Columns III: Revenge of Columns

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Columns III: Revenge of Columns
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Virtual Console, Steam, RealOne Arcade
Publisher: Sega (Japan) VIC Tokai (US) Samsung (South Korea)
Developer: Sega CS, Minato Giken (programming) M2
Sound driver: SMPS Z80
Peripherals supported: Team Player
Genre: Puzzle
Number of players: 1-5
Release Date RRP Code JP 1993-10-15 ¥4,8004,800 G-4108 US 1994-03 $49.9549.95 T-23056 KR 199x GM93046JG AS 199x JP 199x ¥? ? JP ▼ 2007-12-11 600pts600 US ▼ 2008-02-04 800pts800 EU ▼ 2008-05-02 900pts900 AU ▼ 2008-05 900pts900 US ▼ 2002-11-14 US ▼ 2010-10-26 $2.992.99 34317 EU ▼ 2010-10-26 €2.492.49 34317 UK ▼ 2010-10-26 £1.991.99 34317 AU ▼ 2010-10-26 $3.493.49 34317 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 34317 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34317 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 34317 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 34317 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 34317 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34317 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 34317 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 34317

Columns III: Revenge of Columns, known as Columns III: Taiketsu! Columns World (コラムスIII 対決！コラムスワールド) in Japan, is an entry in the Columns series of puzzle games developed by Sega in 1993 for the Sega Mega Drive. The game was only released in Japan and the US, with VIC Tokai publishing it in the US (consequently, the incorrect myth that VIC Tokai also developed the game is very widespread). The game has been brought to the Wii's Virtual Console service.

The 5-players multiplayer is supported with Team Player peripheral that has to be inserted into Port 2 of the Sega Mega Drive. Game will not recognise controllers if it's inserted into Port 1.

A Game Gear version was shown at Winter CES 1994, but was never released.

Gameplay

Columns III adds several new gameplay features, including new puzzle modes and up to five simultaneous players. It re-introduces the "Crush Bar" from Columns II, a competitive-play gambit which is now a staple feature of the Columns series appearing in every game since (each time with a different name). But this time around the players are able to do "Crush Bar" attacks anytime they want instead of having the game do that immediately.

Columns III removes the single-player solo mode and brings the focus to competitive play. It's the first Columns game where the player can play competitively against CPU opponents in a single-player campaign. Like with Columns, the D-Pad moves blocks and cycles the jewels. Each player now has a meter under the "next block" bar that counts up from 0 to 30 each time a player removes jewels. Once it goes over 10, the player can hit or to "crush" whichever jewels are currently falling from the opponent's board, removing them and adding a row of bricks to the bottom of their field called the "Crush Bar." This will also the player's own Crush Bar. In multiplayer games with 3 or more players, and decide which opponent to crush (to the left or to the right, respectively).

After doing several chains in a row a player will get a block containing a glowing jewel, called a Flashing Stone. It must be removed before it stops glowing to do one a random effect on other competitors for a short period of time, such as making their jewels black and white (impairing visibility), flipping the game board upside down, or making them unable to cycle jewels. Most of these are ineffective against CPU players.

A special type of block appears after every 20 removed lines of jewels called a Magic Stone which takes the form of two triangular jewels with a square jewel in between. If the player places the block with the upward pointing triangle touching the jewels on the board, their opponent will be crushed. If they place it with the downward pointing triangle touching, their own Crush Bar will go down. If they place it with the square touching, all jewels on their board of the color of the jewel that is touched will be removed from the board (though no crush points will be awarded for consequential clears).

Outside of the single-player campaign, once the field gets filled with considerable amount of jewels, the game sometimes turn one of the jewels in the bottom rows into a Super Flashing Stone, such a situation being somewhat similar to Flash Columns. Removing it causes a powerful effect, such as removing all jewels on player's field or disabling Magic and Flashing Stones for the opponent for the rest of the match.

The Japanese version of Columns III also includes a 2-on-2 multiplayer mode. It's similar to a 1-on-1 match with the third and the fourth players playing the supportive role, doing Rock-Paper-Scrissor matches to win boosts for their partner.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	Columns III: Revenge of Columns	Columns III: Revenge of Columns
Japanese	コラムスIII 対決！コラムスワールド	Columns III: Taiketsu! Columns World

Production credits

• Game Design: Marsh, Kyamura
• Programming: Moveq Tab
• Graphic Design: Kayamame
• Sound Production: Ker Akiyan
• Assistant Design: Locky P
• Data Entry: Dance End, Ojyamamusi
• Manual Script: Yoikotachi, Winds
• Production: XYZ
• Special Thanks: Koz, Ogy, Yumeko. H, K.M., Sunset, Saru Man
• Presented by: Sega

Digital manuals

• 

  Steam manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini 2 JP manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Columns III: Revenge of Columns/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #57: "April 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
also published in:

• GamePro (US) #57: "April 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #58: "May 1994" (1994-xx-xx)

Print advert in EGM² (US) #2: "August 1994" (1994-0x-xx)
also published in:

• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #62: "September 1994" (1994-xx-xx)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-11: "November 1993" (1993-10-08)

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 73 Cool Gamer (RU) 50 Computer & Video Games (UK) NTSC 85 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 74 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 87 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 50 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 78 Mega (UK) NTSC-J 80 Mega Fun (DE) NTSC-U 84 Mean Machines Sega (UK) NTSC-J 85 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J 80 SuperGamePower (BR) 70 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 75 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 80 Video Games (DE) NTSC-U 72

	73
Based on 16 reviews

Columns III: Revenge of Columns

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, AS†
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Columns III: Revenge of Columns/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 dc678f6d MD5 441b7e9c9811e22458660eb73975569c SHA-1 8e52a5d0adbff3b2a15f32e9299b4ffdf35f5541	512kB	1993-12	Cartridge (US)
✔	CRC32 cd07462f MD5 eeb557cd38ad00d6b4df48585098269a SHA-1 2e850c2b737098b9926ac0fc9b8b2116fc5aa48a	512kB	1993-06	Cartridge (JP)

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US, AU
• Columns III: Revenge of Columns on Steam