Wayforward is a name that for most people instantly brings to mind some of the finest 2D-games that have graced handhelds and consoles alike–from River City Girls to of course Shantae. But in its over 25 year history, Wayforward worked on a ton of licensed games. With Sabrina: The Animated Series - Zapped, it isn’t just possible to (re)-experience a pleasant platformer on the Game Boy Color yet again, it shows the foundation upon which Shantae was built.

Sabrina: The Animated Series - Zapped! is based on the animated show of the same name. You play as the teenage witch Sabrina who accidentally transforms her classmates and friends into animals that start running wild. To turn them back into her friends, Sabrina needs to stun them by jumping on their heads and casting a spell. As you progress you acquire new spells such as a double jump, gaining control of your cat Salem–who can access crawlspaces–or even a bubble that allows Sabrina to float up in vertical levels.

The level design feels pretty tight. Stages vary in theming, but I liked how some played with the different spells in unique ways. For example, there's a high vertical level where navigation with the bubble becomes key, and stages where you play half the time as Salem to unlock the spells to break blocks and proceed. It's nothing too mind-blowing, but it is a good showcase of the ways in which platformers set themselves apart on the Game Boy Color, with large and colorful sprites but also stages that are easy to pick up and a play and a simple password system to make progression straightforward.

If anything the game feels limited by the minimal inputs available on the Game Boy Color. Casting a spell and running are both mapped to the B-button, occasionally causing me to get hit by enemies rather than using a spell. For a licensed platformer for an animated tv spin-off of a TV-show it really hasn't any right to play as well as it does. Don't expect anything mind blowing or revolutionary, nor as polished as the original Shantae, but that game wouldn't be as solid if it wasn't for the foundation on display here. A curiosity maybe, but Sabrina: The Animated Series - Zapped is definitely not a bad time, even though the spell will wear off after playing it through once.