At first glance, you might think you’ve seen Nikoderiko: The Magical World before. From its mascot to the collectable fonts, a lot of Nikoderiko feels familiar to what we’ve seen in the platforming days of the 90s. Nikoderiko doesn’t shy away from its inspirations, to the point that it understands and nails some aspects very well, whereas some parts fall short in comparison to its forebears.
Nikoderiko: The Magical World is a mascot platformer developed by Vea Games. You play as Niko and Luna, a pair of mongooses who discover a magical relic on an island that is swiftly taken away from the big bad Grimbald and his team of goons. You make your way through levels via a map hub almost identical to the recent Crash games, befriending other animal inhabitants as you take on members of the gang to save the magical island. Each level has N I K O letters, gems, and a coin-like currency for you to try and collect as you make your way through.
Let’s address the marsupial in the room. Nikoderiko is borrowing many ideas from its 90s idols in many aspects, and it knows what it’s doing, with even in game characters accidentally referring to Niko as a bandicoot. From its story and world navigation to its color palette and our main characters choice of pants, Nikoderiko follows in its predecessor’s path a bit too much, so much so that it detracts from the game’s few unique ideas because it’s already filled with so many that we’ve seen before.
Nikoderiko’s story is straightforward and familiar. Despite the all-too-familiar story beats, Nikoderiko does inject a sense of charm thanks to its great voice cast. Apart from the odd cringey one liner, dialogue adds a unique comedic touch of life to characters.
Let’s address the marsupial in the room. Nikoderiko is borrowing many ideas from its 90s idols…
Nikoderiko does a great job in terms of its level design, taking its many inspirations best hits and utilizing what has worked in the past. Levels are fun and consistently offer a change of ideas, scenery, and characters to bump into. Some levels are very well done, like a swimming level with a great soothing soundtrack or an encounter with a floating mechanical balloon that is half boss fight, half precision platforming. Some levels do hit stronger than others, with some levels feeling a bit too derivative, but it is a good showing overall and keeps things fresh throughout its 5-6 hour run time.
Like the 90s inspired era, Nikoderiko has a strong degree of challenge to it; levels do have checkpoints throughout, but sometimes you have to work quite hard to get there. The degree of challenge is done well here and nails a sense of accomplishment when you hit that next checkpoint.
Controlling Niko and Luna feels good, which is important for a platformer requiring precision movements and timing. However, certain interactions feel like they could do with fine tuning. Niko has a few abilities available, such as a slide and a jumping power slam to take out the many enemies that pop up. The caveat here is that these two main interactions are tied to the same button input, which did make for some slightly awkward sequences in fast-paced situations with a lot of enemies around. I often would accidentally slam into pits or slide off a ledge due to the control scheme. This could have been remedied quickly with remapping, but there is very little in terms of customization and settings in Nikoderiko.
Along with the confusing button assignment, on occasion it did feel like detection was off when it comes to jumping on certain platforms and enemies, resulting in some frustrating deaths. Outside of these few hiccups, technically Nikoderiko did not skip a beat on the PlayStation 5, running at a solid 60 fps throughout.
Nikoderiko does offer full co-op, with the 2nd player being able to join as Luna, allowing for some fun, family-friendly adventures together. Co-op mostly worked well, but I did find that levels quickly became chaotic, such as the camera having difficulty keeping up, which may become old fast. Because of this, I would say that single player is the better way to play, especially in the more difficult levels.
One part where Nikoderiko falls flat is its sound design. Enemy feedback feels like it’s missing that oomph when sliding into or jumping on them. Objects in a level where you would expect a big slam, come down with sometimes no sound at all. The same can be said for transitioning sound effects between areas; they can feel like they’ve been pasted together without proper cohesion, with tracks completely stopping, causing some jarring transitions.
On the other note, soundtracks throughout Nikoderiko sound uplifting and have a great uniqueness compared to the games other ideas. Rightfully so, as the composer is none other than David Wise, a veteran music composer, having worked on many titles such as Donkey Kong and Yooka-Laylee.
Visually, this game really does look fantastic. Vea Games have done a great job here, with environments looking bright and fantastic to jump, run, and slide through. Transitions between 2D and 3D perspectives are done very well and to a unique effect. Although the color palette and art direction do also tread the same tropes as its many inspirations, there is enough variation to complement this cheerful platforming adventure.
Pros
- Fantastic visuals
- Level design feels like the platforming genre’s greatest hits
Cons
- Sound design feels hollow
- Controls could do with more polish
- Brings nothing new to the table
Nikoderiko is a good platformer; it shines in areas such as level design and visuals but trips over itself when it’s asked to come up with unique ideas and what it does to really set itself apart. If you’re after another platformer that sticks with the status quo, this will do the job nicely; outside of that, it’s difficult to pinpoint what makes this stand out from the many platforming greats that Nikoderiko is inspired by.
A review copy was provided by the publisher on PlayStation 5. Nikoderiko: The Magical World is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.
