I was set to write this long, drawn-out rant about how perfectly the Magical Drop series of puzzle games would translate to the touchscreen controls of the Nintendo DS, when I discovered that Craig Grannell of Revert to Saved had beat me to it with his article Ripe for remake: Magical Drop III. Posted last July, the article explains why the time is ripe for another Magical Drop game.

It seems G-mode, current holder of the Magical Drop series licensing rights, agreed and released a Magical Drop game for Android phones on May 15. It’s unclear whether or not G-mode plans to develop and release further titles in the series as their web site reports the company is actively seeking to “license out Data East’s properties” (Magical Drop and NES classic Bad Dudes included).

I don’t recall exactly how or when I discovered Musapey’s Choco Marker, but I do remember that my penchant for obscure Japanese puzzle games was well-rewarded when I first loaded the game on my Dreamcast years ago.

Click past the break for a video of the intro and first three levels of the game.

To take a break from recording Dreamcast and Playstation game footage, I decided to fire up FRAPS and record my attempt at clearing The Typing of the Dead‘s Typing Speed 1 drill in under one minute. I ended up setting what I think is a new record for myself: 0m, 54s, 33.

Click past the break to watch the video proof.

My wife and I played and recorded 22 Puyo Puyo Box Treasure Mode battles today. We each won 11 rounds, ending the epic puzzle war in a tie.

Click past the break for video footage of the 6 best battles.

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Inspired by the recent release of Bubble Bobble Plus (and the game’s conspicuous lack of a save or password system), I decided a few days ago to play through the NES version of Bubble Bobble again on the Wii Virtual Console. After completing the game’s regular mode, I played through the more challenging Super Bubble Bobble mode and completed that as well.

I sat down tonight to repeat the final boss battle and have included a recording of the fight, along with the full “Happy End,” after the break.

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Super Puzzle Fighter II X for Matching Service for the Dreamcast is one of my favorite puzzle games of all time. It’s unfortunate the best iteration of the game never saw a stateside release, but thanks to Sega designing the Dreamcast hardware without region locking, my friends and I have enjoyed countless hours of puzzle mayhem with our favorite chibi characters.

Past the break, I’ve embedded three selected rounds of puzzle battle between myself (playing as Lei Lei) and my wife (playing as Morrigan) past the break. All three videos are also available in HD quality; visit my Youtube Channel for the relevant links.

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One of my favorite video game-related memories is playing City Connection and hearing my mother laugh when my in-game car would hit a cat, which would be sent flying diagonally off-screen. (The irony is that my mother has had at least one cat since before I was born and, along with my father, taught me to take good care of pets.) The expression on the cat’s face, combined with the comical music that played immediately after the collision, must have made an impression on her because she’s asked about “that game with the cat flying across the screen” on more than one occasion.

While reading Wikipedia today, I learned more about that classic scene:

Other enemies include a cat, which, when hit, causes the player to lose an extra life as the cat goes diagonally off the screen (but does not cause the car to “explode”) with ‘Der Flohwalzer’ played as a comical music (this famous music piece is know in Japan as ‘Neko funjatta’ (I Stepped on the Cat)).

Source: City Connection – Wikipedia

As a tribute to the video games I played during my childhood and to my mother, I’ve recorded in-game footage of City Connection for my first “official” gameplay video. Click past the break to view the short video.

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There’s conjecture among Joystiq readers that the female figure in the Zelda art released earlier today. The folks at 4 color rebellion seem to think the same and offer this evidence.

To a Western audience, the thought of a living sword likely sounds a bit odd. But several Eastern myths tell stories of the spirits of warriors inhabiting legendary swords. (Chrono Trigger players will remember the Masamune, a legendary sword inhabited by the spirits of two powerful creatures with the ability to merge.) It’s less common to find a story where a female spirit inhabits a sword, but given the Zelda series’ affinity for androgynous characters, it’s not surprising.

With Nintendo revealing Metroid: Other M as a “new, edgier” take on the Metroid universe, it’s reasonable to think Nintendo may be ready to take a risk and give the world a more mature (though very unlikely M-rated) Zelda title.