Popful Mail

Popful Mail: Magical Fantasy Adventure (ぽっぷるメイル, Poppuru Meiru) is a side-scrolling platform game. Popful Mail was developed by Nihon Falcom for the NEC PC-8801 computer in 1991[3] and for the PC-9801 in 1992.[2] It was later ported to PC Engine CD-ROM by NEC Home Electronics and to the Sega CD by "Sega Falcom", an alliance of the two game companies Sega and Falcom. In 1994, Falcom themselves remade Popful Mail and released it on Super Famicom. SIMS Co., Ltd. translated the Sega CD version and Working Designs published it in North America in late 1994. The PC-8801, PC-9801 and PC Engine CD-ROM versions are for the most part similar to each other, but the Super Famicom and Sega CD versions differ significantly both from each other and from the previous versions.

Popful Mail
North American cover art
Developer(s)Falcom,
SIMS (Sega CD),
HuneX (PC Engine)
Publisher(s)Working Designs (Sega CD)
Platform(s)NEC PC-8801
NEC PC-9801
Sega CD
Super Famicom
PC Engine CD
Windows
Release
Genre(s)Platform, action-adventure game, action RPG, Metroidvania[4]
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
The player, as Mail, battles the first major boss, Wood Golem, in the PC-8801 version
The Sega CD version has larger, more detailed sprites, and shows large character portraits during dialogue

Popful Mail is a 2D platform game with several RPG elements - excluding the ability to level-up characters. The controls allow the player to jump, attack, open doors or treasure chests, and speak to another character. Additionally, the player can summon a menu to change some of the game's attributes, the current character, the current character's equipment, use or activate an item, read the game's status, save, load and quit.

At the start of the game, the only playable character is Mail; however, as the game progresses, Tatt and Gaw will be available, and the player may switch between them at any time through the use of the "character" option in the menu (except in the middle of dialogues). Each character has different attacks and armors, as well as differences in walking speed and jump. Mail is the fastest character, but is the one whose jump is lowest. Tatt is balanced—slower than Mail but faster than Gaw—and his jump is similarly in between. Gaw is the slowest of the three, but his jump and attacks are usually the highest.

The character encounters enemies as well as non-playable characters. Often, when encountering an important character, dialogue begins immediately, with the player having no control over it. These important dialogues are by default always voice acted: however, text accompanies them, and the voiced speech can be turned off in an options menu if so desired.

The character has 100 health points, and attacks from enemy characters diminish it according to the strength of the attacker. Similarly, all enemies have a 100 health point bar that has to be brought down to 0 for the enemy to be defeated. How much damage is dealt depends on the strength of the character, although an attack always causes the same amount of damage to the same enemy. The character also has a blue-grey bar that is depleted as a distance weapon or a magical attack is used. When the bar reaches 0, the character can still perform the weapon motion, but the magical or long range portion of the attack will fail. The bar regenerates quickly if given time to do so (if the character uses no attacks or switches to a melee weapon). Use of a distance weapon or magical attack while the bar is regenerating halts the regeneration, which resumes if no attacks that deplete it are made.

Each character can acquire up to five different weapons and various items. Each subsequent weapon is stronger than the preceding one, although the player may switch to any weapons possessed at any time if so desired, through the menu. Weapons include a sword, dagger, boomerang, staff, fireball, and claw. Items, different from weapons and armor, affect either the health bar or the character's status, or are plot devices. They may confer invulnerability at a price, stability in snow, or replenish health, among other things. They can be obtained from other characters, treasure chests, shops, or bosses.

The game has a practical save game feature. Games may usually be saved and loaded at any point in the game (except during dialogues, world map travels, and the animated sequences); if a game that was previously saved in a room with a boss is loaded, the game resumes just before the battle, before the character has entered the room. The state of the game, including the hours played and the level, will be displayed. Three save slots are supplied, for storing up to three different states.

Plot

Though portrayed differently from port to port, set in an unnamed fantasy world, a prologue tells of a grand legend related to the realm, of how long ago, three fallen gods of darkness known as the Masters of Evil attempted to lay siege to the mortal plane. They were known as Morgal, the Lord of Beasts, commander of the feral and the most voracious of monsters and beasts; Necros, the Master of War, corruptor of men and the inciter of temptation and vice; and Ulgar, the Overlord, the leader of the Masters of Evil and wielder of the most evil of magics. At the end of the great war that threatened all who lived in it, the Masters of Evil were sealed away in a floating tower far from the reach of anyone, and only three warriors, an elf, a human, and a dwarf, survived to tell the tale.

Into the modern day, the main character and local bounty hunter, Popful Mail, makes her rounds; eventually, her day escalates to the point where she squares off with her bounty, the criminal golem maker and technomancer, Nuts Cracker, into the nearby forest. Though defeated, Nuts Cracker's body manages to escape, as always, and Mail thus cannot claim any bounty. Frustrated once more, she indifferently takes Nuts Cracker's head and wanders back into town. At the bounty post, she attempts to trade the head in for cash, but like with many who have sought to capture Nuts Cracker before her, duplicates of his head are all they could retrieve, making the attempt a failure. Instead, however, she learns of a new bounty and becomes reinvigorated when she spots a 2,000,000 gold reward poster for the wizard turned criminal, Muttonhead, near the post. With sword in hand and hope in heart, Mail makes leads into the nearby forest for clues. Eventually, her quest to undertake the biggest catch of her career, will turn out greater, more perilous, more dangerous- yet more important, and even more rewarding- than she imagines.

Characters
  • The main character, and the one with whom the player begins, is Mail, a female elf bounty hunter who hasn't had much luck lately. Mail's main target, Nuts Cracker, always seems to escape after she defeats him. Mail has red hair; her elven ears stick outward from her head, as in the Japanese convention. Her personality is rather confrontational, and she is never drawn as humorous or morose. Her main and starting weapon is a sword; she can acquire a dagger and boomerang as the game progresses.
  • Tatt is a magician, a former apprentice of Muttonhead. He chases after his master, who has left him and his fellow students, in order to find out why and ultimately dissuade him from his path. Tatt is kind, polite and a bit timid, and is sometimes ridiculed. He meets Mail in the first level. His main weapon is a magical staff. He wears a red hat, perhaps to present him as neither a black magician nor a white one.
  • Gaw is a small, round, winged, cave-dwelling purple creature. He is almost identical to all the others of his species, who both call themselves "Gaw" and often use the word as an interjection when speaking. Mail and Tatt meet Gaw in the second level, the Caves, but Gaw joins them later. Gaw's first main attack is a fireball; subsequent attacks include a tail swipe and clawing.
  • Nuts Cracker, the first villain seen in the game, is the leader of a dangerous criminal gang known as the Gingerbread Grifter Gang. He specializes in manufacturing explosives, especially exploding dolls. Appearing to be human, Nuts Cracker instead is fashioned like a nutcracker, wood and all, implying he had transformed himself into a machination. He also speaks in a goofy Italian accent. When defeated, he will often throw his head—which then explodes—while his body runs away. Mail has been trying to catch Nuts Cracker for a long time and has faced him on many occasions, but he always escapes.
  • Muttonhead was formerly a well-known and respected magician before unexpectedly disappearing from public view and turning to crime, a move that left his apprentices puzzled. He is dangerous and his goals are unknown. A 2,000,000 gold bounty is offered for his capture.
  • Slick is an elf acquaintance of Mail's. He often wants to tag along with Mail on her adventures, which, along with his bad jokes and obnoxious demeanor, annoys her to no end. He often causes more trouble than he solves, and is especially infamous for his use of home-made bombs, which his grandfather taught him how to make.
  • Glug is a nice dwarf from the mines. Unlike everyone else, he enjoys Slick's company and they are both friends. It is hinted that Glug suffers from mental problems as a result of a strong knock on the head, which might also explain his naiveté and short memory.

Development

Falcom developed the NEC PC versions of Popful Mail with features used in previous games in the company's Dragon Slayer and Ys series. They use the battle system of Ys, magic attacks like those of Ys II, and a side-scrolling view similar to that of Ys III. Characters react with pain when they fall from high places, as in Dragon Slayer IV (released as Legacy of the Wizard in North America). The original releases incorporate features from the popular game Xanadu (Dragon Slayer II) as well.[5]

A soundtrack titled Popful Mail Sound Box '94 (ぽっぷるメイル・サウンドボックス'94) contains music from the game and was released for CD, published by Falcom Sound Team on August 24, 1994 in Japan.

Localization

Plans to localize Popful Mail for an English release were first made by Sega, which wanted to replace the characters with characters from the Sonic franchise.[6] This project, called Sister Sonic, was to star Sonic the Hedgehog's long lost sister.[7][8] Sister Sonic was announced as a role-playing game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series with no mention of it being a rework of Popful Mail.[9] Sega planned to reveal it at the American International Toy Fair in June 1993, but the game was never revealed.[9][10] Upon hearing reports that the game was a rework of Popful Mail, fans launched a campaign, sending letters to Sega urging them to release Popful Mail in its original, Japanese state.[6] Due to the negative feedback, Sister Sonic was delayed[10] and eventually cancelled.[11][12][6] Electronic Gaming Monthly cited the incident as an example of the power of consumers to influence video game companies.[10]

The localization of Popful Mail was later handed to Working Designs, which made several changes and adjustments for its North American Sega CD release. Enemies were made more difficult, downsampling and variable bitrates were used to compress the game's sounds from full 44.1 kHz CD quality to fit on the game disc. In animated sequences, waveform analysis was used to make characters' mouths match their dialogue. Two teams worked on the English translation for four months.[13]

Reception
Reception (Sega CD)
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings93%[14]
Review scores
PublicationScore
EGM31 / 40[15]
Famitsu22/40 (SFC)[16]
22/40 (PCE)[17]
22/40 (SCD)[18]
GamePro16.5 / 20[19]
Next Generation[20]
Award
PublicationAward
Retro GamerTop Ten Mega CD Games[21]

Famitsu gave the SFC version 24/40,[16] the PCE version 23/40,[17] and the Sega CD version 22/40.[18]

The Sega CD version received a score of 31 out of 40 (average 7.75 out of 10) from Electronic Gaming Monthly. They especially praised the game's "cinema scenes".[15] GamePro likewise gave their greatest praise to the cinema scenes and extensive voice acting, saying they "add great color to the game, setting these quirky characters apart from the standard mold of RPG heroes and villains." They also commented positively on the game's linear, undemanding gameplay.[19] Retro Gamer included it on their list of top ten Mega CD games.[21]

Next Generation reviewed the Sega CD version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "If your sense of humor is off-kilter enough, it shouldn't matter how old you are."[20]

Legacy

Falcom used Popful Mail and its characters in various other media.

Popful Mail was adapted into a manga that was a part Mediaworks and Dengeki Comic Gao! on July 1996, and was written by Yuu Aizaki.

The company created two Mail drama CD series published by King Records: Popful Mail Paradise (ぽっぷるメイルパラダイス), a series of five CDs released between 1994 and 1995; and Popful Mail The Next Generation (ぽっぷるメイル－ザネクストジェネレーション), two CDs released beginning in 1996.[22] Falcom created Tarako Pappara Paradise (TARAKOぱっぱらパラダイス), another drama CD published by King that features Mail, on 22 November 1995.[23] GameMusic.com sells Tarako and Paradise dramas 2 through 5 in the United States.[24]

As with Ys IV, an attempt was made to pitch an anime OVA based on the game to various anime studios, but the pilot failed to garner interest. The promotional video is all that came of the idea, which imagines Mail and friends finding themselves in Tokyo upon fighting a new foe.

Mail and Gaw, along with other Falcom characters, would return as secret "Masters" in the 1997 Falcom game Vantage Master.[25] Mail's outfit was featured as a downloadable costume for Tina Armstrong in Tecmo Koei's Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.[26]

gollark: I forgot what the last one was, but I can totally remember.
gollark: They all are that easy.
gollark: You take a string, and say whether it is valid JSON.
gollark: Were you wearing a hat?
gollark: I used the orbital mind control lasers.

References
  1. "ぽっぷるメイル まとめ [PC-8801] / ファミ通.com". Famitsu.com. 2014-11-27. Archived from the original on 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
  2. "ぽっぷるメイル （1992年）" [Popful Mail (1992)] (in Japanese). D4Enterprise, Inc. 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-05-18. Retrieved 2008-09-22. Maker / Nihon Falcom Model / PC-9801 (メーカー / 日本ファルコム 機種 / PC-9801)
  3. "ぽっぷるメイル （1991年） レトロゲーム総合配信サイト プロジェクトＥＧＧ / Amusement-Center.com" [Popful Mail (1991) Retro Game Comprehensive Distribution Site Project EGG / Amusement-Center.com] (in Japanese). D4Enterprise, Inc. 2008. Archived from the original on May 18, 2009. Retrieved 2008-09-22. Maker / Nihon Falcom Model / PC-8801 (メーカー / 日本ファルコム 機種 / PC-8801)
  4. Williams, Carl (February 23, 2016). "Popful Mail Brings Elven Bounty Hunting 2D Side Scrolling Fun to Sega CD – Today in History – February 23rd, 1995". Retro Gaming Magazine. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016. While Nintendo was harping on Super Metroid, which was cool, Sega CD gamers were enjoying a similar game that went in the completely opposite direction graphically.
  5. 静川龍宗 (2008). "ファルコムミュージアム Falcom Museum / D4Enterprise,Inc. - ぽっぷるメイル" (in Japanese). D4Enterprise. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-18. With the system of side scrolling of a side view from "YsIII", the battle style also the physical attack system from "Ys", the magic attacks of "Ys II", the direction of complaining of pain after falling from a high place from "Dragon Slayer IV" [abbreviated], and the [???] of "Xanadu"... (サイドビュー方式の横スクロールは『YsIII』、戦闘スタイルも体当たり方式の『Ys』で、魔法攻撃などは『YsII』、高い所から落ちると痛がるなどの演出は『ドラスレIV』、操作アクションでは『ザナドゥ』のようなテクニックも要求されるなど、...)
  6. "Unreleased Sonic the Hedgehog Games". UGO.com. 2010-02-22. Archived from the original on 2010-04-29. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  7. "Third Time's The Charm For "Sonic RPG"?". Press The Buttons. 2007-06-21. Archived from the original on 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  8. "Retronauts: 1UP's Classic Gaming Blog : Lost Levels: Sonic and the Secret Games". 1up.com. 2010-02-20. Archived from the original on 2012-06-08. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  9. Electronic Gaming Monthly, Issue 047, June 1993, Pg 52
  10. Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 49, August 1993, Pg 50,71
  11. Electronic Gaming Monthly, Issue 51, October 1993, Pg. 80
  12. "Confessions By Industry Legends". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  13. Popful Mail instruction manual. Redding, California: Working Designs. 1994. p. 22.
  14. "Popful Mail for Sega CD". GameRankings. 1995-02-23. Archived from the original on 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
  15. "Review Crew: Popful Mail". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (68): 36. March 1995.
  16. "ぽっぷるメイル [スーパーファミコン] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
  17. "ぽっぷるメイル [PCエンジン] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
  18. "ぽっぷるメイル [メガドライブ] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
  19. "Popful Mail". GamePro. IDG (69): 106. April 1995.
  20. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 2. Imagine Media. February 1995. p. 99.
  21. "Top Ten Mega CD Games". Retrogamer.net. 2014-04-11. Archived from the original on 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2015-04-09.
  22. "CDドラマぽっぷるメイル". Falcom.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-04-09.
  23. "CDドラマTARAKOぱっぱらパラダイス". Falcom.co.jp. 1995-11-22. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-04-09.
  24. Popful Mail at GameMusic.com Archived 2006-10-18 at the Wayback Machine. (The page romanizes the Paradise titles as "Popful Mail - Pradis".)
  25. "Vantage Master: Concealed Master Introduction". Nihon Falcom Corporation. Archived from the original on 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2008-10-19. Name: Gaw Class: Monster Representative work: Popful Mail...Name: Mail Class: Bounty hunter Representative work: Popful Mail (名前 :ガウ クラス :怪獣 代表作 :ぽっぷるメイル...名前：メイル クラス：賞金稼ぎ 代表作：ぽっぷるメイル)
  26. "Dead or Alive 5: Last Round Video Shows Off Its Falcom Collaboration Costumes". Siliconera. 2015-09-14. Archived from the original on 2015-11-15. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
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