I think everybody has already forgotten that TAD's 1989 Ape-'Em-Up Toki got a remake on Switch last month. I'm not too surprised - it was a big ask. A fairly obscure coin-op remake in almost a decade of development hell, finally releasing at a near-premium price point? Good bye.

This isn't about the remake, which I am yet to play. I go back to the original Toki fairly frequently; it's a compelling, strangely methodical platformer. Toki ambles around at the pace of a very placid, well, hominid. Admittedly one that defends itself by spewing up huge ovals of deadly phlegm. Indeed, the Genesis release of the game is called Toki: Going Ape-Spit, which is just them getting away with saying "ape-shit", isn't it.

Despite the slow going, Toki is enjoyable. It's inventive and surprising, with clever level design that's atypically thoughtful, given the usual quarter-munching death-frenzy difficulty of arcade platformers (I'm looking at you, Magician Lord). It's a far more friendly, more console-esque experience. Ironic, given that the aforementioned Genesis port is infinitely more difficult, with the frustration turned up to 11.

Toki is a remarkably odd and - it has to be said - fairly racist game, with some extreme stereotypes showing their outdated, unwelcome faces all over the place. As a result it's difficult to recommend unreservedly, but I do urge you to give it a go if you want to see a ruddy-faced man-monkey sloping about like urgency is going out of fashion, gobbing disdainfully all over everything in the vicinity and wearing a bathetic smile while doing so.

Seriously. Look at that mug. He is ice cold.

• arcade
• Stuart Gipp
• toki