Magical Drop - Review and Info

Gameplay Basics:

The well is filled with bubbles which float up to the top, instead of falling to the bottom like in most games.You control a clown at the bottom of the field who can pull vertical groups of bubbles from the well, and put them back anywhere else. To eliminate bubbles, you line up vertical groups of three. When bubbles are eliminated, any adjacent bubbles which are the same color are also destroyed.

New bubbles are created at the top of the field, pushing the existing bubbles to the bottom. Groups of three vertical bubbles can be created, and they won't be destroyed unless the player adds another bubble to the bottom of the group, or pulls the bubbles down and throws them back up. This is similar to "Bust-A-Move", "Puzzle Bobble", and many other puzzle fighting games by Taito.The game ends when the stack of bubbles passes the bottom of the well.

Your clown can grab an unlimited number of bubbles from an unlimited number of places on the board, as long as they are all the same color. Traditional chain-reactions are possible in this game, but are rather difficult to set up. However, you can also score chain-reaction points just by getting rid of different sets of bubbles quickly, even if they are completely unrelated.

Strategies:

I currently hold most of the record high scores at MARP for Magical Drop 2 and 3. Here are a few tips on how I did it.

Try and arrange bubbles in vertical groups of twos, and when you find a third bubble which will complete a set, put it somewhere near the corresponding bubbles, so that it is handy when you are setting off a big chain reaction. For example, on the right, I have arranged two vertical groups of twos: Two yellows, and two reds. The greens arranged themselves, and as a result, will not be destroyed until I interfere. So now I can get an easy level 3 chain by grabbing the solitary red bubble and tossing it up with the other two red bubbles, then by doing the same with the yellows, and lastly by grabbing the three greens and throwing them back up.

Traditional chain reactions - chain reactions which require no interference by the player - are somewhat difficult to set up. However, they can be useful, because they take longer to go off, which gives you more time to set off something somewhere else, to add to the chain reaction.

In Vs. Mode, different characters have different garbage patterns! Some characters are definitely better than others. "The Fool" and "The Devil" both send garbage in large single-color clumps which are easy to get rid of, while "Strength" sends garbage in alternating columns, making him the best character, in my opinion.

Review:

This game is very similar to Tetris Attack in that there is no speed limit imposed on the players. In Doctor Mario, Puyo Puyo, Tetris, the pieces take some time to fall, and there's a slight time delay before you get your next piece. However, because this game lacks a speed limit, computer players can go blazingly fast, and easily defeat an opponent without necessarily having to out-think them. I think games like this one should have a speed limit enforced - Maybe the cursor-clown should take longer to move left and right, instead of doing it almost instantaneously. This would encourage players to use their brains, and not just their fingers.

There are three playing modes: Vs. Mode lets you fight 12 computer opponents, Survival Mode tests how long you can survive alone, and Magical Journey is a combination of the other two modes. Each mode has its advantages and disadvantages.

Vs. Mode is kind of fun, but the computer opponents eventually resort to moving ridiculously fast to win. Also, the garbage system is scaled in the wrong direction - Getting a level 2 combo sends 3 or 4 lines of garbage, while getting a level 7+ combo sends 8 lines of garbage. So unlike in most puzzle games, you're rewarded more for getting many low-level combos, instead of for getting high-level combos.

Survival Mode is fun, but it takes some getting used to. Unlike in Tetris Attack, the bubbles are not created at a constant rate. Sometimes bubbles will appear 3 rows at a times, or sometimes 4 bubbles will appear in every odd numbered column, and 2 bubbles will appear in every even number of column, making everything uneven. Also, if you try and set off combos which go past the bottom of the playing field, sometimes it will kill you, and sometimes it will let you live. It may not very consistent, but it is an Arcade game, so it needs quarters to live. Therefore it needs some way to keep people from playing forever.

Graphics are good. The characters are all strange anime interpretations of Tarot cards. Lots of the characters, "The Enchantress", "The World", "Justice", are run-of-the-mill large-breasted scantily clad anime women. However, a few characters stand out: "The Sun" is represented by a cute baby sun in diapers. "The Lovers" are represented by a small girl (Chibi Moon?) riding a pig. "The Fool" is a man holding a cat, both with permanent runny noses.

All characters sit in the background and animate when you set off big combos, the animations range from rather boring to extremely distracting. "The Enchantress", for example, merely whirls a stick around, while "The Magician" flashes the whole screen black and white for about 3 seconds.

It's a Neo-Geo game, so it's unlikely you will be able to purchase the game. However, I do recommend playing it if you can spot it in an arcade, especially if you have a friend to play with. If you own the game, you can find the romset at http://www.mame.dk/ so you can practice on your PC. You'll need MAME.

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