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Considering the date of this game and the platform, Carat (aka "Carat: Magical Block") is an uncommonly good (read: great) puzzle game and mild eroge (erotic or "18-Ban" game). It was made by the short-lived but cool development team, Custom, and was released for PC-98 and Sharp X68000 about a year apart (1993 for the Sharp), and much later re-released/remade for regular Windows PCs in 1998 by Bags. Artwork and designs were contributed by the popular Hirohiko Yanagi (柳ひろひこ) with music composed by the legendary Hitoshi Sakimoto (YmoH.S) along with Masaharu Iwata and Yoshio Furukawa.

In an age where most puzzle games neither looked particularly great or sounded particularly good, Carat broke the mold with higher-end production values, a great soundtrack with more than just one or two BGMs through the whole game (there are actually quite a few that differ between modes, critical points, etc., and this one can also utilize the SC-55) and even a little originality in the gameplay department. Of course, you can kinda tell by the artwork that it's an H-Game (or bears hentai content) too. The Sharp and Windows version are less censored than the original PC-98 release (though the lewdness was dialed down at the last minute when the game was restricted as an 18-Ban game).

Carat feels sort of like an arcade game and console game mix; detailed graphics and great sound but with all the conventional features you'd expect to find in a console release. You have your staple Normal Mode where you can select your starting difficulty as well as choose from a variety of tile sets. Next, you can choose "Task" mode where each setting differs; Normal is standard (you meet the requirements presented), Hard is... harder objectives, and "Youen Tenshi" or more specifically "Bewitching Angel" mode presents further challenges (with every few stages unlocking a lewd CG of a girl in compromising circumstances). You also have a simple Versus mode too, where you can play against a friend and outlast them via the clock or outscore them. Best of three wins! You even have a sound test where you can play the music and sfx. You can unlock CGs from the various game modes.

Carat plays like your standard falling object puzzler (most specifically, like Columns) but with one significant twist; While you can destroy three or more like objects vertically, horizontally and diagonally, you can only destroy objects on the direction you have set. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see arrows which face either up/down/left/right or diagonally. Those directions will determine what you break and you can change them at will, so keep this in mind. Even your savior crown (somewhat akin to a rainbow Columns gem) will destroy either diagonally or in the other four directions. If you are really good, you can change the directions in the middle of chains and make more chains from directional/diagonal sets.

This is a simple video showing some of the stuff in the game and censored adult content. If you don't mind eroge titles, Carat is light on the adult scenes but highly recommended if you want a little eroticism with an actually competent game. Enjoy.

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