Someday, theyíll be considered vintage.
Someday, theyíll be thought of the same way the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo Entertainment
System are thought of today.
Someday, theyíll be retro.
And when youíre retro, your faults are granted leniency...if not forgiven entirely.
Theyíre considered a quirky, even charming characteristic of the era.
But until that day, the fifth generation of video game consolesóthe Nintendo 64, the
SEGA Saturn and in this case, the Sony PlayStationóare in a strange kind of middle ground.
Theyíre not quite retro in the fullest sense, but given the advancements the industry has
undergone since, theyíre already very outdated.
Itís a nebulous sort of position.
We still adore some of the games released at the time, but itís shocking how rapidly
others have aged.
And this game, like the hardware of its era, is somewhere between the endearing ìretroî
and the disparaging ìoutdated.î
Tomba!
was released to the PlayStation 13 years ago.
In video games, that might as well be a lifetime.
The rate at which things change over time accelerates rapidly in this industry.
Things that worked 13 years ago can be disastrous today, and despite all the things it does
that are great, thereís a lot here that just feels
ìoutdated.î
Developed by a fledging studio called Whoopee Camp, Tomba!
was an ambitious release for its time.
Itís a 2D platformer at its core, but there are really several unique gameplay components
working in tandem here.
Tomba! is an action-platformer with a heavy emphasis on exploring, a juggernaut of a 32-bit
platformer and an impressive technical specimen, as well.
But of course, it was also a game no one bought.
And playing it 13 years later, I kind of see why.
Tomba!
came during a transformative period for the platforming genre.
The game is obviously old-school at heart, taking inspiration from the 2D classics from
the previous decade.
But itís also an early example of the 2.5D platformer, and in fact, it borrows as much
from games like Klonoa as it does earlier ones like Ghosts ën Goblins.
You play as Tomba, a little pink-haired Tarzan who has some personal beef with an army of
demon pigs...actually, I guess itíd be personal pork.
Nonetheless, you guide Tomba on his quest for redemption...by struggling with his controls.
Tomba received a lot of glowing reviews in 1998, and much of the game deserves praise.
It looks fantastic, with charming art realized by fairly impressive tech, and its sprawling,
surprisingly open design gives the game a really unique flavor among its platforming
peers.
There is a lot to love about it, but unfortunately, Tomba has the inexplicable predisposition
to doing bellyflops.
In fact, thatís the only way Tomba jumps.
That means heís always pulling forward in midair, if ever so slightly.
That means trying to control himóespecially when you try to platformócan be a nightmare.
And since the game was created by To-kur-o Fuji-wara, who also made Ghosts ën Goblins,
Tomba!
has similarly cruel enemies and levels.
But with awkward controls, theyíre not even cruel.
Theyíre just annoying.
Still, we have to send huge thanks to our good pal Chip from Alabama for sending us
this rare and interesting piece of platforming history.
So really, thanks a lot, Chip.
Control has always been the quintessential ingredient of a platformer.
Itís what has always separated the greats from the others.
Tomba! is a notable platformer for many reasonsónot the least of which is its un-platformer-like
focus on questsóbut for now, skip over the retro folder and file Tomba!
under outdated.