Video Game / Popful Mail

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Popful Mail is a side-scrolling action-adventure game, originally made by Falcom (developers of the Ys series) for NEC's PC-88 home computer, and then ported to the PC-98, Sega CD and PC Engine CD systems. Working Designs worked on the localization for the North American Sega CD version. There's also a little-known Super Famicom version which is essentially a Reformulated Game due to the remixed area layouts and some plot structure differences, but it still recognizably contains the same overall story as other incarnations.

It stars a charmingly inept elven bounty hunter named Popful Mail (think Lina Inverse with Pointy Ears), who's spent much of her adventuring life chasing after the notorious criminal Nuts Cracker. She manages to corner him, but is only able to retrieve Nuts' head (as his body runs away from her during their melee), which is practically worthless. Frustrated, she takes her trophy and wanders toward a town, where she learns of an even better bounty — 2,000,000 gold for the capture of an evil old wizard named Muttonhead.

Tropes used in Popful Mail (English-language Sega CD version unless otherwise noted):

• Action RPG: Has a shop, gold to collect, a world map, and various weapons and items to acquire, but it's played as a side-scroller.
• Adaptation Expansion: Olgra the Overlord gets an expanded backstory in the Super Famicom remake, which establishes that he was originally the Top God and in love with the Goddess of Light, Lucina, revealing that being unable to bear seeing his loved one saddened by the cycle of life and death, he wanted to Restart the World and use his newfound power to control people's fates for her sake. Disagreeing with his plan and seeing the growing darkness in his heart, Lucina sealed him away with her light, rather than the deed being done by mortals.
• Art Evolution: The character art in the original Japanese PC games was cartoony and cutesy, while the Sega CD port gives the characters more realistic body proportions. The Super Famicom remake does this to a lesser extent, with the graphics still being somewhat Super-Deformed but with larger sprite sizes to work with.
• Aside Glance: The ending of the PC Engine CD version has Mail winking at the player.
• Attack Its Weak Point: At least 50% of the bosses can only be damaged in a certain spot.
• Auto-Revive: The Elixyr (which appears in starting inventory) will restore Mail to full health if a blow would otherwise be lethal. It's expensive compared to other means of healing.
• Boss Arena Urgency:
  • The platforms in the room with the Happy Flames of Death gradually decay, so it's imperative that you finish them off as quickly as possible.
  • The Overlord shoots fireballs at the floor, turning them into spikes. Better beat him quickly before you don't have a safe spot to stand...
• Boss Remix: The Super Famicom remake has the first phase of the Final Boss be punctuated with a remix of the theme that plays when you find Lucina's statue in the final area.
• Boss Rush: For the final battle of the game (in all versions except the Super Famicom one, which goes for a Boss Bonanza instead), you must fight Morgal with Gaw, Necros with Tatt, and finally the Overlord as Mail, one immediately after the other. The Sega CD version adds Kazyr to the boss rush, being fought first before each character's respective Final Boss.
• Breath Weapon: Gaw's fireball and Aura Breath attacks.
• Canon Foreigner: Both the Super Famicom and Sega CD Video Game Remakes introduced new characters who weren't present in the PC-88 original. Examples include Muttonhead's granddaughter Maril for the former and Kazyr for the latter.
• Chainmail Bikini: Popful Mail's outfit. In fact her name is practically a poor translation of the term ("mail" as in a type of armor, and "popful" aptly describes its shape).
• Dem Bones: Boney Rubbler, as well as the other skeleton enemies.
• Difficulty by Region: The American Sega CD version is harder. You have no Mercy Invincibility and enemies can take and deal more damage.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Glug was originally called Jakob, while Slick was originally known as Blackie.
  • The Big Bad Muttonhead went by the name "Material Horun" in the Japanese originals.
  • The Greater-Scope Villain was originally just "Geist Wraith" in the Japanese originals, but was renamed to Olgra and given the title of "The Overlord" when the Sega CD version was localized.
• The Ditz: Glug, the dwarven artisan. Slick has his moments, too. Mail averts this. Despite being hotheaded, she's focused on her job.
• The Dragon: Nuts Cracker serves as one to Muttonhead.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Mail finally earns her well-deserved money after thwarting the Masters of Evil and their follower's plans, vanquishing for good Nuts Cracker and the Masters of Evil's leading fallen god Olgra the Overlord, and enjoys the spoils of their massive treasure room in the ending.
• Easy Levels, Hard Bosses: Most of the levels have steady difficulty slopes, but bosses take it from 5 to 15. And consider the fact they could all kill you with just three hits.
• Elves vs. Dwarves: Inverted in the case of Slick (elf) and Glug (dwarf), who are best friends.
• Evil Living Flames: The first boss fought in the Mine area is a group of living fireballs that Venuncio calls the "Happy Flames of Death", who can only be harmed at the apex of their jump arc.
• Evil Mentor: Muttonhead used to be Tatt's teacher, until he went crazy and became Public Enemy #1.
• Fake King: Draquin, who posed as the penguin king Lipps so he could reign over the penguins.
• Fiery Redhead: Mail has red hair, and she can be pretty mouthful sometimes.
• Final Boss, New Dimension:
  • Mail and her party unexpectedly get transported to the Overlord's dimensional palace in order to defeat the Three Masters of Evil.
  • In the Super Famicom remake, due to the Gaw and Tatt's Final Bosses taking place in Argazarl Castle itself instead of the aforementioned dimensional palace, the Overlord gets to have this trope all to himself: His fight takes place in a void with purple clouds in the background, with the cutscene prior to it showing Mail being transported there via a blinding flash of light.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Venuncio's Happy Flames of Death.
• Giant Enemy Crab: Clobster, a robot lobster which splits into two large mechanical crabs upon defeat.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: Muttonhead and Nuts Cracker.
• Golem: Three of 'em, and you have to fight them all: Muttonhead's Wood Golem, Venuncio's Mythril Golem, Sven's Fire Golem transformation, and technically, Olgra's mythril constructed body to manifest with into the world with.
• Graphics-Induced Super-Deformed: The original PC-88 and 98, plus PC Engine Super CD releases didn't have the hardware to render the tall, busty Mail on the cover. Characters tend to be small if nicely animated. The Sega CD release averts this, while the Super Famicom one subverts this by having much bigger sprites that still have Super-Deformed proportions.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Overlord, whom you don't confront directly until you defeat Kazyr, his most loyal mortal servant.
• Hilarious Outtakes: It's a Working Designs game, after all. Clear the game quickly and you'll get to hear voice-acting bloopers after the credits have finished rolling.
• Hong Kong Dub: The English version uses a program that attempts to replicate natural lip movements during voiced cutscenes. Even by the admission of the localization team, there are times when the lip-synching can be hilariously off.
• Hurricane of Puns: Sven T. Uncommon's introduction, written as puns on titles of popular Arnold Schwarzenegger movies at the time of the game's release.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Your party is separated for the final three battles, with each one fighting the Overlord and his two most powerful henchmen. In the Super Famicom remake, the party instead slowly gets separated the further into The Very Definitely Final Dungeon they get, with Gaw being the first one to go.
• Lost Wedding Ring: A sidequest involving a woman in Treesun who had her ring stolen by the leader of the Badger Bandits.
• Love Makes You Evil: In the Super Famicom remake, this is the main reason the Overlord became a Fallen Angel. Lucina, the Goddess of Light, chose to maintain the world as it was instead of accepting his proposal to reset it for her sake.
• MacGyvering: Slick makes his own bombs from homemade products.
• Mad Bomber: The first boss. Nuts Cracker is also fond of using his (many) head(s) as an explosive device.
• Mercy Invincibility: For both you and your enemies. Yours is insignificant, but thankfully you can pass through enemies without harm when they have it on.
• Mighty Glacier: Gaw can be considered this - he does the most amount of damage out of the three characters, but his movement speed is the slowest due to his stubby legs.
• Mithril: Used for one of Venuncio's golems, and also as a host body for the Overlord.
• Miser Advisor: Mail. She really needs the money, as she hasn't been able to land a single bounty.
• Money Spider: Every normal enemy coughs up either gold or a healing item. There are two specific mummies in the Mine, who drop Gold Bullions that sell for 500 gold each! They're there because you will need four Gold Bullions to complete a required quest.
• Mr. Exposition: The Super Famicom remake has the eyepatch-wearing, pipe-smoking Waterway Gaw, who brings Mail to a temple he found in the castle's waterways that contains a priceless statue of the Goddess of Light, Lucina. He asks Mail if she's heard the legend of Lucina, and her saying no is what prompts him to exposit about her.
• The Name Is Bond, James Bond: Mail introduces herself this way to almost every friendly NPC she meets.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • Sven does this twice. After fighting him midway through the Zoth Shrine, you fight him again at the end as he transforms into a large sword-wielding beast called Chargon. When you face him in Fort Fryght, he's morphed into a large Fire Golem.
  • Also, Draquin, the evil penguin boss of Chilly. After defeating him in his one-eyed serpentine form, he invokes the Overlord's powers to morph into a two-headed dragon.
  • The Overlord does this exclusively in the Super Famicom remake once you beat his first form; he hulks up into a much more visceral form, with regrown limbs and a red and yellow color scheme, with him being big enough to take up the majority of the screen.
• Only in It for the Money: Mail's main motivation for doing pretty much anything.
• Overly Long Name: Venuncio, who introduces himself as "Klabberdeen Klotchsniffer Leetzlewiffle Poopiewouffen von Venuncio Krakenlichter Ratchetface XIV".
• Planet of Steves: The Gaws, a species of baby dragons, do not have personal names.
• Pointy Ears: All of the elves, including Mail, Slick, and several other characters.
• Polar Penguins: Chilly, the fourth world, is full of them.
• Recurring Boss: Sven and Nuts Cracker. Lampshaded after you fight Nuts the second time, where the accompanying victory text box says "(Player) defeated Nuts Cracker! (for real this time)".
• Reformulated Game:
  • The Sega CD version uses much larger sprites compared to the PC-88 version, and therefore has adjusted the stage layouts to take advantage of them.
  • The Super Famicom remake uses sprites that are in-between the size of those of the PC-88 and Sega CD versions, and features new level designs, altered boss fights, an expanded story that still reaches most of the same beats, and new music that isn't found in any other version.
• Respawning Enemies: Enemies respawn about two-screens away.
• Rise to the Challenge: Rather than employing Boss Arena Urgency like every other version, the Super Famicom remake's take on the Final Boss has the floor already be spikes, with Mail needing to platform through an endless stream of falling platforms in order to hit the boss' Cognizant Limbs and head. Twice.
• RPG Elements: Mainly in the form of weapon upgrades and gold.
• Serial Escalation: The events of the game eventually go from a mere bounty hunting operation adventure into a full-scale questing crusade against a diabolical cabal bent on the domination not just the world but all of existence. It's when you get to the lands of Volcano and into the ruins stage does the game give greater detail on the importance of the great war of old and why its events are far-reaching and relevant to what Mail and friends are facing on their journey.
• Sequential Boss: The Super Famicom remake divides the fight with the Overlord into two parts, with him going One-Winged Angel for his second one, to compensate for there no longer being a Boss Rush prior to him.
• Sexy Packaging: The original PC-98 version's box-art of the game features Mail getting dressed by tanukis, with Mail showing some legs and her leotard's strap falling off (and Tatt watching from above and blushing at the view). And that's not talking about the drama CDs where Mail and other elf women are either posing in simple leotards (with or without animal ears) or playing naked in an onsen while Slick and Muttonhead are peeping on them in the bushes (and Tatt is too ashamed of himself to watch)...
• Shout-Out: Plenty. With this being a Working Designs adaptation, it's to be expected. Sven's introduction in particular filled with reference puns:
  "Listen to me now and fear me pretty soon... I am no kindergarten cop! The sissy-man Venuncio could not teach you a lesson, so I have come to terminate you! I am the predator, and you are my prey. This little skirmish will be your last action, hero person. It's judgment day!"
• Spared by the Adaptation: Nuts Cracker is The Unfought in the Super Famicom remake, being made into a recurring character you run into from time to time, even having a surprising appearance before the Final Boss where he finds Muttonhead gravely injured after his plan to resurrect the Overlord goes horribly right. Thinking Mail was the one who did it since she's standing right next to him, he pushes her off the ledge they're standing on and runs off to find help after he's done talking to Muttonhead about what happened. He even appears during the game's ending.
• Spikes of Doom: Thankfully, they cannot kill you in one hit, and there is an item which allows you to step on them.
• Stock Money Bag: Enemies drop large sacks of money with $ symbol written on them.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: Mail and her friends can stay underwater as long as they like.
• Sword of Plot Advancement: The Sword of Lucina in the Super Famicom remake is both this and that version's Infinity +1 Sword, being acquired right before the Final Boss. Muttonhead tried using it to contain the power of the Overlord by using it to create a barrier, but he overpowered it, and he tells Mail that it's the only thing that can destroy him now that he's resurrected. Mail being Mail, of course, immediately thinks of selling this invaluable sword, before remembering that she has an evil god to slay first.
• Third-Person Person: The Gaw who joins your party only refers to himself as "Gaw", never using personal pronouns.
• Time Travel: A story element present exclusively in the PC Engine Super CD version, which is used to justify the existence of the extra set of levels exclusive to that version, where Mail and the others split up to fight through factories and ship graveyards.
• Truer to the Text: The PC Engine Super CD remake done by HuneX sticks much closer to the PC-88/98 original compared to the Sega CD and Super Famicom ones, from both a gameplay and graphical standpoint: it maintains the bump combat that was phased out of every other console port and the graphics are closely based on the PC-88/98 version. However, it does have a set of extra levels found in no other version, involving Mail and crew splitting up to fight through factories and ship graveyards.
• Verbal Tic: All of the Gaws end their sentences with "Gaw!"
• Version-Exclusive Final Boss: The final battle with the Overlord is completely different in the Super Famicom remake compared to every other version; not only is it comprised of two phases instead of one, he's a Background Boss whose attack pattern is completely different aside from a Rocket Punch attack that's shared between both versions.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The Wood Golem. It does a lot of damage per hit, has an annoying to avoid bum rush, and when you defeat its body, you have to keep hitting its head or else it will respawn its body forcing you to repeat the whole process. There's a way to exploit its AI, though.
• Warm-Up Boss:
  • The Mad Bomber, whose attacks are easy to take cover from and it dies in 10 hits.
  • The Thrashmaster+ is a bit harder, as he has twice Mad Bomber's health, uses a Shockwave Stomp attack, requires a platform to be dodged, and sends you bombs if you go too high without getting before him, but he's more of a way to teach the player to be aware of future bosses' dirty tricks and to not waste any opportunity than a difficult boss.
• White Magician Boy: Tatt has the character design, staff, and personality of a White Magician Girl.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks: When Mail tells Slick that she's out to find magical orbs to help prevent the Overlord from rising again, Slick dismisses them as junk.