Monday, 12 October 2026
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Mindware Details Dropping Drops, The MIDI Controller Puzzle Game

The interview shows a small studio treating the controller itself as the game's subject, and pairs a veteran of early Namco arcade sound with a developer who had no plans to release the title commercially.

Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.

Mindware Details Dropping Drops, The MIDI Controller Puzzle Game

Mindware's Mikito Ichikawa and composer Yuriko Keino discussed Dropping Drops, a physical action puzzle game played with a MIDI controller. Ichikawa said he first made it in October 2025 as a sample for a talk, then developed it seriously after positive reactions at a retro PC event. The two also discussed Ichikawa's background and 1980s Namco style.

Dropping Drops is a physical action puzzle game built around MIDI controller input, developed by Mindware's Mikito Ichikawa with composer Yuriko Keino, who worked on early Namco arcade game sound. Ichikawa said he thought up the project around 2am on October 2, 2025, and made it as a playable sample for a talk at the 15th Microcomputer Infinity PRO-68K event. He had not intended to release it as a product. Positive reactions from people who played it, including M2's Naoki Horii, led him to develop it further.

Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.

Dropping Drops Bandai Namco Yuriko Keino Mikito Ichikawa

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