Magical Puzzle Popils

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Magical Puzzle Popils
System(s): Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Tengen
Developer: Tengen
Distributor: Domark (EU)
Peripherals supported: Gear-to-Gear Cable
Genre: Puzzle
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: English 日本語
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-07-12 ¥4,800 (4,944)4,800e T-48017 US 1992 $34.9534.95 301200-0160 EU 1992-10-01 T-48068-50 UK 1992-10-01 £27.9927.99 T-48068-50

Magical Puzzle Popils (マジカルパズル・ポピルズ), known as Popils: The Blockbusting Challenge in Europe, is a puzzle game for the Sega Game Gear. Different to other Tengen games, it was developed in Japan.

The game was designed by Fukio Mitsuji, who also designed Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands for Taito and SegaSonic Bros. for Sega.

Story

A nameless Boy falls in love with a beautiful Princess. The evil wizard named Popils is jealous and kidnaps her, trapping her inside an enchanted forest. It is up to the Boy to rescue her.

Gameplay

Gameplay

Magical Puzzle Popils is a single-player puzzle game in the form of a platform game. In each round, an unnamed Boy must destroy blocks, avoid enemies and spikes, and use ladders and warp doors to reach the Princess in the fewest number of moves possible. Each round is one fixed screen and does not scroll in any direction. When a block is destroyed, the column of blocks above it fall down one square, which often alters the layout of the round, creating or closing paths for the Boy, the Princess, or enemies to move around. A round is completed when the Boy and Princess meet (by touching) or failed if the Boy or the Princess is killed (from touching an enemy or a spike).

The Boy moves by pressing or . He cannot jump. He punches in the direction that he is facing by pressing or . He punches once when is used or punches continuously in a direction by holding . He can headbutt above himself by pressing + or + or kick below himself by pressing + or +. Punching, kicking, or headbutting can be used to destroy blocks, but the Boy cannot attack enemies. It is possible to punch blocks above the Boy or kick blocks below him while hanging halfway off another block, and this technique is necessary to solve some of the puzzles. The player can restart a puzzle by pressing + (which costs a life).

The game tracks the number of steps that the player has used to complete the puzzle. Walking or climbing counts as one step per square; punching, kicking, or headbutting counts as one step each. Once a round is completed, the game saves the number of steps that the player took. The score is recorded as the player's "IQ," which is higher if the player completes rounds in fewer steps. The game reports the number of steps taken to complete every round by the mapper (which is not necessarily the fewest steps possible). To complete the game perfectly, all 100 rounds must be completed using the same or fewer number of steps as the mapper. Rounds can be replayed to improve the number of steps taken, but while the game saves the best run, replayed rounds do not add to the player's IQ. The IQ score is also reset if the player runs out of lives.

The game uses a battery backup to retain the player's progress (the rounds completed, the fewest number of steps taken for each, and the IQ score) after the system is powered off. Additionally, the game has a resume feature, which saves the state of the current round so that it can be continued after the system is powered back on.

Modes

Normal Game

Round select

In Normal Game mode, there are 100 different puzzles, which increase in difficulty. Rounds can be attempted in any order, but only the first five rounds are initially available. Five more rounds are unlocked when at least four rounds have been completed. Thus, rounds 1 through 10 are available to play after completing any four rounds, rounds 1 through 15 are available when any eight rounds have been completed, and eventually, all 100 rounds are available after any 76 rounds have been completed (meaning that player can choose to skip one round out of each set of five and still unlock every round to play).

On the round select screen, uncompleted rounds are displayed in grayscale and completed rounds are displayed in a sepia tone and may be played again. The screen also shows number of steps that the mapper (or designer) used to complete the round and the fewest that the player has used (if the round has been completed). Pressing on the round select screen reveals a short hint for completing the selected round. After completing the game once, rounds that were completed in the same or fewer number of steps as the mapper are displayed as "perfect" and colored green.

There is an alternative ending given for completing every round perfectly. The player is given a chance to continue playing after accomplishing this, which unlocks a secret round, Round 0, which can only be completed using a gameplay trick not seen in the previous hundred rounds.

Map Editor

Map editor

The game includes a map editor that can be used create and test custom rounds. Up to 30 custom rounds can be saved on the cartridge, and players can share maps with each other over a Gear-to-Gear Cable.

A round must feature the Boy and Princess and can have from 0 to 7 enemies. If doors are used, they must appear in pairs. The Japanese manual includes screenshots of a selection of 10 rounds that are not otherwise available in the game, which can be entered into the map editor and played.

Characters

	Boy
	The player character. He must make his way to the Princess. The round is completed when the Boy touches the Princess.
	Princess
	The goal of each round. She moves left and right on top of blocks. When she runs into a block, she changes direction.

Blocks

	Normal Block
	Destroyed by hitting with the Boy. Once it is destroyed, all blocks above it fall down one level.
	Black Block
	Can be entered but cannot be destroyed.
	Gold Block
	Cannot be destroyed or passed through.
	Ladder
	Moves the Boy up or down a level. He climbs up with and descends with . Can only be used by the Boy and not the Princess or enemies.
	Pointed Block
	Kills anything that lands on it, including the Boy or the Princess. Can also be used to kill enemy Slimes. Can be destroyed.
	Warp Doors
	Warps someone from one door to another with the same shape. Can be used by the Boy, the Princess, and enemies. Some rounds contain multiple types of door. After someone exits from a door, it is blocked (indicated by a minus sign) and temporarily cannot be used.

Enemies

	Slime
	Moves left and right on top of blocks. When it hits an impassable block, it turns around and starts moving in the opposite direction. Kills the Boy or Princess upon contact.
	Vampire
	Moves left and right between blocks like Slimes but flies. Does not fall when a block beneath it is destroyed (unless there is a block above it). Also kills the Boy or Princess upon contact

Rounds

Main article: Magical Puzzle Popils/Maps.

Versions

Developer Jun Amanai has posted videos of several unreleased games on his YouTube channel, including Magical Puzzle Popils for the Famicom and PC Engine. He states that the Famicom version was the original and that all of the puzzles in the Game Gear version were created in the Famicom version's map editor. Only the Game Gear version of the game was ever released.

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Popils: The Blockbusting Challenge	Popils: The Blockbusting Challenge
English (US)	Magical Puzzle Popils	Magical Puzzle Popils
Japanese	マジカルパズル・ポピルズ	Magical Puzzle Popils

Production credits

• Concept & Game Design: Fukio Mitsuji (MTJ)
• Additional Design & Program: Jun Amanai (JUN)
• Music & Sound: Yoshihito Tomuro (TOM)
• Graphics: Ken-ichi Nemoto (KAI), Masato Nagashima (HOD)
• Map Design: Kazuo Matsunaga (MTN)

Source:

JP manual

---

• Game Design: F.Mitsuji
• Audio: Y.Tomuro
• Graphics: K.Nemoto, M.Nagashima
• Map Design: K.Matsunaga
• Program: Jun Amanai

Source:

In-game credits (ending)

---

• Game Design: F.Mitsuji
• Program: Jun Amanai
• Visual: M.Nagashima, F.Mitsuji, K.Nemoto
• Audio: Y.Tomuro
• Map Design: K.Matsunaga, K.Nemoto, F.Mitsuji

Source:

In-game credits (hidden credits)

Magazine articles

Main article: Magical Puzzle Popils/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1991-08: "August 1991" (1991-07-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1992-03: "March 1992" (1992-02-08)
also published in:

• Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1992-04: "April 1992" (1992-03-07)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1992-07: "July 1992" (1992-06-08)

Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #131: "October 1992" (1992-09-15)

Print advert in Mega Force (ES) #11: "Marzo 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Hobby Consolas (ES) #18: "Marzo 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
• Todo Sega (ES) #1: "Abril 1993" (1993-03-15)
• Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) #59: "Abril 1993" (1993-0x-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 60 Consoles + (FR) 95 Computer & Video Games (UK) 87 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 76 Gamers (DE) 67 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 65 Game Zone (UK) NTSC 88 Game Zone (UK) 91 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 70 Hobby Consolas (ES) 85 Joypad (FR) 85 Joystick (FR) 83 Joystick (FR) PAL 91 Megablast (DE) 72 Player One (FR) 86 Play Time (DE) 72 Power Play (DE) 72 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 92 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 89 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 89 Sega Force (SE) 94 Sega Force (UK) PAL 85 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 78 Supersonic (FR) 85 Tilt (FR) 90 User (GR) PAL 82 Video Games (DE) 73 Zero (UK) 90

	82
Based on 28 reviews

Magical Puzzle Popils

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, US
Cover
Manual

Game Gear, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

The game will restart as the last level completed with automatic battery backed saves.

The level editor feature allows for the creation and storage of 30 user levels.

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 cf6d7bc5 MD5 e496ff2196c372f4d6111538950d25ca SHA-1 fb939f0810d0763b9abaeec1a2bfbabacaad5441	128kB	199X	Cartridge	8KB backup

References

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