It went on to make a second appearance in Columns II, which was released in Japan only. Regional Bonus: The US version of the arcade original has an alternate gameplay BGM that can be used by changing one of the DIP switches.The AI wasn't programmed to do this, giving you a bit of an advantage. Oddball in the Series: Super Columns for the Game Gear allowed you to rotate the jewel columns into a row, as well as adjusting the order.Starting from the Mimic, opponents play a lot smarter and faster than you. While the first few levels are relatively tame, there's a huge difficulty increase near the final levels in Columns III.Now try setting up huge chains on purpose. Detractors will be quick to point out that Columns is a beginner's game due to being able to make lucky chains through making the right match by accident.and accidentally causing the end of the world by defeating a magic baby. A No-Continue Run sees him finding his father alive. The standard ending of Stack Columns has the protagonist unable to find the truth behind his father's death.In the other two, you leave empty-handed. In Columns III, only by choosing the Hard entrance you get to the ending where your character finds the treasure hidden in the pyramid.Other concepts like a match-three game involving jewels, popularized by Bejeweled, or competitive match-three games involving extensive use of chains, which Puyo Puyo is better known for, first appeared in Columns. Later Installment Weirdness: Columns III lacks a single-player Endless mode.Hard Mode Perks: In the original Columns, choosing Medium (start at level 5) or Hard (start at level 10) difficulty will give you a head start of 20,000 and 50,000 points, respectively.However if you had get lost and keep continue the game to finish, the normal ending is just the protagonist celebrate he/she being the Columns Champion, still wondering the truth on his/her father.Upon defeat, this baby's cries end all life in the planet. Gainax Ending: In the true ending of Stack Columns, it turns out the protagonist's thought to be dead father is guarding some kind of ancient ageless baby.Some games allowed you to change the jewels, to such things as dice, fruit, or mechanical parts. Falling Blocks: Well, falling jewels, but still.You battle bats, skeletons, scorpions, and mummies. Columns III had your character as an Adventurer Archaeologist attempting to find the treasure of the Pyramids.You get past her minions by challenging them to the titular game. Super Columns for the Game Gear had a plot about getting an amulet back from an evil merchant.The first game has some blurb in the instruction manual about it being a game played by jewel traders in the Near East or somesuch.Excuse Plot: The game tried to give the games a plot.Endless Game: Expect to hit a lot of coincidental combos when you're getting near the top that send your blocks back down again.Covers Always Lie: There is a guy on the cover of Columns 3 for no reason.Co-Op Multiplayer: Similar to the "doubles" modes of Tengen's Tetris and Tetris: The Grand Master, the Genesis port of the original game has one, although the well doesn't use extra-wide dimensions and players take turns dropping pieces instead of playing at the same time. It's one of the first, if not the first, example in the Puzzle Game genre with this mechanic. Combos: Jewels that are falling due to gravity can create groups of their own and create chain reactions that give you more points (as well as attack power for competitive modes).Furthermore, they have a fairly believable reaction to the effects of Flashing Stones: they will wait until the whole piece is revealed when the Next piece is hidden (unless what they've already seen is useful), they take longer to move when the board is turned into grayscale, and they'll move slower when the board is upside-down. They are surprisingly decent at building chains at good speed for a game released in 1993, and they use their Crush Bar attacks and Magic Stones differently depending on how the match is going (even opponents with one-trick-pony AIs, such as the Scorpion, will change patterns when they are in danger of losing). Artificial Brilliance: The AI in Columns III is noticeably better than it looks like, although it normally takes reaching the Mummy or the Sphinx to see the true extent of it. It even came as a pack-in with the Game Gear, similarly to how the Game Boy came packaged with Tetris.
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