Popful Mail

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; 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 cutscenes). Each character has different attacks and armor, 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 can jump the highest and usually has the strongest attacks.

Portrayed differently from port to port, set in an unnamed fantasy world, a prologue tells of a grand legend related to the realm. Long ago, three fallen gods of darkness known as the Masters of Evil attempted to lay siege to the mortal plane. They were 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 a great war that threatened all who lived, the Masters of Evil were sealed away in a floating tower far from the reach of anyone, with only three warriors - an elf, a human, and a dwarf - surviving to tell the tale.

In the present day, the main character and local bounty hunter Popful Mail makes her rounds. Her day escalates to the point where she squares off with her bounty, the criminal golem maker and technomancer, Nuts Cracker, into a nearby forest. Though defeated, Nuts Cracker's body manages to escape, and Mail cannot claim any bounty. Frustrated, she indifferently takes Nuts Cracker's head and wanders back into town.

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. The gameplay of Popful Mail was compared to the Metroid series by some critics, and is retroactively considered part of Metroidvania genre.

The game was originally released for the PC-8801 computer on December 20, 1991, and for the PC-9801 in 1992. A soundtrack titled Popful Mail Sound Box '94 (ぽっぷるメイル・サウンドボックス'94) containing music from the game in the CD format was published by Falcom Sound Team on August 24, 1994, in Japan.

In Electronic Gaming Monthly, the reviewers described the "cinema scenes" as a highlight. 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. Retro Gamer included it on their list of top ten Mega CD games.

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."

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

Popful Mail was adapted into a manga released by Mediaworks on Dengeki Comic Gao! in July 1996. It was written by Yuu Aizaki.