Tonic Trouble (1999). Play online

Summary

Tonic Trouble landed on the Nintendo 64 as an ambitious 3D platformer starring Ed, a hapless inventor who must undo a spilled magic potion that turned vegetables into hostile creatures. I loved the way Ed could swing between modes – a peashooter in first‑person, a bow‑tie that lets him float, a diving helmet for underwater sections, a cloaking belt and even a pogo stick for lava – all unlocked by rummaging through red‑orb caches and popcorn power‑ups. The game packs twelve colorful levels filled with portals, secret rooms and fetch quests that reward extra abilities, and the health system expands with thermometer pickups. Critics were split: some praised the quirky level design and upbeat soundtrack, while others lambasted the clunky camera, uneven graphics and an exposition that felt more wordy than wondrous, often lumping it together with Ubisoft’s Rayman 2 for its similar hollow‑limbed hero. Despite its flaws, the title pushed past the one‑million‑copy mark by 2001 and even resurfaced on Nintendo Switch Online’s Classics roster in December 2025.

Storyline

In the Nintendo 64 version of Tonic Trouble, Ed is a purple alien janitor on his mothership. While cleaning a storage room he chases a bug, drinks a mysterious liquid, spits it, and the container falls through a trapdoor to Earth, polluting a river and mutating the planet. The drunk Grögh drinks the liquid, gains powers and begins conquering Earth.

Agent Xyz, leader of the resistance, recruits Ed to retrieve the container for an antidote. Ed flies to Earth, crashes on a snowy mountain, sleds down, and meets Doc and his daughter Suzy in South Plain. Suzy begs Ed to rescue her father, who is trapped by his own robot after the contamination.

Doc reveals he was building a catapult to launch someone into Grögh’s Castle; the missing parts are stolen, the last by Magic Mushroom, whom Ed defeats. With the catapult completed, Ed is flung into the castle, defeats Grögh, reclaims the container and finally cures the planet.