Magic Jewelry is an unlicensed Nintendo NES tile-matching puzzle video game derivative to Columns, programmed in Taiwan by Hwang Shinwei and published by RCM in 1990. Like many Taiwanese low-sized unlicensed games, it is most commonly found on pirate Famicom/NES multicarts and systems which have many games. Multicarts and Famicom/NES clones usually remove copyright information, and Magic Jewelry is no exception, despite being unlicensed. Various unofficial remakes have been released for iOS and Android.
Magic Jewelry's gameplay resembles that of Columns and Dr. Mario, both of which released earlier in the same year. Sets of 3 or more matching coloured jewels must be lined up horizontally, vertically or diagonally in order to score points, while simultaneously removing said jewels. The jewels drop down in blocks of 3, and their positions in the blocks can be shifted freely until the block lands. After a certain number of jewels are cleared, a flashing 'X' block drops, which upon landing on a jewel clears out all other jewels of the same colour,
Magic Jewelry (NES version)
and the game advances to the next level, with the default drop speed of the blocks increasing. The game ends when a block is stacked with at least one jewel being over the top edge of the board.
In the game there are eight songs, some of which are repeated (after each 8 stages) with the different remixes. Seven of the eight songs are known to be renditions of existing songs:
Stage 1 (Level 0): 'All Kinds of Everything', by Dana.
Stage 2 (Level 1): 'Huānlè Zhōngguó Jié' [Happy Chinese Festival].
Stage 3 (Level 2): 'Lóng de Chuánrén' [Descendants of the Dragon], originally written by Hou Dejian and performed by Li Jian Fu, and later re sung by many Taiwanese singers (such as Fei Yu-ching and Leehom Wang).
Stage 5 (Level 4): 'Jägerchor' (Hunters' Chorus), by Carl Maria von Weber.
Stage 6 (Level 5): 'Moonlight on the Colorado', by Dick Robertson.
Stage 7 (Level 6): 'Greensleeves'.
Stage 8 (Level 7): 'Speak Softly Love', by Andy Williams.
Note: The 1st stage song ('All Kinds of Everything') was also used in Brush Roller, an unlicensed NES game also programmed by Hwang Shinwei in the same year (1990).
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
or
Steam.
Game controls:
The NES version of Magic Jewelry was originally controlled via the NES controller with a cross-shaped joypad and two action buttons. The basic description of game controls is summarized in the table below. Detailed description of how to play this game can be found a in the attached game manual. Please note that individual
gamepad buttons are emulated by different keys on your PC keyboard depending on the settings of your online emulator (see the table next to the game).
Press left or right to move falling jewels in the same direction. Press down to make the blocks fall down faster.
Press A button to rotate jewels. The direction of rotation is always from top to down.
Same function as button A.
Not used in this game.
Use to start the game. Press during play to pause. Press again to resume play.
Videogame Console:
This version of Magic Jewelry was designed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which was an eight-bit video game console manufactured
by Nintendo in the years 1983 - 2003. In that time, it was the best-selling video game console for which more than 700 licensed games and a number of non-licensed
games were created. Worldwide, approximately 62 million units of this console were sold at approximately price $ 100 per unit. More information about the
NES console can be found here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB gamepad that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a gamepad, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some of your favorite online stores.
Available online emulators:
6 different online emulators are available for Magic Jewelry. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For
maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic
features of each emulator available for this game Magic Jewelry are summarized in the following table:
If you like Magic Jewelry you'll probably like also some of the similar games in the overview below. The games you see here
are selected based on title similarity, game genre, and keywords. However, the list is generated automatically and can therefore be very 'subjective'
especially for some specific games. To find a particular game, please use our search form.
This website is NOT sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Atari, Sega or by any other video games company.
RetroGames.cz makes no claim to the intellectual property contained in the individual games.
Text content of RetroGames.cz
is available under the
Creative Commons 3.0 License. You can copy it freely, but indicate the origin and keep the license.