It’s now been over a decade because the final new Donkey Kong Nation sport launched (sure, you’re that previous), and whereas the world continues to attend for Nintendo to keep in mind that its beloved ape used to star in a actually good platforming collection of his personal, different builders have stepped as much as attempt to fill the void. Indie releases reminiscent of Kaze and the Wild Masks, Yooka-Laylee and the Inconceivable Lair, and Marsupilami: Hoobadventure have all performed an distinctive job of emulating the issues that made DK’s previous side-scrolling romps so gratifying and now one other contender has stepped as much as the plate.
Nikoderiko: The Magical World, the inaugural launch of Cyprus-based VEA Video games, not solely does a fantastic job of recreating DK’s finest adventures with its personal twist, nevertheless it takes issues a step additional by additionally calling again to the gameplay fashion of another traditional platformer mascots. And whereas, sure, one may make the argument that Nikoderiko is slightly too comfy using the coattails of the classics with out including a lot of its personal concepts, it does such job of capturing what made these video games nice that it hardly issues. Nikoderiko doesn’t eclipse the tasks that served as its clear inspirations, nevertheless it supplies an gratifying and difficult platforming journey that we’d recommend to any followers of the style.
Nikoderiko follows Niko and Luna (no, her identify isn’t Deriko), two globe-trotting mongoose adventurers who love chasing down historic treasure. The duo is on their newest journey to applicable a magical relic on a distant island once they’re interrupted by the nefarious Grimbald and his band of Cobring lackeys, who chase Niko and Luna away simply as they’re about to perform their mission. Not ones to be defeated that simply, Niko and Luna get proper to work navigating the numerous challenges and hidden wonders the island holds, all in an effort to defeat Grimbald and reclaim what’s rightfully(?) theirs.
As you’d count on, narrative doesn’t actually consider as a significant a part of the expertise of Nikoderiko, however we nonetheless appreciated the sunshine worldbuilding efforts. Niko and Luna are helped alongside their journey by a slew of wacky associates and foes, a lot of that are launched in charming dialogue sequences between ranges that characteristic full voice appearing. We loved how these exchanges helped so as to add simply sufficient context to the proceedings to make it really feel such as you’re on a real journey, reasonably than a loosely related collection of ranges—that slight story focus makes Nikoderiko really feel way more cohesive.
Gameplay in Nikoderiko may finest be described as a mashup of Donkey Kong Nation (particularly the Retro Studios interpretation, which is itself returning in HD type to Swap in 2025) and traditional Crash Bandicoot, typically oscillating its perspective between 2D sidescrolling sections and hallway-based 3D sections. No matter what perspective the digicam takes, every stage has a smattering of collectibles to snag—reminiscent of 4 ‘NIKO’ letters—alongside some transient bonus rooms to uncover and conquer. There are seven worlds to work by means of that take about 10-15 hours to see of their entirety (double that when you go for completion), and that point simply flies proper by as a result of usually wonderful stage design.
Nikoderiko isn’t content material to fall into repetitive cycles; practically each stage introduces some attention-grabbing new stage hazard or gimmick to set it aside. One stage will activity you with escaping an enormous dragon as you run in the direction of the display itself, like a lot of Crash’s famed chase sequences, whereas one other will put you in a minecart and ship you on a dangerous rollercoaster journey. You by no means know what’s coming subsequent, and this helps keep a brisk tempo as you end up pulled into doing simply ‘yet one more stage’ earlier than placing it down for the evening.
Nonetheless, it’s practically unimaginable to play Nikoderiko with out seeing the way it utterly copies the video games that impressed it. You’ll be able to solely bounce on crates in a 3D hallway or efficiently negotiate one other barrel-blasting part so many instances earlier than you start to marvel if Nikoderiko brings something authentic to the desk. Sadly, it doesn’t, and this will disappoint those that have had their fill of the classics. With some daring new stage design concepts and gameplay gimmicks, Nikoderiko may’ve been lauded as a worthy religious successor to DK’s misplaced platforming adventures. That’s to not say that it isn’t price taking part in; simply handle your expectations. Nikoderiko is a good rehash of beloved concepts, not an enlargement upon them.
Visually, Nikoderiko does a incredible job of presenting vibrant and different biomes with distinct feels. Whether or not you’re exploring verdant ruins within the forest or the shadowy halls of a dilapidated manufacturing unit, there’s a number of character to those environments that makes them a real deal with to discover. The draw back? These visuals clearly come at a price on the Swap’s ageing {hardware}, which may make for an often substandard expertise.
Whereas Nikoderiko seems to run at a clean 60fps on different platforms, it runs at an inconsistent 30fps on the Swap, and that efficiency hit is de facto felt whenever you’re trying to navigate the harder, extra exact platforming challenges discovered within the latter half. To compound this irritant, the loading instances could be noticeably lengthy whenever you soar into a brand new stage from the world map—we clocked instances as excessive as 40 seconds for some phases.
We additionally encountered a handful of bugs and glitches that affected gameplay in various methods. On the much less impactful finish, you’ve gotten the goofier stuff, reminiscent of a personality mannequin’s textures not absolutely loading for the splash display that comes up whenever you enter a bonus stage. On the extra impactful finish, we encountered one occasion the place a blast barrel didn’t propel us by means of a breakable ground part, leaving us softlocked and necessitating an exit and rerun of the stage as much as that time.
Although these points and the efficiency issues talked about above had been mitigated in a post-launch patch that went reside just a few days in the past, such issues nonetheless crop up from time to time, which may make Nikoderiko really feel reasonably janky.
Within the early hours of taking part in by means of Nikoderiko, this author quietly mused that the builders had performed a exceptional job discovering a composer able to emulating the legendary David Smart’s work with the music for this soundtrack. Lo and behold, a fast Google search revealed the rationale for this similarity: the massive man himself did actually compose the soundtrack.
Though we didn’t hear something that fairly matched the ridiculous heights of traditional tracks reminiscent of Aquatic Atmosphere and Forest Interlude, Smart proves along with his work right here that he’s nonetheless bought it—Nikoderiko’s soundtrack continues his legacy of distinctive music that effortlessly mixes playful goofiness with a extra atmospheric, emotional tone. It’s actually a reduce above what you usually hear in a platformer of this ilk, and we’d extremely suggest headphones.
Conclusion
Nikoderiko: The Magical World is a splendidly satisfying platforming expertise that borrows and expertly replicates the weather that made traditional entries within the style so beloved. Good stage design, gratifying gameplay, a number of collectibles, and a killer soundtrack all come collectively to make this one a simple advice when you love DKC. That stated, keep in mind that this one can also be very mild on authentic concepts, and that the Swap model struggles in some areas with its efficiency. In case you can look previous these flaws, we’d recommend you decide this one up, and even when such drawbacks do hassle you, that is nonetheless price scooping up on sale.
