Tomato Adventure
A tomato-themed RPG that preceded the Mario & Luigi series.
Tomato Adventure is a role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It was released exclusively in Japan on January 25, 2002. The game is recognized as a precursor to AlphaDream's Mario & Luigi role-playing game series.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- AlphaDream
- Publisher
- Nintendo
- Director
- Yoshihiko Maekawa
- Chihiro Fujioka
- Jin Ito
- Producer
- Shinji Hatano
- Tetsuo Mizuno
- Hirofumi Yokota
- Yasushi Mizutani
- Designer
- Yuji Abe
- Takahiko Kodaira
- Takahiro Murakami
- Programmer
- Masami Sato; Atsushi Iwase
- Artist
- Shuji Kamohara
- Yoshitaka Nishikawa
- Aya Takano
- Writer
- Hiroyuki Kubota
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Players control DeMille through the Ketchup Kingdom, talking to people, entering places, and collecting items. The goal is to save DeMille's girlfriend Patharan and the kingdom from King Abira by obtaining missing parts of a robot that grants access to the Gimmick Palace. Enemies move on the overworld, and battles start when DeMille contacts them.
Plot
In the Ketchup Kingdom, a hare-like boy named DeMille lives in a wheel-less school bus in Cobore Village. He is an outcast for disliking tomatoes, and other tomato-disliking children, called Droppers, are banished to the village. While watching television, DeMille sees King Abira celebrating Tomato Day and showcasing his Super Cara-Cooker, a laser-like gun that turns things into dolls and toys. After his television breaks, DeMille visits his friend Seremo, who fixes it and gives him his first Gimmick, the Gear Yo-Yo. DeMille's girlfriend Patharan then asks him to explore the Toy Ruins for her Fantastic Toy, the Gimmick Robo, but it is missing. Two purple creatures, Brikky and Grikky, capture Patharan with a hook, and DeMille grabs her as they are pulled onto an airship. King Abira orders them to bring Patharan to the palace and drop DeMille. After fighting Brikky and Grikky, DeMille is dropped into Tomato Pond near the Gimmick Palace. He tries to enter but hits a wall. A mole named Rereku tells him he must defeat six Super Kids and obtain six Toy Parts to pass. DeMille befriends allies Arisa, Sofubi, and Rereku to defeat King Abira and save Patharan and the kingdom.
Development and release
After AlphaDream developed Koto Battle: Tengai no Moribito, Nintendo sought permission to develop a new RPG called Gimmick Land, which used gimmicky, toy-like controls. It was nearly finished for the Game Boy Color when Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance, making the Game Boy Color obsolete. Nintendo then asked AlphaDream to redevelop and rename the game as Tomato Adventure for the Game Boy Advance, and to add recognizable characters for a more marketable image. Graphics and audio were enhanced. Only two screenshots of Gimmick Land were released publicly; a mostly complete prototype surfaced from the 2020 Nintendo data leak. On release day, a contest awarded twenty winners 1 kg of sweet tomatoes from Kochi Virtue Valley, ending February 28, 2002. The game was not officially released in English due to the low targeted age group, battle system issues, and poor reception. An unofficial English fan translation was released in July 2021. A planned Chinese release for the iQue Game Boy Advance, titled Fānqié Jiàng Wángguó dà Màoxiǎn, was cancelled due to piracy.
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