Ludography
Tomato Adventure cover

2002 · AlphaDream · Adventure · Role-playing

Tomato Adventure

Nintendo exclusive

From AlphaDream and Graphic Research, Tomato Adventure is an RPG released only in Japan. Taking place in a kingdom with tomatoes abound, the gameplay is similar to that of the Mario & Luigi series.

Also known as
番茄酱王国大冒险 · Fanqiejiang Wangguo Da Maoxian
Released
25 January 2002
Platforms
Game Boy AdvanceWii U
Genres
AdventureRole-playing
Developers
AlphaDream
Publishers
Nintendo
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
ActionFantasyComedy
Country
Japan
Age ratings
CERO A
Languages
Japanese

About

Tomato Adventure is a role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance on January 25, 2002, exclusively in Japan.

The game is recognized as a precursor to AlphaDream's Mario & Luigi role-playing game series.

Keywords

  • anime
  • anthropomorphism
  • battle screen
  • platform change
  • japan only
  • fan translation - english
  • wii u virtual console

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Players control DeMille through the Ketchup Kingdom while talking to people, entering places and collecting items. The objective of the game is to save DeMille's girlfriend, Patharan, and the Ketchup Kingdom from King Abira by going through every village to obtain the missing parts of a robot that can give anyone access into the Gimmick Palace, a tower-like structure with a tomato on it. In lieu of random encounters, Tomato Adventure displays enemies moving around on the overworld, with battles being initiated when DeMille makes contact with them.

Story

In the Ketchup Kingdom, a land ruled by young characters, the protagonist is a hare-like boy in blue clothing named DeMille, who lives in a school bus with no wheels in a village on the outskirts of the Ketchup Kingdom called Cobore Village. DeMille is an outcast because he dislikes tomatoes. As a result, he and other kids in Kobora who dislike tomatoes are looked down upon as "Droppers", banished for heresy, and locked up in Cobore Village until they change their attitudes towards tomatoes. While watching television, DeMille sees that the main antagonist, King Abīra, is 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.

After DeMille's television set gets severely damaged, he visits his neighbor and friend Seremo and asks him if he could fix his television set. Seremo says he will and gives DeMille his first Gimmick, called the Gear Yo-Yo.

Development

After AlphaDream developed and released their first video game title, Koto Battle: Tengai no Moribito, Nintendo wanted AlphaDream's permission to develop an entirely new role-playing video game with them, titled Gimmick Land (ギミックランド, Gimikku Rando). They got the name from an idea of a game structure that utilizes gimmicky, toy-like controls that make it an RPG with action elements. It was finished and almost ready to be released for the Game Boy Color in Japan, until Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance to make the Game Boy Color obsolete. After noticing that, Nintendo requested AlphaDream to redevelop and rename Gimmick Land as "Tomato Adventure" for the Game Boy Advance.

Nintendo also requested AlphaDream to add some easily recognizable characters in which reflects the new title, so that the game would have a more marketable image. Those were Nintendo's largest requests. Other changes are the quality of the graphics and audio being enhanced. Only two screenshots of Gimmick Land were released to the public by the developers.

Reception

On release, Weekly Famitsu scored the game a 29 out of 40. 1UP.com scored the game "A".

Legacy

Tomato Adventure is considered as a precursor to AlphaDream's Mario & Luigi series, similarly combining RPG elements and minigames.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Releases by platform
PlatformReleasedRegions
Game Boy AdvanceCancelled25 January 2002Japan
Wii U26 August 2015Japan

Title IDsone per regional release, with its latest update

Title ids and disc serials by release
PlatformTitle IDRegionLatest update
Game Boy AdvanceAGB-AGLJ-JPNJapan—

Games like this

Collections5 collections

Platform libraries

Publishers

Development status

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.