Descpription:
Magical Drop is a series of puzzle games, primarily
for the Neo-Geo and Super Famicom, developed by Data East. In 1995, Data East
released a coin operated version of this game, called Chain Reaction. The latest
major game in the series, Magical Drop III, was released in 1997.
The games are notable for being extremely fast-paced. Magical Drop is
played in a Tetris-style box; a "stack" of random colored bubbles descend
from the top, and a player is defeated when a bubble hits the bottom.
Bubbles can be picked up and dropped by the player's "clown" at the bottom,
and are destroyed when three or more of the same color are put together on a
single column. "Chains" are formed either when a single drop caused a chain reaction,
or when more than one group of bubbles is destroyed in quick succession.
The game is normally played with two players (one may be a computer opponent),
and chains cause the opponent's stack to descend faster.
There are 24 characters, all but the Black Pierrot being named
after a tarot card (with the Strength card covering two characters).
Different characters have different attack patterns. The columns of the
opponent's stack will descend at different rates relative to each other depending
on the character chosen. This causes a disjunction of colors that may
make it more difficult for the other player to clear their stack.
For example, with the character Devil, all the columns will descend at the
same rate, whereas with Sun, the middle columns will descend faster than the others.
