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It's always the same, innit? You finally find a girlie that you can really relate to, and just when you're getting on like a blazing block of flats, up pops an evil wizard who turns you into a giant chimp. (Happens to me all the time.)

This unfortunate situation has befallen the hero of our piece - a pleasant chap by the name of Toki. He has fallen ankles over earlobes in love with Miho, who is similarly besotted with him. Enter Bashtar (your average, run-of-the-mill evil wizard-type) who has desires upon Miho's personage. Seeing that Toki stands a much better chance than he does, Bashtar reverts to plan 'B': kidnap Mohi and turn that big ape Toki into a big ape.

Toki, as you can imagine, is rather miffed by this. Not only has he lost his girlfriend to some unthinkable fate but he now has to pause every couple of minutes to comb his face and indulge his burning desire for 'nanas and the occasional ant.

OK, enough chimpy jokes. The quest is this: Toki must traverse all five of Bashtar's domains - each of which features a particular style of scenery - find this wizardy bloke and duff him up a treat. Only then will he be reunited with Miho and be rid of all that unsightly body hair. But the route to Bashtar's lair is laden with natural hazards, devious traps and all manner of hostile creatures, which Toki has to negotiate, avoid and kill (in that order).

Our simian chum is quite an agile chappie. True, he drags his knuckles a bit when he walks but he can jump quite a bit and climbs vines like you wouldn't believe. He also possesses an uncanny. ability to... well, gob, with incredible accuracy, too. This high-velocity spit does untold damage to his adversaries: hit 'em with enough saliva and they'll disappear for good.

Once again, Ocean have chosen wisely in their quest for conversions: the relatively simple gameplay in Toki has transferred very well indeed from arcade to eight-bit. The only concessions to quality lie in the lack of parallax scrolling (big deal) and a reduction in the speed at which everything moves (so what?).

The varied backdrops are very pretty indeed and all the features of the gameplay are there, from giant guardians to exploding plants to disappearing platforms. There are some niggling faults, such as poor choices of restart points (several are almost instantly fatal) and inconsistent collision detection, but, most importantly, Toki is a lot of fun to play.

In fact, the high addiction level is possibly its major downfall: there are only five levels and it doesn't take that long to get a handle on most of the trickier bits. Then it's down to the end-of-level guardians to put up the last of the fight.

With five lives and two continue options, it's only a matter of time before our hero is back in the pink. But, until then, sit back and enjoy the challenge.

1. Just five levels - and only the guardians offer much resistance.
2. Spot effects are dire.

1. Great graphics throughout with heaps of colour and loads of variety.
2. Arcade-style platform action is extremely playable and very addictive.
3. Thankfully, the soundtrack is a decent alternative to FX.
4. There are plenty of surprises in traps and enemies waiting round each corner!
5. There are some major heavies to face.
6. Toki has a wide range of moves at his command - all accessed with little hassle.
7. A very affordable cartridge.