By Brad Cook
Gameplay that requires a single button may seem odd, but Star Trigon makes the most of it by challenging you to time your moves carefully and use strategy to complete levels as efficiently as possible. Choose one of three characters and blast into outer space, where helpless Uchujin float among planets. Press the Select button at just the right moment to jump between worlds and create triangles, called Trigons, that surround and rescue the little creatures.
The concept seems simple, but the action becomes frantic as your air supply depletes and your character spins around the planets faster and faster. During missions on the easiest difficulty setting, the planets’ orbits are wider, giving you more room for error, and bumpers deflect you into the playing field if you miss, but as you progress to harder levels, the orbits shrink and those bumpers aren’t always present. Power-ups help even the odds, but watch out for black holes, flares, and other obstacles.
Complete enough levels and you’ll unlock missions never seen in the 2002 arcade version of Star Trigon, which was this game’s only previous incarnation. You’ll also reveal a special bonus character.
Choose Wisely
The Star Trigon team consists of three members:
- Wataru: He begins with an adequate air supply and the slowest speed, but he quickly starts spinning around planets faster and faster.
- Susumu: His starting air supply is the lowest, but he spins at a moderate speed that increases at the slowest pace.
- Chuta: Air isn’t an issue for him, since he starts with the most of any character; his speed starts slow, stays there for a short period, and then quickly escalates.
You should try all three to see which one suits your style of play best. You earn extra air as you rescue Uchujin, but it usually shows up at the center planet on the game board, so watch your meter and plan for the best time to hop toward your reward. Power-ups also appear occasionally, so work their benefits into your strategy when you see them.
Power-ups include:
Star Trigon offers the best of both worlds: Simple controls that are easy to understand and strategy that takes you deep into its 79 levels. Can you master the maniac difficulty level?
Tips and Tricks
- If you fail a mission, the Uchujin that you rescued are still gone when you come back, so you don’t have to start the level all over.
- The faster you finish a level, the higher your score.
- Trigons only last a short while, so hop away before they vanish, because the planets that connect them disappear briefly too. If you’re orbiting one of those worlds, you’ll immediately be thrown in a random direction. The planets will reappear, however.
- Bumpers are useful for bouncing into the orbit of a planet you have trouble reaching directly, but remember that those deflectors vanish when you touch them. Grab the right power-up to bring them back.
- The Trigons you create can be any size, as long as they have three sides. Long jumps between planets allow you to snare many Uchujin in a large Trigon, but such leaps carry plenty of risk.
- The unlockable character is Dig Dug, who starred in a popular 1982 arcade game. His real name is Taizo Hori. He’s the father of Star Trigon character Susumu Hori, who initially made his name in the Mr. Driller series of games.
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Bumper Shot. Chuta works on the second leg of his triangle, scoring a speed boost in the process.
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- Site: Star Trigon
- Publisher: Apple Inc.
- Developer: Namco Networks America
- Genre: Action
More iPod Games
System Requirements
- Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or Windows 2000
- iPod nano (3rd and 4th generation only), iPod classic, or iPod (5th generation only). Not playable on your computer, other iPod models, iPod touch or iPhone. Please check which iPod model you have.
- iTunes 7.5 or higher required to download (games cannot be played in iTunes)