Did you heard about... Magic Pockets ?

Going a bit through my old library of games, I stumbled onto one that I played waaaaaaay too much during my childhood. So, why not talking a bit about it ?

Game - Magic Pockets
Genre - Action-Platform
Platform - Amiga, PC, Genesis
Release date - 1991

Here we have one of those games where, as it was the norm then, gameplay takes over most of the rest. So the story is simple, you play the Bitmap Kid, a cool kid with sunglasses and the mascot of the devs, the Bitmap Brothers, and you go through levels in order to... Recover your stolen toys. Yeah, that's it, nothing grand or epic, but that'll be enough.

In order to get back said toys, the Bitmap Kid has a weird power as his disposition, since his pants' pockets are magic, like the title says, and allows him to gather elements from the surroundings to throw them as a mass to either destroy or trap his enemies. So, depending of the world you're in, you'll be able to throw rock tornadoes, bubbles, snowballs and other things.

Killing enemies without trapping them has the advantage of giving you better and better items once you finally trap one of them, from simple items like candies giving you points, to rarer items granting you faster charge for your pocket or further throws, to silver and gold stars granting you respectively extra lives and access to either secret levels (there's a number of them in every stage) or masks to give you extra power.

Trapping enemies has other advantages. A trapped enemy stays trapped for some time, which allows you to either using the trapped enemy as a platform, by jumping on it, or as a springboard, by jumping to it from under. And in a platform game, these applications are incredibly useful to reach your next steps.

But trust me, you're not in for child's play, as those who stole your toys will do their best to keep them. From bats and frogs to bees and snowmen, you'll encounter quite a variety of foes to trap or destroy, some of them becoming more dangerous as levels goes on. So don't be too surprised when that little blob learns how to jump and bounce around.

In the end, I got stuck at it when I was a kid, due to the final boss' objectives not being clear enough to me - You're trapped in a simple design place, with lots of items and a bubble. Said bubble can't be killed or destroyed, and kills you in a single touch except if you get a mask. And while the answer is simple - Just grab all the items and the boss will be defeated - , it never dawned on me until I came back to this game as an adult.

This game is considered as an abandonware, and thus ported on every pirated console under the sun, so be sure to give it a try !
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Comments

Sounds pretty fun, and definitely not a game I had ever heard of before. Appreciate the overview.
 
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@alexander1970 I didn't even knew the Genesis (and Dreamcast) versions existed before taking some info for this blog post, all I knew were the Amiga and DOS versions.
 
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Izual Urashima
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  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    Eventhough the New 3DS XL is more powerful, I still feel like the DS Lite was a more polished system. It's a real shame that it never got an XL variant keeping the GBA slot. You'd have to go on AliExpress and buy an ML shell to give a DS phat the unofficial "DS Lite" treatment, and that's the best we'll ever get I'm afraid.
    +1
  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    The phat model had amazingly loud speakers tho.
    +1
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @Jayro, I don't see whats so special about the DS ML, its just a DS lite in a phat shell. At least the phat model had louder speakers, whereas the lite has a much better screen.
    +1
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    They probably said "Hey, why not we combine the two together and make a 'new' DS to sell".
  • Veho @ Veho:
    It's a DS Lite in a slightly bigger DS Lite shell.
    +1
  • Veho @ Veho:
    It's not a Nintendo / iQue official product, it's a 3rd party custom.
    +1
  • Veho @ Veho:
    Nothing special about it other than it's more comfortable than the Lite
    for people with beefy hands.
    +1
  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    I have yaoi anime hands, very lorge but slender.
  • Jayro @ Jayro:
    I'm Slenderman.
  • Veho @ Veho:
    I have hands.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    imagine not having hands, cringe
    +1
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    ESPECIALLY for things I do to myself :sad:.. :tpi::rofl2: Or others :shy::blush::evil:
    +1
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    @SylverReZ if you could find a v5 DS ML you would have the best of both worlds since the v5 units had the same backlight brightness levels as the DS Lite unlockable with flashme
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    but that's a long shot
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    i think only the red mario kart edition phat was v5
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    A woman with no arms and no legs was sitting on a beach. A man comes along and the woman says, "I've never been hugged before." So the man feels bad and hugs her. She says "Well i've also never been kissed before." So he gives her a kiss on the cheek. She says "Well I've also never been fucked before." So the man picks her up, and throws her in the ocean and says "Now you're fucked."
    +1
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    lmao
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    anyways, we need to re-normalize physical media

    if i didn't want my games to be permanent, then i'd rent them
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Agreed, that why I try to buy all my games on disc, Xbox anyways. Switch games (which I pirate tbh) don't matter much, I stay offline 24/7 anyways.
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    I don't pirate them, I Use Them :mellow:. Like I do @BigOnYa 's couch :tpi::evil::rofl2:
    +1
  • cearp @ cearp:
    @BakerMan - you can still "own" digital media, arguably easier and better than physical since you can make copies and backups, as much as you like.

    The issue is DRM
  • cearp @ cearp:
    You can buy drm free games / music / ebooks, and if you keep backups of your data (like documents and family photos etc), then you shouldn't lose the game. but with a disk, your toddler could put it in the toaster and there goes your $60

    :rofl2:
  • cearp @ cearp:
    still, I agree physical media is nice to have. just pointing out the issue is drm
    cearp @ cearp: still, I agree physical media is nice to have. just pointing out the issue is drm