Toki is getting fresh retro conversions based on the 1989 arcade original

Toki is getting another round of releases, but this time the 1989 arcade game is heading to classic machines which missed out on a direct conversion during its original run. Developer New Old Pixels has secured an official licence from Microids for a new set of Toki conversions aimed at period consoles and computers. The studio plans to create versions based closely on the original arcade release, with physical editions planned for suitable systems. There’s one big detail still missing: the machines themselves. New Old Pixels hasn’t confirmed a platform list yet. Its current work covers hardware built around Motorola 68000 and Zilog Z80 processors, which puts quite a few 8-bit and 16-bit systems in the frame. Final choices will come from technical testing rather than a pre-announced list. So, no surprise console reveal yet. For now, the project is more about what’s being built than where you’ll play it.

The arcade version is the starting point

This project isn’t based on Toki’s later home ports, nor the modern remake released decades later. New Old Pixels is using the 1989 arcade game as its reference. Toki originally ran on arcade hardware using a Motorola 68000 main processor, paired with a Z80 for sound duties. Both chips became familiar names across home computers, consoles and arcade boards of the era, but sharing a processor doesn’t make a conversion straightforward.

Graphics hardware differs. Memory differs. Sound systems differ. Storage differs too. Each version will need its own work to fit the strengths and limits of its host machine. New Old Pixels says its aim is to keep the gameplay, animation, graphics and audio close to the arcade release where the target hardware permits.

Physical releases form part of the plan. Depending on the chosen systems, releases could use cartridges or another format suited to the original machine. Digital editions remain possible, but the focus so far sits firmly on software running on period hardware.

So what is Toki?

Toki arrived in arcades in 1989 from Japanese developer TAD Corporation. Japanese players received it under the name JuJu Densetsu. It’s a side-scrolling action platform game with a setup players tend to grasp in seconds. A warrior is transformed into an ape after sorcerer Vookimedlo kidnaps Miho, leaving Toki to fight his way through a string of stages packed with enemies, traps and large bosses.

Being turned into an ape doesn’t leave him defenceless. Toki can spit projectiles across the screen, giving the game a mix of platforming and ranged combat. Pick-ups change his attacks, offer temporary protection or provide other short-term advantages.

The arcade controls are equally direct. You move with an eight-way joystick, jump with one button and attack with another. Much of the challenge comes from reading enemy patterns, placing jumps carefully and picking the right moment to fire. It’s simple on paper. The stages get much less forgiving.

Toki already had plenty of home versions

Toki didn’t stay in arcades for long. Home conversions appeared on machines including the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, NES and Atari Lynx. Those releases varied considerably. Home hardware in the late 1980s and early 1990s rarely offered arcade-perfect conversions, so developers often changed graphics, sound, level layouts or other parts of a game to suit each machine.

The Mega Drive received an especially different take called Toki: Going Ape Spit. It kept the basic characters and projectile-based action but reworked much of the game rather than acting as a direct copy of the arcade original. This new project has a narrower target. It focuses on machines which never received a direct Toki arcade conversion in their commercial lifetime.

There’s a modern Toki too

Toki returned on modern hardware in 2018 through a full remake. It kept the basic structure of the arcade game but replaced the original presentation with redrawn artwork and rearranged music. New Old Pixels is taking a very different route.

Instead of rebuilding Toki for current consoles and PCs, the developer is adapting the arcade game to older hardware using machine-specific code. A version running on one computer may need very different solutions from a version running on another, even when both share a processor family. It means each release can differ in resolution, sound, animation and memory use, depending on what its host system can handle.

Platforms and release dates are still open

The licence is confirmed. The final hardware line-up isn’t. New Old Pixels hasn’t announced release dates, prices or packaging details either, so there’s no confirmed launch schedule yet. More information is expected once technical testing settles which machines will receive a version.

For Toki, it adds another chapter to a release history stretching from a 1989 arcade cabinet through numerous home conversions and a modern remake. The interesting part now is finding out which classic machines finally get their own direct take on the arcade game.