267. Magic Darts (Seta, Famicom, 1991)

Magic Darts is a whimsical darts simulation game, including 6 different game types and support for up to 4 players (or zero players in "watch mode", which is a cool feature). Three of the game types are just typical countdown style games, though the other 3 are all distinct. One nice player-friendly touch is that even after you select the number of players, the menu still gives you the chance to add more players before you start, which seems obvious but is something I've never seen in a Famicom game.

Mechanically, Magic Darts is a fairly typical sports simulation title for the early 90s. You set your horizontal angle, vertical angle, and power with a series of 3 oscillating meters as in countless other golf or bowling games. The meters are at least decently slow, so you can generally make the darts go around where you are aiming them without too much difficulty, though I never managed to get a 50-point bullseye.  

Since the dartboard itself is static, one big draw of Magic Darts is that you can choose from 12 different characters, and while the selection leads off with some generic looking people, you eventually get to some wackier stuff: a wrestler, a robot, a monkey, etc. Each character is not just a picture, either, they also have their own special moves. There's an alien who can use telekinesis on the dart, the robot can just extend its arm out and place a dart on the board, and the monkey throws a dart behind his back.

The screen has a nice little graphic of your dartsperson as they ready and throw their shot, and when certain events happen like finishing a round or busting, you get cute little animations with the various characters. Occasionally, a fly will buzz around the dartboard, and I'm convinced that something happens if you hit it, though I was never able to. 

Even with all of its features and style, Magic Darts still a shallow game wrapped in a nice package, and one that is best enjoyed by multiple people. It's my second favorite darts video game after the minigame in Deadly Premonition.

3/5, a feature-rich darts simulator with nice presentation & humor