Soooo not a hidden gem but why haven’t I touched this series???

Toki Tori – Nintendo Switch – Released: 3/30/18 – $4.49

Short Review (Review copy provided by Two Tribes)

Funny how a game that I knew about for years is finally being played by me. I personally have known about the game since the gameboy color and the port on the Wii and 3DS. It was just a game that I thought was boring but found myself glued to the screen with the Switch version. It is a sad case of sometimes an icon can make a person purchase a game or pass on it due to not being appealing enough. Due to the mass amount of content on the 3DS is likely the reason why I passed on it. The Wii port is another story since I was young so not income to purchase it. Toki Tori is an interesting game that feels like it was ripped from times of old, the original is from 2001. Does anyone remember Crazy Castle with Bugs Bunny? It feels much like that game where you need to collect items, dodge enemies or destroy enemies, and finish the stage. Toki Tori does have some interesting mechanics though with an assortment of skills like teleporting, creating ledges, and using a freeze gun. While the game does feel dated, it is less than $5 so you get a ton of content that will keep anyone busy! I gladly give this game an 8 out of 10 for its incredible amount of content, ease of play ability, and always giving me that “Ah ha!” moment when I finish a Hard stage.

The icon is so basic which is great but the start menu has so much life:

Story

The story is pretty funny, it is about chicken egg being taken. Toki Tori breaks out of his egg to rescue all of them! He follows them to a castle but then the eggs are scattered all throughout the land. Then our adventure starts as he sets forward to rescue his brothers and sisters. Really check out the gameboy opening it is pretty adorable, it is around the 13 second mark:

Gameplay

The game is fairly standard with the objective of collecting all the eggs in a stage. You will avoid enemies while using different skills to get around them or create new paths to areas. You will need to create new ledges, teleport, freeze enemies, and a few other things that unlock after beating certain stages. While for extra challenge you can take on the hard mode stages and they are brutal! I thought they would be pretty easy but the first one took me a bit too long at around a half hour before I got it. Everytime I tried a hard stage this happened so unless you are good at those stages you will get your money’s worth in no time.

Personal Experience

Much like another game that I couldn’t put down coughClusterTruckcough… got to get rid of these shameless plugs! I spent a lot of time laying in bed trying to crack some of the hard mode stages which took me way too long to finish. I like Toki Tori but it does feel a bit weird and I’m not sure if it is just a game that I know is a port of a really old game. Or if it is because it reminds me of games I use to play like Crazy Castle. The first time playing I spent a good two hours playing non-stop and didn’t go to bed until late… you could say I woke up the next day pretty rough and had to still teach. During bus rides I would quickly boot up the game and do a stage or two while on there but I wonder what people thought about the game around me if they were paying attention.

Final Thoughts

While the game game does feel a bit old, you are getting it for a very low price. I was able to get my nephew to play some and he enjoyed a ton. He wasn’t able to complete any of the harder stages but then again those gave me trouble as well. It is nice to see such an excellent game come to the Switch and to finally enjoy it. I am glad that developers push for their older titles when they bring over their catalog. I give this game an 8 out of 10! I highly recommend people to check out the sequel as well since that is another game that I am reviewing so people in the future check out that review as well!

My Gameplay Footage:

Trailer:

End Credits

Mannnn its been a while! I’ve been super busy with work and school so held things off this week, just when I thought I was all caught up I am behind once more. Never try to set up a trip with students! It is like pulling teeth talking to parents about forms and making sure they paid for the bus fare. Either way, I am back! I have a few reviews prepped and ready to go so expect those for the next few days. I was unable to record any gameplay this weekend due to school work so hopefully I have time on Thursday night to upload everything. I do have the scripts ready for all the speed reviews so look out for those.

Just letting people know this review is out of order because I got Toki Tori 2+ first but it was a bit late email for a review copy when I found out the first game was coming. So I decided to just wait for the original to come out before starting my review of the sequel. Hopefully Two Tribes didn’t mind since I didn’t play the original and wanted to give it a fair review instead of instantly comparing it to the sequel.

I do have several giveaways coming up soon! Little Triangle is very soon likely tomorrow or the next day and Eternal Edge is currently on the chopping block for review that has a giveaway. I would say Eternal Edge is next week at the earliest since I do have around 4-5 reviews ahead of it. Neverland is taking a very long time to review which has been the hold up for many other reviews. Being a two man team that has both people working and going to school, it is a bit rough to get everything lined up. I am not as busy as Pedro but we have some exciting things in the works!