Tomato Adventure
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| Tomato Adventure | |
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| Developer(s) | AlphaDream |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) |  January 25, 2002 |
| Genre(s) | RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Media | Cartridge |
Tomato Adventure (トマトアドベンチャー Tomato Adobenchā?) is an RPG meant for the young audience and cute-lovers, but it is suitable for everyone. It was developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance on January 25, 2002 only in Japan. This title is not to be confused with Hudson Soft's title, Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom.
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[edit] Development
After AlphaDream developed and released their very first video game title, Koto Battle for the Nintendo Game Boy Color only in Japan, Nintendo wanted AlphaDream's permission to develop an entirely new RPG with them, called Gimmick Land (ギミックランド). It was finished and almost ready to be released for the Game Boy Color, until Nintendo released the Nintendo Game Boy Advance to make the Game Boy Color obsolete. After noticing that, AlphaDream decided to redevelop and rename Gimmick Land as Tomato Adventure for the Game Boy Advance. The differences between Tomato Adventure and Gimmick Land are the names, the graphics, and the audio. Only two screenshots of Gimmick Land (shown on the left) were released to the public by the developers.
[edit] Plot
The story takes place in a land ruled by and intended for young characters: the Ketchup Kingdom. The protagonist is a hare-like boy in the blue clothing name DeMille, who lives in a school bus with no wheels. When he was watching television, he saw that the main antagonist, King Abira, was celebrating a holiday called Tomato Day, while showing his project he created called the Super Cara-Cooker, a laser-like gun that transforms people, places, and things into dolls, toys, and playgrounds. Then, DeMille's television became severely damaged, while he went to his neighbor and friend, Seremo, and asked him if he would fix his television set. Then Seremo said he will, while he gave DeMille his first Gimmick, called the Gear Yo-Yo. After Seremo taught DeMille how to use it, DeMille's girlfriend in the pink clothing, Patharan, came to tell him that she wanted to show him her gift she got from someone at the top of the Toy Ruins, the Gimmick Robo, but then it wasn't there when they arrived. Then, two purple creatures with zippers on them, Gorikki and Burikki, captured Patharan with a hook, DeMille grabbed on to her while being pulled up to the airship, called the Carorna No.2, piloted by Gorikki and Burikki. As soon as DeMille and Patharan came aboard the airship, Gorikki and Burikki received a call from King Abira, who told them to bring Patharan to the palace and drop DeMille out of the airship. After DeMille fought Gorikki and Burikki, they dropped DeMille from the airship into the Tomato Pond, then he walked and noticed that he was standing near King Abira's home, the Gimmick Palace, a tall, red, tower with a tomato-shaped top. When he decided to enter and save Patharan, he encountered a wall that he cannot pass through. Then, a mole named Rereku told him that in order to pass through the wall, DeMille had to defeat the six Super Kids and obtain the six key items called Toy Parts. While DeMille went on his adventure, he encountered some people who joined forces with him to defeat King Abira, and save Patharan and the entire Ketchup Kingdom. His parters in order of joining him are Aretha, Sofubi, and finally, Rereku.
[edit] Major Characters
- DeMille (デミル Demiru?) - The protagonist of this title. You play as him. He is a rabbit wearing blue clothing who hates tomatoes.
- Patharan (パサラン Pasaran?) - DeMille's girlfriend. She has been captured by King Abira. DeMille and his friends work their way to save her and the entire Ketchup Kingdom. She is a rabbit wearing pink clothing. Like DeMille, she also hates tomatoes.
- Seremo (セレモ?) - DeMille's friend and neighbor. He helped DeMille learn about Gimmicks, items, and other things.
- Aretha (アレサ Aresa?) - DeMille's first partner. She loves creating and playing electronic devices. She also used to work for King Abira. She is a rabbit wearing orange clothing.
- Sofubi (ソフビー Sofubī?) - DeMille's second partner. When DeMille and his partners first encountered him, he was stuck in a snake-like tunnel in Ois Town. He is a heavy frog wearing a black suit and a derby hat.
- Rereku (レレク?) - DeMille's third and final partner. He is a ninja-like mole who showed DeMille video disc recordings of King Abira and Patharan near the top of the Gimmick Palace.
- Burikki (ブリッキ?) and Gorikki (ゴリッキ?) - King Abira's minions. They spoil several things in Ketchup Kingdom throughout the RPG. They are two purple creatures with zippers on them. They travel in an aircraft called the Carorna No.2.
- King Abira (アビーラ王 Abīra-Ō?) - The main antagonist of this title. King Abira is a baby tomato who captured Patharan to obtain her entire Heart Energy, which is a combination of five different energies: Laugh Energy, Sad Energy, Anger Energy, Excitement Energy, and Love Energy. His goal is to insert Patharan's Heart Energy to his Super Cara-Cooker so he can turn everyone and everything into toys.
[edit] Gameplay
The gameplay is simple and unique. The player controls DeMille, walking around villages and places until he bumps into an enemy, which is similar to the MOTHER/EarthBound franchise and most other RPG titles. During battles against enemies, the battle scene is similar to the ones from most Final Fantasy titles. The player would fight using toy-like weapons called Gimmicks, which require the player to play a mini game correctly in order to land direct-hits at the enemies, depending on which Gimmick the player uses. While using Gimmicks correctly, the player will earn stars for the extreme attacks, but if the player increases the difficulty of the Gimmicks, the player will increase the Gimmicks' attack points and earn more stars, while the mini games would be more difficult than before. When one or two gears light up above the Gimmick Meter, the player now has the choice to use one of two extreme attacks, if the player has a partner joined in. If the player fails in any mini game, the Gimmick Meter will drop down to zero, and the player will have to start it all over.
[edit] Gimmicks
Gimmicks are toy-like weapons. There are four types of them:
- Time - This type makes you finish a mini game that requires timing, like pressing a button whenever something comes to a certain part.
- Speed - This type makes you finish a mini game that requires you to speed up a task, like rapidly tapping buttons.
- Excite (or Doki-Doki) - This type makes you finish a mini game that creates excitement, some of them require you to insert the information in a certain order of appearance.
- Input - This type makes you finish a mini game that requires you to insert the information in a certain order or amount of times.
[edit] Gimica: The Card Game
Gimica is a special card game that can only be available when the player talks to Gimicamania at the stadium in Ois Town after the player defeats the third Super Kid. There are also some other characters that the player can either duel with or receive a new Gimica Card from.
The object of this card game is to make the opponent have less HP than the player's HP, or drop it to zero. There are two kinds of cards:
- Gimmick Cards - These cards are based on the real Gimmicks. They are used for both players to attack each other with them.
- Character Cards - These cards do certain things depending on who is on the card. The earliest character cards are two cards that would increase or decrease your Gimmick Cards' attack points, two cards that would move your Gimmick Card up or down one color rank, two cards that would increase or decrease the attack points of your opponent's Gimmick Cards, and one card that would increase your HP by 25.
Player must put his/her Gimmick Cards at a higher color rank than his/her opponent, however, green beats blue. If both players have their Gimmick Cards on the same color rank, the player who has more attack points in his/her Gimmick Card will attack the opponent. If both Gimmick Cards' attack points are equal, it becomes a draw. If the player's opponent is at a higher rank, the player must either make his/her Gimmick Card's attack points the same (or nearly the same) as the opponent's in order to receive a small amount of damage, or move their Gimmick Cards up to the same color rank as the opponent's Gimmick Cards.
[edit] Trivia
- After Tomato Adventure was released, Nintendo and AlphaDream immediately began developing Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, by using the same engine used in Tomato Adventure.
- On the release date of Tomato Adventure, Nintendo and AlphaDream announced a contest where twenty lucky winners won themselves 1 kg of famously sweet tomatoes from the Kochi Virtue Valley area. The contest ended on February 28, 2002.
- A couple of Tomato Adventure soundtracks were found hidden in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga after people dumped its entire track list into GSF files. Their quality is similar to the sound of Game Boy Color music, which probably means that they are the tracks used in the Game Boy Color prototype of Tomato Adventure, Gimmick Land. They were perhaps also used in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for testing its audio.
[edit] External links
- Official websites
- Tomato Adventure official Japanese website (Original) (Translated using Excite.Co.Jp)
- Tomato Adventure official SpaceWorld 2001 website (Original) (Translated using Excite.Co.Jp)
- Official Nintendo Online Magazine website for Tomato Adventure and Magical Vacation (Original) (Translated using Excite.Co.Jp)
- Other
