Tweety & the Magic Gems

The storyline in Tweety & the Magic Gems is suitably cheesy: One day Tweety, our yellow bird hero of small stature, goes into a deep, dark forest to be left alone for a while. Apparently, for unknown reasons, our brave bird feels fatigued and decides to take a nap. When Tweety awakens, however, he notices that he has leaned against a strange wooden chest. Being a funny little curious creature he cannot resist the temptation, and opens the box. Tweety soon becomes aware of something strange as his whole body starts to itch! Soon his body starts turning into stone, which obviously isn't a good thing, and he understands that he has made a big mistake. Oh my, his fears are confirmed when the enchanted queen of the forest appears, telling him that the chest contained all the bad energy of the forest. The yellow bird pales into an almost white apparition, as this is pretty darn bad news for him. The only objects that can save him, the enchanted queen of the forest informs, are gems scattered all over the world. Each gem has indeed a unique power, and it is of utmost importance that all are collected in order to avoid total petrifaction.

I am quite certain that Tweety feels at least fairly motivated to avoid petrifaction, but as he is on the verge of becoming a stone he cannot do much about his precarious situation himself. Thankfully he has lots of friends willing to help out, and a whole bunch of Looney Tunes characters are let loose on the world to find the gems.

And so the game itself begins. Can't you just feel the excitement?

The title is played out on a map of the world with the characters being viewed from a top-down perspective. The whole playing field is filled with dots where one can move, and well-known cities are placed according to real-life locations. Cities can be entered by a press of the A button and it is in these same cities that gems can be found.

In the game a chic deck of cards decides how far one can travel in a turn. It is a simple procedure where you draw a card showing a number and then move the corresponding amount of steps. If you happen to stumble upon a red dot on the map a mini-game will take place. Playing a mini-game match usually consists of pressing the A button as fast as possible and at times steering the character around the screen with the directional pad. Sadly there are only 16 mini-games in total, and it is too far between the battles.

There are 18 different items that can come in handy from time to time in your quest. These items can be purchased in, no surprise here, item shops or won by drawing a lucky seven or an ace from the stylish deck of cards. Most of the items are used to stop another player from moving the next turn, might it be by putting him to sleep or forcing him into a frenzied storm. There are also airplane tickets, protection bells, tiaras and so on.

The game can be played by four players simultaneously, but unfortunately requires four cartridges in that case. Consequently, one will mostly play the game against one to three computer-controlled players, and in the long run that can become quite dull. With graphics that could as well be on Game Boy Color and unexceptional sound, the title does not really excite.