Analysis of Toki: a timeless classic

In today's world of video games, indie, pixelart and retro are becoming more and more fashionable. Old games are much more valued today than in the year they were released. Remakes or remasterings of titles that are several decades old make up a large part of the supply and demand on PC and consoles. But before all these playable proposals came the arcade machines. Our childhood is full of memories full of coins and joysticks with which we spent our afternoons. Do you feel like taking a trip to the past with our Toki analysis?

Princess looking for a "cute" prince to save her

In our analysis of Toki we begin with the story section, the most cliché of this videogame. As in Mario and most classic hero vs. villain games, the world of Toki places us in a scenario in which an evil archenemy kidnaps our girl and suddenly turns us into a primate. Our main ability will be to spit balls out of our mouths as projectiles and we will have to move through a map until we reach the final confrontation. As in Super Mario, where Peach is kidnapped by Bowser on numerous occasions, in Toki the story is the same. With the particularity (and impediment) that the plumber is not transformed into an animal

A 2D platformer that continues to leave its mark

The playable proposal that we extract from our analysis of Toki is that of a platformer in two dimensions to the use. Our goal is to get from point A to point B by eliminating all the enemies that cross our path. To do this we will have the help of the projectiles that we spit out of our mouths and certain temporary power-ups that we will acquire throughout the adventure (such as a helmet that will make us immune to enemy attacks). We can also jump over enemies to defeat them and use them as platforms to reach high places to which we would not have access in any other way

The peculiarity of Toki lies in its difficulty. We will repeat the levels over and over again, since we will have four touches of damage before being eliminated and having to start from scratch. The advantage over playing in an arcade machine is that we will not have to worry about the coins we spend, since with the purchase of the game we can try again and again until we get the victory. Gone are the afternoons in our favorite joint playing with the joystick and making a legendary queue because we wanted to finish the game with the only coin we had in our pocket. Although, for the most nostalgic, it is always possible to play as if it were an arcade thanks to the nintendo switch special edition, which includes a cardboard arcade machine. Something that we can not do in other versions, but we can always get a joystick pad to play this game

The duration of the game will not extend much in time, as Toki was designed to play in arcade machines and its duration is limited by it. If we are players accustomed to playing this genre we can complete the adventure in just over an hour, although we already anticipate that it will be worth every minute invested in the game. Few are the games that have the ability, like this Toki, to transport us for an afternoon to our earliest childhood during its six levels

Old school graphics and a very "arcade" sound

One of the elements to highlight in our analysis of Toki is the graphics facelift that this title has undergone. The work on the aesthetic part and its adaptation to the current video game market is noticeable. The animations, designs and scenery are at the height of this retro proposal and will satisfy both new players and the "older" ones. We will not have the possibility (as in Wonderboy Dragon's Trap) to play with the old graphics, but we will not miss it either

The melodies accompany perfectly this side scrolling run and gun and take us back to other decades. The video game is translated into our language, something that is to be welcomed. The sound section has also had a facelift to adapt it to our decade (and that you will listen wonderfully with our kimera v2 headset) and the combination of all the aforementioned elements make Toki a perfect choice to spend a summer afternoon with our friends

The best

Back to the 80's with this remake

Aesthetics and sound, perfectly adapted to our time

The gameplay is still devilishly difficult and challenging, something that engages you

The Worst

The difficulty will put back some players, you can't save the game

We have tested Toki thanks to a PS4 code provided by Meridiem Games.