Tomba! is a fantastic reminder to players everywhere that metroidvania games don’t always act and look the way you may think they will. Sure, you’re going to have some titles that have adorable protagonists, puzzling mechanics or are just plain inscrutable, but still look the part once you break things down. An expansive map, some clear pathways that cannot be traversed initially, and a growing compendium of items that have clear uses for navigation one way or another.

What you DON’T see as much are games that present as action platformers but convince you that backtracking to some degree is necessary, that NPC information is essential, and that it can still be RPG-adjacent even if it follows spawn rules from games several generations back. It’s this level of creative thinking that makes Limit Run Games’ investment so important, and why players now get to experience Tomba! Special Edition.

We need to stop pushing the narrative of the evil pig antagonist. For years, players have watched the other white meat become the symbol for anger and hate, oftentimes destroying the world they invade in favor of some symbolic act that represents the hunger of the hog. There’s a whole player generation who smashed swine in Angry Birds, shot sows in Duke Nukem and battled massive, boarish bosses in Diddy Kong Racing, Disgaea and, largest of all, Ganon’s true form in The Legend of Zelda. It’s a travesty and a shame there isn’t at least a cheap gaming adaptation of Babe, but it is what it is. So know that, as I look at Tomba! Special Edition, know that I am staunchly against this continued perception of the bastard bacon beasts and hope that we can get a game with a proper piggy protagonist in the near future.

Our lead, Tomba, is a pink haired boy who just wants to live his wild life, enjoying the jungle and protecting his late grandfather’s gold bracelet. Some of the Koma Pigs, a group of mischievous pranksters, decide to steal the bracelet and Tomba gives chase. Over a very short amount of time, Tomba rescues a 100 Year Old Man and finds out Seven Evil Pigs control the planet through strategic Evil Pig spots, and you need to seal them away in Evil Pig Bags. Tomba takes it upon himself to rescue the planet and defeat these Evil Pigs, but it’s all incidental. Tomba just wants his grandfather’s bracelet back, and, if doing everyone’s frigging side quests is the only way to make peace with his ancestors, then Tomba will do it, because why not?

The gameplay for Tomba! works out like a cross between your average polygonal platformer from the mid 90s and if someone demanded that the people who made Spider make their own Super Metroid while also having dialogue from Moon. Broken into different screens, Tomba will jump, climb and snarf his away across multiple landscapes, each of which is full of bizarre enemies, obstacles and hazards that can be difficult to overcome on first blush. While you will pick up different accessories to improve jumping, aid in long range attacks and give more health, the core gameplay of jumping on something and then double jumping to hurl it in one direction is necessary for success and longevity.

There’s a lot that makes Tomba! memorable and special. The world, for example, is build to have foregrounds and background that our character can occasionally jump in and out of, giving more depth and explorative space. This worked out magnificently on the PSX to let players have larger real estate for secrets and pathways, and also let the flagship console deliver a lot without asking as much in return. The game, in spite of being so spread out and demanding for replay, isn’t wildly unfair in terms of save spots and breaking things down. If Tomba suffers too much damage in a single area and dies, he can restart from said area instead of going back to the last save spot. It’s almost like the developers understood the limitations of the floaty controllers and imprecise hit boxes.

Additionally, the visuals are absolutely surreal. Leaving the jungle, you end up in all kinds of biomes, from autumnal villages to flowing lava caves to massive castles and back. The landscape is full of evil pigs, sure, but there’s creepy crawly spiders, deranged bush people and, my personal nightmare, mushrooms with faces who cause you to have emotional reactions if you eat the wrong thing around you. This game might not be particularly large, but it’s so crazily detailed it’s no wonder that Tokuro Fujiwara leaves this as his major legacy title that’s so lauded in retro circles. Also, super glad Limited Run Games got some interviews with him to help preserve his words and ideas.

I love the concept of Tomba! as it stands unique in how it plays out. Like so many metroidvanias, you develop your own motif for how to best run through the game, and what becomes necessary and auxiliary. You will, through no fault of your own, end up accomplishing side quests that you didn’t even know you were doing, and you’ll rifle through a hundred different extra items before realizing the boomerang and umbrella are the only two you really rely on. The humor is charming and genuine, even if the riffs about Tomba’s hair color gets old. Once you understand how the map and the linear system works, the game feels smaller, but not in a suffocating way. More like you understand the flow and can move through it more comfortably, like memorizing a subway map.

On the other hand, there are elements that are maddening. Due to the age of the game, the controls are imprecise, which affects a lot of the climbing and landing on enemies/not in a void. There are moments that feel especially slow and sloppy, like trying to figure out when and where it’s important to traverse the planes (it becomes less and less apparent the further on you move).  The soundtrack, while quaint, is very repetitive and can go from earworm to brainrot in a second, especially when you keep dying and respawning.

Also, every single boss battle, including the big boss at the end, is done the same way: jump on boss, stun him, throw him in the bag once and done. There are some small elements that change here, but you can seriously just keep scumming the same fight over and over and waiting for the perfect moment to toss a pig and call it a day. In a world where many games are all about how to conquer the bosses, having the same playbook every time gets boring quickly. Strategy be damned, it’s just about luck and patience.

Like so many other titles from Limited Run Games, Tomba! Special Edition can be appreciated from the vantage of a long time fan, a game collector or just someone who walked in off the street. A digital package that incorporates a ton of bonus content is wonderful, including more videos on the behind the scenes angle, manuals for Japanese and English releases and a music player if you aren’t sick to death of the soundtrack like I was by the end of things. The opening animation is crisp and sharp, and the borders help to preserve the aspect ratio without distracting too much from the game itself. It’s neat and clean, and what I’ve come to expect from Limited Run Games.

Tomba! Special Edition is a really cool title to lift from the annals of history, and I think that it deserves both recognition and appreciation for what it does. While the series never quite took off in a longform way, I think Fujiwara-san should be proud of his creation and all that went into Tomba! and its sequel. Moreover, I just love that fans get a chance to play something that isn’t a go-to PS1 title when talking about this generation. Plenty have delved into the JRPGs, fighting games and horror games of the fifth gen era. But this unique blend of exploration, action and humor stands alone as something worth experiencing, either for the first time or all over again.

Graphics: 7.0 Clearly dated by techology and age, Tomba! looks modestly good on modern screens as long as the aspect ratio is kept clean, but players cannot ignore a lot of the rough design and reptitive backgrounds once you notice them. Excellent character creation, but poor landscapes overall.	Gameplay: 6.5 Core mechanics are understood quickly and expanded upon without absolute necessity, just optional changes. Getting to the bosses is infinitely more challenging than the bosses themselves. I sometimes grew frustated with precision controls and found D pad was actually better than joystick. Beware of conditionals.
Sound: 5.0 Sound effects are important to clue in on some hidden quest objectives. Music is so damn repetitive it can make your head hurt if you’re in one place for too long. Animated explanation from 100 Year Old Man was excellent to see but, disappointingly, some of the only animation for the whole game.	Fun Factor: 6.5 When I was in the groove with Tomba!, it carries all the delight and charm of a game from this era. When things slowed down or became a chore, I was keenly reminded that this game is almost thirty years old and things have progressed in a big way since then. It was definitely fun, but maybe not to the level I would have wanted.
Final Verdict: 6.5

Tomba! Special Edition is available now on Steam, Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4/5.

Reviewed on PC.

A copy of Tomba! Special Edition was provided by the publisher.