Slightly Magic - 8bit Legacy Edition Reviews

Seems to be the Spectrum version without the attribute clash. Has a menu on the F2 key with load/save anywhere. Music seems very similar/identical to the Amiga version so far. I played it originally on a Spectrum casette for my birthday when it was a codemasters game. I could not believe when I first loaded it on the Spectrum it said 'Slightly Magic' out of the speaker. I had to reset the speccy and load it again.It still says that but is in 16-bit.

Many a time I've wished that some classic Commodore 64/ZX Spectrum games were available on Steam, and for some reason, my mind always goes to the Codemasters library. The Dizzy series and their imitators, BMX Simulator, Steg the Slug, Rockstar Ate My Hamster, Tilt... And then we get a Codies game released on Steam, in more or less its original form, and... it's Slightly Magic. I'm not sure if I had any prior relationship with this game. I think I owned it at some point, but maybe it was one of those tapes that rarely loaded properly. Maybe I gave it a try but was immediately put off by the apparent difficulty and oblique puzzles of the first few screens. Having given it more of a chance, to make the most of my Steam purchase, I'm a bit more taken with it. It turns out there is more to it than getting fried by the dragon right at the beginning. The puzzles have a logical progression to them. The platform jumping seems fairly sophisticated and forgiving, but I suspect that's an aspect of the remake rather than the original. Overall, the game certainly has that 8-bit charm. It's just so good to play a game with that white sprites, black background Spectrummy look. For a Dizzyalike, Slightly Magic has its own unique style. Is this worth a purchase if it doesn't hold any nostalgic appeal for you? I'd like to urge yes. It's certainly more worthy than a lot of Steam indie games. At full price, it might be asking just a little bit much. This is a game that cost 3.99 on release (inflation, I know). Achievements and trading cards would do a lot to add value. I hope between this and Deus Ex Machina, this is the start of seeing a lot more games of this era on Steam. While this release seems to be a one-off project by Colin Jones, I'll keep dreaming of that Atari Vault style collection of Codemasters classics.

I played the original Slightly Magic on the ZX Spectrum back in 1992-1993, when games came on cassette tape and took 10 minutes to load. I loved the gorgeous (for the time) graphics, the Dizzy-esque gameplay and the sheer ruddy charm of it all. This updated version keeps all that intact while also adding a new soundtrack and insightful, informative commentary from creator Colin Jones. If you were old enough to have played it back in the day, pick it up and feel like a kid again. If you aren't quite old enough to remember it, or if you were a mere twinkle in the eye of your local postman at that time, Slightly Magic is a sweet, charming glimpse at the golden age of the UK "bedroom programming" scene.

Neat short adventure game from ZX Spectrum era, but with abandoned support sadly (F12 key brings debug console, absent crouch or death animations..)

Absolutely fantastic game, great idea on the DLC, and the history, at 40 years old, I feel like I’m very young again. Especially with autumn approaching, and the night’s drawing in. My kids will love this, they love the new pseudo 8bit games too, e.g. Undertale, which area great, but this is a classic. And with author commentary, which is just superb! Really going to enjoy playing and finishing this game during stopTober ;-)