Tomba! Special Edition brings one of the most memorable games of a memorable console generation to modern platforms. Up there with Vib-Ribbon, Incredible Crisis, Bishi-Bashi Special and more, it was a game that oozed creativity and challenged the then-relapsing 2D-platforming genre with new tricks, mechanics and ideas.
27 years on from its original release, Tomba! Special Edition finally brings Tomba! (or, Tombi! if you were living in Europe at the time of the original launch) into the modern age, making it the first time it’s been available outside of the PlayStation ecosystem. But, the chances are that if you’re reading this review, you’re probably not familiar with it, so let’s go from the top.
Tomba! follows the story of a little, pink-haired, feral child of the same name, you’ll run around jumping, biting and occasionally kind of chatting and helping people… but mostly jumping, biting, throwing and hitting things. It takes place in a strange world of floating squids, emotive plants, civilised mouse-people and, very specifically, evil pigs. The evil pigs have stolen Tomba’s grandfather’s bracelet, and you have to get it back.
The way you get it back is by exploring the progressively interlinked 2.5D world (somewhat unique at the time, you can pass from a realised 2D front layer into a back layer by jumping back there at certain points) finding the evil pig bags and then using the bags to capture the pigs, fixing parts of the world. In retrospect, it’s probably this Metroidvania-style interlinking world that nurtured my love of the game all those years ago.
Your ever-expanding toolbox of weapons and moves starts off with the ability to jump on most (non-spiky) objects and enemies, ripping them up into the air and flinging them forwards. It’s a clever traversal alternative, and you can also use it to chain movements without touching the floor, or to take out trickier enemies. You’ve also got a ‘blackjack’ which is a ball and chain style weapon (like a bola) that you can wind up for stronger hits. Jumping is arguably the most essential part of the game — its a platformer at its core — and a lot of the levels play really well height, so it feels great. Tie that into the free-roaming within each of the ‘rooms’, with high-level, low-level and edge of map exits and it really starts to shine.
Finally, the most important ingredient to add to all of this — second only to the bright, magical setting — is the AP (basically XP) and quest system running throughout. Quests include mixing mushrooms, rescuing trapped dwarves, capturing leaf butterflies and a lot more, and when you get a new one the screen is taken over with a really fun message informing you of it. Complete it and you get a similar message, but you also critically get AP, which then allows you to unlock boxes and areas hidden around the game world.
Tomba! is joyful, bright and fun, and it goes without saying that Tomba! Special Edition captures that same feeling perfectly. The only real complaints that I have about it is that it’s not the European version (so the intro music was changed) and that sometimes Tomba breaks into a run when moving as the sensitivity/build-up feels a little different than the original. That might just be nostalgia talking though.
For new players, some tricky platforming and a reliance on a menu to equip items join vague directions as the bugbears here, but persist and you’ll find an amazing game that has been crying out for a revival like this for a long, long time.
Tomba! Special Edition is available now for PC, Switch and PlayStation.
