A brief review of the new Sailor Moon game for Android phones

Sailor Moon Official App Game

Last week I made a post about a new Official Sailor Moon app for Android phones. At the time I mentioned that the included game was only available to members of the Fan Club. This is not technically correct. One does not need an actual paid Fan Club membership to use the game. They are in fact able to play it if they have an account for the Fan Club web site even if they never completed registration for the Fan Club, which requires a payment and for them to live in Japan, or use a deputy service. The bad news? You can’t sign up for such an account anymore. The kind of good news? I did sign up for such an account while trying to get a Fan Club membership before hitting a wall and giving up because I didn’t live in Japan. So much to say I was able to use my account to sign in to the app and play this new game. Anyone else with an Android phone who’s in this specific situation can download the app from the Google Play store. The app should be out on iOS devices soon enough.

Sailor Moon Official App Game

I had a pretty terrible time getting this game working. I tried to load it up a few times and managed to play about a game and a half. My phone is terrible and old, hence I can’t take screenshots with it and instead have photos of the phone, but the app also seems to be somewhat unreliable. I spent most of the time staring at a loading screen which seemed frozen. Once I actually got into the game I was surprised to see it wasn’t quite as much like Bust a Move as I expected. Basically you use your finger to pull back and release the orbs in the little tray on the bottom and launch them into similarly coloured orbs. The orbs disappear and you get points. You have a limited time to do this. Honestly I just played that one game. It was frustrating and after a few more frozen load screens, freezing games and finally a freezing time up screen when I completed a game, I didn’t want to play any more. The game isn’t all that great and it doesn’t have much to do with Sailor Moon, aside from having Sailor Moon symbols and characters. I hope you find my review less disappointing than the actual game.

Sailor Moon Official App Game

Thanks to Rem and Erica for leaving comments which helped me to get this game working.

A new Sailor Moon official app and game are now available for Android and they’re terrible if you aren’t a Fan Club member living in Japan

Sailor Moon Official App - Bust a Move type game against Morga

Update: July 3rd 2016: Users can sign into the app to play the game if they have a Fan Club account that hasn’t completed registration. You can do this without living in Japan. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way to sign up for a new account at this time.

News has been posted on the Official Sailor Moon site about an Official Sailor Moon app. No this is not Sailor Drops, the addictive and frustrating puzzle game which everyone loves to hate. This app is basically just an interface to the official Sailor Moon site with a built in game which it seems you can only play if you’re a member of the Fan Club, which you can only do if you live in Japan. For now the app is only available on Android devices. An iOS version, for iPhone devices, will be available soon. Android users can download the app from the Google Play store.

Sailor Moon Official App - Menu screen

I had to rummage through some old Gameboy games and NES controllers to find my old and busted Android phone which has a bad power button so I can’t take screenshots with it. That’s okay because there’s not much to see. It’s basically a wrapper around the site. I got an error at one point and it just said it couldn’t load sailormoon-official.com. There is a button at the bottom which I believe is the link to play the game but it prompts me to log in to the Fan Club which I am unable to do as I could never sign up since I don’t live in Japan. Check out this great photo I got of the app in action!

The Sailor Moon Official App is lame

All in all this app seems like a colossal waste of time if you aren’t part of the fan club. This may change in the future but for now I don’t think there’s any value in this. Have you been able to get the app to do anything but surf around the official site and Fan Club page?

Sailor Moon Official App - Fan club info

Sailor Moon Official App - Level progression

Sailor Moon Drops, the Sailor Moon puzzle game, is now available in English

SailorDrops - Gameplay

Update 2016-04-15: The game is now also available in the US iTunes store.

In September Sailor Moon Drops, a Sailor Moon game for iOS and Android, was released in Japan. An English version of the game, now called SailorDrops, is now available in the Canadian iTunes Store and Google Play Store. Since this game is free American users should have no trouble downloading it. You’ll just need to switch your iTunes store to Canada (using the link on the bottom right of iTunes) and registering a Canadian iTunes account with a new e-mail address. Don’t like having to jump through these hoops to play this game? How do you think we enjoy watching stuff on Hulu?!

Update: It seems that this game is region locked and not playable on US iPhones. Hopefully the game will be out in the US soon.

SailorDrops - Usagi and Luna

The game is all about matching sets of three symbols to make chains and complete levels by getting certain points in a certain number of moves. The mechanics were a bit of a mystery in the Japanese version but this English version with English tutorials should be quite easy to follow.

The Japanese game has had a number of events and I’m not sure what the event schedule will be for the English game. A lot of them were date sensitive so starting those later in the English version wouldn’t make a ton of sense.

SailorDrops - Friend Code

Be sure to add me as a friend. My username is Sailor Moon News and my ID is ww3a6189c. I probably won’t be the one playing but my girlfriend is pretty much obsessed with this game so if she switches from the Japanese version to this one, that account will have a lot of activity.

Sailor Moon Drops, the new Sailor Moon Puzzle game for cell phones dropped today

Sailor Moon Drops - Gameplay

The Sailor Moon Drops Puzzle game was released today for iOS and Android devices. This free game is only available in the Japanese iTunes store but with a little bit of work you can set up an account and download Japanese games on a North American iPhone. I’ll include instructions to do so later in this post. Though the game is free it does include microtransactions meaning you can do in game transactions to buy items which will let you keep playing. To download the game use the links to the Google Play Store or iTunes store.

Sailor Moon Drops - Usagi and Luna

I’ll include a brief explanation on how to play, based on what I’ve managed to figure out. I don’t read Japanese but can infer enough about how to play just be touching around the game. Menus are easy enough to navigate. On the main screen hit the pink button then the blue button. Just tap the screen to advance through the Japanese dialog cut scenes. You’ll see Usagi meet Luna and transform into Sailor Moon. The game will walk you through going into a game screen. On the game screen hit the pink button a few times and follow the on screen instructions to make a move and make a 3 item match. Gameplay is like Bejewled and Columns. You swipe a gem to move it a single position. Make matches of 3 ore more to get points. Try to chain combos if possible. You’ll clear the level once you reach a certain number of points. Your remaining moves are in the top right corner. Filling up the pink bar on the top right gets you three stars. On the level select screen simply tap the level you want to play. In general you can advance through menus hitting the pink buttons.

Sailor Moon Drops - Sailor Mercury Gameplay

The game becomes difficult based on the number of moves you get and the shape of the level. A rectangular puzzle is somewhat straightforward but odd shapes become difficult to navigate.

Sailor Moon Drops - Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask

The game, being freemium, can’t very well let you play forever! The game’s currency involves hearts and gems. Hearts are needed to play and gems are used to buy hearts or other items. You start with 5 hearts and, if they are consumed, they are replenished at a rate of one heart per 30 minutes. Unlike many games you will not lost hearts simply by playing but only by losing. If you complete a level you will still have all your hearts but if you lose and want to continue Tuxedo Mask will show up and allow you to

Sailor Moon Drops - Map

On the main map you can scroll up to see where the game will advance to. Ami can be seen not far up, followed by Rei then Makoto and Minako. The map goes through a lot of Tokyo with locations such as Naru’s parent’s store Osa-p, the Hikawa Shrine and eventually into areas which appears to look like a Dark Kingdom stronghold and a Crystal Spire. After completing 10 stages I unlocked Sailor Mercury. It seems likely this trend will continue every 10 stages. Though I can’t read the text in the cut scenes it seems to somewhat follow the story of Sailor Moon as she argues with Mamoru at first and befriends the other girls going along on her journey. We also see villains such as Queen Beryl and Jadeite. It’s unclear just how far the story will go with the given map. It’s always possible that more content could be added at a later date.

Sailor Moon Drops - ID number

The game allows you to register friends. This lets you compare top scores with others you know who have the game. Each user has a unique code. To view it and add friends simply click on the green arrow on the map screen then the little picture of Usagi with a heart. You can change your name here. Your ID is unique and this is what you give to friends. Click the “ID…” button to register a new friend. Might I suggest added 4a24eec?

Sailor Moon Drops - Rank Up

Setting up a Japanese iTunes account is free and relatively easy to do. iTunes accounts are tied to a specific store. Mine was tied to the Canadian store. Many readers may have accounts tied to the US store or some other country’s store. If you happen to live in Japan then good for you the game is already in your store. If not there are a few simple steps you can do to register a Japanese iTunes account and switch the store back and forth on your phone. I followed a tutorial similar to this one and it worked just fine for me.

I don’t have an Android device on hand. If you have any trouble using the Google Play Store link try checking out this tutorial which seems to work for getting a Japanese game downloaded. Leave us a comment if this works for you so that I can amend the post.

Source: The Official Sailor Moon Site

Keep reading for more screenshots of this game.

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A new Sailor Moon video game “Sailor Moon Drops” is coming to iOS and Android devices

Sailor Moon Drops - Title screen

A new Sailor Moon video game has been announced on the official Sailor Moon site. Sailor Moon Drops is a puzzle game for iOS and Android devices being released by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Based on the screenshot, probably has gameplay requiring the player to match similar types of objects into sets of three. The most popular game this seems to resemble is Bejeweled which was itself inspired by the gameplay of a 90s game called Columns. The game will be free but it seems likely that it will have microtransactions, meaning that players will be able to pay to play longer or get some other in game advantage. There is currently no release date for this title.

Sailor Moon Drops - Gameplay

Currently the game is open for pre-registration. Why pre-register for a free to play game? Well according to the game’s official site, this will allow users to get a few exclusive bonuses which appears to be two booster sets and 10 gems. Many microtransaction games will have some sort of in game currency which is accrued while playing that can be used to unlock special functions, continue playing to bypass some sort of time out penalty or retry a stage after failing. How common and valuable gems are in this particular game isn’t something we’ll know for sure until we get more information.

Sailor Moon Drops logo

If you intend to play this game you should feel free to pre-register through the official site. First select your device from the buttons and then select to pre-register through e-mail or Twitter. I avoided signing up through Twitter when it asked for authorization to post using my account and access my direct message history. I signed up through e-mail which included filling out my e-mail address in the large white text field and then clicking the red button at the bottom of the page. The confirmation e-mail that I receive mentioned, in Japanese, that a serial code would be sent to me once the game is released which can be used to unlock those exclusives.

Sailor Moon Drops characters

Many games are region locked in some app stores, which may be the case for this. For example if you have a non Japanese iTunes account you will not be able to use it to download games from the Japanese iTunes store. Since the game is not yet released we don’t yet know whether or not it will be region restricted. Bandai Namco Entertainment releases many games exclusively for North American and Japanese audiences, though many of their anime themed games which appeal to both audiences are in both app stores. It is easy enough to set up a Japanese iTunes account in order to download free games. This page has step by step instructions for doing so. I’ve successfully followed similar steps on my Canadian iPhone and am now able to simply switch from one account to the other in order to download Japanese games. The Japanese games will play fine regardless of which account you are logged in to. Should this be necessary to install the game, I will repost the details once the game is released.

Sailor Dash, a fan made Sailor Moon video game for Android mobile phones

Pretty Guardian Sailor Dash - Door of Time

There’s a new Sailor Moon video game but it’s not what you might expect. Pretty Guardian Sailor Dash is a new Japanese fan made app for Android cell phones. It’s available for free in the Google Play store. The gameplay is pretty simple. You are Sailor Moon and you scroll through the screen automatically. You can jump or shoot as well as use a special button to consume all of your energy to do a special move. Special items included in the game include Luna P, the Holy Grail, the Key of Space-Time and many of Sailor Moon’s transformation items.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Dash - Title Screen

I’m not sure what other levels may entail as the game is really hard and I haven’t passed the first stage. I seem to inevitably end up falling in a hole with some missed jump rather than running out of health. Different levels seem to be named after different Sailor Guardians though it’s unclear if you actually play as them or not.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Dash - Moon Spiral Heart Attack

The game is free and supported by ads. If you disable mobile data and WiFi the ads won’t show up.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Dash - Instructions

Pretty Guardian Sailor Dash - Gameplay