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'Yooka-Laylee' adds eight arcade games for more, nostalgic multiplayer fun

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Playtonic’s Yooka-Laylee is a nostalgic tribute to classic 3D platformers like Banjo-Kazooie, but the game has much more to offer than just “the old hits.” The developer released a new multiplayer trailer that shows how you can not only play the main story mode together with a friend, but also eight extra arcade games.

While the first player controls Yooka and Laylee as they jump throughout the game’s world, collect items, and battle enemies, a second player can control the “Bee Team,” and assist in collecting items, stopping traps, and even stunning enemies to make things a little easier.

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But if you really want a change of pace, you’re going to want to check out Rextro’s Radical Arcade. The eight arcade games in the dinosaur’s collection are all playable in both solo and multiplayer modes, and are paired with music from Kameo: Elements of Power and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts composer Steve Burke.

Playtonic promises that “friendships will be tested” in these arcade games, which look like they wouldn’t be out of place in the latest Mario Party. One appears to be a maze that four players must race through, with rickety bridges and flames standing in their way, while another takes place in a giant casino, with chips and dice speeding toward the screen. There’s even a shooter, if you’re into that sort of thing in a platformer, as welL AS “Kartos Karting,” which should help to scratch your Mario Kart 8 Deluxe itch until that game releases a few weeks later.

Yooka-Laylee is out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, and Linux on April 11. A planned Wii U version was later canceled due to technical struggles, but Playtonic announced in December that it plans to release a version for the Nintendo Switch instead.

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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