I played the original Toki Tori 2 on the Wii U back in 2013. Had a very enjoyable experience with it. I thought it was a clever puzzle adventure game, full of a lot of charm and found it easy for anyone to get into. Over the years, the game has undergone several changes and is now titled Toki Tori 2+ in order to represent these changes. I’ve never played this updated version of the game, and when I saw it was coming to Switch. I figured this was a nice opportunity to pick up the game again and see how well it holds up.

THE GOOD: The thing I loved about Toki Tori 2 was with how it introduced you to the game. You just jump right into it. No menus to bother with or anything, you’re just immediately in the thick of things. After some very brief mentions of how the controls work, you’re just left to explore the world around you. Armed with only the ability to whistle and stomp, you must make use of the abilities to manipulate the creatures and environment around you in order to progress further into the game. While the concept is simple to grasp, you’ll be thinking quite a bit on how to move on with the obstacles presented to you. It’s been a few years since I’ve played Toki Tori 2, so it was nice to jump back in without much memory on what the solutions were, and I found the experience to still be just as satisfying as it ever was.

With Toki Tori 2+ a lot of additions and changes were made in order to help better the overall experience from the original. Since it’s been a few years, I can’t remember exactly what felt different. There were a couple majors ones that I did notice though. The first being that the map is now accessible with a button, instead of with a whistle melody. I don’t think I minded the need to do a melody in order to access the map that much, but having it tied to a button now certainly does make things feel smoother. I’ve certainly felt like I used the map more since it was tied to a button, rather than having to whistle out a specific melody for it. The other thing is that there is dialogue in the game now. I remember how neat it was that Toki Tori 2 had no dialogue whatsoever, so you had to kind of piece together the subtle hints around you in order to understand what it is you needed to do. I’ll admit, in the later half of the game, it can be confusing to know what you exactly have to do. So while I didn’t have that much trouble with it in the original, I do appreciate that the developers decided to make things easier by adding small bits of dialogue to help the player better understand what their objective is. It’s a very minor thing too, and doesn’t make the overall game easier by any means.

If you have played the original and are curious as to what has changed since the Wii U iteration. There’s a useful blog from the developers that goes into detail on what they are. You can find all the info here: http://twotribes.com/message/toki-tori-2-switch-out-now/.

There’s also an in-game achievement system in place which is neat. I wouldn’t call myself an achievement addict or anything like that, but I certainly make an effort to get as many achievements as I can within any game if I’m liking it enough. So having an achievement system certainly motivated me to play the game a certain way and to seek out challenges in order to earn those achievements.

With the game now available on Switch, the game is now on a stronger platform than when it was on Wii U. The game mostly looks as I remembered it, but I felt it is more fluid and crisper this time around. Just feels like everything flows better, which is very nice. Also, the game can now be played on the go, which is just another added benefit. With checkpoints found throughout the world, it’s easy to just jump in and solve a few obstacles before going about your day and then continuing where you left off at a later time. It’s still a very charming game and one that is well-suited for the Switch library.

THE BAD: Hard for me to find much complaints here since this game is pretty much a better version of what it was when I played it originally, and I really enjoyed the original too. There is the usual frustrations that come when dealing with a puzzle game of this sort, especially one that doesn’t help you too much with its lack of communication. It’s certainly an ordeal, but I didn’t mind it too much and it just made the experience much more satisfying once you reach your goal. There is also the lack of a level editor still. Would’ve been a nice feature to have, but hard to expect one if it hasn’t already been implemented on other console versions. It is available on the PC version of the game, so if you’re really in need of one, do check out that version of the game.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Toki Tori 2+ is definitely a better overall experience than it was when it originally came out on Wii U a few years ago. I found the original very enjoyable though, so it’s not like I felt the game was in dire need of major changes. These new changes are kind of subtle too, mostly to just improve the flow of the game. It took me around seven hours to reach the end credits of the game, but there is definitely several more things out there to do. So it’s a game of nice length, especially if you’re looking for something to play on and off when on the go. It’s a clever and challenging game that you’ll feel satisfied playing through. That hasn’t changed since the original, and it’s still a game I highly recommend checking out, even more so for the Nintendo Switch.

*This review is based on the Nintendo Switch version of the game, which was provided digitally by Two Tribes.