Tomba! Special Edition Review (Switch)

There’s certainly been a run of classic games making their way on the Switch recently. The games tend to be eight or sixteen-bit games though, so to see a previous Playstation exclusive pop up is a surprise for a number of reasons. It’s certainly not an unpleasant one though as Tombi!, is fairly pricey to get hold of on the original hardware and a decent game to boot.

The first slightly confusing thing is that though the game is listed as Tombi! on the Switch home page, it actually displays the Tomba! name when you boot it up (which was the US name). It’s a little thing but slightly odd none the less. In terms of this being a ‘special edition’, this is basically the original game with the now standard, save states, rewind features and screen options we’ve come to expect from this kind of release. There’s a few other options such as galleries and a music player as well but for the most part this is the original Playstation game in the original aspect ratio for better or worse.

Tomba!, is very much an example of the side scrolling 32-bit platformer. It feels a bit clunky but it’s solid enough and has a fairly unique approach to the genre. Your character can jump on enemies and then use them as objects to hurl at other creatures. Most of these are the evil pigs that are trying to take other the area but there are a host of other animals to chuck around as well.  There are also instances where you character can run into and out of the screen to reach another area and carry on the level in the background. Along with the platforming there's some light adventure elements where you need to find objects or keys to progress or solve simple puzzles but most of the time it's about jumping on pigs.

In terms of how it looks it still holds a certain charm. There’s a sort of quirky ugliness to a lot of textures and graphics of the 32-bit era that you can’t help but warm to. If you are into your retro games then it won’t bother you, just don’t get expecting Mario Wonder. It’s also perfectly playable once you get used to it and you can begin to see why it holds such a cult following among Playstation fans.

Overall, it’s yet another instance of us being glad that a forgotten slice of gaming history has been brought back to a wider audience. There have been some reports of crashes, but we didn’t experience any during our play through. Tomba! Is a great example of a Playstation platformer that still works today (with a bit of patience). It’s also a cheap and accessible way of playing a much sought after title and long may it continue.

Overall 7/10