
It's no big secret that WiiWare could use more platformers, . Cocoto Platform Jumper may count itself lucky then that this genre is relatively underrepresented at this time. Is it worth enough to spend your hard-earned cash, though? It just might be.
The player is represented by the whimsical devil Cocoto who's out to rescue his friends from the grasp of the "evil" god Zaron, who has a striking resemblance to Zeus of Greek fame. To help him achieve this, the generically named Fairy tags along to see him through the five kingdoms: Abyss, Volcano, Atlantis, Jungle, and Heaven. The plot is quite silly, but it serves to set up the stage for an enjoyable platform romp.
What may be apparent right away is the interesting blend of Nebulus and Rainbow Islands that is incorporated in Cocoto Platform Jumper. As Cocoto, the player traverses a circular stage, trying to reach the top to advance the game. Cocoto has the ability to double-jump and shoot magma arcs on which he can run and jump off, with plenty of moving platforms and springs littered throughout the stages too. Magma arcs can only be created from solid (not on ice, fire, moving platforms, or in the air) ground or off another magma arc, and are very helpful in building bridges and circumventing the pain-inflicting fire platforms. As in Rainbow Islands, they allow the player to attack or trap enemies - jump on the arc to make it collapse and kill the enemy underneath to gain double points - as well as collect items, and with the help of upgrades they can be sped up or extended. Additional attacks include the pitchfork, a distance weapon which proves particularly useful against flying enemies, and the "special" melee attack. We recommend only to use the latter as a panic attack weapon because it isn't the most effective, safe way to go about things.

Being hit by an enemy or platform hazard will make Cocoto lose all of his improvements as well as all collected golden apples. These apples are key to Cocoto's survival: it is a one-hit death if he doesn't carry any. In addition, every ten golden apples collected award the player with a life, though you can increase your chance of survival by collecting the odd life items sparsely dispersed in the given stage, with a life awarded for every 100,000 points. Luckily death won't necessarily have you start a stage from the beginning: all of the stages feature a mid-level checkpoint, and all enemies you've killed up to this point still remain six feet under.
Besides the various walking, hopping and flying beasts and critters making your life difficult - particularly on hard difficulty - the aforementioned fire platforms are best avoided, while you should also keep an eye on the ever-present timer in normal and hard mode. Once the latter counts down to zero the water or lava in the level will steadily rise; manage to fall off the deep end and you'll be a life shorter. It may only rise leisurely in normal, but you can count yourself lucky to outrace it while fighting off enemies in hard. Fortunately, the timer is reset every time Cocoto bites the dust, or time is added to the countdown when he reaches a checkpoint.

At the end of each stage the number of enemies vanquished, diamonds collected, and spare seconds left on the countdown will add bonus points to the player's score. If one has killed enough critters within the stages of a kingdom Cocoto will be sent to the appropriate bonus stage, in which he can collect extra lives and diamonds within a set amount of time.
All in all, there are twenty-five stages in single-player mode, with thirty if you count bonus stages. Every kingdom features four regular stages leading up to number five: the boss stage. The boss fights are more memorable and provide a tougher challenge than their minions. Donkey Kong, is that you? Figure out the pattern of each one to beat them and move on to the next kingdom. There are a few good hours of fun to be had; more so in hard mode, as the stages grow continually tougher.
Although the multiplayer modes aren't all too deep, they can provide bite-sized diversions. Battle mode will have two players duel it out until one loses all five hit points; the first player who collects a weapon has the advantage. Race mode can be played by up to four players as they try to keep up with everyone else or be knocked off-screen and lose one of three life points. You can also try to shove the opposition off a platform, but beware: if you're the only player left in the race the water starts to rise very quickly. Lose all points and you won't place either.

The audio in the game is a bit of a mixed bag. The bloops and grunts given off by the enemies and characters are all rather average fare and a bit repetitive. Not to mention, the gibberish talk of your guide, Fairy, does sound an awful lot like Cousin Itt from The Addams Family. On the other hand, the music suits the game quite nicely, befitting its whimsical and cartoony style.
Graphically, it is obvious that the game is pretty much a straight port from the PS2/Gamecube original. First off, widescreen is not supported. Some of the textures look a bit muddied, and they are reused a-plenty. Thankfully, the backdrops for each world fare well, although the Jungle set is a bit drab for our tastes. The enemies throughout the stages may act similar, but at least they have quite a varied look to them, which range from ghouls and (flying?) tortoises to angels. Yup, angels! That said, thanks to its cartoony look the game doesn't look quite as dated as it could have been, especially as it also features some light bloom and blur effects with a sprinkling of particles.

The game only supports the Wii Remote / Nunchuck combo for playing the game, with the player moving Cocoto via the analogue stick and performing actions by pressing the buttons provide for precise control. Only the special attack requires motion by shaking the Wii Remote. Yes, you could also keep shooting magma arcs by shaking the nunchuck, but why would you if you can do the same with the B button? Overall, the controls are tight, and we haven't come upon any particular problem that would give players any kind of headache.
Conclusion
It may boast one of the most generic titles ever to grace a video game, but Cocoto Platform Jumper proves to be quite the competent effort, despite its age and low-budget origin. It may not be Mario, but if you're looking for a solid platformer, you can do no wrong with Cocoto. We dare you to beat it in hard mode! You could do much worse with 700 Nintendo points.
Comments 31
Even though the review says I could do much worse with 700 Nintendo points I think the better alternative is to just save those points for something better instead! I'm surprised at this score; I expected a 5 at the most! Oh well, it may not be my cup of tea but perhaps someone will get some joy out of this game!
No freakin way this game is that good. The title alone gets a big thumbs down. Okay maybe it's not horrible but I think I'll be saving my Wii points for something better. If I have some extra points burning a hole in my Wii shop account someday I may give it a try.
judging by the screenshots it looks alright EDIT:no actually its 4 players that makes it bad
@Link79 have you played this game seems you havent
@ MickEiA
No I haven't actually played it yet but after reading this review I am curious. I've probably liked worse games. I might give it a chance at some point.
"judging by the screenshots it looks alright EDIT:no actually its 4 players that makes it bad"
How the f*** does the availability of a 4 player mode make a game worse than it would be without?
I have a few questions after reading the review:
The layout of the levels kinda reminds me of Pandemonium... I'll keep my eye on this one. Great review!
Its kind of a typical Cocoto series type of game in that it is competent, but very generic and actually quite unattractive. I've played Kart racer and Magic circus in the past and I would describe them the same way. They're hardly ever crap games, but they aren't really that good either...
Yes I Beat the game on Hard Mode
@Wiiman192: I remember Pandemonium - I played the Saturn version when it was ported from PC. It boasted the same style of 2D gameplay within 3D environments, which is why I'm interested in this title. Pandemonium was a rather "meh" title and I assume that this one may play and feel the same way. I may or may not have the nerve to pick this up, but like WolfRamHeart says 700 Points can go towards something else - like a TG-16 or NES Virtual Console title.
@7: Oh, wow, I haven't played Pandemonium in forever! That was a pretty awesome game...
Anyhoo, it looks fairly decent. I might get it if it's released here.
Wow a 7 I was expecting something alot lower than that.
@ Omega
The game is saved automatically after each stage you beat.
No, there are not. Once you reach the game over screen, you get the option to restart from your last save or start over from the beginning. That's it. It's not much of a problem in normal mode since it isn't that difficult to gain extra lives, but if you're low on lives in hard mode it can make the going particular tough in the later stages.
Nebulus is definitely the harder game of the two. That said, hard difficulty does provide for a good challenge in CPJ.
I wouldn't think so. All the motions are perfectly smooth.
@Pegasus: Thank you very much for answering my questions. That helps me to decide whether the game is something for me.
Although the game has such a stupid, uninspired name, it looks not bad. And I think for only 700 Points you can not do much wrong. Hopefully it comes soon also to Europe.
it's no Warioland: Shake It! (fav 2d platformer on Wii) but it certainly gets some things right....Also, like Fun Fun Minigolf (I had exactly 900 left, or I wouldn't have bought it), 700 points is smart--more games need to have irregular point value prices, as it can help in cleaning up uneven values left-over from other purchases. I actually feel 7 is quite deserved for this game, but to be fair, platforming gameplay appeals to me a lot in the first place.
Nice review, I'm so glad this one ain't that bad, at least now we have a decent platformer on wiiware (I'm not counting MM9, it counts more as a VC game for me), I'm a platform lover so I'll surely will give it a try, it seems standard but nice, and I kind of like that Cocoto character .
If this game was originally on PS2/Gamecube then why have I never heard of it until now? Was it only released in Europe or something? I'm surprised they could actually fit a gamecube game into a download for the Wii shop. Though it is very basic. The music sounds kinda nice at least. I am glad it's a platformer instead of the usual puzzle games on Wii ware.
I knew that people were wrong to diss it upon first sight, and I'm looking forward to giving it a go
(PS: this is my 1500th comment on a NLife article )
I'm kind of wary about trusting this site's opinion when it comes to Wiiware platformers, after all they gave that Niki Ball game an 8 and that was like the worst piece of poo I've ever had the misfortune of playing.
Good review. I'm surprised to see the positive response after previous Cocoto game feedback. But nonetheless, it's good news for Wiiware fans.
@Link79: You are correct, it wasn't released in North America first time around. Neither were Cocoto Funfair and Tennis Master, from the looks of things (researching on GameFAQs). Cocoto Kart Racer and Magic Circus were both supposedly released on Wii retail over here, but I don't recall ever having seen either of them available, even though they released during my ongoing Gamestop employment. Maybe Gamestop just didn't stock them for some reason. Dunno.
Anyway, I just might download this game after that unexpectedly positive review. But if I hate it, I'll be coming back here to let people know!
Fantastic name. (Sarcasm)
Whoa didnt see that one coming. I might look into. 700 points is a great deal. Now Neko is going to go around bragging that they got a 7/10. Just watch.
I want to like it, but the generic nature and general lack of effort are very disheartening. I'll pass, and stick with either the MANY platformers availible on disc or the virtual console, or wait for Explodemon, Cave Story, and LostWinds Forever.
This is a good surprise indeed. Looking forward to hearing positive comments from others because although it's a platformer, I just wasn't sold on this at all and I expected a negative response as a whole but I was pleasantly surprised, especially considering (as Olimar mentioned) that the Cocoto games haven't been seen in the best of lights. Also I had no clue that this game HAD an "original" to begin wih but it's no surprise that this is, essentially, a port.
@WhoKnew: Heh, yeah probably.
Is this game smaller than your average Gamecube game? I find it kind of amazing this game was small enough to fit on WiiWare...
Well, I don't HATE it, but I think 7/10 was a point too high, at least for my tastes. The game mechanics work weirdly in such a way that I keep somehow falling way, way down. That's a HUGE negative to the enjoyability of a game in my book. For a superior 2 1/2D platformer, see Kirby 64.
What do you guys think? Buy it? Or let it go?
In my opinion, this is the best wiiware game I've played. It's fun, challenging, and, unlike many wiiware games, will last a while. And that really suprised me. I remember the other Cocoto games being horrible.
Ok after reading this reviews i decided to take chance and get cocoto platform jumper. And ive gotta say am pretty happy with it. Its pretty fun game and for 700 points its decent value for your money. Ive played lot wiiware titles that offer no were near what cocoto offers in terms of content. And ive payed 1000 points a couple of times and have felt short changed. That what i like about cocoto small price for decent amount content. most wiiware titles want you pay the earth and then give you buttons. I really dislike games like fuzzy legends were your essentially getting half game and expected pay 1000 points two three times in till you get full game which is crazy!
So in short if want fun platforming game for low price then cocoto hits nail on head
story mode, boss battles, quite nice visual effects, 2 player battle mode, 4 player race mode. and 3 difficult settings. Id say this is devily game to get:) hehe
Yay another good game of Cocoto!Go Cocoto!
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...