Tomba! was the brainchild of Tokuro Fuijiwara, known for his creation of the Ghosts’n Goblins series as well as the producer of the Mega Man series. The rich, interactive atmosphere of Tomba! elevated the title’s innovative gameplay, being one of the earliest PlayStation games to use the Dual Shock feature. Help our pink-haired protagonist trample the seven evil pigs and retrieve his grandfather’s prized bracelet in this PS one classic.
Developed by Whoopee Camp and released in 1998, Tomba! follows a bushy, pink-haired caveboy who finds his grandfather’s precious bracelet stolen by seven evil swine, known as the Koma Pigs. Tomba must transverse the newly mutated islands around him and collect Evil Pig Bags, which allow him to enter each realm of each Evil Pig. He’ll be meeting with zany characters such as Charles, the funky hip monkey and the 100-Year Old Wise Man, who assigns Tomba numerous arduous quests upon his adventure. In the end, Tomba will be going through plenty of missions and side-quests to bring him closer to his goal of getting his grandfather’s bracelet back.
Tomba! employs a unique mission system that rewards Adventure Points (AP) for progressing in levels and obtaining key story or power-up items. Completing different missions give you AP points, which can also be used to open AP boxes which contain rations and items for improving your inventory health. Tomba! promises hours of innovative gameplay around every corner!
Controls:
- Control pad: Move Tomba (in-game), change selection (in-menus)
- X Button: Jump (in action sequences), Cancel (in-menus)
- Circle Button: Talk/Read Signs (in-game), Confirm (in-menus)
- Square Button: Dash (in-game)
- Triangle Button: Access Item Screen
- Start Button: Pause
- L1/R1: Shift view up/down (not available in all areas)
Advanced Controls:
- Hold Up or Down on the Control pad and press the Jump button in order to leap into the foreground or background, respectively. If Tomba is capable of jumping in the indicated direction, he will turn to face that direction. When he reaches a ledge (or if his hands reach the edge of a ledge during a jump) , press Up to make him climb onto it. Tomba can also cling to poles and tree trunks in this manner. While clinging to a pole/tree trunk, he can still attack by pressing the relevant button and swing to the other side of the pole by pressing the appropriate directional button.
- Tomba can climb up/down vertical or near-vertical walls by jumping into them. He will grab on automatically and can climb up/down by pressing, well, Up or Down on the control pad.
- If Tomba grabs a tree branch (or other pole-y thing what he can swing on), he can, well, swing on it. Hold the directional button in which Tomba’s facing to speed up the swing, and hold the opposite button to slow down and/or change directions. To jump off, hold the directional pad in the direction you want to jump and press the Jump button. Note that the direction Tomba jumps in is based off the directional buttons you’re holding down rather than where in the loop he is, and his velocity is determined solely by how fast he’s swinging.
Pause Menu Translations:
- Item: Access the Item Screen (view current items)
- Event: Access the Event Screen (view completed and Incomplete events)
- Status: View the Status Screen (Tomba’s special abilities, equipped items, and such)
- Map: View the Map Screen (where you are, where you’re going, where you’ve been)
General Info:
There are 4 types of items, and you can tell the difference by the color of the text. Normal items have black text, and can be used at (almost) any time. Event items are in blue and can only be used in certain situations, usually something directly related to the item. Permenant items are in Red. These are things like the keys which stay with you and are used automatically whenever appropriate. Equipment is in green, and represents items that can be, well, Equipped. Generally speaking, Tomba can have one weapon and one pair of pants equipped at one time.
Tips and Tricks:
- When Tomba jumps and bites an enemy, he will gain 10 XP in one of 3 tracks depending on what he’s bitten. When a track hits level 10, one of Tomba’s special survival abilities will be unlocked… Once you’ve completed the OTHER necessary tasks, that is.
- For some reason, Tomba can learn Dwarf-ese by jumping and biting dwarf-heads. Don’t ask.
- Here’s some stuff they took out of the US version: on the Options Menu, Hold R1+L1+Select+Square and Press Left, Down, Right, Up, Up, Right, Down, Left. This will change Tomba’s hair color.
- Here’s something ELSE they cut out of the US version. Start a New Game and during the Loading Screen, Hold R1 and Press Select, Right, Left, Down, X, O, Start . Press Start again when the loading screen goes by and you’ll have some extra weaponry.
- Tomba gets Adventure Points (AP) from discovering AND completing events. If he discovers AND completes the event at the same time (by talking to the relevant NPC with the items he was supposed to bring, for example), he only gets the AP for completing the event.
