Whats the point Nintendo?

I was thrilled to see the VC releases today. I downloaded Startropics the minute I heard it was released. This was one of the first games I ever played, and I can remember how much I loved it. The weirdest thing is that my mom beat it before me (crazy, huh). Anyways before I get to the first dungeon, I noticed something odd. In the original game the first weapon you get in the game is a yoyo, but on the VC version of the game you get a "Star".

This is from the original NES game


And this is from the VC game


Whats the point NOA? Is it less offensive? because the sprite of the yoyo seems unchanged. Is the word "star" easier to put in the game? Because the word "yoyo" and "star" are the same amount of letters. Heck, Is it a homage to "Super Mario"?

I mean why change it? Because, lets face it, Most of the people that will download it will be fans that played the game before. Why not keep it the same for them. It really doesn't bug me that they changed the yoyo (Well, it bugged me enough to blog about it) but it seems like a pointless effort on Nintendo's part.

Now I know what your thinking, "This isn't nearly important enough to blog about." and to that I say, "you know what, I guess your right, but I'm doing it anyways."