Game:

Popful Mail (1991)

Duration: 9:56

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Ah, the release of Falcom's Popful Mail on the PC-98; I'm not head-over-heels wild about all the games Falcom makes, but Popful Mail has always been one of my favorites and one of the best games they've ever produced IMO. It's a funny, light-hearted action game with a small touch of RPG gameplay and deals with the adventures of a cute bounty hunter named Mail (or Popful Mail) who is trying to make a fortune defeating bad guys and getting that one big catch, but there's a problem; she's not exactly the best bounty hunter, but she makes up for her shortcomings through sheer determination. This game has been remade on various platforms over the years such as the PC-Engine CD, Super Famicom, and Sega CD (which is probably the most popular and well-known of the bunch, and sort of a combination of all the other versions) but Falcom should have made some real follow-ups to the game instead of on some of their other franchises, but that's just my opinion. The game originated on PC-88.

Popful Mail on the PC-98 has villages where you can buy items for the three characters you'll come to control on your quest, the ability to save generally anywhere,good graphics, and a great soundtrack with functional gameplay. There are different maps or "stages" where the action takes place in a side-view perspective, and it also has a simple overworld map that's basically just a means to an end. There's plenty of places to go and quite a few things to do, though you shouldn't expect much in the way of side-quests.

The PC-98 version of PM was a little odd as some of the fighting is done similarly to early Ys games, where you'd rub up against enemies to defeat them, but it works for the most part. Speaking of fighting, one of the best parts about Popful Mail was that you had three unique characters that you could switch between at any time, and whoever was present would change certain story scenes or dialogues. The story scenes in general are nice (and largely recreated the same way in the Sega CD game), though some characters you've known in the Sega CD games had different names (Blacky is basically Slick, Matelial is basically Muttonhead and, even more interestingly, was called Material in the PC-88 game). As for everything else, I can sorta see why Working Designs tweaked the Sega CD game, particularly in the challenge department; this game is sorta easy, though you can get stuck and obliterated if you're not careful.

Overall, this is a great game. These videos go from the intro to obtaining the first of two allies (Tatto, or Tatt). Enjoy.