Development
Falcom developed the NEC PC versions of Popful Mail with features used in previous games in the company's Dragon Slayer and Ys series. They use the battle system of Ys, magic attacks like those of Ys II, and a side-scrolling view similar to that of Ys III. Characters react with pain when they fall from high places, as in Dragon Slayer IV (released as Legacy of the Wizard in North America). The original releases incorporate features from the popular game Xanadu (Dragon Slayer II) as well.
Gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly reported rumours of a new game in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series called Sister Sonic, which was to be shown at the Tokyo Toy Fair in June 1993. The game, which ultimately did not appear in the Fair, would have been a remake of the PC Popful Mail using Sonic characters in place of Mail's. After Mail fans petitioned against the remake, "Sega Falcom" (the alliance between Sega and Falcom that would have made Sister Sonic) instead created a version of Popful Mail for the Sega CD, retaining original characters Mail, Tatt, and Gaw.
Working Designs translated the Mega-CD version for North America's Sega CD, and made several changes and adjustments to the game. Enemies were made more difficult, downsampling and variable bitrates were used to compress the game's sounds from full 44.1 kHz CD quality to fit on the game disc, and some audio events and visual effects were added. Except in animated sequences, waveform analysis was used to make characters' mouths match their dialogue. Two teams worked on the English translation for four months.
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