Meteos: Disney Magic (game)

Meteos: Disney Magic is the third installment in the Meteos series. It was developed by Q? Entertainment alongside Aspect and Platinum Egg, then published by Buena Vista Games in February 27th, 2007 (though a few sources either say February 20th or February 22nd). The three other releases in Japan, Europe and Australia take place in the same year.

## Meteos: Disney Magic

### Release date

February 27th (US), April 26th (JP), June 1st (EU), June 21st (AU)

## Gameplay

The core mechanics of the game is simular to the original, being that you must slide three blocks in order for them to launch up. The more launches you make, the more points you'll earn. There is one key feature though: instead of only sliding vertically, you can also slide horizontally (with the exception of Expert Mode). Another key feature that is more with the DS itself is to hold it vertically, seemingly to simulate holding a book, given the main theme of the game.

There are 6 "books" to choose on the Main Menu: Single Player, Multi-Player, Extras, DS Download Play, Options, and Tutorial. Single Player lists Story Mode, Challenge Mode, and Versus CPU, Multi-Player is simular to the original, where you can either join a group or host a group, either one being up to 2-4 players. Extras lists History, VS Record, and Story Viewer. DS Download Play is also the same as the original, being if one person does not have the game, they play a trial version of it instead. Options are the basic settings of the game, listing Sound, Handedness, and Erase Data. Finally, Tutorial is self explanitory, although instead of a "video" like in the original, it shows images and text explaining the game instead, using Experiment Gone Mad as an example for said images.

One more thing that the game had added is the Special Ability function, where if used, it will alter gameplay for a few seconds. They take time to, as the game puts it, "store up magical energy" in a gauge tht is located on the right side of the bottom screen. There are three Special Abilities: Nitro Boost, Slow Mode, and Horizontal Block Movement (H. Move for short). Nitro Boost launches blocks into the air with every connection, Slow Mode slows the game down, and H. Move lets the player move blocks around horizontally (only for the previously mentioned Expert Mode).

## Reviews

The game had recived mixed reviews for many reasons. Although some praised the game for the horizontal aspect, a lot of them criticized it for being too easy, the animations being unnecessary, lackluster content, or straight up boring.

## Trivia

* Although the game *techincally* wasn't the first Meteos game to have horizontal movement (that being Meteos Astro Blocks and its swapping mechanic), it was the first to have it be a well known aspect.
* Suppossedly, this is the first game to have abilities of any kind, being that Meteos Wars came out a year later with Planet Impacts as abilities.
* When a stack is launched above another stack, the whole stack will launch up instead of just the above stack. Even in the air, the stack will not "detach", making it useful to not have to worry about possibly ruining a large cluster.
* If more than one stack is unevenly sent (or at least not sent in a specific time), the game will not count it as a screen clear, unlike in the orginal, where it counts even if the meteos are falling unless said meteos touch the ground before it can be registered, though it can be tricky to pull off correctly. An alternate method *can* be possible on a rare occasion when a single stack that has at least one section missing is launched with no blocks falling down on said missing section that could ruin the screen clear.