The Legendary Starfy received positive reviews for its presentation, story and amount of content, although it was met with criticism for its low difficulty.

Starfy then decides to help Bunston recover from his amnesia and crosses the ocean to find the missing shards.

The player controls Starfy in underwater segments, where the character can spin and dive, and can also exit the water for some land sections.

Each stage has treasure chests, whose rewards are collectibles such as costumes or heart-shaped stones which give Starfy more health.

The game uses the dual-screen function to show a variety of information on the lower screen, such as a mermaid giving a summary of the level's mission; Moe gives the players hints to get treasures and secrets doors; Bunston shows the player's main progress of the story and upgrades; Old Man Lobber summarizes the current exploration's statistics and rank.

[2] Returning from earlier entries in the series is the wardrobe collection in which players dress Starfy and Starly in different outfits.

Yurie Hattori, assistant director for the Starfy series states "it's a game that's really the result of all the great ideas we had in [Densetsu no Stafy] 1-4.

IGN Nintendo Team editor Mark Bozon expressed in his review that the game contains an "incredible amount" of activities, and can feel almost cluttered at times because of this.