I Still Wish a Tokyo Jungle Remaster Would Appear

It occurred to me the other day how many of my friends own Pomeranians. I get it: they’re a cute and sassy little breed. It’s still a funny coincidence considering how many dog breeds there are in the world and how little friends I have that somehow, about 75% of the dog owners I know have the same type of dog. Whenever I think about pomeranians though, there’s one thing that comes to mind: Tokyo Jungle. What kind of world do we live in that Tokyo Jungle is trapped on the PS3 and PS Vita? A world in which Tokyo Jungle 2 does not exist? The PS4 is on its way out, but before it becomes as defunct as the PS3, I sure would like to see a PS4 or PS5 port of Tokyo Jungle.

For those who are unfamiliar with Tokyo Jungle, it’s a single or multiplayer action-roguelike. It takes place in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, in a world absent of humans. House pets and zoo animals roam free and must survive in this new natural order. Oh, yes, and dinosaurs are here too. Go figure. I personally really enjoyed the story, though playing the story mode was a whole other beast.

The ultimate goal of the main meat of the game—survival mode—is to make it to a hundred years with a species of your choice. You can choose to play as a herbivore or a carnivore. Each type has its own pros and cons. Carnivores need to kill their prey in order to eat, but you can find non-toxic food even in the endgame. Meanwhile, herbivores have more babies per litter, equalling a larger pack and higher survivability. You can also breed to pass on stat boosts to future generations. I’ve played through almost fifty generations of pomeranians in my file, for instance. The stat boosts I accumulated with the Pomeranian alone makes the fluffy little thing more powerful than a default tosa. This adds yet another layer of replayability value, as you can grind stats for your favorite animal.

When Tokyo Jungle first came out in 2012, it received a lukewarm response. Europeans loved it while Americans hated it. In its native Japan, people either adored it for its unique gameplay and replay value, or despised it for its lack of depth. Though I would love to see Tokyo Jungle come back on modern consoles like the PS4 or PS5, I had my own issues with the game, of course. The toxicity mechanic felt like a way to make runs way more difficult for no reason. For reference, if you stay in an area or eat something with high toxicity levels and you reach 100% toxicity, you will start losing HP. This really sucks. When I replayed my file to jog my memory for this, 90% of my deaths occurred for reasons other than toxicity.

While there were ways to manage toxicity, it felt like an unnecessary layer of difficulty in a game that’s already quite hard. The controls aren’t the greatest to handle. It’s easy to lose control of a situation when enemies swarm you like ants on candy. Novices are sure to find it difficult to balance everything—age, hunger, toxicity, time-limited quests, calorie count for better mates, and whatnot. It definitely took me more than a few runs to stop dying in the first three decades or so. But the feeling of improving at the game and beating your own record kept me going back again and again. I’m sure enjoyers of difficult games can understand that sensation.

Tokyo Jungle felt unique in its setting and gameplay. Kataoka and the development team at Crispy’s accomplished their goal of creating something that felt original in both idea and execution. Now, is the game fun? Well...I sure romanticized it in my memory. It’s not fun, per se. It’s an addictive time sink, though. When runs don’t go well, I want to try again. When runs do go well, I want to play again to boost stats or clear more goals. Fun is subjective, but Tokyo Jungle in particular feels like a game that really appeals to certain personalities. Like people who enjoy the feeling of completing lots of little tasks for a greater reward at the end. Or people who like mindless games so they can turn off their brain for a while. And oh boy, am I smack dab in the middle of both audiences.

Rights are a complicated affair. Though I started this with hopes that a PS4 or PS5 port of Tokyo Jungle will show up, I know that I’m just huffing decade-old copium. Crispy’s! hasn’t made anything since 2014 and no longer exists anyway. Japan Studio became defunct in 2021. It’s hard to say if the Freedom Wars remaster is a viable ray of hope, considering Dimps is around. But if Freedom Wars got to escape Vita jail, then hopefully one day, players will be able to explore the concrete greens of Tokyo Jungle once again.

Tokyo Jungle is readily available on the PS3, and Tokyo Jungle Mobile appeared on the PS Vita and mobile devices until PlayStation Mobile was shut down.

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