[Sega Genesis/Megadrive] Columns - 47/50 by: C.R.V.

If Nintendo hogged all the rights for Tetris back in the 90’s, Sega had to do something to counter since these two video games companies were locked in Mortal Combat, known as the Console Wars back in those days. And their response!?

Columns!

Game Name: Columns
Console Released on: Sega Genesis/Megadrive
Publisher/Developer: Sega
Release Date: The months covering 1990 to 1992
Region Released: Every where
Ports to other consoles: Too many to mention

Box art courtesy of GameFAQs:


Front on US Box


Back on US Box


Main Title Screen

The Low Down: 10/10

“The Game that demands you using Foresight!”

Columns probably has THE MOST clone & rip-off knock offs ever in the lines of puzzle games that are out on the market simply because of it’s most basic premise, the “Match up a certain number of alike things to clear them up” objective, but more on that later.

As I said on my brief introduction, Columns was Sega’s response to Tetris seeing as Tetris was Nintendo’s best seller game along with the Mario & Zelda franchises & who’d ever think that Columns would be such a big success that its game play elements would be copied by a slew of other game developers for years to come!

Game Play: 10/10

This game has the simplest objective that it has set for the gamer that it’s sheer genius!


Familiarize yourself with the game

As you begin your game, you are presented with a screen that kinda resembles a Tetris Grid screen, but wait….

“Wazzat!?”

The game doesn’t send out oddly shaped blocks you need to fit together to clear out a row of lines! Uh-oh!

“And what are those!”

Three randomly stacked colorful jewels forming a “Column” are sent your way!

“A Column!? Isn’t the name of this game Columns!? Oh Noez!”

Yep, that’s right, the Game got its name from the stack of three jewels it sends at you, nifty eh?

“Oh noez! What should I do!? “ :'(

Don’t worry because all you need to do is “Match three or more jewels that are alike/similar in a straight line, either in a row (horizontal orientation), Column (vertical orientation) or Diagonal orientation & they will disappear & net you a good score of points. But that’s not all, do your best to string together chains of jewels & you’ll definitely get higher points but doing so won’t be easy, if Tetris makes you think about your next move as it presents you the next block it will chuck out at you, Columns demands that you have good Foresight to plan ahead two or more moves so you could link lots of chains for max scores!

Modes of Play


Main Menu screen of Columns

As you can see, after you press “START” or “A” on controller 1 the game presents to you the main Menu screen. “Options” should be self-explanatory so we’ll just skip that “Arcade” is the main game, which is Based on the Arcade version of Columns & is the game’s “Standard Mode”. Going into “Menu” brings up this screen.



“Original” Mode is just the “Standard” Game, nothing more & “Flash Columns” is a totally unique game mode that is another feature of this game that most other games in the puzzle game genre has so blatantly copied & took advantage off.


Who said Flashing is illegal? ;D

In this “Puzzle” game mode, you are presented a few rows of jewels that increase or decrease in height depending on the difficulty you set the game in & your objective is to clear out a jewel (or two) that sits inconveniently at the center of the very bottom row to clear the level.

Now under both game modes you’ll see the option “Doubles”, this is the game’s Co-op Mode where you & a friend take turns positioning columns onto a single screen much like Tengen’s Tetris’ Co-op Mode to clear rounds until one of you screws up & ends the game ;D

Graphics: 10/10

Colorful Jewels that drop down from the screen & disintegrates when 3 or more of a kind forms a line, what more can you ask? Well yeah a lot more, but seeing this game was the first on the franchise so we really shouldn’t be THAT picky.

Audio: 7/10

Surprised? Did you expect a retro games fan like me would give this game a perfect score just like with the Tetris review? ;D

Sorry but no

Actually the game has good sound, but not quite good enough.

It has some great back ground Music in it that adds to the gaming experience, but what kinda sucked was the sound effects the game has to offer. The Jewels’ disintegration sound didn’t sound that good for me, as well as the sounds for when you go up a difficulty level as you play & the sound for when you link chains for higher scores.

I have a good reason though which is kinda ironic in a way, but more on that at the end of my review.

Replay Value: 10/10

Yeah it’s a puzzle game, a damn good one two!

If you like puzzle games & you have access to a Genesis or Megadrive console or an emulator then you’ll definitely love Columns for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive.

Final Verdict

The Low Down: 10/10
Game Play: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Audio: 7/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Final Verdict: 47/50

*Footnote:

OK, now for an explanation of my score of “7/10” for Audio:

This version of Columns was actually NOT the first version of the game I played. The version I played was a “sort of” Bootleg version for the SNES, also titled Columns & was released in Japan for their Nintendo Power Flash Cart, yep you read that correctly a Flash Cart, more details here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Power_%28cartridge%29

It’s unclear if the version for the SNES I played is indeed a Bottleg game or not as the Publisher of the game “Media Factory” seems to be a refutable company with licensed games for other consoles as well:

GameFAQs Game Companies: Media Factory
Perhaps the developers “Margul” is the culprit.
GameFAQs Game Companies: Margul
Or perhaps Nintendo just let this game slip by to bite Sega right back at its ass ;D , who knows?
Anyway, this version of Columns had better sounding special effects & the Music it has is just miles ahead of the Sega Original & they’re not just remixes from the original either, they’re brand spankin’ new tracks specifically for that version. One theme music on there, the one that plays just before your game starts where you choose the game’s difficulty sounds like it was lifted out of a Castlevania game, it sounds so awesome!

 

nice review!