Stars of the Screen
Full Walkthrough! (SPOILERS!)
Stars of the Screen presents itself as a gallery with a bit of a mystery… and perhaps, some players may never find the other part. So, if you’d like to unlock everything easily, skip some of the puzzles, explore everything there is, or check that you didn’t miss anything… this walkthrough is for you!
“All the best games come with a full game walkthrough anyway.”
— Earthbound localization and marketing team, 1995 (inferred)
I’ll wrap the spoilers in collapsible items so that you don’t easily run into them. Otherwise, common rules apply, so don’t run with scissors around. If you find a hint that you did not encounter before, I recommend trying out tthe puzzle before reading on. I quite like few of those.
Also, let’s not forget about the initial idea of screensavers: it should be nice to look at them! (Saving screens is optional as of now.) So don’t forget to sit down comfortably and watch the slow motion for minutes or even hours. I’m no doctor but let’s say it may be good for you mental health!
Note: If you play this game without a Playdate hardware (in a Playdate Simulator application), please check a note related to the level named "The Other One But Roundish" after you reach the Chapter 2.
Hint: You can prevent your Playdate from falling asleep after three minutes. Go into game menu (via the Home button) and check the checkbox next to "no sleep".
Chapter 1: Loading
After you launch the game for the first time, you can watch screensavers and load new ones. Start loading by cranking the crank. There’s about 20 different animations that will randomly appear in while loading.
Tip: You can let go of the crank or turn it counterclockwise to rewind the animations.
You’ll find 10 different levels and then…
…a crack in the screen will appear. You can choose to have a coffee with me (pause the game and brew a cup!) or you can go straight to the credits. The credits include several randomly placed images and quotes. You can speed up the credits by turning the crank (or slow it down to read the credits or a quote). If you like the game, press A to display a QR code to the itch.io page where you can add a review to this game. Rate and/or review the game! It’s appreciated.
Hint: In the game menu (access it via the Home button) there may be some extra options. Try them out! Sometimes, there are valuable messages hidden in there.
If you want to see who’s behind the message, simply move the message away by pressing a direction on the D-pad.
Chapter 2: Playing
After discovering everything, the game begins. While loading, you may find that some of the screensavers are interactive. There are few weird outliers such as the LCD Formula 1 game and Desert Bus that are just asking to be played, though in fact, all levels are playable. The puzzle is to find how to control the game and then reach the goal.
At this time, instead of random messages, you can access hints via the game menu. Every screen has one to three different hints. I’d recommend to try them out before reading on, but you do you!
A hint looks like this:
In this moment, the High Scores screen will appear next to Credits…
…and you can find a list of hints that apply to the game there:
- Watch
- Divide and chill
- Hold it and they’ll leave
- Pump up the crank
- Feel the power
- Perfect bounce
- Desert is beautiful
- Drive
- Give up
- Productivity
- (b)ack home
There is a way to match every hint (they’re mostly verbs) with appropriate level…
…they’re in the same order as they appear on the Home screen. Yep, it’s that simple (sorry!):
- Stars — Watch
- The Classiest Screensaver (Mystify) — Divide and chill
- Branded (Flying Playdates) — Hold it and they’ll leave
- Pipin’ Hot — Pump up the crank
- The Other One But Roundish — Feel the power
- Wait For It (Dvd) — Perfect bounce
- The Bus Is Cool — Desert is beautiful
- Drive — Drive
- Look, Fish! — Give up
- Productivity Software — Productivity
- Home Screen — (b)ack home
If you’re stuck, you can check the steps for every game:
Stars
Watch: Watch the starfield for 45 seconds and you’ll win. Watch it for 45 minutes and you’ll be liberated. (If you watch it for EXACTLY 45 minutes and then rotate the Playdate by 120 degrees clockwise around the Z-axis, Aerith will live.)
Hint: You can change the speed of the USS Playdate by holding up or down.
The Classiest Screensaver (Mystify)
Divide and chill: Ever played JezzBall? Imagine the angles of the geometric shapes as bouncing balls. Do you see it?
Now you need to split the screen with a line while all the balls are together on either side. Push the D-pad up or down and a line will appear — and keep holding the direction to grow the line. You can move the line left and right, too. The line acts as a barrier and when you successfuly split the screen with it, it fills the empty space with dark matter (suprisingly enough, this dark matter is delivered in light gray color).
Continue splitting the screen as long as you can. The line always starts on the longer edge of the screen, so you may need to start it with left/right directions later in the game.
You will score after filling half of the screen with dark matter.
Branded (Flying Playdates)
Hold it and they’ll leave: Press B button and hold it, a hole will appear in the screen.
Now, tilt the Playdate so that all of the tiny yellow and pixelated consoles on its screen fall out of the device into the void.
Pipin’ Hot
Pump up the crank: Use the crank as a pump — repeatedly undock and dock it in quick succession.
Hint: You can force a direction of the pipe by holding a direction on D-pad.
The Other One But Roundish
Feel the power: There’s a lot of hints all around. Try cranking. Try mashing buttons. Try reading hints in the game menu. You can do it!
I’m really lost, man!
OK. So… connect the Playdate to power. That’s it.
Like, grab a USB cable and charge that lovely yellow brick!
Hint: If your Playdate is full charged (or even charging right when you play the game), this may not work! Jeez, indeed! Drain the battery a bit and try again. I hope so much this doesn’t happen to anybody!
Note: Because of this, this game is not possible to finish on the Playdate Simulator. If you play on the Simulator, please play the other levels and then check the Danger Zone at the end of this walkthrough to cheat your way through! Though, if there’s no other way, is it really cheating?!?
Wait For It (Dvd)
Perfect bounce: You need to see the perfect bounce — the DVD logo needs to enter one of the corners exatly right so that it bounces right back. You can also cheat: use the right and left on the D-pad to steer the DVD logo! Scandalous!
Oh god, this is so finicky! I want to cheat a lot…
…and you can! Steer the DVD logo into a wall and don’t let go. You can glitch it right into the wall and then reach that corner pixel like a truly pragmatic person! The end justifies the means, right?!
The Bus Is Cool
Desert is beautiful: This is a tribute to Desert Bus and you know the drill: drive for 8 hours and you’ll reach the destination. The bus constantly lists to the left (a departure from the original!), so you’ll need to correct the direction.
Also, hell no! This is not how you score in this one. You need to appreciate the nature — when you see a cactus, just stop and watch its majestic beauty. If you watch it for 20 seconds, you win a place in my heart. Also, you score.
And what happens if I drive for 8 hours and carefully correct the direction?
NOTHING!
Though, I love you for asking!
Drive
Drive: Just drive and don’t crash! If you pass 200, you are good enough!
Hint: You can control the game with you thumbs as you would your Game & Watch game. Use the left direction on the D-pad and the A button.
Look, Fish!
Give up: Just give up!
And how exactly should I give up?
You cannot score in this one. If you watched the fish for a bit, you find that the win state was always in your heart — ALWAYS! Just give up.
You can play with the bubbles by tilting the console, but otherwise, there’s nothing to do. The gameplay verb is really "to give up".
Productivity Software
Productivity: Mash those buttons or the D-pad! You can be a productive person! You can support capitalism with your bare hands and shoulders. After mashing a bit, a tasklist appears! Mash the buttons even more! You’ll soon the weight of you decisions but your inbox will be zero! You’ll score once you clear you inbox.
Hint: Watch the cards after clearing your inbox and feel the weight of the world!
After all this, you need to return back home. (B)ack to the Home Screen.
Home Screen
(b)ack home: On the Home Screen, select one of the 9 screens on the left and press the B button. A game of Tic Tac Toe will commence. Try to win!
Hint: You cannot win, but a tie is okay too. (And don’t draw me into a draw vs. tie debate or I’ll tie your shoes together! 🥲)
Chapter 3: Secret levels
After all this, a strange notification appears on the High Scores icon. It has a number 6 inside. And yes, after all this, there’s six more levels!
Hint: In the game menu, there’s a new option: a multiplayer! Turn it on and play together with a friend, a loved one, or even with the enemy. The other person can join the game by simply inserting a coin into the coin slot on your device.
Some tips about the additional levels?
There are no win states in these additional levels. Though, there are secrets!
Mystery Haunted House: Try all buttons! Try crank!
Blue Screen Of Death: Try crank! Use your phone!
The End Is Safe: Click on everything! Click on the Start button! Try crank! And don’t turn that computer off right away! (This one actually started completely without the Desktop component — so take your time to explore the fatal nature of every computer shutdown.)
Flying Toasters: Use crank!
Probability: Watch the balls drop! It’s slow and mesmerizing but there’s no interaction. (Excuse some wonky physics! Sometimes the pileups are kinda stupid.)
SETUP.EXE: Install MS Office from a ton of floppies! It never ends!
Chapter 4: Danger Zone
Seriously?
Yep, this one can break your game. Do this after you have everything. And then you lose it just to make half of the universe disappear. And then it’s back because of those stupid superheroes. Do it only after all that. (Or in case you play the game in Playdate Simulator.)
I had it all! Just give me the information.
Go to the Home Screen and enter the Konami code.
Proceed to the Maze (it’s empty — there’s a reason why it’s not in the game ;-)), watch the coffee break again, or break everything.
It’s also a good way to reset your score (but why?) or even to set your score to a specific stage of the game. But things won’t be the same after you change your score.
And yes: that’s my debug screen.
That’s it
There’s a lot of random flourish that you may have missed (or I did!), but after getting through this walkthrough, you should just move on and play something else!
You may still watch the screensavers! Hopefully soon on your own Playdate Dock!
Thank you for playing! I love you!
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