Monkey Magic (Arcade) Guide
Monkey Magic is a paddle and ball arcade game released in Japan in 1979.
Defeat the Monkey face by clearing four phases of minigames using a paddle and ball.
Releases
| System |  |
|---|---|
| Arcade | August 1979 |
Getting Started
When the game is powered on, it will display the Attract Mode screen.
Insert coin
When "Input-Coin" is displayed, insert a coin.
- Insert ¥100 to begin a 1-Player game.
- Insert two ¥100 coins to select a 2-Player game.
Number of players
Select the number of players. If you inserted one coin you can only select the 1-Player Game. If you inserted two coins, you can choose between 1-Player Game and 2-Player Game.
In the 2-Player game, play alternates between the two players when one loses a life.
How to Play
Defeat the Monkey
Each round consists of four distinct phases. Each phase is a minigame with its own rules and scoring where you gradually take down the Monkey's smiling face using your paddle and ball.
- Phase 1: Open the Monkey's mouth
- Phase 2: Break the Monkey's teeth
- Phase 3: Turn the Monkey's face green
- Phase 4: Destroy the Monkey's hat
After you clear all four phases and the ball returns to the paddle, the Monkey will reset with more Handy Blocks to make it harder.
Bounce the ball off the paddle
Use the dial controller to move the paddle left and right to catch the ball.
The direction of the ball is decided by how close it is to the edge of the paddle. The closer to the edge, the shallower the ball's angle of travel.
Extra lives
You start the game with 3 extra lives (this can be changed to 4, 5 or 6 using dip switches).
- If the ball drops past the paddle, you lose one of your lives.
- If you lose all your lives, you get a Game Over.
- You earn an extra life at 10,000 points (this can be changed to 15,000, 20,000 or 30,000 points using dip switches).
Handy Blocks
Red skull-like heads that either reflect or change the direction of the ball.
The number of Handy Blocks increases on later rounds, blocking critical routes to the Monkey's face.
Phase 1: Open the Monkey's mouth
On the bottom half of the screen are three Arrow Blocks, numbered 1, 2 and 3. Each time the ball hits an Arrow Block, it rises towards the Monkey's mouth. Hit the Monkey's mouth with an Arrow Block to make him open his mouth. You will move on to Phase 2 and the Arrow Blocks will disappear.
Scoring
- Each time the ball hits an Arrow Block, you get 40 Points.
Arrow Blocks
The number on the Arrow Block is a score multiplier for the face tiles in Phase 3. For the highest score, open the Monkey's mouth with Arrow Block 3.
Arrow Block 1
Arrow Block 2
Arrow Block 3
Phase 2: Break the Monkey's teeth
With the Monkey's mouth open, angle the ball around the chin and into the Monkey's mouth. If the ball hits a tooth, the tooth disappears. When there are no teeth remaining, you move on to Phase 3.
Scoring
- Each time the ball hits a tooth, you get 50 Points.
Phase 3: Turn the Monkey's face green
The ball will pass over the Monkey's face, turning it green. Turn the entire face green within the time limit to move onto Phase 4.
Time-kun
A queue of little people line up under the Monkey's face and walk off the right-side of the play area. If they all leave the screen, you immediately get a Game Over, no matter how many lives you have remaining.
Monkey's Eyes
If the ball passes over the Monkey's eyes, they will open or close. If both eyes are open, the Monkey's chin will appear. The chin stops the ball from falling back down. If the Monkey closes one of its eyes, the chin will disappear again.
Other obstacles
- The Monkey's ears and hat will reflect the ball.
- The Monkey's nose acts as a spinner, changing the ball's trajectory and slowing it down.
Scoring
- If you used Arrow Block 1 to open the Monkey's mouth in Phase 1, turning a Monkey's face tile green gets you 30 Points. You get 60 Points if you used Arrow Block 2 and 90 Points if you used Arrow Block 3.
- You get 50 Points each time the ball passes over the Monkey's nose.
- You get 30 Points each time the ball passes over one of the Monkey's eyes. You get 200 Points if both eyes are open at the same time.
- You get 500 Points for each Time-kun still on screen when the Monkey's face has been completely turned green.
Phase 4: Destroy the Monkey's hat
The ball will break blocks out of the Monkey's hat. If the ball touches the top of the hat, the ball will speed up.
Scoring
- You get 70 Points for each block the ball hits in the hat.
- You can still score points if the ball passes over the Monkey's eyes and nose (see Phase 3).
All clear
Break all the blocks in the Monkey's hat, then let the ball return to the paddle to reset the Monkey's face. More Handy Blocks will appear as you clear each round. After clearing 3 rounds, the game continues to loop on the hardest difficulty.
