Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return
Encyclopedia
is a platform
-adventure
video game game developed
by Whoopee Camp
and published
by Sony Computer Entertainment
for the PlayStation. The game was released in Japan on October 28, 1999, in North America on December 31, 1999 and in the PAL region on June 30, 2000.
Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return is a sequel to the 1997 video game Tomba!
(Ore! Tomba! in Japan). The game's story centers on the journey of the titular character Tomba, who must find his kidnapped childhood friend Tabby and capture the Evil Pigs that have cursed the continent with their magic.
The game received generally positive reviews by critics, who praised the improved gameplay and graphics in comparison to the previous game, but criticized the generic music and repetitive boss battles.
save file) which range from retrieving a fishing hook for a fisherman to helping Santa Claus
find his "sack". Completing a task earns the player "Adventure Points", which can be used to unlock specific boxes scattered around the game's world. As the game progresses, Tomba can obtain suits that give him special abilities. For example, the flying squirrel suit allows Tomba to glide long distances while the pig suit allows Tomba to communicate with friendly pigs. Scattered throughout the levels are magical feather
s that can instantly transport Tomba to any area that has previously been visited.
named Tomba lives peacefully in his home country until his friend Zippo finds a mysterious letter addressed to Tomba. According to the letter, Tabby, Tomba's childhood friend, has disappeared. Wracked with anxiety, Tomba leaps into the sea in search of her. Tomba and Zippo wind up in a fisherman village where they meet an old man named Kainen. From there they move on to the Coal-Mining Town where Tabby's house is, but discover that she is unavailable. Gran, a denizen of the Coal-Mining Town, mentions seeing Tabby travel to the Kujara Ranch by trolley, but the trolley she used to travel there returns empty. A panicking trolley worker reveals that the Evil Pigs kidnapped Tabby when she tried to protect a penchant that was given to her by Tomba as a gift. Gran explains that the Evil Pigs have cursed the entire continent, and gives Tomba a red Pig Bag that is capable of capturing the Flame Pig that has cast his spell on the mines.
Tomba ventures throughout the continent gathering the rest of the Pig Bags. He cures the Coal-Mining Town of its inferno by capturing the Evil Flame Pig, cures the Kujara Ranch of its perpetual snowfall by capturing the Evil Ice Pig, cures the Donglin Forest's gloominess by capturing the Evil Ghost Pig, lifts the Circus Town's curse (which has turned its citizens into pigs) by capturing the Evil Earth Pig and cures the Water Temple of its perpetual rainfall by capturing the Evil Water Pig. When all of these Evil Pigs have been captured, their leader, the Last Evil Pig, reveals himself to Tomba and tempts him to find his lair. Tomba and Zippo locate the Last Evil Pig in an underground area underneath the Coal-Mining Town, where the Last Evil Pig freezes time in a last ditch effort to stop Tomba. A final battle against the Last Evil Pig ends with his capture, but he promises his eventual return. Tomba and Zippo find Tabby in the Last Evil Pig's lair and escape the collapsing area on the back of the flying dog Baron. Following a feast at Tabby's home, Kainen appears and gives Tomba a monkey suit for him to wear as a reward for going on every adventure possible (if the player completed 133 events, it'll be black but if they completed those along with the 4 extra events, it'll be red). Tomba is allowed to pilot the local windmill owner's new boat to return home. However, Tomba comically gets involved in an accident on the boat's maiden voyage.
praised the improvements of the gameplay and graphics in comparison to the previous game and noted the "decent" voice acting, but derided the music as "monotonous" and "annoying". Peter Bartholow of GameSpot
also praised the detail and animation of the graphics, which he said "[make] the game feel like a 3D animated cartoon". However, he cited the boss battles as "a little repetitive and tedious". Sean Johnson of Game Revolution
commented positively on the originality of the gameplay and the improved graphics and sound, but criticized the simple, repetitive boss battles and occasionally tricky camera angles.
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
-adventure
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
video game game developed
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Whoopee Camp
Whoopee Camp
Whoopee Camp was a video game developer started in 1997.They had hoped to make innovations in the gaming world but only made two games: Tomba! in 1997, and Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return in 1999...
and published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
for the PlayStation. The game was released in Japan on October 28, 1999, in North America on December 31, 1999 and in the PAL region on June 30, 2000.
Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return is a sequel to the 1997 video game Tomba!
Tomba!
Tomba! is a side-scrolling adventure game created by Whoopee Camp Co. Ltd. for the Sony PlayStation. Tomba! was followed by a sequel titled Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return. The imaginative atmosphere and innovative gameplay of Tomba! has continued to keep it nostalgically popular with gamers...
(Ore! Tomba! in Japan). The game's story centers on the journey of the titular character Tomba, who must find his kidnapped childhood friend Tabby and capture the Evil Pigs that have cursed the continent with their magic.
The game received generally positive reviews by critics, who praised the improved gameplay and graphics in comparison to the previous game, but criticized the generic music and repetitive boss battles.
Gameplay
Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return features 2.5D gameplay in which the titular character, Tomba, moves on predetermined linear paths until he reaches an intersection point where a flashing arrow appears over his head. At that point Tomba can move in either direction the arrow points. Some areas in the game enable the player to explore them in a top-down view, allowing Tomba to move around freely. The main goal of the game is to complete all 137 objectives (133 make the regular ones, while the other four are obtained from a Tomba 1Tomba!
Tomba! is a side-scrolling adventure game created by Whoopee Camp Co. Ltd. for the Sony PlayStation. Tomba! was followed by a sequel titled Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return. The imaginative atmosphere and innovative gameplay of Tomba! has continued to keep it nostalgically popular with gamers...
save file) which range from retrieving a fishing hook for a fisherman to helping Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
find his "sack". Completing a task earns the player "Adventure Points", which can be used to unlock specific boxes scattered around the game's world. As the game progresses, Tomba can obtain suits that give him special abilities. For example, the flying squirrel suit allows Tomba to glide long distances while the pig suit allows Tomba to communicate with friendly pigs. Scattered throughout the levels are magical feather
Feather
Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...
s that can instantly transport Tomba to any area that has previously been visited.
Plot
A young feral boyFeral child
A feral child is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and, crucially, of human language...
named Tomba lives peacefully in his home country until his friend Zippo finds a mysterious letter addressed to Tomba. According to the letter, Tabby, Tomba's childhood friend, has disappeared. Wracked with anxiety, Tomba leaps into the sea in search of her. Tomba and Zippo wind up in a fisherman village where they meet an old man named Kainen. From there they move on to the Coal-Mining Town where Tabby's house is, but discover that she is unavailable. Gran, a denizen of the Coal-Mining Town, mentions seeing Tabby travel to the Kujara Ranch by trolley, but the trolley she used to travel there returns empty. A panicking trolley worker reveals that the Evil Pigs kidnapped Tabby when she tried to protect a penchant that was given to her by Tomba as a gift. Gran explains that the Evil Pigs have cursed the entire continent, and gives Tomba a red Pig Bag that is capable of capturing the Flame Pig that has cast his spell on the mines.
Tomba ventures throughout the continent gathering the rest of the Pig Bags. He cures the Coal-Mining Town of its inferno by capturing the Evil Flame Pig, cures the Kujara Ranch of its perpetual snowfall by capturing the Evil Ice Pig, cures the Donglin Forest's gloominess by capturing the Evil Ghost Pig, lifts the Circus Town's curse (which has turned its citizens into pigs) by capturing the Evil Earth Pig and cures the Water Temple of its perpetual rainfall by capturing the Evil Water Pig. When all of these Evil Pigs have been captured, their leader, the Last Evil Pig, reveals himself to Tomba and tempts him to find his lair. Tomba and Zippo locate the Last Evil Pig in an underground area underneath the Coal-Mining Town, where the Last Evil Pig freezes time in a last ditch effort to stop Tomba. A final battle against the Last Evil Pig ends with his capture, but he promises his eventual return. Tomba and Zippo find Tabby in the Last Evil Pig's lair and escape the collapsing area on the back of the flying dog Baron. Following a feast at Tabby's home, Kainen appears and gives Tomba a monkey suit for him to wear as a reward for going on every adventure possible (if the player completed 133 events, it'll be black but if they completed those along with the 4 extra events, it'll be red). Tomba is allowed to pilot the local windmill owner's new boat to return home. However, Tomba comically gets involved in an accident on the boat's maiden voyage.
Development
The music for Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return was composed by Masaya Hiraoka and Ashif Hakik, while the voices were provided by the Actors Phantasy Company. For international releases of the game, the music was reworked from the original Japanese version. The release date for the game was announced by Sony on November 11, 1999.Reception
Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return received generally positive reviews from critics. Jeremy Conrad of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
praised the improvements of the gameplay and graphics in comparison to the previous game and noted the "decent" voice acting, but derided the music as "monotonous" and "annoying". Peter Bartholow of GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
also praised the detail and animation of the graphics, which he said "[make] the game feel like a 3D animated cartoon". However, he cited the boss battles as "a little repetitive and tedious". Sean Johnson of Game Revolution
Game Revolution
Game Revolution or GR is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshots, and videos...
commented positively on the originality of the gameplay and the improved graphics and sound, but criticized the simple, repetitive boss battles and occasionally tricky camera angles.