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Sega's Rieko Kodama, Kagasei Shimomura & Yosuke Okunari and M2's Naoki Horii talk Sega Ages Columns II, out tomorrow on the 🇯🇵 Switch eShiop
why Columns II? they did OG Columns on 3DS so felt they shouldn't just do it again
why's Columns II so seldom ported? aside from being really hard, it's based on the extra modes from Columns MD & launched just 3 months later, so Okunari postulates the timing was never right
why's Columns II so seldom ported? aside from being really hard, it's based on the extra modes from Columns MD & launched just 3 months later, so Okunari postulates the timing was never right
Columns II has a stage-clear mode and a versus mode but no traditional endless mode, so the thinking was they could add that experience for a complete package; Okunari ordered the inclusion of the OG game not knowing M2 was cooking up a brand-new mode, so they ended up with both
did they consider the later games instead? basically, they just picked the direct sequel, but they wanted to do arcade games wherever possible (ie no Columns III); Stack Columns is a little different in tone (understatement, look it up!) & Columns '97 (ST-V) is beyond their tech
why'd it take M2 so long to finish? aside from being their first time touching Columns II, it simply took forever to test because it's a really hard game; rather than bringing in top players, their priority was adding and implementing features that'd let average players clear it
the two big features they added to simplify the game are the option to turn off the nuisance skull gems, as well as a stage select; there's also a "jewelry box" gallery where you can unlock a different Sega Ages intro character for every stage, as an incentive to clear them all 
the original arcade version topped out at 69 stages but M2 found another one in the data, so their version has a bonus never-before-seen stage
there's also an option to lock the graphics to the classic Columns style, for those who lose their mojo whenever the tiles change
there's also an option to lock the graphics to the classic Columns style, for those who lose their mojo whenever the tiles change
the brand-new "infinite" mode uses OG Columns endless rules, more or less; there are also blocks that emerge from the bottom every so often, flashing gems among them, and clearing those works like the magic jewel
the name was inspired by the "mugen cabbage" fad, apparently
the name was inspired by the "mugen cabbage" fad, apparently
another reason Columns II took so long was the network features; the game itself was running when they announced the Puyo Puyo games for Sega Ages but OG Puyo was determined to be the first online game, so Columns had to wait while they wrote the network backend for Puyo
there's a face-to-face mode that inverts one of the playfields, designed for cocktail cabinets; Switch was the first home hardware for which this was a practical feature, so it had to be included, and because it was already part of the original program it was easy to implement
on the Sega Ages intro characters: there are assigned charas for each game that will always show up on the first viewing (f.ex Phantasy Star has Nei & Rika) but for every subsequent viewing, new charas are introduced somewhat randomly & some charas are unique to individual intros
they also make sure to never include the main characters from a featured game in its own intro, with the exception of Alex Kidd in Miracle Land—Alex appears as the MC, independent of the cameo charas, so for Miracle Land they made the custom intro with him jumping into the game
Okunari sees Columns as a masterpiece that never got its due, so this release, Columns on MD Mini, etc are him setting the stage for a Columns revival; he says he's been bugging Puyo Puyo producer Hosoyamada about it for 5yrs ("oh, I need to talk to [Sakura Wars'] Outsubo too")
