| Credits | |
| Published: |
1991, Renegade
 |
| Developer: |  |
| Coder: | Sean Griffiths |
| Graphics: | Mark Coleman |
| Musician: | Richard Joseph |
| Information | |
| Hardware: | OCS, ECS |
| Disks: | 1 |
| Code Language: | ASM 68k |
| License: | Commercial |
| Language: | English |
| Players: | 1 Only |
| Categorization | |
| Genre: | Platformer |
| Subgenre: | Scrolling Screen |
| Tags: | cartoonish, cute, fantasy, humour, multidirectional, platform, scrolling, sideways |
| Magazine Reviews | |
|
Added by Kim Lemon on Jul 15, 2004. Viewed 40191 times.
|
|
Read review by Ariane
Graphics: 9 ‧
Music: 10 ‧
Playability: 10 ‧
Overall: 10
Save to My Favourites
Save to My OriginalsI have completed this game 
ExoticA
Get Amiga Forever for a great Amiga emulation experience and licensed Kickstart ROMs.
Internet Archive Various files
Planet Emulation ADF files
WHDownLoad Pre-installed packs
WHDLoad
Hall of Light
OpenRetro
Amiga Endings
SPS
YouTube
Wikipedia
UVL
I really like this game and don't know why there are so many haters!? When I first came across this, I wasn't too keen on it but it grew on me. The fact that there's no in-game music I really like. When I load a game the first thing I look for is to switch off the annoying in-game music so I can concentrate on the game and the sound effects.
View all comments (24)
The bitmap brothers had high standards but let themselves down technically with the awkward jerky scrolling in this and Gods.
You'd expect better from them on that front.
But otherwise this was a reasonably playable platformer but a bit repetitive especially as it had no password system. 6/10
View all comments (248)
Not every Bitmap Brothers's game is a gem. This one is a good example of it. "Magic Pockets" has some original ideas that combined with cute graphics could have been a really good game. Only if the rest didn't fail... And the rest is pretty much average. The scrolling is weak, the steering is dodgy and there is no music during the game - only sound effects that are in a real scarce.
View all comments (732)
It's easy to point at the many flaws of Magic Pocket: after all, like most of the Bitmap Brothers Amiga games, it is an ST port. Then, there is no in-game music, colour palette is limited, frame rate is sub-par, scrolling is far from smooth and only one controller button is used. Also, talking about 90s game main characters, I honestly think that the "kid with attitude" stereotype is even more obnoxious than "animal with attitude" one. On the other hand, game and level design are very good, the action being varied and above all very fun. The unique and fantastic style of the Bitmap Brothers is recognisable here as well. It's just a jump and run game influenced by many other jump and run games, but still a very good one (7/10).
View all comments (212)
No RoloDeOvo, you're not the only one
View all comments (141)
Am i the only one who likes this game?
View all comments (7)
Though I only played this briefly over 20 years ago, I still remember thinking the appearance, sluggishness and general lack of fluidity of the main sprite was way too reminiscent of a ZX Spectrum game. The graphics are generally detailed, but the use of colour isn't very likable and it lacks the quality one would expect given the hype attached to the Bitmap Bros.
View all comments (10)
Absolutely overated. Instead magic I think they put a bunch of mone in some magazine pocket's to get good reviews.
View all comments (86)
Nice graphics, jerky scrolling, repetitive gameplay. "Gods" is ten times better.
View all comments (117)
I like this one more than I don't like this one.
6/10
View all comments (225)
Totally rubbish game. It looks, plays and feels like a PD game.
No in-game music, awkward control system and high level of difficulty.
I wonder, did they try so hard to choose such a generic character (a kid wearing black shades and wearing a baseball hat) as the game's hero?
The game got suspiciously high ratings from the press back in the days and those ratings were close to the ratings of other really good '91 platformers (First Samurai, Robocod, Leander).
"Gods" was awesome but this is a pile of crap.
View all comments (31)
I remember this demo and how I loved the heck out of it. It was similar to GODS, so it was an instant fav, even though I never got around to buying the whole game. I still like it quite a bit. Yeah, some flaws, but really, far from bad. Come on!
View all comments (288)
I really loved this game back in the day. Tried to play it again today - it's unbearably slow and clunky.
the opening sequence is all it really has going for it!
View all comments (4)
God, I wanted this. Magic Pockets first appeared as a phone-in game on the Saturday morning TV series Motormouth. You know, the ones where the kid yells 'left! Left! Fire!' down the phone and a drunken monkey with a joystick somewhere behind the scenes tries, usually unsuccessfully, to interpret these instructions.
This whetted my appetite for the game no end, but when I finally did get to play it I was left hugely disappointed. It looks absolutely stunning, but the game moves at a snail's pace and just isn't any fun at all. Oh, and for a game clearly aimed at kids (it started life on CITV, after all) it's far too difficult. What a shame.
4/10
View all comments (24)
I can't see anything good about the graphics; the colors are terrible, and they're all recycled from the player sprite. Literally everything in the game is either pale, metallic blue-gray, pale, metallic green, or pale, metallic brown. The animation is also awful - the "Bitmap Kid" walks like like he has a few extra knees, and enemy movement is choppy at best. The scrolling is about as smooth as gravel.
All of this would be forgivable if the game itself was fun, but it isn't. The unresponsive movement (especially jumping) and unwieldy weapons are only emphasized by the cramped level designs. And enemies have apparently random hit points, varying wildly in strength within a single level (though always having the same number of hit points as similar enemies near them).
With the Amiga's extensive library of better-executed platform games, Magic Pockets is a waste of time.
Oh, and the "review" here cracks me up - the parts that aren't blatantly biased (or, at best, uninformed) opinion are demonstrably untrue. (For one thing, the graphics are in 16 colors, and not 32, and they were drawn by Mark Coleman, rather than Dan Malone.)
View all comments (141)
Excellent game but quite hard .
View all comments (59)
An able, skill cute platform from Bitmap guys.
View all comments (38)
I managed to get to the jungle level, it's a damn difficult game. But still pretty cool. Good.
View all comments (53)
Great graphics but horribly broken gameplay. It's just not fun to me: the whole "charge up your shot by holding firebutton down long enough" makes for really annoying stop and go gameplay and gives a feeling of real unresponsiveness to the game. Sad...
View all comments (17)
Did Anyone actually manage to complete this and rescue Betty Boo??
This was one game I could never complete, I think the jungle on level 3 was the farthest I got...
A brilliant game though, another classic that wont be forgotten too soon.
Riding the BMX at the end of stage 1 was my favourite bit as a lad, but I still can't remember how you pull that wheelie at the end...
It remains a mystery...
View all comments (3)
This was so cool! A different approach to platform games delivered in a shiny package! The sound effects are brilliant!
View all comments (206)
Man this game was hard.
View all comments (8)
Im not a big fan of bitMap Brothers, but I think two of their games (Gods and this Magic Pockets) are among the best game on Amiga.
As in Gods, also in this game the enemies are role-played (their HitPoints and skill/intelligence increase as your progress do)
If you like Platforms where the enemy aren't just dull thinks walking left and right on the screen this is The Platform.
Ah and the labyrinths/tricks are even well thought and deep.
better than SuperFrog in my opinion and definitively one of the best platform of all time.
I think this game just need to be raised from the dust and appreciated even in the 3D era...
9.4/10
View all comments (192)
I don't really like this game. It is very similar to Gods but it is too slow and the weapons are too weird/unpredictable.
View all comments (142)
Excellent design and ideas, gameplay is also better than Gods but still far from perfection. Probably the main problem of the Bitmap Brothers' production (tho Speedball 2 and Chaos Engine were great). The animation and scrolling are also a bit slow and not smooth enough. Very good game anyway. I gave it a 7/10
View all comments (79)
Anyone remember when this was in development? The Bitmap Brothers designed it for one of the Saturday morning kids shows as a phone in game, where people had to shout "Walk, shoot, jump" in order to get as far as they could and win prizes (roller skates, a years subscription to Smash Hits etc). Shortly after that the Bitmaps turned it into a full game and the result was brilliant.
View all comments (11)
Really fun platformer here. Very surreal game.
View all comments (37)
I was quite impressed about this game, with good format and sounds, and even playing that tune from Betty Boo's Doin' The Do which I know to much about that song when listening to it on radio, but the tune sound a bit different then to hear it on this game on the Amiga. Really fun game to play.
View all comments (116)
Aww another classic, I remember this on morning TV too. The game has some nice touches especially the weapons n stuff. Like the GFX although back then the bitmap bros games graphically were good. It had good gameplay & for to add a celebrity artist that being Betty Boo who sang the theme tune, it was the icing on the cake.
View all comments (522)
How can you not love this game, another bitmap brothers classic. I remmber first seeing this game on saturdat morning TV. People used to phone up and play pockets to win prizes. I always wanted to play, but never got too. This game is not for everyone, but I love
View all comments (31)
There was something unsettling about a young boy thrusting his hand in his pocket which then expanded to erupt emissions into the air. That aside I tried to get into this one but soon grew tired after a couple of levels.
View all comments (524)
Never understood it.
View all comments (61)
A lot of nice ideas and the graphics have that polished Bitmap's look but this is just too slow and the level designs are tedious.
View all comments (145)
Plays like a slug on mogadon.
View all comments (100)
The scrolling is much too slow.... Not much do to here.... Didn't like this at all.
View all comments (19)
Good platformer, but it seems that its exactly the graphics engine of GODS -- and THAT platformer is way better!
View all comments (809)
Another classic in my opinon. I played hard and long enough to get up to the snow level!! That was a feat and a half let me tell you. Also there are many secret rooms and special very cool weapons!!
View all comments (29)
This isn't one of the great platformers, with a lack of variety as well as slightly soulless graphics and characters. The Bitmaps often let the technical side get ahead of the gameplay unfortunately.
View all comments (41)
Despite a lot of good ideas, I didn't fall in love with this game. Reasons: 1) Gods/Xenon 2 dark metallic graphical style didn't work for this cute platformer 2) Jerky scrolling and slightly sluggish controls (a platformer must play 100% smoothly!). Still, worth checking out as good platformers are rare on the Amiga. (the game also made me look up Betty Boo, who I instantly fell in love with... Yep, I was a desperate nerd)
View all comments (201)
The Graphics are very good, the title music is very good (Betty Boo, fact fans!), the gameplay is..distinctly average. Very repetitive and it ends up where the player gets bored after a short time. Okay to play for five minutes but don't expect any miracles!
View all comments (99)
Magic Pockets is technically a brilliant platformer. Just look at the screenshots and you'll see that this is graphically a masterpiece. Also soundwise this is a gem, nice music and great ingame sounds. But this is what you can expect from the Bitmap Brothers. Another thing I often find in the technically stunning Bitmap Brothers products is the limited gameplay and the not so original ideas. With Magic Pockets this is the same. It's just a rather mediocre platform-game with not many original ideas and which gets a bit boring after a while. Magic Pockets is still a rather good game, just not excellent.
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Playability: 7/10
Overall: 8/10
View all comments (211)
Incredibly laaaaaargeeee! And the game didn´t give me any passwords. I can't understand it, because I have found some passwords for Magic pockets in some cheatlists, but in the game wasn´t any input for them... Though it was a great game! A lot of original ideas - levels change in dependence on various helmets you picked up, a lot of funny things - flying with chewing-gum bubbles, riding trike, many bonus items etc. But impossible to finish due its giant number of levels for your few lives...
View all comments (768)
Excellent platformer. Very colourful and a great experience. Not very long lasting though
View all comments (8)