Xya and the Lost Star

Xya and the Lost Star is a 3D action-adventure video game developed by All Star Interactive Media and published by Cradle Network. The game stars Xya, a playable character from Playbox, a game which was released a few months earlier. It was released for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in February 2003. The game was released under the title Xya and the Mystery of the Missing Star in Japan.

The game sold approximately 800,000 copies across all three consoles by January 2004. It later went on to be rereleased as a Player's Choice title on the GameCube and a Greatest Hits title on the PlayStation 2.

Gameplay
Xya and the Lost Star is a Metroidvania-style 3D action-adventure game. The game features a large open-world environment which the player can explore freely. In order to make progress in the game, the player has to complete a certain set objective which they must fulfil in order to move on.

The GameCube version allows the player to save as many files as they like, with each using four Memory Blocks. The Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions are a bit different, in that they only allow the player to save up to three files, though creating extra files does not use extra storage.

How to play
The titular character, Xya, serves as the main protagonist and playable character. He is capable of jumping, double-jumping, and holding two different forms of items; Items and Special Items. Items can be used by the player to give them a slight benefit or advantage, whilst Special Items are needed in order to make progress in the game. Only four Items and one Special Item can be held at a time.

The main currency of the game is coins, which are represented with a euro (€) sign. Coins can be earned by defeating enemies and looking in bushes, shelves and other similar objects.

Xya usually moves about by walking. He is capable of running, though can only run for a short while. The player has a guage which shows how long Xya can run for. If the guage empties, Xya will stop moving altogether for a while in order to catch his breath, which can leave him vulnerable. The idea is to stop running when the guage is away to run out. It slowly refills itself over time.

Wishing Wells
Wishing Wells are scattered around the game's map. They heal Xya fully and also recharge hos run meter. They also save the game progress on the selected file. Wishing Wells cost a coin to use, though if the player has no coins, Xya will simply grab a small rock and use that instead.

Upon encountering a Wishing Well for the first time, Xya will always go up and use it upon getting close enough.

Enemies
Upon entering certain areas in the game, there is a random chance that they will be filled with enemies. There are many different enemy variants in the game which all act differently, with some standing or moving about in one area and others chasing Xya. Usually, the player cannot leave the area until all of the enemies have been defeated, though exceptions do vary from time to time.

Continues and Game Overs
Xya is capable of taking up to four hits before dying. When he has lower health, Xya will start to panic, which in turn causes him to have difficulty breaking and changing direction whilst walking or running. The amount of hit points Xya has can be upgraded.

If Xya does end up dying, the player will be sent to the Continue screen, where they will be given an option to continue or not. If the player chooses Yes, they will continue right where they left off, with four hearts (regardless of whether the player has purchased any upgrades). If the player died during a boss fight, they fight will reset with the boss having rhe same anount of health they had at the point of the player's death.

In order to continue, the player needs to pay a fee of coins, which increased the further on in the game they are. If the player chooses No or does not have enough coins, they will get a Game Over. Re-loading a save file after getting a Game Over will respawn the player back to the last Wishing Well they used.

Development
All Star Interactive Media received a copy of the "Peach's Castle" tech demo from Nintendo in 2001, which they used as inspiration when developing the game. Due to the studio developing both it and Playbox at the same time, Xya and the Lost Star had a very length development which lasted approximately sixteen months. In order to increase the game's appeal, Playbox characters were added into the game, replacing the generic-looking human characters present in the earliest prototypes.

Xya and the Lost Star was originally developed as a GameCube-exclusive. However, PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions were also made. A version for the original PlayStation was considered, but was scrapped due to the consoles lack of high-quality graphics. A Dreamcast version was finished, but was also cancelled due to the system having reached the end of its lifespan.

Music
The game's music was composed by Wilfried Montgomery, who took inspiration from both the music in the "Peach's Castle" tech demo, as well as late 1990s/early 2000s trance and eurodance music

Critical reception
Xya and the Lost Star received generally positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the game holds an average rating of 76 based on 12 reviews. Kalina Thames of Gamez4Net awarded the game a 10/10 rating, citing "Both the story and gameplay are so engaging that you are desperate to keep playing and are so disapointed when it is finally over." British magazine Nintendo Official Magazine praised the game's presentation and music, and also applauded it for "constantly throwing surprises towards the player". In a controversial mixed review, IGN gave the game a 4.5/10, stating the game "starts off good" but that the game starts to get repetitive, with some of the challenges being needlessly frustrating.