Let's recap: Magical Pop'n (SFC).

Magical Pop'n (SFC, Polestar / Pack-in-Video, 1995.03.10)


Sometimes, the best games come from irrelevant companies which publish the work of unknown but talented developers. Magical Pop'n is one of the best action games ever made for the SFC and one of the best "platform games" ever released for any home system. Let's recap:

First. The main character. One of the best ever. A cute little girl, magician apprentice, that fights with a small sword and can "learn" magic by gathering certain items. How she runs, jumps, falls, attacks, slides and speaks makes of her an almost alive character.

Second. The enemies. Splendid. Some basic ones are (though small) really amazing, but you must see bosses and mid-bosses. Not only are all of them fantastically designed, they also have fair, well tested attack patterns.

Third. Graphics and music. Lovable. Some backgrounds could have been better, but the game is long and it gets better in later stages.

Fourth. Gameplay. Unrivalled. The biggest effort was put on making a fast, ultra-responsive main character with lots of different actions. Fighting is the funniest part, but you'll find yourself replaying many sections just for not having jumped or used certain magic when the game exactly required it. You have no time limit, so you'll be patiently looking for the way to get the usual hidden chest, too.

Do I need to say more? Yep. I didn't like the length of the game. You have no passwords, so you supposedly have to complete the game in one go (one credit?). And stages are too long to replay the game with assiduity. Still, a little master piece.

Cool, I had never heard of this one. Keep them comming.

Yet another SFC game I need to take a closer look at.. :)

I've played this. Damned fine game. There's a translation patch for it too, if anyone cares.

...It looks a little like Popful Mail.
"Magical Popful Mail?" :D

Yeah, it definately reminds me of Popful Mail, too...

-Flik

Pop'n was a nice surprise and reminded me a bit of Sonic. It must be the best game Pack in Video has ever published; their games are usually garbage.

It's been on my list for quite some time. I've never actually played it though. Maybe some day I should rock an SFC emulator so I can see for myself if the games on my shopping list are any good.

Thanks for the screens and the writings Recap. That one looks like gold to me :)

Pa

Man, we need a Konami 2D comp disc of some kind with stuff like this and the Twinbee games. That said, I never played this one. Looks very nice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

Pop'n was a nice surprise and reminded me a bit of Sonic. It must be the best game Pack in Video has ever published; their games are usually garbage.

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Just realized that the first Bokujou Monogatari (Harvest Moon) game for the SFC was published by Pack-in-Video. Harvest Moon series now belong to Victor. I always suspected that Pack-in and JVC/Victor were the same thing, so this old company may still exist, but with another name. Confirmation, Neoz'r?