Magic Pockets

Moby ID: 508
Atari ST Specs

Description official descriptions

In Magic Pockets, the player controls the cool Bitmap Kid who has deep pockets that can store virtually anything. Bitmap Kid's mission is to get back his toys that were stolen by some creatures.

The game is a side-scrolling shooter that plays out across four worlds inhabited by a variety of enemies. The player can cause more damage to these enemies by charging their shots before firing. The player's weapon also changes its shape and features according to the requirements of each world.

The Bitmap Kid has special athletic abilities. He can jump high by stepping on whirlwinds and can even destroy all the creatures he hits after falling from a high place. In addition, he also can ride a bike, dive, and even fly thanks to the special items he encounters on the way.

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Atari ST version)

10 People (8 developers, 2 thanks)

Design by
Coding by
Visuals by
Doin' the Do by
Doin' the Do Home Computer Reconstruction & FX
Additional Coding by
Cover Art by
Box Design by
  • Red Cloud
Manual Artwork by
Special Thanks to

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 10 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 24 ratings with 2 reviews)

Excellent

The Good
This is a nice game that starts off with a short clip from Betty Boo's Doin' the Do. (In my opinion, I really didn't like Betty's songs. I'm glad that she got fazed out.) You play the cool Bitmap Kid (BK), who must explore four worlds consisting of four areas each, and these four worlds include Cave World, Jungle World, Lake World, and Mountain World. In these worlds, you are trying to get your toys back from enemies that have stolen them. This can be done by using your weapons against them, which vary in each world, including tornatoes (Cave World), clouds (Jungle World), ice-cubes (Lake World), and snowballs (Mountain World). Enemies will vary with each world. You see, in Lake World, for example, you'll fight crabs, clamshells, buzzards, piranhas, and jellyfish; whereas in Mountain World, you are faced with evil rabbits, eggheads, yetis, and snowmen. These weapons can help you as well. Tornatoes can lift you up onto platforms further up, clouds turn into rain drops and help plants grow, and snowballs can be used for blocks so that you can get across water.

As you progress through the levels, enemies will become smarter, making it difficult for you to kill them. If you hold down the fire button for several seconds, you'll hurl a much bigger version of your weapon which has the capability of trapping enemies in them. When you come in contact with the trapped enemy, you can gather sweets that include ice-creams, life savers, candy canes, pieces of cake, blocks of chocolate, chocolate bars, and more. If you fail to get to the trapped enemy in a reasonable amount of time, it will disappear and you will miss out on the sweet. If you're lucky, you may get a big sundae for 5,000 points, or a big bowl of fruit that awards you with 10,000 points, or a big birthday cake that will award you a whopping 20,000 points.

As well as your ordinary weapons, you can find a strange box somewhere in each world that enables you to shoot out fireballs or make some spikes fall out of it. Just can't reach a platform that is above you if you have no tornadoes? Then your best bet is to find a gum machine that will enable you to blow out a big wad of chewing gum, which will enable you to fly in any direction that you please. On some occasions, you will find a television, and if you press down on the fire button, the game will take a snapshot of the entire level and allows you to view where enemies are located. (And I'm not just talking about a BMP file.)

Near the end of each area, the gameplay gets a bit interesting. You see, in Cave World, you can ride a bike and use it to mow down any enemies that get in your way, and if you look hard enough, a helmet can be picked up, and picking this up enables you to fire laser bolts at enemies. In Jungle World, you can pick up a boxing glove that you can use to punch enemies off the screen and grab sweets. In Lake World, you can swim underwater to get rid of more enemies and get treasures, as long as you are wearing a snokel. In Mountain World, you use a pogo-ball to run into enemies, and if you land on top of enemies, you will be able to get a sweet. The gameplay gets even better in the very last area of each world. Depending on the world that you are exploring, you can race against some gorillas, defeat the big ape, or hunt for some treasure.

When you complete each level, a bonus will be given, the number of enemies that are killed in each level, and the number of toys collected, and the number of stars that are collected. During this time, shit will come out of his pockets and off the screen. and BK will give you the thumbs up, wipe his forehead, or bow, depending on the world.

The Bad
Some enemies in the game take more hits like you wouldn't believe. Then again, that's probably because I was playing an illegal version of the game, and anyone who copied the game then played it were punished by the Bitmap Brothers for doing so in the first place.

The Bottom Line
So much to explore, interesting things to do, sensational sound and graphics, make Magic Pockets a classic.

Rating: ****½

Amiga · by Katakis | カタキス (43092) · 2004

Go ahead pick my pocket!

The Good
"Magic Pockets" was a classic developed by The Bitmap Brothers, you take the role of Bitmap Kid out to stop evil blobs and things from stealing your toys. Thats the storyline......... I know, but TBB always concentrated on gameplay more than anything else. The intro to this game was amazing, it had the music "just doin to doo" by "Betty Boo" and has good quility too it as well.

Anyway, you start of in a cave world, now depending on which world you are in causes you to have different pocket power, so in the cave world you have whirlwind power which gives you the ability to throw whirlwinds, and in lake land you have ice cubes.

As you make your way through the levels killing blobs and frogs you come across some special gear like a bike, which gives you the ability to run down those blob scum, also you get lazers masks, fencing mask and bubble gum machines where you chuw a wod of gum and blow it up till you fly! (it's quite humorous).

The graphics are colourful and unique, it has that certain Bitmap Brothers style to it and I thinks it's great.

The Bad
The sounds were good but there wasn't enough of it just the constant noise of him walking does drag.

The Bottom Line
Magic Pockets is too cool for other game to handle!

DOS · by Andrew Dunn (8) · 2001

Trivia

Music

The Betty Boo song "Doin' the Do" is also in the PC version, but as a simple snippet of digitized sound on the PC, whereas on the Amiga it is a full module. The PC version developers transcribed the music to nearly every single sound device - Sound Blaster (complete with digital drums), Adlib, Tandy, MT-32, even PC speaker - and all the transcriptions are fairly accurate.

TV

An early version of the game was used on children's TV show Motormouth's call-in game Mighty Mo. Players had to give directions by voice commands which were interpreted into movements, presumably by someone playing the demo as instructed.

DOS version

The DOS versions of the game used a copy protection system where the game asks for a password after the first level. The password could be from a password sheet shipped with the game.

Awards

  • PC Games (Germany)
    • Issue 01/1993– Best Arcade Action Game in 1992
  • ST Format
    • January 1993 (issue #42) - #16 in '50 finest Atari ST games of all time' list

Information also contributed by -Chris, Martin Smith and mailmanppa

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by IJan.

Amiga, Atari ST added by Rebound Boy. Antstream added by firefang9212. Genesis, Dreamcast added by Sciere. Acorn 32-bit added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Joshua Dove, Apogee IV, kametyken, Martin Smith, Patrick Bregger, mailmanppa, Jo ST.

Game added December 1, 1999. Last modified March 15, 2024.