Game:

Magical Drop (1995)

Duration: 18:37

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Magical Drop Pocket is a nice game in the relatively short-lived but fun "Magical Drop" series, which is based on Magical Drop 3. It is also one of the last games in the Magical Drop series released outside Japan (besides Magical Drop for Game Boy Color and Magical Drop F recently re-released on PSN -Untranslated-, as well as Magical Drop Touch for iPhone/iPod).

As usual, different characters based off of a variety of Tarot cards duke it out in Magical Land for the "Magical Drop", which is said to make all your dreams come true. The series encompasses some of the best frenetic puzzlers available. While this game isn't as good as the console games, it's still a fun portable puzzler in its own right with a nice cast of characters (opting for some favorites as well as a few of the newer characters).

The gameplay is simple to learn and the game is easy to play, but a little harder to master. It's like a vertical drop puzzler that goes in reverse, as you throw objects from the bottom towards the ceiling, with the floor marking certain doom. Different characters attack stacks differently when doing chains, have different frequency for receiving certain colors, specialize at different drop types, etc. You must match at least three of a kind to make eliminations, though they can eliminate like-colors touching on the sides from that point on, but there are no diagonal eliminations. You can make chains by using the limited amount of time between eliminations and windows of opportunity.

What makes MD so great is its unusually fast and competitive pace, wonderful characters and character animations (some of which simply couldn't be reproduced here or in other portable versions), challenging A.I., and variety of strategies to use with two different ways to defeat opponents (either via the stack or by eliminating more specified drops than the opponent).

The game has nice colors like the GBC version but lacks the smoother character animations of the WonderSwan game; I can't say how it compares with MDT, but what I saw of MDT was pretty nice. The portable games generally limit the actions of most computer characters, mainly restricting their size and influence to a small section of the screen . Additionally, the music is excellent, simplified versions of the music from Magical Drop 3 and prior.

As it stands, Magical Drop Pocket is a decent game that's fun while it lasts, but will get old after a while and doesn't have the lasting appeal of the more powerful and visually pleasing console games. It's still a worthy addition to your collection however and one of the better NGPC puzzlers, as well as one of the easier games in the series so it's good for first time players and novices (only Super Hard should pose any real challenge for veteran players).

This video uses Death and goes through Story Mode on "Hard", demonstrating different strategies. I usually like using Justice, but felt like changing things up. Enjoy.