If you were growing up in the 80s then you probably remember the cartoon, Care Bears. My sister had a ton of plushes that were made available. I watched the cartoon, but I was far more into Transformers, He-Man, etc. Earlier this year we saw a 2D side scrolling action game released called Care Bears to The Rescue. Another Care Bears game was just announced, Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, which is a series of mini games, like Mario Party but with well-known game styles on offer.
It is interesting that Maximum Entertainment are going the board game and mini game route with this. Care Bears Unlock the Magic is very similar to most games in this genre but there is a major twist.
The mini games that you are tasked with completing are not random button mashers or memorization affairs. No, in Unlock the Magic, they are based on well-known games.
There is a mini game that requires you to fly through a tunnel without touching the sides which is very similar to Flappy Bird.
Another is obviously based on Bust-A-Move requiring you to shoot colored balls at other colored balls and make matches to clear the level.
Another is Snake but you are leading a conga line of Care Bears around the screen avoiding obstacles and bears you have already added while trying to add more bears to your line.
There is even a Breakout style mini game with colorful, family friendly vibes and graphics to entice younger players to play.
As mentioned previously, there was a Care Bears game released in 2024, To the Rescue, it is a 2D side scrolling action affair.
These are not the only times that Care Bears have entered the digital world of gaming though. Over the years, the brand has been licensed for mostly educational software for Macintosh or Windows PC鈥檚.The only other time consoles were even considered it was for the Atari 2600 back in the early to mid 80s. That was canceled though.
If you are interested in a family friendly game that you can play with your younger gamers then this may be your title. The mini games are a great introduction to retro gaming as well so it might become a fun hobby for the whole family.
Care Bears Unlock the Magic releases on PlayStation 4 and 5 and Nintendo Switch on March 27th, 2025. No information on a PC or Xbox release of this one at the time of this writing.
