note all the same.
Suffice it to say that the dated graphics don’t register as a complaint for me, but the game’s biggest flaw is much harder to defend. Secret of the Stars has one of the worst localizations I’ve ever seen. The dialogue is poorly worded, difficult to follow, often misspelled, and frequently unintentionally hilarious. This isn’t a dealbreaker for me either, and it can be very funny to witness the choices the localization team made at the time. Even so, it’s inarguable that the game’s script hurts clarity and leads to many situations where it’s not clear what to do next. This is especially irksome when a plot-critical item can only be located by revisiting a previous area and examining a hidden tile. This happens more than once.
At the outset, though, your goals are pretty simple. The game progresses like any generic JRPG. You’re a teen boy whose canon name is Ray. I named him Dorf. He just kind of seemed like a Dorf. Much like Earthbound, it’s made very clear early on that Ray is destined to meet and assemble a squad of intrepid youths to save the world together. I felt like I generally knew what to expect, until the game subverted those expectations shortly after when I recruited David, a self-described “Kustera,” a member of a caste of warriors pledged to serve the Aqutallions, which is evidently what Ray is.
How does this game work?
In the game’s first real dungeon (hilariously named “Jeep Volcano”), you’ll soon run into a series of green and yellow barriers. Ray seems to have no problem bypassing the yellow barriers as an Aqutallion, but the green barriers can only be circumvented by Kustera. You’ll soon discover that you can now swap between Ray and David’s perspectives at any time to assist with getting through different barriers, but the implementation of this may not be quite as you expect. Their paths never actually converge. In the case of Jeep Volcano, Ray and David are exploring completely different parts of the dungeon. Without doing any additional research on what was going on here, I found myself very intrigued. This was a big factor in what motivated me to keep playing this game. I was very curious about this unusual feature. I was figuring out how this game was structured in real time, but I want to truly explain how this game works and what makes it so interesting. If your brain is broken like mine and you’re interested in experiencing this strange game blind like I did, you may want to revisit this post later. From here on, I’m going to discuss the whole structure of the game and how it progresses to its conclusion. The way the game concludes is important to the discussion of how the game functions as a whole, so it won’t be to anyone’s benefit to keep those details light.
Gradually, Ray recruits his fellow party members and assembles a squad of fellow Aqutallions; Tina, Cody, Leona, and Dan. Simultaneously, he recruits more Kustera, of which there are 11 in all. What this means is that you’re fielding two full parties of 5 at once for the duration of the game, either of which can be swapped to at any time with few restrictions. Virtually every dungeon has a few green barriers that only the Kustera can enter, but there are bosses and objectives that you can complete with either party, depending on your preferences.
While this is all going on, Ray and company are working on developing the town of Old Hill, location of a mysterious shrine with five altars and a free healing tile. Eventually, you’re given the opportunity to name the town. I named it Dorfer. It just kind of seemed like a Dorfer. Once you find an architect, you’ll get the ability to build a laboratory, a dance hall, a farm, and crucially, a warehouse that will open up the option of storing and swapping items between parties.. You’ll also run into a scientist, a doctor and nurse, a farmer, and even ol’ Uncle Save will move in. Did I mention that you save by talking to a guy named Uncle Save? That is also a thing that happens.
Exploration
Like many old RPGs, there’s a large open world you can explore from the very beginning. Opening up new areas is a big part of progression in the early game.You’ll start by lowering a bridge and then eventually you’ll acquire boats to reach other landmasses, a rocket to reach a floating continent, a helicopter, and one final mode of conveyance that I’ll talk about a little later. You also have access to a teleportation spell very early in the game, so it never feels like you have to walk across long distances unnecessarily.
Dungeon exploration is a game of resource management and attrition. You’ll need to make your way to bosses of winding dungeons while ensuring you’re prepared to face a boss at the end. Generally, you won’t be healed before you get to these encounters, so it’s more important than something like Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger to really be mindful of your resources. There’s even a limited inventory of similar size to Earthbound with a full party, so you’ll want to make sure you sell or use any inessential items to avoid running out of space.
Combat
Secret of the Stars skews closer to Dragon Quest in terms of combat. It’s strictly turn-based and all commands for your party are decided prior to a turn beginning. These actions will then play out based on the speed of your party members compared to the enemy. This is all pretty standard stuff, but I enjoy that each of the main party members serves a different role. Each character has different elemental spells at their disposal and there’s a good balance of offensive and defensive support abilities distributed across the cast. The usefulness of these spells is inconsistent, but this is far from the first time a JRPG features non-damaging spells that aren’t worth using. I can’t say I ever found a use for the hypnosis spell Coma or the “random things happen” spell Land.
On the other hand, many of the other support spells are really useful. In the earlier stages of the game, stacking Slow on bosses is an effective way to make them more vulnerable to damage. Slow reduces speed and defense, so it becomes a value proposition. Is it more efficient for Tina to repeatedly cast Slow or attack? In many cases, she contributes more to damage in these early fights by slightly increasing the damage her other party members deal. Leona’s Mirror spell is also tremendously useful since it reflects magic or even just reduces the magic damage the entire party takes in its Level 3 variant.
Teaming up
What I found really surprising about the combat system comes a little later. Very early on, you’ll come across your first mysterious shrine in which Ray is invited to undergo a challenging trial against an elemental boss. When you first get there and for quite some time after, the boss is essentially insurmountable. Even the enemies around it on the overworld are very clearly beyond your power level. Once you’re at an appropriate level (and have good enough gear), you can return to this shrine and take out the boss, which allows you to be promoted from your initial Pennon class and straight to Banalet (likely intended to be Banneret). As a Banalet, you can use Unity Magic. It turns out that each of the first four characters have shrines like these scattered around the world. Two Banalets can fuse their magic together for unique combo attacks. Keep in mind—this was 1993 in Japan, so well before Chrono Trigger really popularized this kind of mechanic.
I was really excited about this because I’ve always loved team-up attacks in just about any game that features them. Still, though, I had to temper my expectations. After all, this is a really early implementation of the system. The way you initiate these attacks is a little awkward, admittedly. You queue up all of your actions as normal and then select “Combination” from the menu prior to confirming your actions. You’ll need to select the two members you want to combo together. If the two spells are compatible, a combo will occur. There aren’t a ton of combinations available and without a walkthrough of some kind, figuring out what combos together is pure guesswork. Luckily, the manual has a list of all Unity Magic, albeit with some inaccuracies and inconsistency with spell names.
Unity Magic was mostly unnecessary for some time after first unlocking it, but it became more or less essential for the game’s final challenges. The final gauntlet of bosses not only don’t take a ton of damage from physical attacks aside from Ray’s, but the most damaging spells cost a lot of MP. A few of the best Unity Magic spells don’t cost very much MP at all. Tina’s Level 1 Freeze costs 2 MP, for instance, and if you have an Ice Sword, the partner involved in Ice Slash doesn’t use any MP at all. I also really enjoy the flexibility these spells afford you. What I found myself doing a lot was comboing Ray and Tina together for Ice Slash, but in those cases where I wanted Tina to heal instead, I’d have Ray cast Fire and Cody use a Fire Sword to use Burn Blade. Maybe I want both Ray and Tina to cast support spells instead. In that case, I might have Leona cast Bolt and equip Cody with the Bolt Sword so they can use Bolt Break. These spells always deal good damage and are very efficient, so they’re always useful against bosses instead of being relegated to an ignorable gimmick.
The Kustera
What I thought might be an ignorable gimmick early on was the separate party system. It doesn’t take long to figure out that the cordoned-off areas in dungeons are completely optional. You could get through these areas and clear the boss without using the Kustera at all. In fact, there’s often a yellow barrier that prevents the Kustera from even reaching the boss, which raises additional questions about what the game wants you to even do with them.
Still, I persisted. I loved the idea of having two parties that you switch between at will, so I dutifully kept the Kustera geared and reasonably close in level to my main party. I had faith that I would eventually require their services in a meaningful capacity. I also just really like the idea of having a more traditional FFIV-style main party with predetermined characters alongside a secondary party I can assemble on my own. There are 11 Kustera, after all, made up of classes like warrior, ninja, cleric, and thief. Evelyn, by the way, is one of the Kustera who you encounter well over halfway into the game. So little of the game sparked my childhood memories, so it’s inexplicable that I remembered this one specific character. My pet theory is that I played someone else’s save instead of starting my own game.
As I made some small amount of progress, there were some developments that made the Kustera feel a little more important. I started to notice that the taverns in every town that refused to talk to Ray and his friends would happily chat with the Kustera—a party of adults. Little nuggets of information that I otherwise would not have access to were suddenly available by exploring with the Kustera independently. Actually, a lot of NPCs have completely different dialogue and reactions to the Kustera than they do to the Aqutallions. Even so, these elements felt more like an interesting easter egg than anything meaningful until the Aqutallions reached the town of Lagoon, an isolated desert town on the way to Brasca. (No, not that one.)
When Ray and company reach Lagoon, they’ll soon discover the town is a trap. One of the Big Bad’s Little Baddies gleefully informs you that you will not be able to escape Lagoon and that he’s going to track down the last of your five party members and kill him while you’re trapped. Sure enough, when you try to leave Lagoon, the map repeats. You’ll head south and then just reach Lagoon again. Go to the east; you’ll reach Lagoon there too. At this point, you could just look up a walkthrough—but let’s put ourselves in the headspace of a kid in the 90s who is earnestly trying to figure this out because they simply have no other choice. Since you seemingly can’t make progress in any direction no matter where you go and there’s no one around who can give you any useful information, what else is there to do?
Now, if you looked up a walkthrough, you could have avoided using the Kustera at all—but it would be the equivalent of looking up safe codes in Resident Evil, essentially. You’re just skipping elements of the game to get to an answer. I think this is a good hint on the developers’ part to let you know that the Kustera are needed so that you aren’t blindsided by what’s coming.
The Final Conflict
After exploring the entire overworld, braving the seas, and traversing a massive floating continent, you’ll finally reach the point at which it’s time to vanquish Homncruse, the game’s one-dimensionally evil villain. He lies in wait in the depths of Jeep Volcano, but how do we reach him there?Late in the game, you’ll reach the isle of Brisben, which features a set of four graves in areas only accessible by Gyrocopter. When you visit them, they warp you to the characters’ various shrines, but also reveal another set of stairs to basement areas beneath them—blocked by green barriers. The Kustera cannot use the Gyrocopter, so you’ll want to have them track down the shrines once visited by the Aqutallions themselves so they can reach those basement areas and complete the dungeons within. These dungeons all reward you with plot-critical items relevant to the shrine at Old Hill.
When you bring these items back to the altar with the Aqutallions, the shrine finally reveals its true purpose. With their powers combined, the shrine (and inexplicably the entire town) legitimately become a giant UFO. The UFO is called Algos, but if I had the option to name it, I would have named it Dorfest. It just kind of seemed like a Dorfest. The interior contains a bank of controls for flight with a place for the Aqutallion party, but also for the Kustera, who can fly the craft as well. As the flying saucer ascends, you’ll soon discover that you can travel freely between the overworld and the floating continent, but more importantly, you can now descend into the mouth of Jeep Volcano, where the final dungeon awaits.
In the final dungeon, you’ll be tasked with completing a series of labyrinthine rooms protected by a powered-up version of Homncruse’s commanders. Crucially, your path is blocked by color-coded doors and one-way gateways. At this final step of the journey, it’s now clear that you can’t finish the game without the Kustera. My choice to continuously maintain and keep the Kustera party leveled up was rewarded in the end.Final Thoughts
Listen, this game is really rough around the edges, but I love how it came together. I think if a modern game was made with these same ideas, more dungeons would be constructed in such a way that necessitates using the alternate party to advance. Maybe the Kustera wouldn’t even have editable loadouts to avoid bloat and needless micromanagement. Secret of the Stars is not a modern game, however, and it seems clear Tecmo was flying by the seat of their pants here. There’s no shared experience, no shared gold, and at least initially, no way to share items between parties.
In case you’ve somehow made it this far and are still conscious of avoiding even more spoilers, I’m about to discuss what the Aqutallions actually are. Like any RPG from the early 90s, the plot is often very surface-level. I tend to find value in the conceptual with these games instead of the specific narrative implementation. I very much like the idea of a group of alien children from the future being sent back in time to vanquish an evil being created in a lab. I like that there’s a society of warriors in service to the Aqutallions, even if none of these elements are ever explained in a lot of detail. The imagined depth of what these plot elements could be is what makes them interesting. In a broader sense, these retro RPGs feel engaging because of what’s not on screen. They’re richer experiences because of how your imagination fills the gaps. If you just engage with the game on the surface level, it’s pretty trite and stupid, but if you imagine the idea of a mad scientist’s creation gaining sentience and stealing his time machine to establish a foothold in the past—it’s evocative. It’s interesting stuff that just so happens to be told in the most ham-fisted and confusing way possible. In short, it’s great.
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