Magic Mansion by Nitrome is probably best categorized as an endless, vertical runner, or more like an endless climber in this instance, with randomized levels. You begin with a witch, but after gathering coins, you can unlock other avatars as well. No matter what you look like, every character plays the same be it a cat with a hat or a frog with a Mohawk. It’s more about aesthetic choice as well as giving players something to aim for other than a high score. In order to unlock new heroes, you need gold coins.
Now in Magic Mansion you have one move: jump. The character chosen will move automatically and jump once tapped. If they should hit an obstacle like a wall, or brick, they’ll simply turn around. Should they run into a trap such as a spike, a pool of water and or get shot from a cannon they’ll die on the spot. You can watch an ad, or pay 25 coins in order to keep going, but it’s not really worth it unless you really care about achieving a great score, which for an arcade game, maybe you are. Yet I will surmise that even the most dedicated achievement hunter will put this game down fast.
It’s simply not fun. The reason biggest reason is your jump ability in that it controls poorly. It’s more of a hop than a jump making one have to perfect their timing in order to avoid obstacles. No matter how many hours I sunk into Magic Mansion I barely ascended a handful of floors before dying. At the very least ads are simple enough to bypass with a click so at least it has that going for it.
Magic Mansion is a good-looking game paying homage to the Game Boy with its simplistic gameplay, catchy musical loop, and it’s black and white aesthetic. However, jumping is severally lacking in tights controls, which is a complete no-no. It’s a good time waster, but it’s nothing more than that as I’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who can nail those jumps satisfyingly enough to feel good.
