Magical Pop'n

Magical Pop'n[lower-alpha 1] is a side-scrolling action-platform video game developed by Polestar and published by Pack-In-Video exclusively for the Super Famicom in Japan on 10 March, 1995. When the Demon King's army steals a magic gem that holds tremendous power during an invasion from the castle in the kingdom of To'ahl, the Princess sets out on a journey to retrieve the stolen gem back, before it is used for world domination. Its gameplay consists of platforming and exploration with a main six-button configuration, featuring special moves and techniques.

Not to be confused with Pop'n Magic.

Magical Pop'n
Cover art by Takami Akai
Developer(s)Polestar
Publisher(s)Pack-in-Video
Producer(s)Shōtarō Hara
Yasuhiro Wada
Designer(s)Hidetoshi Nakajima
Jun Hoyano
Kazunao Tajiri
Programmer(s)Hiroyuki Tani
Artist(s)Kaori Kawashima
Yumiko Tokutake
Composer(s)Ichirou Ishibashi
Platform(s)Super Famicom
Release
  • JP: 10 March 1995
Genre(s)Action, platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Featuring the voice work of former AV idol Ai Iijima as the protagonist, Magical Pop'n was co-produced by Shōtarō Hara and Yasuhiro Wada, who would go on to create the Harvest Moon franchise after the release of this game in the same year with the first installment on the Super Nintendo. The game has been met with mixed reception from critics who criticized the difficulty, voice acting, lack of any support for game save and for being a standard action title but the controls, graphics and animations received praise.

In recent years, Magical Pop'n has since become an expensive collector's item and one of the rarest Super Famicom titles, leading it to fetch high prices in the secondary video game collecting market.

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot.

Magical Pop'n is a side-scrolling action-platform game similar to The Adventure of Little Ralph in which the player takes control of the Princess, the main protagonist of the game, through six stages of varying themes set in the land of To'ahl where the main objective is to recover the kingdom's powerful Magic Jewel that was stolen by the army of the game's main antagonist, the Demon King, and defeat his servants acting as a boss at the end of the stage in order to progress further.[1] The stages are organized in a mazelike and non-linear fashion, which encourages exploration in order to find new items hidden in treasure chests such as extra heart containers that increase the player's total health and obtaining spells is also an important aspect in order to keep advancing further into the game, as the Princess starts off with a three-heart life gauge and one spell attack at the beginning.[2][3] The player can also increase the Princess's number of lives by collecting three golden tokens (which look like the Princess's face) per life. There is no password or saving feature, so the game must be completed in one session.[2][3]

Controlling the Princess is done with the D-pad, while jumping and attacking enemies are performed with either the A or Y button for magic or melee attacks. Repeatedly pressing the Y button increases the range of melee attacks, which allows the Princess to hang on certain objects and while jumping with the B button, the player can perform a pogo stick-like attack against enemies from above by holding down and Y. The L and R buttons change between different magic attacks, while pressing Select on the controller activates a powerful magic attack against enemies as well.[4] When crouching, the Princess can also slide by holding forward and B.

Plot

To'ahl is a peaceful kingdom where magic flourishes and home of the Princess, an energetic young girl who lives in the castle of the land that houses the Magic Jewel with her mentor and caretaker Gramps. During a session where Gramps was lecturing Princess with the kingdom's rules of magic, his crystal ball began to glow and float off the table, predicting an upcoming evil event, however the princess was too distracted with the floating ball to notice the future omen. At the same night, an army headed by the Demon King invades the kingdom and manages to steal the jewel, which holds a tremendous power that allows him to conquer the world with ease. As a result, the Princess dons a sword and embarks on a journey to retrieve the jewel back to the kingdom.[5] After travelling through several locations, the Princess reaches the Demon King's location and eventually manages to defeat him, recovering the Magic Jewel and restoring peace to the land of To'ahl and the world.[6][7]

Development and release

Magical Pop'n was the second game to be developed by Polestar after Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World for the TurboGrafx-CD in 1993. Shōtarō Hara served as a co-producer of the project along with Yasuhiro Wada, who would later go on to work on his next Super Nintendo game, Harvest Moon, which was also released on the same year.[8] The game served as the voice acting debut of Japanese media and former AV idol personality Ai Iijima, who started her adult video career in 1992 and provided her voice for the main character.[1][9] Gainax co-founder Takami Akai was also responsible in drawing the artwork for the front cover of the box.[10] Magical Pop'n was released in Japan on 10 March 1995 for the Super Famicom and was published by Pack-in-Video. The game has never been released outside of Japan.[11]

Reception

Upon release, four reviewers for Famitsu magazine gave it a score of 23 out of 40. Reviewers compared it to the Monster World series and remarked it was a rather standard, ordinary, and old-fashioned style of game. They noted that the attack range of the character is low, and it was rather difficult, but they praised the character's movements.[12]

The book Perfect Guide to Nostalgic Super Famicom, was rather critical of Ai Iijima's voice acting, calling it husky, monotone, and ill-suited for a moe type of character.[1]

The complicated stage structure, lack of password or saving function, led to the game being noted for not being suitable for children who are not allowed to play video games for long hours at home.[3]

Retro Gamer described the visuals as "cute", with very challenging gameplay, and called it a "hidden gem" while listing it as one of the games they recommend for collectors to import.[11] Allistair Pinsof of Destructoid, praised the game, saying the controls were as good as that of Super Metroid and Super Castlevania IV.[10]

Legacy

Since its initial release, Magical Pop'n has become one of the rarest Super Famicom titles, alongside titles such as Rendering Ranger: R2 which had only 10,000 copies released.[14] It was listed in 2016 as costing 100,000 yen with the box, and without it at 30,000 yen.[1] In the 2018, a successful bid at 80,000 yen was recorded at auction.[3] A full pristine unopened copy can fetch up to 200,000 yen.[14] As of date, ownership of the intellectual property rights to the game currently belong to Marvelous Entertainment.[15] The game has also been featured at the Games Done Quick speed-running events.[16]

Notes
  1. Japanese: マジカルポップン, Hepburn: Majikaru Poppun

References
  1. Perfect Guide of Nostalgic Super Famicom. Japan: Magazine Box (M. B. Mook). 2016. p. 52. ISBN 9784866400082. OCLC 960434261.
  2. "【3月10日】今日は『マジカルポップン』の発売23周年！【レトロゲームの誕生日】 - ゲームドライブ（ゲードラ） - スマホ・アナログ・レトロ・新作ゲーム情報を毎日掲載中！". ゲームドライブ（ゲードラ） - スマホ・アナログ・レトロ・新作ゲーム情報を毎日掲載中！. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  3. Shinu mae ni kuria shitai nihyaku no murigē : famikon ando sūfamihen. Tōkyō: Maiueishuppan. 2018. p. 99. ISBN 9784865119855. OCLC 1051229562.
  4. De Wilde, Andy. "Magical Pop'n - マジカルポツプン". Twin-Dreams. Archived from the original on 9 September 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  5. Magical Pop'n, Intro scene, 1995
  6. Polestar (10 March 1995). Magical Pop'n (Super Famicom) (in Japanese). Pack-In-Video. Level/area: Ending.
  7. "Ending for Magical Pop'n (Super Nes / Super Famicom)". vgmuseum.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  8. "「牧場物語」の和田康宏氏がSwitchに感じた可能性。生態系シム「ハッピーバースデイズ」クリエイティブプロデューサーインタビュー". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas Inc. 9 April 2018. Archived from the original on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  9. "Modern Japan - Famous Japanese - Iijima Ai". 16 March 2007. Archived from the original on 2 November 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  10. "It Came From Japan! Magical Pop'n". destructoid. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  11. The Mega Drive/SNES Book. Imagine Publishing. 2013. p. 207.
  12. "マジカルポップン [スーパーファミコン] / ファミ通.com". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain, Tokuma. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  13. 超絶 大技林 '98年春版: マジカルポップン - スーパーファミコン. PlayStation Magazine (Special) (in Japanese). 42. Tokuma Shoten Intermedia. 15 April 1998. p. 396. ASIN B00J16900U.
  14. "1000本以上のスーパーファミコン用ゲーム、ヤフオクで「1480万円」からの出品。コレクターが数十年掛けて集めた"コンプリートパック"". 電ファミニコゲーマー – ゲームの面白い記事読んでみない？ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  15. "マジカルポップン - MARVELOUS!". www.marv.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 3 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  16. "Awesome Games Done Quick 2018: Day 2 Schedule and Runs to Watch". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
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