Game

Some PC88 sets came out so I played a few of them. The first is Magnet Girl by Lotus Roots, a doujin game! I think I’ve explained doujin games before, but they’re basically the same as doujin manga. Just uh, games. Doujin is usually used to refer to like, fanworks of things in America, but it basically means self published works. Nerds would make games on PCs of the day, namely NEC’s PC88, and would sell copies of it at local stores and conventions. They were pretty much as indie as you possibly could have gotten back in the 80s.

Though this game is 90s. This lasted for a while, well into the modern day. The most famous doujin game is, in fact, Touhou. All the early Touhous were PC98 games released as doujin games! But I digress, let’s talk about Magnet Girl.

Game

Lotus Roots made a few of these “Magnet World” games, but I’ve only played this one so far. It’s a rather short puzzle game with a unique mechanic. You platform around, pretty much on a grid, and you can swap your polarity from red to blue. There are magnets about, and they need to be pushed onto the opposite color, so they’re annihilated. Once all magnets are clear, you win. You push magnets by using your polarity. Like repels, opposites attracts. Turn on the same color to push a magnet around. You can’t pull, however, so turn on opposites instead to climb on top of magnets and use them to platform around and position yourself better. You can also repel yourself while on top of a magnet to reach greater heights!

It’s a little janky and a little clunky, but it’s a cute and clever concept. It’s got Sokoban energy, though I’ve never seen something quiiiite like this before. The game is not very long, and not super hard, but it’s a nice brain tickler, and I’d have loved to pick this up for 600 yen back in 1991.