View source for Popful Mail

{{mini-wiki}}
{{GameInfobox
| image = PopfulMailBox.jpg
| caption = North American boxart
| developer= Nihon Falcom, Sims, HuneX
| publisher = Working Designs
| designer =
| jp_rel = {{Release|1991|December|20|JP|NEC PC-8801}}<br>{{Release|1992|||JP|NEC PC-9801}}<br>{{Release|1994|April|1|JP|Sega CD}}<br>{{Release|1994|June|10|JP|Super Famicom}}<br>{{Release|1994|August|12|JP|PC-Engine}}
| na_rel = {{Release|1995|February|25|JP|Sega CD}}
| features = Single-player
| genre = Platform, Action RPG
| series = 
|ratings= ESRB-KA
| platforms = NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-9801, PC-Engine, Sega CD, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
| media = CD-ROM
| requirements = 
| input = [[Gamepad]]
}}
{{nihongo|'''''Popful Mail: Magical Fantasy Adventure'''''|ぽっぷるメイル|Poppuru Meiru}} is a [[Side-scrolling video game|side-scrolling]] [[platform game]]. ''Popful Mail'' was developed by [[Nihon Falcom]] for the [[NEC PC-8801]] computer in [[1991 in video gaming|1991]]<ref name="pm8801">{{cite web |url=http://www.amusement-center.com/project/egg/cgi/ecatalog-detail.cgi?product_id=530 |title={{nihongo|Popful Mail (1991) Retro Game Comprehensive Distribution Site Project EGG / Amusement-Center.com|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}} |publisher=D4Enterprise, Inc. |year=2008 |accessdate=2008-09-22 |language=Japanese |quote={{nihongo|Maker / [[Nihon Falcom]] Model / PC-8801|メーカー / 日本ファルコム 機種 / PC-8801}} }}</ref> and for the [[NEC PC-9801|PC-9801]] in [[1992 in video gaming|1992]].<ref name="pm9801">{{cite web |url=http://www.amusement-center.com/project/egg/cgi/ecatalog-detail.cgi?product_id=649 |title={{nihongo|Popful Mail (1992)|ぽっぷるメイル （1992年）}} |publisher=D4Enterprise, Inc. |year=2008 |accessdate=2008-09-22 |language=Japanese |quote={{nihongo|Maker / Nihon Falcom Model / PC-9801|メーカー / 日本ファルコム 機種 / PC-9801}} }}</ref> It was later ported to [[TurboGrafx-16|PC Engine]] [[CD-ROM]] by [[NEC|NEC Home Electronics]] and to the [[Sega CD]] by "Sega Falcom", an alliance of the two game companies [[Sega]] and Falcom. In [[1994 in video gaming|1994]], Falcom themselves remade ''Popful Mail'' and released it on [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super Famicom]]; this release was their first original console game. [[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.

==Story==
Set in a fantasy world, the story begins with an animated sequence where the main character, Popful Mail, squares off with the criminal Nuts Cracker in a forest. Though defeated, Nuts Cracker's body manages to escape, as always, and Mail thus cannot claim any bounty. Frustrated once more, she off-putedly takes Nuts Cracker's head and wanders until she finds a town. In the town, she attempts to trade the head for cash, but fails. Instead, however, she learns of a new bounty and becomes reinvigorated when she spots a 2,000,000 gold reward poster for the wizard criminal, Muttonhead, near the store. With this, she embarks on her adventure.

==Characters==
The main character, and the one with whom the player begins, is '''Mail''', a female [[Elves in fantasy fiction and games|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 pointed 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 [[Melancholia|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 [[Black magic|neither a black magician nor a white one]].  

'''Gaw''' is a small, round, winged, cave-dwelling purple creature.  He almost identical with all the others of his species, who call themselves "Gaw" as well. Gaw itself is often an interjection all gaws use 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.

[[File:Popful Mail PC-8801 boss battle.jpg|thumb|left||200px|The player, as Mail, battles the first major [[Boss (video games)|boss]], Wood Golem, in the [[NEC PC-8801|PC-8801]] version.]]

'''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.  Nuts Cracker is fashioned like a [[nutcracker]], wood and all, and 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 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.

==Gameplay==
''Popful Mail'' is essentially a 2D platform game with some RPG elements. 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 armours, 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.

[[File:Popful Mail Sega CD dialogue.gif|thumb|right||200px|The [[Sega CD]] version has larger, more detailed [[Sprite (computer graphics)|sprite]]s, and shows large character portraits during dialogue.]]
The character encounters enemies as well as [[non-playable character]]s. 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 (game mechanic)|health point]]s, 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 often no actually useful attack is produced. 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 armour, 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 (in some cases- usually for plot devices).

The game has a practical [[Saved game|save game]] feature. Games may usually be saved and loaded at any point in the game (except during dialogues 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.

==Development==
[[Nihon Falcom|Falcom]] developed the NEC PC versions of ''Popful Mail'' with features used in previous games in the company's ''[[Dragon Slayer (series)|Dragon Slayer]]'' and [[Ys (series)|''Ys'' series]].  They use the [[Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished#Gameplay|battle system of ''Ys'']], magic attacks like [[Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter#Gameplay|those of ''Ys II'']], and a [[side-scrolling]] view similar to that of ''[[Ys III: Wanderers from Ys|Ys III]]''.  Characters react with pain when they fall from high places, as in ''[[Legacy of the Wizard|Dragon Slayer IV]]'' (released as ''Legacy of the Wizard'' in North America). The original releases incorporate features from the popular game ''[[Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu|Xanadu]]'' (''Dragon Slayer II'') as well.<ref name="pmdetails">{{cite web |url=http://www.amusement-center.com/project/falcom/spcial/etc/detail4.html |title=ファルコムミュージアム Falcom Museum / D4Enterprise,Inc. - ぽっぷるメイル |author=静川龍宗<!-- no idea --> |publisher=D4Enterprise |year=2008 |accessdate=2008-10-18 |language=Japanese |quote={{nihongo|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"...<!-- based on http://tool.nifty.com/globalgate/ "text" translation, output of http://nihongo.j-talk.com/parser/index.php , "Kanji with rollover Hiragana" option, and English Wiktionary kanji definitions. Improvements are welcome. -->|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、...}} }} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>

<!-- I added magazine references here, which are commented out in favor of the website where we actually found the material. (See [[WP:SAYWHEREYOUGOTIT]].) —User:AnOddName -->Gaming magazine ''[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]]'' reported rumours of a new game in [[Sega]]'s [[Sonic the Hedgehog (series)|''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series]] called ''Sister Sonic'', which was to be shown at the Tokyo Toy Fair in June 1993.<!-- ref name="egm-sister">{{cite journal |title=Gaming Gossip |journal=Electronic Gaming Monthly |author=Quartermann |issue=47 |pages=52 |date=June 1993}}</ref -->  The game, which ultimately did not appear in the Fair,<!-- ref name="egm-nosister">{{cite journal |title=[no title] |journal=Electronic Gaming Monthly |issue=49 |pages=50 |date=August 1993 }}</ref --> would have been a remake of the PC ''Popful Mail'' using ''Sonic'' characters in place of ''Mail''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s.<!-- ref name="egm-canceledsister">{{cite journal |title=International News: Sonic's Dad! |journal=Electronic Gaming Monthly |issue=49 |pages=71 |date=August 1993 }}</ref -->  After ''Mail'' fans petitioned against the remake, "Sega Falcom" (the alliance between Sega and Falcom that would have made ''Sister Sonic'') instead created a version of ''Popful Mail'' for the Sega CD, retaining original characters Mail, Tatt, and Gaw.<!-- ref name="egm-pmsister">{{cite journal |title=Popful Mail |journal=Electronic Gaming Monthly |issue=51 |pages=80 |date=October 1993 }}</ref --><ref name="sistersonic">{{cite web |url=http://info.sonicretro.org/Sister_Sonic |title=Sister Sonic |work=Sonic Retro |accessdate=2008-11-04 }}</ref>

Working Designs translated the Mega-CD version for North America's Sega CD, and made several changes and adjustments to the game. Enemies were made more difficult, [[downsampling]] and [[variable bitrate]]s were used to compress the game's sounds from full [[Red Book (audio CD standard)|44.1 kHz CD quality]] to fit on the game disc, and some audio events and visual effects were added. Except in animated sequences, [[Audio signal processing|waveform analysis]] was used to make characters' mouths match their dialogue. Two teams worked on the English translation for four months.<ref name="WDmanual-translation">{{cite book |title=Popful Mail instruction manual |publisher=Working Designs |location=[[Redding, California]] |year=1994 |page=22 }}</ref>

==Legacy==
Falcom used ''Popful Mail'' and its characters in various other media. The company created two ''Mail'' [[Radio drama in Japan|drama CD]] series published by [[King Records (Japan)|King Records]]: ''{{nihongo|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 ''{{nihongo|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.<ref>[http://www.falcom.co.jp/cd/catalog/drm-mail.html CDドラマぽっぷるメイル (CD drama Popful Mail)].</ref>  Falcom created ''{{nihongo|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.<ref>[http://www.falcom.co.jp/cd/catalog/kcia/KICA1170.html CDドラマTARAKOぱっぱらパラダイス (CD drama Tarako Pappara Paradise)].</ref>  GameMusic.com sells ''Tarako'' and ''Paradise'' dramas 2 through 5 in the United States.<ref>[http://www.gamemusic.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GMOStore.woa/wa/CategoryDetail?cid=1112&did=101 Popful Mail at GameMusic.com].  (The page [[Romanization of Japanese|romanizes]] the ''Paradise'' titles as "Popful Mail - Pradis".)</ref>

As with Ys IV, an attempt was made to pitch an anime OVA based on the game to various anime studios, but no one was interested. The promotion video is all that remains of the idea. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrQNZe8wz0U&fmt=18 You can watch the promotional video here.]

Mail and Gaw, along with other Falcom characters, would return as secret "Masters" in the 1997 Falcom game ''[[Vantage Master]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.falcom.co.jp/vantage/chara/conceal.html |title=Vantage Master: Concealed Master Introduction<!-- translation of rightmost tab "■隠しマスター紹介" on the page. --> |publisher=Nihon Falcom Corporation |accessdate=2008-10-19 |quote={{nihongo|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}} }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.falcom.co.jp/ Falcom] {{ja icon}} — the game's creator.
*[http://www.falcom.co.jp/licence/character/other_e.html Falcom's Major Titles: Other Titles] — an official Falcom webpage, in English, with a section on ''Popful Mail'' and its characters.
:*[http://www.falcom.co.jp/licence/character/other.html ファルコムの主なタイトル: そのほかのタイトル] {{ja icon}} — Japanese version of the previous page.
*{{moby game|id=/popful-mail|name=''Popful Mail''}}
*[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/popfulmail/popfulmail.htm ''Popful Mail''] at Hardcore Gaming 101
*[http://www.fantasyanime.com/garden/cd_popfulmail.htm Sega CD ''Popful Mail''] at FantasyAnime

[[fr:Popful Mail]]
[[ja:ぽっぷるメイル]]