Magic Boy

WARNING: This is a SCAM!!! Do not buy this game! The developer/publisher DID NOT TEST this before releasing it on Steam. What's wrong with this game? You cannot beat any of the levels other than the first (and only because of a pickup that takes you to a bonus level), and you cannot build up your score. Why? The executable for this game is a cracked (tampered) version. The original developers who made this game back in '93 ingeniously hid a piece of code inside the game that detects whether or not it has been tampered with, and if it has been tampered with, it prevents you from beating any levels normally, and also prevents you from building up your score. I would recommend this game if not for the aforementioned problems, but there are countless other games on Steam that are far more deserving of your time and attention than this one.

Yes! More retro dos gaming goodness on Steam please!

Magic Boy is a vibrant throwback to an earlier era of platforming design, a game that embraces the charm and difficulty curve of early 1990s action-puzzle hybrids. Revived on Steam after its original release decades ago, it preserves both the strengths and the stubborn quirks of its vintage origins. The premise is immediately whimsical: you play as Hewlett, a young magician’s apprentice who has made an enormous mess by accidentally releasing magical creatures into the world. The task is simple in theory but demanding in execution—capture every creature you’ve unleashed and restore order before your master discovers what you’ve done. That narrative setup gives the game a lighthearted, cartoonish tone that carries through to its colorful visuals, energetic sprites, and cheerful sound cues. At its core, Magic Boy is a blend of platforming, action, and light puzzle solving. Instead of racing to the end of a stage, your primary goal is to track down, stun, and capture monsters scattered throughout each level. Once captured, they must be deposited into designated containers positioned around the map. This alone separates the game from many traditional platformers of its era—the responsi…

I bought this game because it was the first game I played as a child back when it was on floppy disk. Despite looking and sounding like it did back in the 90s, unfortunately the game is unplayable. The scoring system doesn’t work; no matter how many fruits you collect, the score remains zero. And when you collect all the monsters, the level doesn’t end so you can’t actually complete a level. I played on the steam deck first of all. I had to do a lot of tweaking with the controls. The default controls were useless, especially when there’s no Enter key assigned to a button which you need to get past the first screen. Then I moved to my PC and the controls were fine, but now the screen didn’t fit my monitor. Kept missing about an inch of screen on the right hand side with no way to adjust the screen resolution. So, not great. Slightly regretting buying it but it was only a quid.