Meteos Online (lost online computer video game; 2006)

Meteos Online logo.

Status: Lost

About

Meteos Online (メテオスオンライン) was a Japanese online computer game published by Hangame and developed by Q Entertainment that ran from November 22nd, 2006 to October 31st, 2007 when it's game servers where shutdown at 5:00 PM JST (Japan Standard Time).

Meteos Online was a predecessor to Meteos, released on the Nintendo DS in 2005. The service would run on a server that players would connect to using the Meteos Online client which was downloadable on Meteos Online's website.

Users could make & compete against high-scores via the different modes & planets (Which were viewable on the Meteos Online rankings website), play up to against five other players, buy items, planets, and avatar cosmetics, or play the Metegacha (Which is still not really known how it works from the limited, aka one, video showing the Metegacha).

Gameplay

Gameplay test footage (Lumious 3-Minute Attack)

Footage of a community-made Meteos Online tournament

Meteos Online played very similarly to it's predecessor released on the Nintendo DS -- A match-3 puzzle game that would launch blocks (referenced in the game as Meteos) up into the air. When the blocks reach the very top of the player's board, the game would award the player with points and the type of blocks that went off screen. Each character didn't just have different looks, but different planets that had their own twists such as different grid sizing, different types of blocks, or even changing the weight or gravity of the flying blocks.

Meteos Online uses either a mouse and/or keyboard to control the blocks around the player's board. With this, there was the added ability to move block both vertically and horizontally. In Meteos' DS port, blocks could only be moved vertically.

With the addition to keyboard controls, Meteos Online added the ability to move blocks to an end of a row or column with the WASD keys. With this in mind, players would usually use both mouse & keyboard to make gameplay fast-paced.

Meteos Online also had avatars that would walk around the player's board. Players could get clothing for their avatars from events, the in-game store, or from the Metegacha -- which is also a new addition.

Closure

The reason for Meteos Online shutting down is still unknown to anyone; no details given by either Q Entertainment or Hangame. Months before the game's closure, a update/post was uploaded to the Meteos Online site announcing that the service would shutdown on October 31, 2007.

Gallery

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  A screenshot of Meteos Online's Website sometime close to closure.

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  Gameplay screenshot of Geolyte Winter

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  Screenshot of stats for the planet, Lumious.

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  Screenshot of Meteos Online's controls

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  Meteos Online Metagacha

Recovering the client files

Meteos Online's client files are expected to be located in C:\Program Files\QOnline\MeteosOnline. The client ran on computers running Windows 98 to Vista. The direct download link for the client is expected to be located under http://meteosonline.jp/QOnlineDownloader/setup.exe.