Drop Off
System: TG-16
Release Date: March 1990
Developer: Cream
Publisher: NEC
Genre: Puzzle
Do you miss breaking blocks with a ball that you hit with a paddle? Then Drop Off is the game for you. The manual has Takashi begging for your help. He relays that his girlfriend, Izumi, has fallen into a deep sleep as something has invaded her dreams. He tried waking her, but to no avail. Visited by a muse of his own, Takashi must enter her dreams to save her.
There are sixteen rounds of play. Each round has dozens of an item lowering from the top of the screen. The goal is to make it to the end of the round with as many of your paddles in tact as possible. During this time, you’ll knock into a lot of these blocks to earn the most points you can. Unlike your usual Arkanoid style game, you can move up and down as well as left and right. There is also the ability to change the angle of your bounce with Button II. If the paddle is completely blue, you’ll get a more vertical bounce, but if it’s part orange, the bounce will be more horizontal. Knowing when to set yourself up with either is part of the challenge.
The bottom of the stage has another set of blocks that start blue, but every time they get hit, change color toward red and then finally disappear. If the ball falls below the line, you lose a life. If you get hit by a block or item, you lose a life. If you disconnect a number of blocks from the chain at once, they may hurt you or may be safe. If the ball has touched the barrier below the paddle, it turns red and doesn’t give you any points, but what’s worse is that any blocks you disconnect are deadly.
If the ball has touched the paddle, it will be blue. Any blocks that are disconnected at this point won’t harm you as they fall. The fruits look like they’re being eaten or rotting when they’re safe. Knocking off multiple blocks at once awards big bonuses. The more paddle bounces you get in a row will award a train bonus, as well. The second set of rounds has your girlfriend dreaming of gems (run Takashi!) and they look like they’re breaking when they can’t hurt you. I didn’t have the patience to make it to the third set of rounds, because I kept dying… a lot.
There are items that exist in the falling fruit. The most prevalent of which are arrows. These reel the blocks back up to the top of the screen by pressing Button I. There’s an hour glass that stops the scrolling for a moment so you can line up your shots (23:10). There are also penetrating balls that break through blocks without bouncing back, the iron barrier that steels your bottom row, and an invulnerability powerup for your paddle.
Graphics: 1.0
Fruit and gems are perfectly fine, but there’s nothing particularly impressive here.
Sound: 1.5
I didn’t hate the music or sound effects, but it’s not anything to write home about.
Gameplay: 1.5
The ball can only bounce at the angle it leaves the paddle at, which is predictable, but not intuitive.
Difficulty: 2.0
You get three lives and three continues. As you get better through practice, I’m sure it’s more of a breeze.
Fun Factor: 2.0
I’d probably give this one some more time if I didn’t have anything else to spend my playing time on.
Overall Grade: 1.6
Drop Off earns a C-. We’ve got an alright game here, but nothing you need to go out of your way to play, unless you like Arkanoid.