Columns - Original Mode (3DS Virtual Console)

This is a capture of me playing the Original mode of Columns for the Sega Game Gear. This is not an emulator. This is being played on the 3DS Virtual Console and recorded directly from my New 3DS XL using the aftermarket capture kit manufactured by Katsukity and installed/sold by Merki.

I felt like uploading some more Game Gear footage, so here’s Sega’s classic competitor to Tetris – Columns. Sega initially bundled this game with the Game Gear in 1991 to help compete with the Game Boy, but I don’t think it achieved the sales numbers they were looking for since it was quickly replaced by Sonic the Hedgehog (and then Sonic 2, which is possibly the best-selling pack-in game for the system).

Shortly before Nintendo shut down new eShop purchases on the 3DS, I decided to buy some remaining Game Gear games for the Virtual Console that I hadn’t gotten around to (excluding RPGs, of course). I generally like puzzle games due to my childhood experience with Tetris, Tetris 2, Dr. Mario, Yoshi, Yoshi’s Cookie, and Tetris Attack, and I have a fascination with the Game Gear, so I picked up Columns before the opportunity escaped me.

This is actually a pretty good puzzle game. It’s closest in design to Dr. Mario, except if you didn’t have to wipe out germs and instead only had to manage pills. In Columns’ Original mode you have to match at least three of kind horizontally, vertically, or even diagonally as the block-falling speed keeps increasing. You can also form chains, similar to Dr. Mario or Tetris Attack. So this is like Tetris’ standard endless mode.

I hadn’t played this game too much before this and I certainly hadn’t it made it this far before, so I was a little surprised when the bomb blocks suddenly dropped and wiped out an entire category. However, level 8 proved to be a little too brutal and my brain shut off at that point. I’m not an expert puzzle game player, but I think I did alright and showed off how this mode works.

Recorded with OBS Studio at 60 frames per second. I'm using a New 3DS XL.