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Monkey Magic

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Monkey Magic

Dec 31, 1984

Main game

2.00 average rating based on 5 ratings

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A mixture of a platform and ladders game and a horizontal scrolling shoot'em up that was published by Micro Design aka Solar Software for various 8-bit homecomputers.
Release Dates
1984 Full Release (Europe)
Commodore C64/128/MAX
1985 Full Release (Europe)
Commodore 16, Commodore Plus/4
1987 Full Release (Europe)
Atari 8-bit
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User Stats
10
In Collection
4
Wish Listed
1
Playing
3
Backlogged
How Long Is Monkey Magic?
No playthrough data yet
scoopings
scoopings gave Jun 11, 2022
scoopings gave Jun 11, 2022
Peculiar, Decent Game That's Worth A Playtest
This review is for the Commodore C64/128/MAX version

Look: 7/10 I was happy and a bit proud to see this (tho it wasn't that hard heh) enter image description here

Sound: 7/10 Catchy enough, but nothing particularly great or striking. Well, actually, the more I heard it (I realize it's a known song, but the way that it sounds in this), the more I realized it felt like the upcoming Zelda and FF songs that I hold so dear. So, for that, it boosted my appreciation for it. That being said, the sound effects were mostly just annoying or functional at best.

Play: 6/10 The shooting in the first segment is a bit clunky, but it's doable and not too bad to get used to, silly and straightforward and pick-up-and-play-able to just push through anyway. And I suppose it's not actually that clunky, it's more so that it's one of those shoot em ups where you can't shoot again till the current bullet is used up or goes off screen. Never was a fan of that feature, but luckily their level design makes it relatively doable nonetheless. After what was a relatively impressive set of mechanics and controls in the first segment, I was quite disappointed with the clunkiness of the controls …

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Look: 7/10 I was happy and a bit proud to see this (tho it wasn't that hard heh) enter image description here

Sound: 7/10 Catchy enough, but nothing particularly great or striking. Well, actually, the more I heard it (I realize it's a known song, but the way that it sounds in this), the more I realized it felt like the upcoming Zelda and FF songs that I hold so dear. So, for that, it boosted my appreciation for it. That being said, the sound effects were mostly just annoying or functional at best.

Play: 6/10 The shooting in the first segment is a bit clunky, but it's doable and not too bad to get used to, silly and straightforward and pick-up-and-play-able to just push through anyway. And I suppose it's not actually that clunky, it's more so that it's one of those shoot em ups where you can't shoot again till the current bullet is used up or goes off screen. Never was a fan of that feature, but luckily their level design makes it relatively doable nonetheless. After what was a relatively impressive set of mechanics and controls in the first segment, I was quite disappointed with the clunkiness of the controls in the platform n ladders segment: the ladder mechanic was very exact but not in a gamer way--more just in a sloppy collision mask way, plus I know games at this time could have cool features like jump-and-grab-the-ladder etc; the wait for enemy to pass then go platformer gameplay is not a favorite of mine--I prefer platformers where you can fight back; and the jump mechanic was just archaic feeling. Nonetheless, I kept pushing through, probly largely because it was easy/doable enough for me heh. Unlike a lot of the super hard 8-bit era games. Really tacky you can't go down the ladders lol, unless I'm missing something? But the only 2 videos I see online they had to kill themselves and restart the level with the fruits they already collect and move on lol, super tacky.

Feel: 7/10 Cool that there's a variety of gameplay styles and they're mostly decently done. In the end, as fun and frivolous as the beginning of the game was, it just lacked that fun factor and/or that addictive factor that gets you to keep pushing through frustrations. I was quite curious about the later levels' gameplay styles, but not enough to keep pushing.

Attachment: 7/10 Despite my frustrations, there actually is a chance I would replace this: it has the right amount of gameplay styles, from shoot em ups to run n jumps to platform n ladders (my least favorite of the platformer subgenres, but still). Unlikely, but certainly possible. For now, moving on!

Playtime: ~30 mins Completion: Through the 2nd "level"

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