Toki: Undeniably excellent, arcade game of the 80s

The plot of the game begins with a young couple, living happily among the leaves and flowers of a peaceful jungle. Toki is a brave warrior. His deeds are the stuff of legend, made immortal by the songsmiths of the surrounding tribes. His girlfriend, Miho, is also famous. Her beauty attracting admirers from many lands.

Everyone in the area knows of Toki’s heroic exploits, one person in particular – the evil Bashtar. He is jealous of the mighty warrior and wishes to steal Miho away for himself. One day, as Miho and Toki are wandering through the jungle, Bashtar sends one of his demonic manifestations, in the form of a gigantic hand, to kidnap the fair Miho. As the hand ascends the trees towards Bashtar’s mountaintop hide away, Toki rushes forward to rescue her. But Bashtar has one more trick up his sleeve… As Toki gets close to grabbing the hand, Bashtar appears and unleashes a bolt of blue fire.

As soon as the flame touches the brave hero, he begins to change shape, becoming a lowly Neanderthal ape. You take control of Toki in his multi-stage quest. You begin on the outskirts of the jungle near the entrance to the lower caves of Bashtar’s fortress. You are armed with a little magic of your own – the ability to spit small fireballs at your enemies. You must fight through the hordes of Bashtar’s devilish minions, either stamping on them or shooting them. Occasionally, you will find tokens either lying around the scenery or dropped by killed creatures.

When you pick these up, Toki’s power is temporarily increased, allowing him to bash through enemies with alacrity. At the end of each section, a hefty guardian appears. These move around absorbing shots and flinging smaller creatures at you. The beauty of Toki lies in the addictive arcade adventure gameplay of the original and in the slightly off-beat scenario. This is evident not only in the weird monsters you meet – such as huge flying blocks, complete with lethal gas-spitting gargoyles, being operated by two little monkeys paddling away on top – but also in the actual progress through the levels.

news source: various sources / image source: GenerationAmiga / watch on Youtube / download Toki