In the beginning cinematic, Toki Tori is on a cliff overlooking a castle and surrounded by a forest. He begins his quest in this forest, which ends with him entering the castle. In this castle, Toki Tori learns that he has special abilities that help him locate the eggs such as telewarp and bridge builder from a book he finds. He also learns in the castle that his powers were most likely the reason of the eggs' kidnapping. Upon finishing the castle world, Toki Tori falls through a trap door where he lands in the sewers, infested with slugs. When he is done collecting his brethren from this world, a strong torrent of water sweeps him up and sends him to Bubble Barrage, the last area of the game. After traversing this underwater world, Toki Tori returns home with his brothers and sisters.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Toki Tori consists of using a limited number of tools to gather up all the eggs in the level in a single run through it in a certain amount of time. Toki Tori is given a set number of tools in the beginning of a level. The puzzles are designed around the tools so they must be used intelligently and usually using a tool incorrectly makes the level unbeatable. Enemies usually appear following a simple patrol of walking back and forth, turning when they hit an obstacle. If they touch Toki Tori, he instantly dies, forcing the player to restart the level. Some tools are weapons that can defeat these monsters; however, they must be used wisely to allow completion of the level. Besides the threat of monsters, a timer is constantly ticking down. If the timer reaches zero, the player must restart the level. Once the player has a clear idea of how to beat the level, however, there is usually ample time to execute the plan. There are fifteen levels in each of the four worlds, not including tutorial levels that appear when a previously unseen tool appears. Only the first ten are required to enter the next area. The other five are much more difficult and are there to add replay value.
Worlds
There are four worlds in Toki Tori: Forest Falls, Creepy Castle, Slime Sewers (Slime Caves in the Game Boy Color version) and Bubble Barrage. The worlds become progressively more challenging as the player progresses through them, with later levels usually only having one specific way of collecting all the eggs. The most obvious difference in the worlds and their unique enemies is simply cosmetics. Enemies all behave in the same fashion and the goal of each world is the same: collect all the eggs in one attempt.
The biggest difference in the worlds, besides cosmetics, is how each world has a specific tool associated with it. Forest Falls is the only level above water with the Freeze-o-matic, which used incorrectly can create obstacles as it freezes enemies in place. Creepy Castle contains the Ghost Trap, usable for passing through stone walls as well as beating ghosts. Slime Sewers contains the Snail Sucker, which is the only weapon that directly removes an enemy from the map. Bubble Barrage contains the Freeze-o-matic as well. When underwater, however, the frozen enemies float up so the game considers it a separate tool. Also Bubble Barrage uniquely contains the Bubble Suit.
At the end of the ten normal worlds, the player is treated to a short cinematic of Toki Tori entering the next world either on purpose or by accident. This is used to connect the levels more directly for the sake of the story.
Tools
Tools are Toki Tori's main method of accomplishing his goal. The game claims ten different tools, as they count Freeze-o-matic a second time when used underwater. At the start of each level, the player is given a certain number of up to four separate tools (not including the Eyes tool). Although not officially separated, tools come in two varieties: navigation and weapons.
Navigational tools help Toki Tori move around obstacles and get to higher and lower floors that would be otherwise inaccessible. For example, Toki Tori can jump half his height up and half his height forward. To cross a pit, then, he would need to fill the pit with blocks using his Crate Creator or place a platform over it with the bridge builder. Some items allow him to through walls, such as the telewarp. The most versatile tool is the Bubble Barrage-only Bubble Suit. It allows Toki Tori to travel one half his width/height in any of the four directions, to cross pits, climb up floors or avoid enemies. If the player has at least one use of it left, they may float indefinitely. It also can be refilled to five, ten or fifteen uses at recharge points scattered throughout most Bubble Barrage levels.
Weapon tools allow Toki Tori to hinder enemies or even remove them from the level. These are especially useful as Toki Tori has no life bar so a single hit will end the current attempt. The Freeze-o-matic freezes an opponent in a block of ice which will either fall to the ground or float up to the ceiling depending on whether the level is underwater or not. In both cases, careful planning can ensure that the block of ice is a platform while poor planning can make it a road block. The Ghost Trap, when placed on stone floors, causes the floor to give way when a ghost walks on it. This doesn't destroy the ghost but can get it out of the player's way. It also allows the Ghost Trap to work as a navigational tool to get to lower floors. The Snail Sucker sucks can either suck in slugs, removing them from the level, or cause them to change directions if they aren't sucked all the way into the Snail Sucker. The latter use does not cost one use of the Snail Sucker.
One tool that is different from the rest is the Eyes tool. This tool is available on every level and has unlimited uses. It pauses Toki Tori and any enemies in the level, but not the timer, and allows the player to freely look at the level, controlling the camera with the directional pad, which assists in planning their path.
The Eyes tool and timer were only present in the GBC version of Toki Tori.
