About
Magical Drop III is a puzzle game by SNK for the Neo-Geo system that Gem Drop is loosely based on, according to the project's own readme. Gem Drop Deluxe is a single-player puzzle game for the Atari 8-bit computer, originally written by Bill Kendrick in the Action! language in 1997 and later ported to C between 2015 and 2021. Players grab gems appearing at the top of the screen and throw them to form matches of three or more in a vertical column across 20 levels.
Getting started
Playable via joystick, a Sega-style two-button controller, or keyboard arrow keys: move left/right, grab gems below you, and throw them upward to make matches of three or more in a column. Use the disk-image versions (rather than the standalone executable) if you want your high score and level progress saved between sessions.
History
The game was originally written in 1997 in the Action! programming language for the Atari 8-bit, and was ported to C and cross-compiled with CC65 roughly 18 years later, between 2015 and 2021.
Known limitations
- compatibility: The stand-alone XEX version does not save state and requires use of a DOS or the included disk image version for save functionality.