Magic Meanies

The Good
What does Mr. Do! have in common with Dig Dug Both of these games fail to have official versions for the ZX Spectrum. Enter Magic Meanies, a game by CDS Microsystems that is an impressive clone of these two games. First, you have the Space Invaders-like title screen, complete with score table that looks really good, and the option of controlling the game by joystick or keyboard, or turning the music on or off.

The gameplay is not exactly Mr. Do!. The cherries are replaced with pieces of lead (although there is a cherry running around the maze, which you have to collect as well), and there are no letters that spell the word EXTRA. But other than that, the game is extremely faithful to the original game in terms of graphics and sound. To get to the lead, you will have to move your character through the green dirt, creating unique tunnels for the meanies to get through. There are boulders scattered everywhere, and these can be used to crush the meanies or stop them from following you.

Once you complete a level, the game tells you which level you are entering. Now, the five digit number seems to indicate that there are 10,000 or more levels, but I only got up to level six. Magic Meanies game acts as a score attack game, in which you keep trying to beat your previous scores. All your scores are recorded in an impressive-looking high score table, where you can send a copy of the table to your printer. With the sound, the music is much longer than Mr. Do! and continues even if you lose a life.

The Bad
Maybe the dirt should be different colors, not just green.

The Bottom Line
This is an impressive Mr. Do! clone. The gameplay is extremely faithful to the original game (minus the EXTRA monsters) and the author of the game took the original's music one step further. The graphics are excellent, with different patterns in the grass in each level, and you can create some pretty unique tunnels. ZX Spectrum owners may have missed out on an official version, but this is as close as they could get.