Never being a Pac-Man player, myself, Donkey Kong was my first favorite coin-op game. Ever since, I have always enjoyed platform games like Donkey Kong. If you like platform games, then Toy Bizarre should fit you well.
You play the night watchman at a toy factory. At night, the toys come alive and are out to get you and take over the factory. You run around the platform, jumping from level to level, to either pop the balloons that the toys are generated from, or to avoid the toys, trying to jump over them to stop them.
Once you clear all of the toys, you get moved to a slightly more difficult level. However, if you do not finish in time, you have to redo the level. There are some bonus levels occasionally, just like in Mario Brothers.
You also have some fun power-ups to help clear a level fast. The games stay with the night watchman theme by calling the power-ups, "coffee breaks", calling the bonus levels, "safety checks" and using a clock that ticks the night hours. As you progress, new and more sinister toys are introduced to keep you interested and on your toes. Also, there is always Hilda, stalking you. A simple jump over her does not do it. The only way to have a brief respite
from her is to send her into orbit using the floor switches. These floor switches are also useful on the other, regular toys. The other possibility is by catching the coffee cup, which starts a coffee break. All of the toys, including Hilda, are frozen and if you are fast enough, you can clear them all in one fell swoop.
If you like Mario Brothers coin-op game this will feel very similar. However, it is just different enough that it does not feel like a rip-off of the game. Clearly, the similarities in the games are too numerous to believe that Toy Bizarre only coincidently seems like Mario Brothers. The developers must have had Mario Brothers in mind, but they applied plenty of creativity in creating their version and were not simply copying the concept with different characters to avoid copyright infringement.
The floor switches probably add the most unique feature to this game. The switches are connected and you have to time your jump on the "up" one so that when you land, a toy is on the connected "down" one and they get eliminated. If your timing is off, the toy lands on the switch after you, causing you to be eliminated. Luckily, you can get extra lives to keep you playing.
This is a deceptively simple game, just left, right and jump. However, the increasing challenge and the physics of the floor switches keep you in the game. The cool, spooky music also is a nice touch. I highly recommend it to everyone! You won’t be disappointed!
