Bad news for fans of iOS puzzle platformers. Toki Tori 2, which launched on Wii U and Steam earlier this year, will not be making its way to iOS as originally thought. In a Twitter response by the game’s developer Two Tribes when queried about an iOS version, they stated that “the game would not work well enough with touch controls" and so plans for that version have been nixed. Digging into their feed a bit further, Two Tribes explains that “Halfway through development [of Toki Tori 2] we made a lot of controller specific design decisions, meaning touch controls wouldn’t work well enough." In a follow-up response to the original question, they stated that they contemplated a mobile-centric version called Toki Tori 2 Go! at one point but decided to scrap that idea as well.
Toki Tori ($0.99) for iPhone launched way back in May of 2009, and was significant because, up to that point, that enhanced remake of the original 2001 Game Boy Color game was only available on Nintendo’s WiiWare service. A game of that stature making its way to the iOS platform was a pretty big deal at the time, and it didn’t hurt that it was a damn fine game either. Then in October of 2011, Two Tribes announced that Toki Tori 2 was in the works, with an actual trailer coming nearly a year later. I was really looking forward to playing Toki Tori 2 on iOS, but at the same time I wouldn’t want to play something that was hobbled together to work on touch screens when it really didn’t fit well. I trust Two Tribes’ decision, disappointing as it may be, and instead I’ll just end up grabbing the game on Steam or the Mac App Store. C’est la vie.
