G-MODEアーカイブス19 マジカルドロップDX

[Note: I am one of the authors of the English translation patch linked at the bottom.] Very pleasant, relaxing, color-sorting game. It is not particularly challenging, nor particularly overflowing with content, but it is always satisfying to clear another line from the board – it can be hard to stop! In addition, it is an important part of the Magic Drop series' history. It can be played in English with the translation patch here: https://github.com/MKCAMK/G-MODE-Archives-translations/tree/main/patches/Magical%20Drop%20DX/English/Steam

It's Magical Drop! In particular it's the version of Magical Drop DX released on Japanese mobile phones during the '00s. Is it necessarily the best way to play the game? Not at all, but it is a fun curiosity that brings me a ton of joy! I love these G-MODE Archives releases so much and I have several of them on Nintendo Switch, but because I'm "me" I just had to double dip and get Magical Drop DX on PC too. Magical Drop, developed and originally released to arcades by Data East, is the most well known puzzle game of this particular style, where you grab and place stacks of pieces of the same colour to create combos. You can play against the clock or battle against the computer. I don't believe this version has any multiplayer, however, so you'll be going solo through the arcade mode instead here. This game ran at a low frame rate even on original devices, but it still feels pretty alright to play in this form. No real complaints! Oh and, aside from some menu navigation and not being able to read the pre-match banter between characters, this one is totally playable without Japanese reading ability. Whether you play on Switch or on PC via Steam, these G-MODE Archives run in Unity …

still better than magical drop v Alright, but in all seriousness, I do commend G-Mode for preserving their old Japanese mobile phone games, but this is certainly one of the creakier ones in their catalog. Hard to recommend unless you're a huge Magical Drop fan and/or you like looking at weird obscurities like this, but even then I would just redirect you to Magical Drop III, a much superior game that this is more or less trying to ape the gameplay of. In terms of emulation quality, I do notice this and the other G-Mode Archives games are running in Unity. Maybe it's a recreation or some weird form of emulation? But I wouldn't know, and it would seem to be emulation from looking at the files. And it runs the game more or less fine, in all it's choppy glory.

This is a really fun game that gives me old puyo puyo tsu vibes. The translation fits the vibe of the era perfectly too. Perfect for a quick break game.

The last time I played any form of [i]Magical Drop[/i] was back in the Gametap days, so I can't say how this version compares to the [i]real[/i] classics, but I think I'm addicted? For some reason this Japan-exclusive flip-phone port is the only oldschool [i]Magical Drop[/i] on Steam (2 and 3 are on the XBOX PC store) but the fact that it originates from a handheld kind of makes it an ideal Steam Deck game and it's full-fledged enough to get me hooked. I think in particular it might be the perfect gateway game for "battle puzzler" type games. It doesn't require the precise aiming of [i]Puzzle Bobble[/i] to get the bubble where you want it to go, and the fact that lines [i]only[/i] trigger when you line up at least three [i]vertically[/i] makes basic combos easier to understand than [i]Puyo Puyo[/i] where you have to get a bit more elaborate with your layouts to avoid accidentally triggering something. The framerate is a tad choppy since it originated as a flip-phone game, but the controls are perfectly responsive and it's a surprisingly robust, serious game compared to the fairly disposable sort of games you'd associate with American flip-phones.