Product Code Database
lead=yes is a 1991 action-adventure Platformer video game developed and published by Nihon Falcom for the PC-8801. It was later ported to the PC-9801 and Super Famicom by Falcom, to the Sega CD by Sega and Sega Falcom, to the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² by NEC Home Electronics and HuneX, and to DoJa mobile phones by Bothtec.
Most versions of Popful Mail are for the most part similar to each other, but the Sega CD and Super Famicom versions differ significantly both from each other and from the other releases. The Sega CD version was going to be reworked even further to be part of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, but this did not end up happening. This version was localized by Working Designs and released in North America in early 1995, and was the only version available outside Japan prior to July 2024.
At the start of the game, the only playable character is Mail; as the game progresses, Tatt and Gaw will be available, and the player may switch between them at any time through the use of the "character" option in the menu (except in the middle of cutscenes). Each character has different attacks and armor, as well as differences in walking speed and jump. Mail is the fastest character, but is the one whose jump is lowest. Tatt is balanced - slower than Mail but faster than Gaw - and his jump is similarly in between. Gaw is the slowest of the three, but can jump the highest and usually has the strongest attacks.
The character encounters enemies as well as non-playable characters. Often, when encountering an important character, the dialogue scenes begins immediately, with the player having differing levels of control over it depending on the version. Varying amounts of these scenes are voiced in the Sega CD and Super CD-ROM² versions, and the voiced parts cannot be skipped over as quickly as the non-voiced parts. In the Sega CD version, the voiced speech can be turned off in the options menu if so desired.
The character has 100 health points, and attacks from enemy characters diminish it according to the strength of the attacker. Similarly, all enemies have a 100 health point bar that has to be brought down to 0 for the enemy to be defeated. How much damage is dealt depends on the strength of the character, although an attack always causes the same amount of damage to the same enemy. The character also has a blue-grey bar that is depleted as a distance weapon or a magical attack is used. When the bar reaches 0, the character can still perform the weapon motion, but the magical or long range portion of the attack will fail. The bar regenerates quickly if given time to do so (if the character uses no attacks or switches to a melee weapon). Use of a distance weapon or magical attack while the bar is regenerating halts the regeneration, which resumes if no attacks that deplete it are made.
Each character can acquire up to five different weapons and various items. Each subsequent weapon is stronger than the preceding one, although the player may switch to any weapons possessed at any time if so desired, through the menu. Weapons include a sword, dagger, boomerang, Stick-fighting, fireball, and claw. Items, different from weapons and armor, either affect the health bar or the character's status or serve as plot devices. They may confer invulnerability at a price, stability in snow, or replenish health, among other things. They can be obtained from other characters, treasure chests, shops, or bosses.
The game has a Saved game feature. Games may usually be saved and loaded at any point in the game (except during dialogues, world map travels, and the animated sequences); if a game that was previously saved in a room with a boss is loaded, the game resumes just before the battle, before the character has entered the room. The state of the game, including the hours played and the level, will be displayed. Three save slots are supplied, for storing up to three different states.
In the present day, the main character and local bounty hunter Popful Mail makes her rounds. Her day escalates to the point where she squares off with her bounty, the criminal golem maker and technomancer, Nuts Cracker, into a nearby forest. Though defeated, Nuts Cracker's body manages to escape, and Mail cannot claim any bounty. Frustrated, she indifferently takes Nuts Cracker's head and wanders back into town. At the bounty post she attempts to trade the head in for cash, but like with many who have sought to capture Nuts Cracker before her, duplicates of his head are all they could retrieve, making the attempt a failure. She becomes reinvigorated when she spots a 2,000,000 gold reward poster for the wizard turned criminal, Muttonhead, near the post. With sword in hand and hope in heart, Mail makes leads into the nearby forest for clues. Her quest to undertake the biggest catch of her career will turn out greater, more perilous, more dangerous - and more rewarding - than she imagined.
The game was originally released for the PC-8801 computer on December 20, 1991, and for the PC-9801 in 1992. A soundtrack titled ぽっぷるメイル・サウンドボックス'94 containing music from the game in the CD format was published by Falcom Sound Team on August 24, 1994, in Japan.
The localization of this version of Popful Mail was handed to Working Designs, with the Sister Sonic rebrand having been cancelled by the time the game reached them. Several changes and adjustments for the North American Sega CD release were made, including making difficulty higher. Downsampling and were used to compress the game's sounds from full 44.1 kHz CD quality to fit on the game disc. In animated sequences, waveform analysis was used to make characters' mouths match their dialogue. Two teams worked on the English translation for four months. This version was released in North America in early 1995.
A PC Engine Super CD-ROM² version of Popful Mail was revealed to be in the works by NEC Home Electronics by July 1993, with development handled by HuneX. Arcade Card support was confirmed by March 1994, the first screenshots were revealed about 10 months after the initial reveal, and the title was exhibited at the 1994 Tokyo Toy Show's NEC Booth. This version was released by NEC Home Electronics on August 12, 1994.
A mobile phone version similar to the original PC-8801 release for DoJa-supported systems was published in five parts from 2003 to 2004 by Bothtec. An emulated PC-8801 version was released by D4 Enterprise as part of their Project EGG series on December 28, 2006 in Japan. The latest releases of the game are an emulated Sega CD version on the Mega Drive Mini 2 and another emulated PC-8801 version for the Nintendo Switch, also part of Project EGG, which was released in Japan, North America, and Europe on July 11, 2024.
The Sega CD version received a score of 31 out of 40 (average 7.75 out of 10) from Electronic Gaming Monthly. They especially praised the game's "cinema scenes". GamePro likewise gave their greatest praise to the cinema scenes and extensive voice acting, saying they "add great color to the game, setting these quirky characters apart from the standard mold of RPG heroes and villains." They also commented positively on the game's linear, undemanding gameplay. Retro Gamer included it on their list of top ten Mega CD games.
Next Generation reviewed the Sega CD version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "If your sense of humor is off-kilter enough, it shouldn't matter how old you are."
Popful Mail was adapted into a manga released by Mediaworks on Dengeki Comic Gao! in July 1996. It was written by Yuu Aizaki.
The company created two Mail drama CD series published by King Records: ぽっぷるメイルパラダイス, a series of five CDs released between 1994 and 1995; and ぽっぷるメイル－ザネクストジェネレーション, two CDs released beginning in 1996. Falcom created TARAKOぱっぱらパラダイス, another drama CD published by King that features Mail, on 22 November 1995. GameMusic.com sells Tarako and Paradise dramas 2 through 5 in the United States. Popful Mail at GameMusic.com . (The page romanizes the Paradise titles as "Popful Mail - Pradis".)
As with , an attempt was made to pitch an anime OVA based on the game to various anime studios, but the pilot failed to garner interest. The promotional video is all that came of the idea, which imagines Mail and friends finding themselves in Tokyo upon fighting a new foe.
Mail and Gaw, along with other Falcom characters, would return as secret "Masters" in the 1997 Falcom game Vantage Master. Mail's outfit is featured as a downloadable costume for Tina Armstrong in Tecmo Koei's .
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