For more information about this series, please see the introductory article here. The full Deep Cuts collection can be found here!
When I began this series, I knew I would be here eventually. Out of all of the games I have reviewed, this is the nearest and dearest to my heart. The only game that matches it as a runner-up or as a tie is Insaniquarium, the first game I reviewed in this series.
When I was younger, my gaming was limited to PC – I didn’t have a lot of experience with handhelds or consoles until a bit later in my childhood. I still remember the first day we received a PS1 – it was from my uncle, and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. When I was younger, the PS2 was all the rage, but I was a generation behind in both handheld and console gaming for quite a while, which as an adult I thoroughly appreciate – it makes me truly appreciate the swath of games that were created from the 90s to modern consoles, and has made me willing to explore and embrace older games even if I don’t have the nostalgia building them up in my mind.
I have a ton of fond memories playing on the PS1 – I didn’t have a ton of games but the ones I liked I played a ton. They were all, for the most part, 3D platformers, and Toy Story 2 was one of the first video games I ever played using a controller.
All of that to say that the nostalgia linked to this game for me is immeasurable, which pretty thoroughly colors my appreciation of it. I have replayed it now on PC, on the Vita, and now with its surprise release on PS5, on that system as well! It would have been a significant deep cut until that release, when it was made available for free to all owners of a PS5 – now there are more people that know about it, have played it, and have reviewed it than there have been in years.
The Game
Toy Story 2 is, for lack of a better explanation, a toned-down, slightly-more-accessible-for-younger-players Super Mario 64. Instead of stars, you are on the hunt for Pizza Planet Tokens, which can be found across 10 different level locations. Each location contains 5 tokens, with predictable methods of acquisition. In each level, your goal is to:
- Collect 5 toys hidden across the map
- Collect 50 coins
- Defeat a boss
- Win a race
- Find a token hidden on the map, accessible through some kind of challenge or puzzle
This is consistent from level to level, meaning that there are a total of 50 tokens to collect across the entire game. The story loosely follows Buzz and the gang’s journey to rescue Woody in the film the game is based on, though I use the term loosely quite loosely – the game itself has little to do with the film besides using locations from the movie and including low-resolution film clips in-between levels.
There are also 5 big bosses to fight of varying difficulty, making 15 levels total.
In order to be the game, technically all you need to do is gather one Pizza Planet Token per level, and defeat the five bosses. However, this would make for a very unsatisfying gameplay experience. It is clear that the goal is to collect all of the tokens in each level, not just get to the ending. This is always the goal I set out to accomplish when replaying this game, and was my goal this playthrough as well!
The game’s main components are boss battles and jumping puzzles – these account for most of the gameplay from the beginning to the end. Every level has a significant jumping puzzle, and these have varying levels of complexity. Because of this, some are much, much more frustrating than others (we’ll get to that later).
The environments are charming, the music lives rent-free in my head (though my wife found the soundtrack a bit annoying after hearing the same song repeated over and over again during a level that took me a while to get through). Characters from the Toy Story franchise appear regularly, with some core characters that show up every level (Ham and Rex in particular; Rex to give hints about what you can do in the level, and Ham waiting for you to give him 50 coins in each area. The other character that recurs throughout the game (though not in every level) is Mr. Potato Head, which leads me to a fun but also frustrating part of the game.
Throughout the game, there are five levels where Mr. Potato Head appears. He is always missing one of his parts, and needs you to find it. If you do, you unlock gear that you will need in order to get one or more Pizza Planet Tokens in that level. The gear has a spawn point, and is locked in a blue toy box until you find Mr. Potato Head’s missing part. The interesting part? As an example, let’s discuss the Grappling Hook, though it is not the only one.
The Grappling Hook shows up in Level 10: Elevator Hop, and you need to unlock it before progressing in the level. However, in Level 4: Alleys and Gulleys, you need the Grappling Hook in order to complete jumping puzzles that get you to two of the Pizza Planet Tokens for that level. This mechanic is solid, as it encourages you to go back and replay old levels and tackle new challenges that were previously unreachable. I think this is a great aspect of video games where completionist gameplay is not necessary but encouraged. HOWEVER (and this is a big however), it also results in some mind-numbingly frustrating moments in gameplay.
There are times when you explore a relatively large level, looking for the five ducks, sheep, or whatever the toy you are hunting in that level is, only to realize that you cannot reach one of them without a tool unlocked in a later level. Not only was all that work for naught, as these refresh when you exit, but you then need to replay aspects of the entire level that you already completed in order to collect all five toys for the token. This is not great gameplay, and the only way to know whether or not your goal is locked behind an item you don’t have is to talk to Rex, and I enjoy exploring levels without stopping to ask for hints (okay, they’re not really hints – just guidance, but still).
That pretty much sums up the actual gameplay. Now let’s get to the important part.
Does it hold up?
What a loaded question.
There’s a lot to unpack here, so we’ll start with the surface level – the graphics. Visually, this game looks like a Playstation 1 game. I personally have a lot of nostalgia for the blocky textures that 3D games in the PS1 era were known for, but if you don’t enjoy that aspect, the game may be off-putting for you.
Speaking of off-putting, the camera takes a while to get used to. We are spoiled with dual-stick controllers that allow us to move the camera and our character. Not so for games in this era – a modern player has to adapt to camera that moves where it wills, sometimes in frustrating directions. This is a weakness of the game that is only there because of improvements in gaming as a whole, and is a weakness present in games as notable as Super Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, so it’s not a complaint that docks this game too much.
The meat of this question is answered in gameplay. I already expressed my frustration with unlockable gear that results in wasted time trying to fulfill an impossible goal, but there’s a lot more frustration here than just that.
First things first – jump puzzles. Hitboxes in this game are… less than ideal for some objects. It is very easy to jump in a way that you expect will succeed and to clip through the pole you were supposed to swing off of and fall, forcing you to redo the entire puzzle from scratch. Some of the later jump puzzles, particularly the one in Alleys and Gullies are punishing if you fall.
Now, you might look at me and say “well, get good”, and that’s fair, but the problem is that you are severely punished for hitboxes that require guesswork, and that causes a different kind of frustration than simply not being skilled enough to play a game. It is one thing if you just miss, it is another thing if the game gives you an expected location and the hitbox is so small that you land ‘correctly’ and fall anyway. This is certainly a weakness in this game that causes unnecessary frustration (though this was also a hallmark of the PS1 era, as the blocky 3D graphics translated to hitboxes).
Honestly, that is the biggest criticism I have of this game – otherwise, it plays smoothly, the levels are satisfying, and there is plenty to do. Its target audience is young players, and as a child I found myself seething with frustration at times, but I still found it satisfying. The 5 big bosses that show up every third level were also pretty fun, with the Slime being a standout for me as a unique fight that is not replicated by any other battle in the game. The final battle is a bit frustrating, and I wish the boss was a bit more unique mechanically, but overall these were a fun addition and reprieve from the normal level formula.
In the end, is this a worthwhile game to play? If you had asked me before its release on PS1, I would have said “Maybe?”. I find this game very enjoyable, and I feel like fans of games released in this era would find a lot to love about this game. However, its flaws definitely stand out, and can cause unnecessary frustration when playing.
The rerelease, though, brought some sorely needed emulation tools that made the gameplay experience much more fun (though the player needs to decide how sparingly to use them), as well as significant graphical improvements. I have beaten this game more than once raw, but this play experience was much more streamlined and life-balance friendly.
This release includes the ability to save mid-level, which is a massive boon for players like me who can’t always sit down for 30-60 minutes straight to complete all of the goals in a location. This is a massive gatekeep for me when going back to these old games – not being able to save is brutal. I know some would say that the ability to save at will makes gameplay easier, but at this stage of life I am substantially less likely to play a game I can’t pick up and put down at will. Being able to play a nostalgic throwback without that restriction was incredibly meaningful for me.
The other massive quality-of-life improvement is the rewind function. This does make the game significantly easier, so it’s something I tried to use sparingly, but it was very nice when the game glitched (looking at you, saucer race in the Al’s Toy Barn Space level – glitching and stopping the race if I jumped on too fast) and when I just wanted to plow through a level without redoing massive jumping puzzles over and over again (one of the last jumps in the brutal jumping puzzle in Alleys and Gullies has caused quite a bit of rage for me over the years).
So overall, is it still worth playing? The answer is yes. If you enjoy these types of games, you will likely enjoy your time with Toy Story 2. It doesn’t take that long to 100%, and it is very reasonably priced on the PS store, where it is currently available. If a toned-down Super Mario 64 sounds like your kind of game, you will find some aspects of Toy Story 2 dated, but should find plenty to enjoy here.
Accessibility
This game is available for purchase on the PS store! So as long as you have a Playstation 4 or 5, it is easily accessible.
Final Thoughts
The biggest takeaway I had from this playthrough of the game is how much fun a remaster would be. Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and even the first Pac-Man World have gotten this treatment, and though Toy Story 2 is a bit more obscure of a game, a remaster would be sooo much fun to play. The visuals would be charming, the characters would look great with updated sprites, and the game generally would be far more accessible to modern audiences.
I still love the original though, and even if a remaster was announced, I am sure that I would return to the PS1 original more than once. Nostalgia is powerful, and this game is full of it for me. Every time I play it, I am back in the basement of my parents’ house, listening to Adventures in Odyssey and feeling the combined rage and satisfaction of failing and succeeding at the puzzles in this game. It was so much fun to replay once more (and to get the platinum trophy on PS5, of course), and, as I have said before, I am sure I will be back for more Toy Story 2 at some point!
Recommended for Younger Players?
For younger players, this game might feel a bit dated, but it is still a lot of fun and a great introduction to the 3D platforming genre!
Verdict: Yes.
A Thinker in Space 
What do you think?