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 extremely good platforming collection of his personal, different builders have stepped as much as attempt to fill the void. Indie releases similar to 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 an amazing job of recreating DK’s greatest adventures with its personal twist, but it surely takes issues a step additional by additionally calling again to the gameplay model of another basic platformer mascots. And whereas, sure, one might make the argument that Nikoderiko is a bit too comfy using the coattails of the classics with out including a lot of its personal concepts, it does such a very good 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, but it surely offers 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 historical 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 mates and foes, a lot of that are launched in charming dialogue sequences between ranges that function 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, fairly than a loosely related collection of ranges—that slight story focus makes Nikoderiko really feel rather more cohesive.
Gameplay in Nikoderiko might greatest be described as a mashup of Donkey Kong Nation (particularly the Retro Studios interpretation, which is itself returning in HD type to Change in 2025) and basic Crash Bandicoot, usually oscillating its perspective between 2D sidescrolling sections and hallway-based 3D sections. No matter what perspective the digicam takes, every degree has a smattering of collectibles to snag—similar to 4 ‘NIKO’ letters—alongside some temporary bonus rooms to uncover and conquer. There are seven worlds to work via that take about 10-15 hours to see of their entirety (double that for those who go for completion), and that point simply flies proper by because of the typically glorious degree design.
Nikoderiko isn’t content material to fall into repetitive cycles; almost each degree introduces some fascinating new stage hazard or gimmick to set it aside. One degree will process 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 deadly rollercoaster trip. You by no means know what’s coming subsequent, and this helps preserve a brisk tempo as you end up pulled into doing simply ‘yet another degree’ earlier than placing it down for the evening.
Nonetheless, it’s almost not possible to play Nikoderiko with out seeing the way it fully copies the video games that impressed it. You possibly can 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 unique to the desk. Sadly, it doesn’t, and this will likely disappoint those that have had their fill of the classics. With some daring new degree design concepts and gameplay gimmicks, Nikoderiko might’ve been lauded as a worthy religious successor to DK’s misplaced platforming adventures. That’s to not say that it isn’t value taking part in; simply handle your expectations. Nikoderiko is a superb rehash of beloved concepts, not an growth upon them.
Visually, Nikoderiko does a implausible job of presenting vibrant and diverse 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 lot of character to those environments that makes them a real deal with to discover. The draw back? These visuals clearly come at a value on the Change’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 Change, and that efficiency hit is absolutely 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 bounce into a brand new degree 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 have got the goofier stuff, similar to a personality mannequin’s textures not totally loading for the splash display that comes up whenever you enter a bonus degree. On the extra impactful finish, we encountered one occasion the place a blast barrel did not propel us via 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 have been mitigated in a post-launch patch that went dwell just a few days in the past, such issues nonetheless crop up once in a while, which may make Nikoderiko really feel fairly janky.
Within the early hours of taking part in via Nikoderiko, this author quietly mused that the builders had performed a outstanding job discovering a composer able to emulating the legendary David Sensible’s work with the music for this soundtrack. Lo and behold, a fast Google search revealed the rationale for this similarity: the large man himself did in reality compose the soundtrack.
Though we didn’t hear something that fairly matched the ridiculous heights of basic tracks similar to Aquatic Atmosphere and Forest Interlude, Sensible 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 definitely a minimize above what you usually hear in a platformer of this ilk, and we’d extremely advocate headphones.
Conclusion
Nikoderiko: The Magical World is a splendidly satisfying platforming expertise that borrows and expertly replicates the weather that made basic entries within the style so beloved. Sensible degree design, gratifying gameplay, a lot of collectibles, and a killer soundtrack all come collectively to make this one a straightforward suggestion for those who love DKC. That mentioned, keep in mind that this one can be very gentle on unique concepts, and that the Change model struggles in some areas with its efficiency. For those who can look previous these flaws, we’d recommend you decide this one up, and even when such drawbacks do hassle you, that is nonetheless value scooping up on sale.
