Magic Pockets
Encyclopedia
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
developed by the Bitmap Brothers
Bitmap Brothers
The Bitmap Brothers were a UK based video game developer founded in 1987. The company entered the industry in 1988 with the scrolling shooter Xenon. They quickly followed with the classic Speedball...
and published by Renegade
Renegade Software
Renegade Software was a UK based games publisher, founded in 1991 by the Bitmap Brothers.Initially the Bitmap Brothers used the new label to publish their own games, after they had become dissatisfied with the practices of publishing companies . Their stated goal was to give game developers more...
in October 1991. It was released for the Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Acorn Archimedes
Acorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer to be based on their own ARM architecture.Using a RISC design with a 32-bit CPU, at its launch in June 1987, the Archimedes was stated as running at 4 MIPS, with a claim of 18 MIPS during tests.The name is commonly...
and PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
.
The title track of the game is the instrumental version of a hit single "Doin' The Do", by Betty Boo
Betty Boo
Alison Moira Clarkson better known as Betty Boo, is an English singer, songwriter and pop-rap artist...
, originally released in 1990 on the Rhythm King label.
Magic Pockets also appeared as competition on the Saturday morning kids TV shows Motormouth
Motormouth
Motormouth was a Saturday morning children's television series that was produced by Television South and aired across the ITV network for four series, running between 3 September 1988 and 4 April 1992...
and Going Live!
Going Live!
Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene.Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher....
. The caller would watch the game on their TV screen at home and shout the instructions 'walk', 'jump' and 'fire' on the former show, and using a tone pad on their phone to directly control the character on the latter.
Game overview
A young boy, known as the Bitmap Kid, has a pair of magic pants that contain pockets with an infinite amount of storage space, and therefore he stores all of his toys in his pockets. One day the creatures who live in his pockets decide to keep his toys for themselves and play with them, so the Bitmap Kid must go on a journey to retrieve his toys from the creatures.The game is a platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
with standard abilities of walking, jumping, and hurling items to defeat foes. There are four areas in the game; Cave, Jungle, River and Mountain areas, each of which is split into several stages including a bonus stage where the Bitmap Kid must outdo the creatures depending on what toy is to be retrieved - for example, the Bike is found in the Cave area, and so the bonus stage is a bike race against the creatures.
The Bitmap Kid has a different attack for every area of the game, all of which may be "charged up" by holding down the fire button to throw a bigger projectile. The largest projectile has the ability to "suck up" enemies rather than destroying them - they will then be converted into pickups. Pickups range from sweets, which add points, to Silver and Gold stars which introduce another aspect of gameplay; Helmets. By collecting silver stars, the Bitmap Kid can then collect a gold star, which will produce a helmet he can wear for a limited time. Helmets vary from teleporters, to laser beams, to invincibility. He may also 'float' by using chewing gum
Chewing gum
Chewing gum is a type of gum traditionally made of chicle, a natural latex product, or synthetic rubber known as polyisobutylene. For economical and quality reasons, many modern chewing gums use rubber instead of chicle...
, collected from gum dispensers in the levels, to inflate a large bubble. Bubbles can sometimes help to reach secret areas.
There is no timer in the game; however, if you take too long a transparent bubble will appear and chase after the Bitmap Kid, gradually growing faster and faster over time. If they come into contact, the bubble will trap the kid and he will lose all his power-ups, except at the last stage, where the bubble will kill him. The game moves at a rather slow pace and levels are often huge, so the bubble is an increasingly more common occurrence as the game progresses.
There were plans for a Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
version of Magic Pockets, and was officially announced in 2002, however the remake has been evidently cancelled. http://www.bitmap-brothers.co.uk/our-games/future/magic-pocketsgba/index.htm
The PC versions of the game used a rather primitive copy protection system where the game would ask for a password after the first level. The password could be obtained by referencing a password sheet shipped with the game.