Rebirth of Rocket Possum

[(No Imagination)]

Toki seems like one of those arcade games designed to rob you blind - it's infuratingly cheap, and the smallest mistake usually costs you a credit. It's not even that good, either ... it plays kind of like a more stiff and vertical Metal Slug, only a lot less fun.

And now it seems to get a labor of love because it's so obscure, while Sparkster is famous just enough to become shovelware.

It's not fair.

[Isuka]

Here's a WIP trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owQg9CRJgN0

It looks even more gorgeous in movement, an impressive achievement for a Western developer.

And yeah, the original game's overall pace hasn't aged well, but if you watch the trailer you'll most probably realize why it was like that: many enemies either attacked in all directions or exploded in a multidirectional burst of dangerous stuff when killed, being able to move fast and without enough precision or being affected too much by inertia was suicidal.

[(No Imagination)]

It does look gorgeous, even if the shading's a bit inconsistent. I wonder, though, if that kind of detail in the BG will give you any trouble dodging those deadly spiky projectiles - especially in the later stages, where I remember seeing all kinds of crap flying around from all sides. And that would't even be a problem if the player character wasn't, you know, a one-hit wonder with an enormous hit box.

...it's still Toki, graphics be damned. Prepare to lose hair over it unless it offers to save after every level or something. Which it probably will.

[Arcade]

Toki was cool... So he is back? Thats awesome!

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I can only hope that this leads to a New Zealand Story revival. Someone should get on that.

[gr4yJ4Y]

I'm somewhat sure that I played Toki a couple of times in the arcade when I was a kid and liked it. I just didn't have enough tokens to keep playing it all day. It was one of the few games I played in the arcade and actually wished I had it at home, just so I could keep retrying the same levels over and over again.

[cjmcray]

one of the few games I played in the arcade and actually wished I had it at home, just so I could keep retrying the same levels over and over again.

On that note, anyone else ever wish they'd port the Simpsons Arcade game to a home console? Definitely the best Simpsons videogame ever made.

[Opa-Opa]

Wow! I remember renting and playing this a lot for the Mega Drive, but I thought it was called Juju or something like that. It does look gorgeous.

[gr4yJ4Y]

On that note, anyone else ever wish they'd port the Simpsons Arcade game to a home console? Definitely the best Simpsons videogame ever made.

Me and my brother beat that once. There was some kind of glitch in the machine where it gave us the max amount of credits for 1 token.

But yes, a home version would be nice.

[Green Gibbon!]

There was some kind of glitch in the machine where it gave us the max amount of credits for 1 token.

I used to pray that shit would happen. To this day, it never has.

I hope you get electrocuted by a Taiko Drum Master machine.

[gr4yJ4Y]

There was some kind of glitch in the machine where it gave us the max amount of credits for 1 token.

I used to pray that shit would happen. To this day, it never has.

I hope you get electrocuted by a Taiko Drum Master machine.

Back in the DDR heyday, at the local arcade (different place than The Simpsons game) I used to jiggle my token card thing while I swiped it and sometimes it would give me a couple of extra credits. There must of been a lot of people doing this because the place changed their credit system back to tokens right away.

[Opa-Opa]

Holy coincidence. Someone just sent me this link. Look what this guy is selling.

http://thedeadchicken-eletronicos.blogspot.com/

[The Turtle Guy]

Fuck yes. @ Quackshot

[Locit]

New hands-on preview over at 1up plus some slick videos. I think it looks pretty great!

[Esrever]

It does! The level design is shaping up quite nicely, evoking the first game more than any of the others. And look... they even replaced that horrible Dreamworks-esque 'tude-ridden life icon with a much nicer looking one.

[Malchik]

This game looks ten times better then it did previously, just a few month ago.

[FlashTHD]

While present in the previous adventures, boosting was a double-edged sword. It was addictive and exhilarating, but the levels were designed in an almost punitive fashion: Unless you knew each stage's layout by heart, dashing was a quick ticket to an untimely death.

"Sonic is all about speed" anybody? If you spammed the rocket pack all the time like an idiot, then yes, you're going to die a bunch of times. You had to actually use your head. In the first one there were only a couple arguable "gotcha" moments where it's not as good an idea as it seems.

Making use of it for exploring I don't object to (the SNES game did quite a bit of that) but creating crap misunderstandings like the above - not just coming from Parish but the producer - is all it takes to convince me to step back.

[Zeta]

To be quite honest, the first game didn't do enough with the jetpack mechanic, I think. Too often, I felt it was a gimmicky insertion of a double jump instead of a real gameplay feature.

To me, the series isn't some holy grail or even highly exceptional. Just memorable. Aside from the premise, I felt they were mediocre platformers at best, with really awful character designs.

[j-man]

Yeah, I'd hit it.

The music in the first video sounds really, really familiar. I can't place it, it's bugging me.

[Crowbar]

The music is the 1st stage music from the first Mega Drive game, or is at least heavily based on it.

[j-man]

That's fucking genius.

[Ngangbius]

While the new character icon is a vast improvement from the old one, the game contrast still looks too dark compared to the original titles and the pedigree of the developer still doesn't fill me with hope.

[Green Gibbon!]

The level design looks okay, not spectacular, but I still hate the art direction. And that includes the new "improved" character icon.

[Zeta]

Need moar animu!

[Locit]

To me, the series isn't some holy grail or even highly exceptional. Just memorable. Aside from the premise, I felt they were mediocre platformers at best, with really awful character designs.

Man the diversity of opinion here always kills me. It sometimes doesn't make any damn sense, but it's worth it.