Getting humbled by a game isn’t always the worst thing. Many of us know that we are trash at certain titles (MOBAs, sports games, any/all RTS titles), but we go into those experiences knowing that we’ll get absolutely bodied in seconds. That’s fine, but it’s wild when it happens with a genre you feel comfortable with. I don’t play puzzle games religiously, but I know my way around Puyo Puyo, Tetris and even the occasional Suika Game. I cut my teeth on Bust-A-Move back when it was still called Puzzle Bobble and way before I watched my peers fail out of college thanks to Snood. So I came into Magical Drop VI with a fair amount of confidence that I’d be able to master this game. And I was so very, very wrong.

As the sixth installment of the Magical Drop franchise, you might be surprised to know that these titles even existed, and you’d be forgiven. With an erratic and piecemeal release timeline that dates back to 1995, we’ve had Magical Drop pop up here and there with acclaim from fans whom you’ve never met and likely never will. It’s fascinating to know this core group of zealots have been the driving force that have revived this franchise design across multiple developers and title holders. There’s one for the iPhone that I’ve never heard of, and it was on the Wii virtual console (seriously?) and the last one that came out was…2012. And it was only on PC, and it got delisted from Steam four years ago.

Yet here we are, with Forever Entertainment making another go at this oddball puzzle title. The concept is straightforward yet complex. You need to match up at least three of the same color of ball, which you do by absorbing balls on the screen (only one color at a time) and then firing them back up to hit other balls. Doing so causes them to vanish, and then the game progresses.

In versus/story mode, you also have the opportunity to control the screen’s scrolling, revealing more balls to work with and potentially setting you up for combos, which are necessary to then force your opponent’s screen to scroll. Besides the kinetic “falling up” combos, you can, theoretically, fire, grab more balls and then fire again before the first match resolves, activating a manual combo. The first to hit their ball quota wins, or the first to fill their screen with balls loses.

Visually, Magical Drop VI is a feast for anime loving eyes. It’s majestically colorful and cute, with tons of color and a variety of character sprites that evoke a very modern take on classic anime design (think Lucky Star with a brighter palette). All the characters are based on tarot cards, with the protagonist of the story mode (which is utter nonsense) being Lovers, a pink haired girl riding a pig. Other cards, like Fool, Justice and even World, are present in adorable fashion.

The music for Magical Drop VI is what you’d likely imagine, a very poppy, light arcade sound meant to add ambience and underline the vibe of the entire experience. There’s nothing here that’s intended to be dark or sinister, just very upbeat and playful. It also allows the constant refrain of the characters yelling snippets in Japanese to be present, a holdover from all puzzle competitive games (looking at you, Puzzle Fighter) and enticing players to study Japanese so they can confirm that Stars is just yelling “Why?” over and over as you get buried in balls.

I get that there’s different games for everyone, but I did not like the gameplay mechanics of Magical Drop VI in any way, shape or form. The concept of absorbing and then firing the balls made sense to me on paper, but the execution was brutal to say the least. Remapping the buttons into a more arcade setting was very helpful, and it at least let me get into a generalized flow for the action. Using the shoulder buttons to absorb, fire and advance the screen felt more intuitive, and I found myself feeling more confident about playing in general. My kids seem to prefer the natural button setup, but I appreciate the option to remap being made available.

You can spend your time in Magical Drop VI doing the different side activities, like an endless mode, different time trials (which are more of your independent puzzling speed) and versus mode, but you’re going to want to do story mode if you want to unlock anything. There’s something like twenty different characters that you’ll be able to use in versus mode as soon as you get them out of Story mode, and that seems like a pretty good deal. After all, there’s a really fun variety that I can imagine and I would have liked to witness other characters so I could develop a favorite.

However, I am such an utter failure at Magical Drop that I couldn’t get past the first fight with Justice in the story mode. I am on the easiest difficulty, I have no distractions, I’ve had breakfast, a good night’s rest, wired controller…and I can’t do it.The CPU is so unforgiving and determined that, even on the lowest possible notch, the game moves with calculating brutality to punishingly bury you and make sure you advance no further. Given that the story mode successes are best two out of three, I have to watch Lovers get destroyed twice before being sent back to the main menu and then sitting quietly to think about my life and how maybe I should just get into origami again. I can learn to make a jumping frog, that’d be nice.

I’m certain for the dozens of Magical Drop fans out there, this feels like a silly admission and I should be ashamed for not understanding the brilliant rhythm of the way to win. Maybe it is, but I’m also the average fan who might, on a whim, pick up this game when it looks cute and I want an anime-adjacent game that doesn’t have the word “hentai” in the title like every other release on the eShop recently. So getting my hands on a puzzle game that is merciless and has the success feedback of confirming that it still hurts to hit my toe with a hammer is way outside my enjoyment zone. I can do the other modes, great, but the majority of what  opens up Magical Drop VI is locked behind a wall that’s insurmountable until I can track down someone to beat it for me.

If you like Magical Drop or have a humiliation fetish that you channel through video games, have I got great news for you. Forever Entertainment has put together a visually charming and aurally pleasant game that seems to be free of really wonky translations and any shortcomings in a technical realm. But if you’re looking for a fun new puzzle game to dip your toe into, know that this water is infested with piranhas and has the same replay value as such. If this is your jam, them play on, it’s all yours. I’m getting the hell away from this game as fast as my legs will carry me.

Graphics: 9.0 Amazingly cheery characters, maps and stages, I loved the energy and the color that Magical Drop VI brought onto my screen and found the characters to be endearing without being too over-the-top. Wonderful match to tone and visual.	Gameplay: 5.0 Get ball, shoot ball, get more balls, shoot more balls. It’s a puzzle game with no angles to think about and barely any time to process combos in an aggressive or even defensive manner. Once you figure out the core ideals, that’s all there is to it.
Sound: 7.0 Attempting to match the visuals, the carnvial like musical score keeps you locked into the game loop and convinces you to keep playing, though the constant screaming from the characters can take you out of the moment when you’re not ready for it.	Fun Factor: 2.0 Its nobody’s fault that I’m bad at this game, but it changes how much I want to play it significantly. With another controller, two players is alright, but the CPU is a beast and I don’t want to look at it anymore.
Final Verdict: 5.0

Magical Drop VI is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Xbox One X.

A copy of Magical Drop VI was provided by the publisher.