Columns (video game)

Columns
Developer(s)Sega
Publisher(s)Sega
Designer(s)Jay Geertsen
Composer(s)Tokuhiko Uwabo
Platform(s)
Release
March 1990
  • Arcade
    • JP: March 1990
    • NA: June 1990
    • EU: August 1990
    Mega Drive/Genesis
    • JP: June 30, 1990
    • NA: September 1990
    • EU: February 1991
    Game Gear
    • JP: October 6, 1990
    • EU: April 26, 1991
    • NA: April 26, 1991
    MSX2
    • JP: December 25, 1990
    PC Engine
    • JP: March 29, 1991
    X68000
    • JP: October 16, 1991
Genre(s)Puzzle
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade systemSega System C

Columns (Japanese: コラムス, Hepburn: Koramusu) is a match-three puzzle video game released by Sega in 1990. Designed by Jay Geertsen, it was released by Sega for arcades and then ported to several Sega consoles. The game was subsequently ported to home computer platforms, including the Atari ST.

Gameplay

Columns was one of the many tile-matching puzzle games to appear after the great success of Tetris in the late 1980s. The area of play is enclosed within a tall, rectangular playing area. Columns of three different symbols (such as differently-colored jewels) appear, one at a time, at the top of the well and fall to the bottom, landing either on the floor or on top of previously-fallen "columns". While a column is falling, the player can move it left and right, and can also cycle the positions of the symbols within it. After a column lands, if three or more of the same symbols are connected in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, those symbols disappear. The pile of columns then settles under gravity. If this resettlement causes three or more other symbols to align, they too disappear and the cycle repeats. Occasionally, a special column with a multicolor Magic Jewel appears. It destroys all the jewels with the same color as the one underneath it. The columns fall at a faster rate as the player progresses. The goal of the game is to play for as long as possible before the well fills up with jewels, which ends the game. Players can score up to 99,999,999 points.

Some ports of the game offer alternate game modes as well. "Flash columns" involves mining their way through a set number of lines to get to a flashing jewel at the bottom. "Doubles" allows two players work together in the same well. "Time trial" involves racking up as many points as possible within the time limit.[citation needed]

Ports

Sega ported the arcade game to the Mega Drive/Genesis console. This version of the game was nearly identical to the original arcade game.

Columns was the first pack-in game for the Game Gear. This version was slightly different from the Mega Drive/Genesis version and its soundtrack was transposed and rearranged due to the limitations of the handheld's sound chip. While the columns themselves were updated for the Mega Drive/Genesis version, the overall decoration was less like a cartoon in the Game Gear version and instead more artistically designed. Lastly, the Game Gear version had a feature that let the player change the jewels to fruit, squares, dice, or playing card suits (clubs, diamonds, spades, and hearts).

In 1990, Compile and Telenet Japan developed and published an MSX2 version.

On November 7, 2006, Columns was released as part of the game Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2, and later on another release of the above compilation for PlayStation Portable. On December 4, 2006 the title was released on Nintendo's Virtual Console for 800 Wii Points. It is also included on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was included as one of the games in the Sega Genesis Mini. It was also included as one of the games in the 2018 releases of Sega Genesis Classics for Windows, Linux, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Most recently the game was ported to iOS by Sega,[citation needed] but the port was subsequently withdrawn by Sega.[circular reference] On December 15, 2022, the game was re-released on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.

Music

Tokuhiko Uwabo composed the music for Columns. The songs "Clotho", "Atropos" and "Lathesis" (sic) are named after the Moirai from Greek mythology, related to the Greek flavor of some of the game's art.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Columns on their April 15, 1990 issue as being the eighth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. It went on to be Japan's fourth highest-grossing arcade game of 1990 (below Capcom's Final Fight and Sega's Tetris and Super Monaco GP) and third highest-grossing arcade conversion kit of 1991 (below Capcom's Street Fighter II and Sega's Tetris).

Reviewing the game's appearance in Sega Arcade Classics for the Sega CD, Glenn Rubenstein gave it a B+ rating in Wizard magazine, describing it as "like Tetris but a bit better." Mega placed the game at number 34 in their "Top Mega Drive Games of All Time". In 2017, Gamesradar ranked the game 40th on its "Best Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games of all time."

Legacy

Many sequels and spin-offs were produced: Columns II: The Voyage Through Time, Columns III: Revenge of Columns, Columns '97, Sakura Taisen: Hanagumi Taisen Columns 1 & 2, and many compilations and re-releases (Columns Arcade Collection, Sega Ages Vol. 07: Columns) as well. Because Columns was made by Sega, versions were made available on the Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega CD, Game Gear, Saturn, and Dreamcast. Additional versions of the game have also been made available on PC-Engine, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation 2. A Super Famicom version was released in Japan via the Nintendo Power service. The Game Boy Color version was specifically called Columns GB: Osamu Tezuka Characters, where it featured many of his characters such as Kimba and Astroboy, but also featured slightly less known characters such as Unico.[citation needed]

Columns has also been cloned many times across different platforms:

Title Platform Release date Developer Publisher Notes
Coloris Amiga 1990 Signum Victoriae Avesoft
Magic Jewelry NES Hwang Shinwei RCM Group The title is the best known of all its clones, and was released on unlicensed Famicom multicarts.
Columns ZX Spectrum 1991 Piter Ltd. Piter Ltd.
Magic Jewelry II NES Hwang Shinwei RCM Group With the addition of new features, it is the sequel to Magic Jewelry.
Jewelbox Macintosh 1992 Rodney and Brenda Jacks Varcon Systems
Xixit MS-DOS 1995 John Hood, Tomasz Pytel; music by Andrew Sega Optik Software
Yahoo! Towers Java 1999/2000 Yahoo! Games Yahoo! Games This clone allows up to eight players to compete against each other.
BREF Columns IOS, Android 2013 Mumblecore Mumblecore
Magic Jewelry 3 2015 Guolin Ou Guolin Ou A magic column appears when a level is cleared, with which a player can clear all the jewels in same color.
Molums 2018 Antonelli Francisco Wisefox

This page was last updated at 2023-11-27 14:09 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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