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Magical Pop'n reviews/previews:


JonnyCGood

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I'm desperately searching for sources on the 1995 Japanese exclusive game "Magical Pop'n". A cutesy, but often ignored game. As far as I can tell, no Euro or American magazine covered the game, which is rather odd. Often at least one of them would do a preview for JP only games. So it looks like the game was only covered by Japanese magazines.

If anyone knows of any source related to Magical Pop'n, let me know. I know of all the web sources, which are pretty scant. I'm mostly looking for magazines and books.

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2 minutes ago, JonnyCGood said:

As far as I can tell, no Euro or American magazine covered the game, which is rather odd. Often at least one of them would do a preview for JP only games.

I don't find this odd at all.  For every game released in America, there are two games that are Japanese-exclusive.  They release TONS of stuff that never gets released anywhere else (most of it for a good reason - it's not very good.😄).  Very few Japanese games were ever covered by the foreign press, and those were usually early looks at big name titles that would later be released outside of Japan.  So a game like Magical Pop'n that wasn't popular in Japan (it sold poorly and is considered one of the rarest SFC games) and never stood a chance of being released in other countries would be extremely unlikely to receive foreign press coverage.

I can't recall seeing that game in anything that's been scanned thus far, but I'll keep it in the back of my mind in case I run across it in the future.

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9 minutes ago, kitsunebi77 said:

Very few Japanese games were ever covered by the foreign press, and those were usually early looks at big name titles that would later be released outside of Japan.  So a game like Magical Pop'n that wasn't popular in Japan (it sold poorly and is considered one of the rarest SFC games) and never stood a chance of being released in other countries would be extremely unlikely to receive foreign press coverage.

I've noticed that coverage of even obscure JP only games improves a lot past 1995. For example, The Adventure of Little Ralph got reviewed in Gamers' Republic, and Planet PlayStation. The mags that seem to do the best coverage of JP games were Gamers' Republic, GameFan, Superjuegos, and Consoles Plus. Usually, at least one magazine somewhere in Europe, America, or even Brazil would cover it.

Hell, in 1995 Consoles Plus reviewed Hyper Iria and The Firemen, as well as other tons of obscure JP only titles. Pop'n seems obscure even by JP only standards. It likely only gotten any attention in the west in the last decade.

The only coverage I've found is a 1995 preview from Famitsu (no issue given).

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I took a look at the Wikipedia page for this game, and boy, does it need an update.  It talks about how expensive the cart is and suggests that a loose copy is worth 300,000 yen ($300.)  And yet you can go to Yahoo Auctions right now and see several loose copies that have sold in the past week for between $25-45.  On the other hand, a pristine boxed copy did sell for $2500 last month, so I'm not disputing its value.

Still, although I've never played it, I suspect that this is one of those games which is only desired for its rarity and not because it's some kind of lost masterpiece.

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I also have a bunch of games I'm "on the hunt" for, which I've found few if any sources. I don't feel like making a new topic for them. They are:

- Cocoron (FC) 1991

- Pizza Pop! (FC) 1992

- Community Pom (PS) 1997

Elder Gate (PS) 2000

Elder Gate was the only game that Koji Igarashi fully directed, and it's a somewhat forgotten title. It's often omitted from his biography and only through consulting the credits could I even confirm he directed it. It's JP only and wasn't a huge success, so I understand why he doesn't talk about it.  The game is featured in Dengeki PlayStation 118, but no one's scanned that yet.

Cocoron is the first game Akira Kitamura, director of Mega Man 1-2 made after leaving Capcom. Another nearly forgotten title. Pizza Pop! is just a quirky late FC title. Community Pom is a pretty neat game that is a top down Zelda like title.

10 hours ago, kitsunebi77 said:

It talks about how expensive the cart is and suggests that a loose copy is worth 300,000 yen ($300.)

I checked, and it says 30,000 yen, not 300,000.

Quote

Still, although I've never played it, I suspect that this is one of those games which is only desired for its rarity and not because it's some kind of lost masterpiece.

It's actually a solid game, just sadly over looked due to its release date. I'd say it's a 7-8 out of ten game. I'm a sucker for any kind of sword based game with an up and down attack (like Zelda II). It would have been a bigger hit had it gotten a Saturn or PS release. Adventure of Little Ralph is another JP only game that is a solid 2D action title.

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18 minutes ago, JonnyCGood said:

I checked, and it says 30,000 yen, not 300,000.

Bwahaha!  Did I type 300,000??  That's almost $3,000!  No, I meant 30,000, which is around $300.  The problem being that all the loose copies I see being sold are selling for under 5,000.

Not that I really care about selling prices of anything that can be emulated for free.

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On 4/25/2019 at 5:36 AM, JonnyCGood said:

I also have a bunch of games I'm "on the hunt" for, which I've found few if any sources. I don't feel like making a new topic for them. They are:

Elder Gate (PS) 2000

Elder Gate was the only game that Koji Igarashi fully directed, and it's a somewhat forgotten title. It's often omitted from his biography and only through consulting the credits could I even confirm he directed it. It's JP only and wasn't a huge success, so I understand why he doesn't talk about it.  The game is featured in Dengeki PlayStation 118, but no one's scanned that yet.

Sorry for the quality.  I've got a billion other things on my plate, so it's extremely unlikely that I'll get around to scanning that issue anytime remotely soon.  Hopefully this is somehow useful to you nonetheless.

IMG_20190428_232916.jpgIMG_20190428_233002.jpgIMG_20190428_233057.jpgIMG_20190428_233146.jpg

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Few more "wish list games":

- Kaizou Choujin Schbibinman Zero SFC (1997)

Satellaview game. Gorgeous cute quirky, good graphics. I doubt even Japanese sources covered this game that much.

- Gunple: Gunman’s Proof, SFC (1997)

One of the last SFC games. Zelda clone but with a Western theme.

- Echo Night 2: The Lord of Nightmares (1999) PS

Japan only sequel to Echo Night.

3 hours ago, kitsunebi77 said:

Sorry for the quality.  I've got a billion other things on my plate, so it's extremely unlikely that I'll get around to scanning that issue anytime remotely soon.  Hopefully this is somehow useful to you nonetheless.

Thank you that is extremely useful! There's another feature for the game in issue 144 as well.

This is actually written external proof that Koji Igarashi directed the game! In English interviews, he totally skips over this game in his history. I don't blame him, the game didn't seem to be successful. It explains why he didn't pursue a career in directing, but rather became a full time producer/writer.

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2 hours ago, JonnyCGood said:

Thank you that is extremely useful! There's another feature for the game in issue 144 as well.

Sorry, I've got most regular issues, but that's one of the Dengeki PlayStationD issues, only one of which was in the collection I bought (and I've already scanned).

This is from 143, though:

IMG_20190429_062251.jpgIMG_20190429_062358.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/28/2019 at 5:38 PM, kitsunebi77 said:

Sorry, I've got most regular issues, but that's one of the Dengeki PlayStationD issues, only one of which was in the collection I bought (and I've already scanned).

This is from 143, though:

Thanks, that's good too!

So it seems Igarashi made Elder Gate as a pick up and play style game with less emphasis on story because he tried playing some story driven RPGs, and lost motivation after taking big breaks. Guess he's too busy at work for these.

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