Overview
Cleopatra Fortune (known in the North American PS1 box art as Cleopatra's Fortune) is a falling-block tile-matching puzzle game developed by Natsume and released by Taito for arcades (using their Taito F3 Package System hardware) in Japan in 1996. An early version of the game was released in 1995 as a downloadable game for the Taito X-55 home karaoke machine.
Featuring a cutesy Ancient Egyptian theme (and starring cute princess Patorako, who resembles Cleopatra and is shown later in different cosplay), Cleopatra Fortune is reminiscent of Puyo Puyo, Baku Baku Animal, and Tetris, where players must arrange rotatable falling blocks on their playfield to clear them before the stack reaches the top.
Along with clearing lines of normal "stone" blocks (similar to Tetris), the game features a unique criteria of clearing other types of blocks included in each play piece: by surrounding groups of them with stone blocks. It also features the use of 2x1 blocks, which cannot be split apart and can leave gaps in the playfield.
The game was later ported in Japan to the Sega Saturn (on Feburary 14, 1997), the Sony PlayStation (on May 21, 2001), and the Sega Dreamcast (on June 21, 2001). Both the PS1 and Dreamcast versions were ported by Altron. The PS1 version received an overseas release in 2003, released by Mud Duck in North America and by Midas in Europe. The Saturn version later received a digital re-release for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC by City Connection worldwide on November 23, 2022 as part of the S-Tribute series.
The arcade version was later included in the Japanese PS2 compilation Taito Memories Joukan and the overseas PS2/Xbox/PC compilation Taito Legends 2. It also received a sequel in 2002, titled Cleopatra Fortune Plus. Patorako also appeared as a hidden opponent in the action-puzzle game Puchi Carat.
Gameplay
Players are given a variety of block combinations (which can have multiple block types) that they can rotate and place on the field. To clear the playfield, they must either:
- Clear lines by matching all blocks of the same type in the same line. Certain blocks can only be cleared if all pieces are of the same size. For 2x1 blocks, they are completely removed even if one part of the block is in another line.
- Clear groups of non-Stone blocks by surrounding and enclosing areas with Stone blocks (which may include the bottom and sides of the playfield).
As blocks fall due to gravity, players can chain together multiple clears for bonus points (which can be very large due to the bonus multiplier per clear). In multiplayer games, chains cause garbage blocks to appear in the opponent's playfield.
Block Types
Blocks can come in small (1x1) or large (1x2 or 2x1) variants.
- Stone (Both) - Can be used to enclose areas, and can only be removed by clearing them in lines.
- Jewel (Small) / Golden Casket (Large) - Cannot be used to enclose areas, and are generally removed by being enclosed in groups. Cannot mix Jewel and Casket pieces for the purpose of clearing them in lines.
- Mummy (Both) - Cannot be used to enclose areas, and are generally removed by being enclosed in groups (although they cannot be cleared in groups if there are no Jewel or Golden Casket blocks in the same group).
In addition, a special 1x1 golden pyramid piece can rarely appear. When this piece touches another block, all blocks of that type are immediately cleared.
Log in to comment