While Tomba never became the success that it could have been due to launching a few years too early for its complexity and a few years too late for its visuals, over a quarter of a century after its original launch in 1997, it still holds a special place in the heart of the millions of people who played the demo disk but were unable to find the game on the shelves (myself included!)
Singleplayer.
Tomba is a unique title in that more people have fond memories of playing the game for hours on end on a demo disc than players who played the full game due to its limited distribution and poor sales.
As a pre-teen, I played Tomba (or Tombi as it was known in Europe) via demo disk more than I played many fully released games. Its unique gameplay, charming aesthetic, and uniqueness appealed to me like few other games did.
Unfortunately, I could not find the game for sale in Wales at the time, and while I could pick up the sequel easily, until Tomba! Special Edition: I could not play Tomba in its entirety until 1 August 2024, when Tomba! Special Edition released on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 & 5 and PC.
From the moment I hit start, it felt just like I remembered.
While the added quality-of-life features such as saving anywhere and the ability to rewind gameplay were not in the original release, I love features like this, as many classic games were made to be crushingly difficult, and not many people from my generation have the time (or perhaps patience) to start again afresh each time you run out of lives or fall pone too many times while trying to navigate some of tomba more difficult jumping puzzles.
On that note, I must point out that, like its original release, the 2.5D perspective does not always work as intended. At times, players will end up stuck with the perspective locked in the wrong position, stopping them from proceeding and occasionally from retreating the way they came.
This is especially common in the haunted mansion, with some camera changes failing to trigger roughly 75% of the time. This forces players to reload or rewind gameplay and reattempt the same movement repeatedly until the perspective swap triggers correctly.
Well, the main reason Tomba failed to sell well was limited distribution outside of Asia and, secondly, stiff competition, with Spyro the Dragon launching in 1998 and the Crash Bandicoot Trilogy (1996-1998), Sonic Adventure (1998), and Super Mario 64 (1996) dominating the genre, there wasn’t much room for Tomba to thrive, which appears to have resulted in the publishers barely trying to market the game outside of Asia, which ironically would end up being one of its worst markets, while Tomba would go onto to become a cult classic in the North America and Europe, despite selling poorly due to limited marketing and availability.
Marketing issues aside, Tomba was unique in that its 2.5D visuals were outdated compared to the 3D visuals, while its gameplay mechanics were far more complex than gamers were used to for a 2D platformer.
Tomba had more in common with what would eventually be called Metroidvania than a traditional platformer.
This is even more apparent when playing Tomba! Special Edition in 2024, as while the visuals are rather dated, the gameplay loop is rock solid and shares many similarities with modern Metroidvania games.
Unfortunately for Tomba’s chances at becoming a lasting franchise, while many gamers would eventually go in to appreciate Tomba’s quirky characters, engaging gameplay, and (for the time) unique quest mechanics, many of these fans were acquired too late to save its original developer Whoopee Camp, which closed in 2000.
Tomba! Special Edition is an excellent remaster, but I feel Tomba deserves a chance to shine. A remake authentic to Tomba’s aesthetic, mechanics, and gameplay loop would do rather well, especially given how popular Metroidvania is in today’s market.
That said, it would be a gamble for anyone to invest the money required for such an endeavour, and while Tomba! Special Edition does little to make Tomba more visually appealing to modern audiences; it’s an excellent title and, for $19.99, exceptional value for money, considering just how much content there is to enjoy.
However, I wish they had slightly reworked the boss battles to make them more challenging and engaging, as except for the Evil Water Pig, most Evil Pigs can be defeated in less than 20 seconds if you know each Evil Pig’s unique mechanic and the path and rotation of the Evil Pig Bag you are expected to throw said evil pig into ending the fight and lifting the curse from each Evil Pig’s respective domain.
Boss battle difficulty aside, I would like to see any potential remaster of Tomba improve the game’s flow. I played for roughly four hours without having access to a single boss, only to defeat the remaining bosses in short order, defeating as many as three separate Evil Pigs in as little as 45 minutes.
However, this is likely due to the limitations of the combat system, as while Tomba is an excellent game, its combat mechanics are very basic and mostly consist of stunning creatures with a ranged weapon before jumping on top of them and throwing them into objects, the ground, or off-screen, all of which kill 99% of the enemies you will face, except for four special mobs required to progress the main quest chain and finish the game.
Tomba! Special Edition is a adventure video game developed and published by Limited Run Games, it was released on 1 August 2024 and retails for $19.99.
Tomba! Special Edition is available on the following platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation 4, and Playstation 5.
The following peripherals are officially supported:
Tomba! Special Edition is rated PEGI 7+ and contains:
Tomba! Special Edition is an excellent remaster of an excellent title that holds a special place in the hearts of millions of millennial gamers. Due to Tomba’s limited distribution and relatively poor international sales, most of them have only had the chance to play Tomba on the demo disc until now.
In Wales, I was never able to find a single copy of the original, though I was able to play its sequel, which frankly, while being a better game overall, lacked some of the charm of the original.
Overall, I am thrilled with Tomba! Special Edition and appreciate Limited Run Game’s attempts at game preservation.
While not every Limited Run Game’s title has been as well received as Tomba! Special Edition, and I am under no illusion that Limited Run Game’s is something other than a business seeking to make a profit; it’s nice to see someone care about preventing lesser-known titles from the 1990s, even if it is partially or even primarily for financial reasons.
Financial motive aside, they appear to be gamers and enjoy preserving and re-releasing obscure classic games that may never have otherwise seen the light of day.
