Magic Jewelry
Magic Jewelry (also known as simply Jewelry) is an unlicensed clone of Columns for the NES programmed by Hwang Shinwei in 1990. The basic premise of the game is the same as its original source, where blocks of three jewels fall from the top and you have to arrange them into combinations of three or more to remove them until the well fills up. The graphical layout of the game was strongly inspired in New York City, and depicted the Statue of Liberty on one of the sides. Although it had only one basic mode, it proved to be fairly popular in countries where the console had a bootleg market.
The following year, a sequel called Magic Jewelry II appeared in a multicart, adding a two-player mode, various options to change the jewel sets along with the layout, and a timed mode called "Flash" (unrelated to the original Flash Columns). This sequel was less popular, but notorious for its improvement over the first game.
- Big Applesauce: The default background in both games is based off New York.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: In Magic Jewelry II.
- Combos
- Endless Game: As with Columns, it can go for hours if the combos are well-matched.
- Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Although it's not the first game to refer explicitly to the pieces as "jewels", it's one of the first to run with the theme in its title.
- Falling Blocks
- In Name Only: The Flash mode in Magic Jewelry II has no relationship whatsoever to the classic Flash Columns, instead being a timed mode that only worked in a two-player match.
- Match Three Game
- Nice Hat: One of the jewel sets in the sequel is based around these.
- No Plot, No Problem: Unlike the Excuse Plot its source had, Magic Jewelry has none. However, the sequel can rise a feeling that you're traveling around the world, judging by the landmarks visible in all the layouts.