Popful Mail

Popful Mail: Magical Fantasy Adventure (ぽっぷるメイル, Poppuru Meiru) is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Nihon Falcom.

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.

Items, different from weapons and armor, either affect the health bar or the character's status or serve as plot devices.

Long ago, three fallen gods of darkness known as the Masters of Evil attempted to lay siege to the mortal plane.

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.

Her quest to undertake the biggest catch of her career will turn out greater, more perilous, more dangerous - and more rewarding - than she imagined.

Falcom developed the NEC PC versions of Popful Mail with features used in previous games in the company's Dragon Slayer and Ys series.

Characters react with pain when they fall from high places, as in Dragon Slayer IV (released as Legacy of the Wizard in North America).

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

A mobile phone version similar to the original NEC PC-8801 release for DoJa-supported systems was published in five parts from 2003 to 2004 by Bothtec.

[9] The localization of Popful Mail was later handed to Working Designs, which made several changes and adjustments for its North American Sega CD release.

[14] 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."

[17] 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.

[21] 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.

[24] Mail's outfit is featured as a downloadable costume for Tina Armstrong in Tecmo Koei's Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.

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