Classic platformer Toki heads to the Switch

Akira Sakuma's Toki is of gaming's more underrated classics and a glossy looking remake of the fireball-shooting ape's adventures is heading to the Switch. That's thanks to Microïds who, hot on the heels of the Flashback revamp, have teamed up with Philippe Dessoly and Pierre Adane to give new life to the arcade game, arriving in November.

Released for the first time in 1989, Toki has marked an entire generation of players thanks to its ape-like character and its specific arcade game difficulty. For its grand return on Nintendo Switch, Philippe Dessoly, the artist for the original Toki on Amiga, the creator of Mr Nutz and of official artwork for Goldorak and Albator, is taking charge of the artistic direction.

He says, “I have a very special relationship with this game, which I am particularly fond of – in a way it’s my equivalent of Proust’s Madeleine! As soon as the music starts, I’m plunged back into the time when we ported the game to Amiga and Atari, when there was a very particular atmosphere in the video game sector. It’s a very special souvenir for me, so 30 years later, when they asked me to do the remake, it was impossible to refuse. I really enjoy improving and reinterpreting character designs and backgrounds. I sincerely hope that a maximum number of players and fans of the original – like me - will have fun playing it.”