Magical Pop'n

Overview

Magical Pop'n is a fantasy-themed platformer from obscure Japanese developer Polestar. The playable character, Princess, is chasing a demonic character across her home kingdom, using her magical powers to fight a horde of unusual creatures working for the Demon Lord. The game is similar to Mega Man X or Super Metroid, in that the player is expected to explore each of the branching stages thoroughly for useful items and employ the various powers at their disposal judiciously (as each has a cost in stars, a finite resource the player collects) against the various obstacles and bosses in the game.

Magical Pop'n is considered one of the most well-regarded Super Famicom exclusives. As such, copies tend to command a high price among collectors. It also received a fan translation.

Gameplay

The game plays out similar to an exploration-based platformer like Metroid in which it is necessary to find certain power-ups in order to access new areas and progress further in the game However the game is much more linear than Metroid, with the world being divided into six completely separate levels. Through the course of the game, the player can also find heart containers that increase the life gauge.