Magical Drop III[b] is a 1997 puzzle video game developed and published by Data East for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms.

Magical Drop III was produced by Naomi Susa, with Shungo Katagiri acting as the game's planner, while the soundtrack was scored by Gamadelic.

It proved popular among players, with the Saturn and PlayStation versions selling over 10,392 and 8,286 copies in their first week on the Japanese market respectively, garnering favorable reception from critics and retrospective reviewers.

Like its predecessors, Magical Drop III is a puzzle game where the player takes control of one of several characters named after a tarot card, battling against computer-controlled opponents.

[3][4][5][6][7] An adventure mode called "Magical Journey" is also introduced, which is a board game that challenges players to reach Empress before computer-controlled rivals by participating in minigames.

[9] Hiroshi Hachiya, Hitomi Hashimoto, Itokku Seta, Kumiko Oka, N. Ishizuka, Rie Sakurai, Seigo Nishiwaki, Shōji Takeuchi, Tomoyuki Arakawa, and Yoshinari Kaiho were responsible for the artwork.

[9] The soundtrack was scored by Gamadelic members Hiroaki "Maro" Yoshida, Masaaki "Koremasa" Iwasaki, Shinichi "Sin" Yamazaki, and Tatsuya "nmRtk" Kiuchi.

[8][12][13] Magical Drop III was first released for the Neo Geo arcade system (MVS) in Japan by Data East on February 25, 1997, and later in North America by SNK on March.

[20] A second PlayStation version titled Magical Drop III + Wonderful was first released in Japan on February 25, 1999, featuring the re-balanced gameplay from Yokubari Tokudaigou!

[48] Player One's Christophe Delpierre and François Daniel commented that "Magical Drop 3 offers a great alternative for Puzzle Bobble fans.

"[44] AllGame's Kyle Knight labelled it as one of the best puzzle games on Neo Geo, praising the upgraded audiovisual presentation, new characters, addictive gameplay, and responsive controls.

[45] IGN's Craig Harris also reviewed the GBC port, highlighting its versus mode when using a link cable, but compared its graphical presentation unfavorably to the Neo Geo Pocket Color version.

[24] Mega Fun's Henry Ernst analyzed the Game Boy Color port, concluding "All in all an average title with good, GBC-typical graphics.

[47] In contrasts to other reviewers, Jay Semerad of AllGame gave the GBC conversion a positive outlook, highlighting its visuals, frantic two-player mode, and replay value.

[55] Reviewing the re-release on the Wii's Virtual Console, Nintendo Life's Corbie Dillard lauded its single-player and multiplayer component, refined gameplay, visuals, soundtrack, and game modes.

[35] In a retrospective outlook of the NGPC port, Hardcore Gamer's Steve Hannley regarded it as a faithful conversion, highlighting the game's speed and framerate, but saw its condensed playfield, English translation, and lack of additional modes as negative points.

[57] Dave Frear of Nintendo Life disagreed with Theriault when analyzing the ACA re-release on Switch, giving it a highly positive outlook.