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Toki (video game)
Encyclopedia
Toki, known in Japan
as is a shoot 'em up
platformer arcade game
, or a "run and gun" developed and published in Japan by TAD Corporation and published in North America
by Fabtek. It features elements of tongue-in-cheek
humor combined with the action. The player takes control of an enchanted
ape
who must battle hordes of jungle monsters with energy balls from his mouth (described humorously as "monkey-spit" or "monkey-vomit" by some gamers). The ultimate goal is to destroy the evil wizard who cast a spell on you; therefore transforming yourself from an ape back into a human, and rescuing the kidnapped princess. The game was ported to several video game console
s and home computer
s.
); extra lives; and magic coins (food in the Genesis version) which when collected in abundance can obtain Toki an extra life.
of the game is a muscular, loin-cloth wearing, Tarzan
-esque tribesman named Toki (known in Japan and in some ports as JuJu), who up until recently lived a primitive yet contented life in the jungles of a vast and wild island in the South Seas.
This all ends tragically when the beautiful Miho, princess of Toki's tribe of jungle men, and a potential suitor to Toki, is kidnapped by the treacherous witch doctor
Vookimedlo. Miho is taken to a vast golden palace at the summit of the island, which Vookimedlo has conjured up for himself to reside in. The wicked shaman then casts a spell to transform all the human inhabitants of the island into various animals and beasts, before they can defend themselves against the evil magic.
Toki himself is transformed into a Geeshergam; one of the ape-like minions of Vookimedlo; although in his primate
form Toki more resembles a gorilla
. Fortunately the great warrior discovers that he is still in control of his own faculties and as an unexpected side effect of the spell cast on him, he can breathe fire and shoot forth various projectiles from his mouth.
Toki then sets off on a quest to pursue and defeat Vookimeldo, rescue princess Miho, and undo the curse which has befallen the island. However, to reach Vookimedlo's golden palace, Toki will have to travel through murky lakes, steep canyons, over frozen ice-capped mountain ranges and lava
-spewing volcanoes alike. To progress in his quest and be ultimately victorious, Toki will have to battle all manner of dangerous wild animals and various mutants of Vookimedlo's creation; not to mention Vookimedlo's own abominable guardians who act as level bosses.
In some ports of the game, Toki was named "JuJu", Miho was named "Wanda" and Vookimeldo was named "Dr. Stark". Also, in some ports it was not Vookimedlo who kidnaps princess Miho, but his chief henchman
, the half-invisible giant known as Bashtar. In some ports Bashtar was the final boss of the game, and not Vookimedlo.
Due to its popularity, within the next two years the game had been ported to a larger number of home video game consoles
and home computers of the time. These included the Amiga
and Atari ST
published by Ocean Software
, the Atari Lynx and the Nintendo Entertainment System
published by Taito
. The latter version of the game was slightly altered and featured a health bar
so that Toki didn't die after one hit. Ports for the ZX Spectrum
& Amstrad CPC
were advertised by Ocean Software
, and the Spectrum version was previewed in issue 90 of Crash Magazine
, however neither port materialized.
Sega
would later reprogram the game into an exclusive version for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis known as Toki: Going Ape Spit (acting more like a sequel/remix akin to other such Mega Drive titles such as The New Zealand Story, ESWAT
and Shadow Dancer
). This version lacks the non-spit power-ups, but it features additional levels and more detailed graphics.
A new, independent enhanced remake was announced in October 2009. It is developed by Golgoth Studio and will be released at the end of 2011 for PC
on Steam and on home consoles XBLA
, PlayStation Network, and WiiWare
in early 2012.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as is a shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
platformer arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
, or a "run and gun" developed and published in Japan by TAD Corporation and published in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
by Fabtek. It features elements of tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
humor combined with the action. The player takes control of an enchanted
Incantation
An incantation or enchantment is a charm or spell created using words. An incantation may take place during a ritual, either a hymn or prayer, and may invoke or praise a deity. In magic, occultism, witchcraft it may be used with the intention of casting a spell on an object or a person...
ape
Ape
Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
who must battle hordes of jungle monsters with energy balls from his mouth (described humorously as "monkey-spit" or "monkey-vomit" by some gamers). The ultimate goal is to destroy the evil wizard who cast a spell on you; therefore transforming yourself from an ape back into a human, and rescuing the kidnapped princess. The game was ported to several video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s and home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
s.
Gameplay
The game is a typical platformer in which the player must traverse several levels with a miniboss at the end. Despite his apparent handicap, his slowness as an ape, and the fact that almost any attack can kill him, Toki is able to spit powerful shots that will help him in defeating enemies and obstacles that try to slow him down in his mission. There is a timer for each stage. Toki can make use of items such as power-ups for his spit; lucky rabbit feet which can give Toki bursts of super-human agility and jumping skill; clocks which add extra time to the countdown; fruit which can add to Toki's bonus points; keys which unlock bonus areas; a special helmet that protects him from upwards attacks (the helmet rather comically resembles an American football helmetAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
); extra lives; and magic coins (food in the Genesis version) which when collected in abundance can obtain Toki an extra life.
Plot
The protagonistProtagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of the game is a muscular, loin-cloth wearing, Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
-esque tribesman named Toki (known in Japan and in some ports as JuJu), who up until recently lived a primitive yet contented life in the jungles of a vast and wild island in the South Seas.
This all ends tragically when the beautiful Miho, princess of Toki's tribe of jungle men, and a potential suitor to Toki, is kidnapped by the treacherous witch doctor
Witch doctor
A witch doctor originally referred to a type of healer who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. It is currently used to refer to healers in some third world regions, who use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine...
Vookimedlo. Miho is taken to a vast golden palace at the summit of the island, which Vookimedlo has conjured up for himself to reside in. The wicked shaman then casts a spell to transform all the human inhabitants of the island into various animals and beasts, before they can defend themselves against the evil magic.
Toki himself is transformed into a Geeshergam; one of the ape-like minions of Vookimedlo; although in his primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
form Toki more resembles a gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
. Fortunately the great warrior discovers that he is still in control of his own faculties and as an unexpected side effect of the spell cast on him, he can breathe fire and shoot forth various projectiles from his mouth.
Toki then sets off on a quest to pursue and defeat Vookimeldo, rescue princess Miho, and undo the curse which has befallen the island. However, to reach Vookimedlo's golden palace, Toki will have to travel through murky lakes, steep canyons, over frozen ice-capped mountain ranges and lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
-spewing volcanoes alike. To progress in his quest and be ultimately victorious, Toki will have to battle all manner of dangerous wild animals and various mutants of Vookimedlo's creation; not to mention Vookimedlo's own abominable guardians who act as level bosses.
In some ports of the game, Toki was named "JuJu", Miho was named "Wanda" and Vookimeldo was named "Dr. Stark". Also, in some ports it was not Vookimedlo who kidnaps princess Miho, but his chief henchman
Henchman
Henchman referred originally to one who attended on a horse for his employer, that is, a horse groom. Hence, like constable and marshal, also originally stable staff, henchman became the title of a subordinate official in a royal court or noble household...
, the half-invisible giant known as Bashtar. In some ports Bashtar was the final boss of the game, and not Vookimedlo.
Ports and related releases
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
and home computers of the time. These included the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
and Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
published by Ocean Software
Ocean Software
The British company Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s...
, the Atari Lynx and the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
published by Taito
Taito
Taito may mean:*Taito Corporation, a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware*Taito, Tokyo, a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan*Taito, also known as matai, paramount chiefs according to Fa'a Samoa...
. The latter version of the game was slightly altered and featured a health bar
HUD (computer gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
so that Toki didn't die after one hit. Ports for the ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
& Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
were advertised by Ocean Software
Ocean Software
The British company Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s...
, and the Spectrum version was previewed in issue 90 of Crash Magazine
CRASH (magazine)
Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
, however neither port materialized.
Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
would later reprogram the game into an exclusive version for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis known as Toki: Going Ape Spit (acting more like a sequel/remix akin to other such Mega Drive titles such as The New Zealand Story, ESWAT
ESWAT: City Under Siege
ESWAT: City Under Siege, in Japan , is a 1990 side scrolling platform video game for the Sega Mega Drive and Genesis video game consoles.ESWAT: City Under Siege was based on the arcade game ESWAT: Cyber Police released a year earlier in 1989...
and Shadow Dancer
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
is a side-scrolling action game produced by Sega that was originally released for the Mega Drive/Genesis in . It has been re-released via downloading services such as the Wii's Virtual Console and Steam, and included in the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.It...
). This version lacks the non-spit power-ups, but it features additional levels and more detailed graphics.
A new, independent enhanced remake was announced in October 2009. It is developed by Golgoth Studio and will be released at the end of 2011 for PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
on Steam and on home consoles XBLA
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
, PlayStation Network, and WiiWare
WiiWare
WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...
in early 2012.
Reception
Toki was criticized for some due to its lack of originality, and the general slow pace of the game (Toki as an ape doesn't move very fast), amongst other criticisms. However the game was generally well received and achieved a considerable following of fans.External links
}- JuJu Densetsu at arcade-history
- Toki at Farmgames
- Toki Arcade Remixed Version at Golgoth Studio