"Tomba loves you, and by golly, America loves Tomba."
— US Commercial for Tomba!
Tomba!, known as Tombi! in Europe and Ore! Tomba in Japan, is a cult-favorite 2½D platform-adventure series composed of two games starring a pink-haired jungle boy. Tomba must fight the Evil Pigs, who have turned the world into a much darker place through the power of their wicked magic, using platforming skills across a fairly large game world.
The game is notable for its quest structure, in which you receive points for every objective completed, instead of just simply going from one point to the next as is the case with many platformers. Also, the plethora of hidden objectives made this a kind of Platformer-RPG fusion.
In 2023, an Updated Re-release was announced by Limited Run Games, with help of the original director of the game, Tokuro Fujiwara, for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch. In 2024, a re-release for 2 was also announced on all aforementioned systems as well with a release date within 2025.
Two games were released for the PlayStation:
- Tomba! — 1997
- Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return — 1999 (known as Tombi! 2 in the UK and Europe and Tomba! The Wild Adventures in Japan)
Tropes that apply to both games
- And Your Reward Is Clothes:
- In the first game, some quests gave you new pants which had different abilities, like moving faster or jumping farther. The second game gives you new pants and suits (like the flying squirrel outfit) from quests and treasure chests.
- The 100% ending for the second game takes this to its literal extreme; for getting 100% Completion, you get a tuxedo and Tomba trying it on. That's it.
- Big Bad: The Evil Pigs who place curses on several areas of the land and collect gold to power their magic.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: Both games suffer from it at points.
- The Swedish translation for the first game mixed up "frog" and "fog", which result in one hint asking the player to "Bring the fog home". One event failed to translate the English word "find" to Swedish "finn", which is really bad considering it is the very first event of the game. Several menu options and most locations have their English names, despite having very literal meanings, such as "Phoenix Mountain", being a mountain with a phoenix.
- The translation for the second game starts to suffer around when you get to the Water Temple, with grammar errors and pronoun trouble here and there. An early example is Mizuno saying that the Hot Powder and Cold Powder "boosts damage due to heat or cold", which may cause players not to use them — why would you use an item that makes you take more damage from hot and cold? Actually, it turns out it was just translated badly — they actually make you impervious to damage from heat or cold.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The Evil Pigs, who transform entire regions and ruin people's lives just because they can. Heck, "Evil" is right in their name!
- Clean Dub Name: The series is known as Tombi! in Europe, presumably because "tomba" is Italian for "grave".
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Tomba just helps anyone he runs into, no matter how trivial the problem is.
- Cool Old Guy: The first game has the Hundred-Year-Old Man, Thousand-Year-Old Man, Ten Thousand-Year-Old Man, and the Million-Year-Old Man. The second game has Kainen, who is apparently even older than all of them.
- Ear Wings: Baron uses his large ears to fly Tomba to previously-visited areas.
- Elemental Powers:
- In the first game: The Blue Pig, the Red Pig, the Green Pig, the Orange Pig, the Pink Pig, the Navy Blue Pig, the Yellow Pig, and the Real Evil Pig.
- In the second game: The Fire Pig, the Ice Pig, the Ghost Pig, the Earth Pig, the Water Pig, and the Last Pig.
- Epic Flail: Tomba's main weapon is the Blackjack, an iron ball that's covered in spikes and attached to a rope.
- Gold Fever:
- Gold powers the magic of the Evil Pigs. In both games the final arena where the True Evil Pig is fought is made of/full of gold.
- Collecting the five golden items for the 10,000 Year Old Man in the first game grants Tomba a permanent powerup item.
- Heroic Mime: For some reason, Tomba seems to be able to understand what people say, but he never talks beyond grunts. It's implied he can talk (the NPCs seem to react to what he's saying. They seem know know what items he is looking for), but we never hear him do so on screen.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Tomba can regain health by eating apples or lunch boxes.
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: They're floating around everywhere, and you have to find the keys to open them. They contain everything from gems to lunch boxes to squirrel suits, and more.
- Market-Based Title: In Europe the game is called "Tombi!" because "Tomba" is Italian for "tomb", or "grave".
- Mercy Invincibility: Every time you get hit, you stagger but get immune to further damage for a few seconds.
- Metroidvania: You get more and more abilities and items as you progress through the game, allowing you to find secrets and solve quests that you couldn't before.
- Mooks: The different types of pigs found in both games.
- No Ontological Inertia: As soon as one of the Evil Pigs is bagged and banished, the spell they've cast is immediately and completely broken.
- Old Master: The first game has four of these! And they go up in age - from 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 to the Million-Year-Old Man. Kainen from the second game is even older.
- Permanently Missable Content:
- In the first game:
- Break the rolling Spiked Barrel on the Mushroom Forest bridge and that's it! The event involving that Barrel will never be fulfilled!
- You can trigger the Take Out event, but if you accidentally eat the special lunch box before you find who it belongs to or finish Yan's hide and seek quest before obtaining the lunch box, there's no way to ever complete it.
- It's also possible to miss the "I'm So Hungry" event by using all the lunchboxes in the game before giving one to Taro.
- The
go-kart sidequest is frustrating enough, but if you get the Gold Medal before the Bronze or Silver Medals, or the Silver before the Bronze, you can no longer complete the events for getting them, forcing you to Do Well, But Not Perfect your first few runs. - Once you collect the Funga Drum from the Jungle you must give it to a native on Phoenix Mountain, However there is a bug where you can give the drum to anyone (such as a thief on the chimney of the recovered Haunted Mansion) thus losing the drum & unable to complete an optional quest.
- In the second game:
- Make sure that you have every side quest you want to do completed, because once you enter the door with the final Evil Pig Gate, time will stop and you can only finish the main story.
- The Seeds of Strength can only be obtained during the first trolley mission. In the second one, the trolley goes too fast to catch them. Thankfully they're not needed for any quest, they simply make the putto statue at Circus Village provide hints for the location of the Evil Pigs.
- One of the Pots of Life in Kujara Ranch is well-hidden and can only be obtained before the curse is lifted.
- In the first game:
- Puzzle Boss: The fights against the Evil Pigs, which consists of trying to throw and trap them inside their dedicated bags.
- Red Ones Go Faster: In both games, red pants go faster. Or rather, wearing red pants makes Tomba go faster.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Your objective in both games is to seal all the Evil Pigs into magical bags.
- Stock Animal Diet: Charles the monkey will reward Tomba for giving him bananas (though in one instance, he is thirsty and wants banana juice, and in the second game, he won't eat the bananas unless they are baked in an oven.)
- Super Drowning Skills: Tomba gets knocked out if he touches water (though he merely loses health instead of a full game over). Getting special clothes allows him to swim with no difficulty.
- To Create a Playground for Evil: The Evil Pigs' motives aren't fully explored, but given that they use their powers to warp the world in chaotic ways, and the Real Evil Pig's statement of thinking of the world as a giant toy box, this appears to be what they are aiming for.
- Warp Whistle: The Wings (which are one-use) and, later, Baron (who can be used infinitely) can take you to any location you've been before. The second game also has the more specific Coal Bell (for Coal-Mining Town), and Minitta Bell (for the section of Water Temple past the Minitta Tunnel).
- World-Healing Wave: Highly-localized versions occur whenever an Evil Pig is defeated, breaking their spell over particular areas and restoring them to their true forms. In the first game, the Wave takes the form of golden sparkles (with the exception of the Lava Caves, which have an indoor rainstorm instead); in the second, it's a "swirling" effect that spins the area.
Tropes for the first game
- Ambiguously Human: The Masakari tribe. They have blue skin, which makes it unclear if they are weird-looking humans or a just a very humanoid species like the dwarves, who clearly refer to humans as a separate species.
- Doesn't help that the Masakari make inhuman noises and have an unintelligible language.
- Awesome, but Impractical:
- The "Iron Boomerang"; It has good range and can flat-out kill most if not all normal enemies in game. It can even kill a Needlegator while it's still in its shell. Problem is, you can't even get it until just about the end of the game, and the earlier-acquired GrappleJack, while less powerful offensively, is infinitely more useful overall.
- Completing the mission "Red + Blue = ?" gives Tomba a mushroom that, until he loses a life, turns him black and white and vastly increases his speed (to the point where his usual walk is replaced by the Animal Dash move). While this is great for getting around quickly, it's absolutely terrible in the tricky platforming sections of the game like Phoenix Mountain (especially while under the Red Evil Pig's curse) or Masakari Jungle, which require precise jumps and controlled movement.
- The effects go away when you lose a life.
- Bedlah Babe: The red fortune teller in Bacchus Village wears an outfit resembling a belly dancer, complete with bare midriff and poofy pants.
- Bottomless Pits:
- The Lava Caves are essentially a giant Bottomless Pit. Tomba has to navigate across them by dangling from the few plants hanging from the ceiling and the bat-esque Koma Pigs who fly through the area.
- The Mushroom Forest is riddled with these. Part of what makes eating the Laughing and Crying Mushrooms so dangerous is that the flower enemies change their own emotions and start pushing Tomba towards the pits much faster than they do in "neutral" mode.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The Masakari tribe, courtesy of the Jungle Pig, act hostile towards Tomba and have laid traps for him.
- The Chosen One: Tomba is said to be this by the Million-Year-Old Man.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
- There are Red, Blue, and Green gems that gave you Fire, Water, and Wind powers.
- Averted with the Evil Pigs, as none of their colors related to their respective attacks or elements, except for the True Evil Pig, who serves as the final boss.
- Cute Witch: Mizuno, who's actually referred to as such.
- Dark Action Girl: The Jungle Pig, the only female Evil Pig.
- Death Mountain: Phoenix Mountain, especially when under the Evil Pig curse.
- Developer's Foresight: Baron is needed to open the last Evil Pig's gate. However, if he had not been given all of the healing items, or even if he was ignored entirely, he will be given to Tomba, fully grown, by the Million Year Old Man, who mentions he had been looking after Baron.
- Dirty Coward: The yellow evil pig has shades of this. When meeting Tomba, he actually tries to shamelessly get him to leave by claiming to be innocent of any wrongdoing and that if he stays in the water he'll start turning weird colors like him.
- Do Well, But Not Perfect: "I Want a Silver Medal" requires you to not beat 24.96 seconds, the best time on the kart race, but rather to beat the second-best time, 26.55 seconds. "I Want a Bronze Medal" requires you to play worse than that, only beating 28.16 seconds, the third-best time, without either going over that and getting nothing, or going below 26.55 and getting a Silver Medal.
- Forest of Perpetual Autumn: The 100 Flower Forest is turned into one of these thanks to the curse of the Blue Evil Pig: the trees are covered with massive spores and there are piles of leaves everywhere.
- Forced Transformation: The Evil Pig Curse over Baccus Village has turned everyone into mice.
- Oddly some of the mice people (like the one on Phoenix mountain digging a tunnel) remain mice even after the curse is broken.
- Fortune Teller: Two show up in the game and serve as the only way to get hints about where to find the Evil Pig Gates. The Red Fortune Teller lives in Baccus Village and offers clues about the Red, Green, and Pink Evil Pigs; the Blue Fortune Teller is in the Underground Maze and provides help for the Blue, Yellow, Orange, and Navy Blue ones.
- Free-Sample Plot Coupon:
- The Dwarf Elder hands the Blue Evil Pig Bag directly to Tomba after he completes various quests in the 100 Flower Forest. The Elder and his assistant then explain how Pig Bags and their corresponding Gates work.
- The Green Evil Pig Bag also counts—it's sitting in a 1,000-Year-Old treasure chest immediately next to the entrance of the Lava Caves. In this case it's justified as the Green Evil Pig's curse has created gigantic walls of flame just beyond that entrance—Tomba can't explore the Caves so the Bag needs to be immediately available.
- The Generic Guy: The Orange Evil Pig, who hexed Baccus Village, falls into this. The other Evil Pigs have distinct personalities, but Orange just complains that he expected to fight someone more intimidating and starts the battle. It's even worse because the Green Evil Pig says something very similar during his introduction.
- Green Hill Zone: The Forest of All Beginnings, which introduces the basic controls, teaches players about the Metroidvania elements of the game, and even has a helpful man who provides hints about how to solve the first few quests.
- Guide Dang It!: Some of the side quests will require this.
- Some of the side quests are so obscure that even finding them is enough of a hassle. Highlights include "Roll Out The Barrel" (which requires players to attack—but not break—the barrel at Wobbly Wharf then push it into the water) and "Peach Flower Gas" (which has you jump on a Peach Flower in the Village of All Beginnings at just the right moment so a Koma Pig is caught in the resulting gas cloud, which shrinks it into a Baby Pig.
- The Hidden Village is very aptly named. It's accessed via a ladder in the Lava Caves, but to get there, players have to reach a small alcove, supercharge the Grapple, and fire toward the ceiling the to latch onto a platform. There's no indication that anything is up there, and the platform can't be seen even if you jump as high as possible. It's far more likely that you'll reach the area after completing the "Leaf Butterflies" quest, which ends by transporting you to the Hidden Village.
- Two words that'll make everyone flinch, "Seven Friends". This is one of the last and mandatory quests in the game. The required friends are in random places all over the world, and when you find the first six, you might go crazy looking for the last friend only to find out that it's actually Baron.
- Finding the Evil Pig Gates can be this, especially if players don't realize that the Fortune Tellers are the only ways to get hints about where to find them. Even then some of the clues are extremely vague ("Red is awaiting a miracle" refers to Charity Fountain, where the dwarves are hoping that the fountain itself will be restored) or generic ("Green is the mansion on the lake" tells you to look for the Green Evil Pig Gate at the Haunted Mansion...but not where in the massive structure to look).
- Gusty Glade: Phoenix Mountain under the Evil Pig Curse.
- Heart Container: The Vitality Max items, which increase Tomba's health by one for each one he collects. Collecting the Golden Bowl increases the maximum amount of health Tomba can have from 8 to 16 total.
- Hidden Elf Village: The Hidden Village fits this trope exactly to the point where it actually is almost impossible to find.
- Hollywood Natives: The Masakari Jungle tribe, though they have a more fantastical blue skin tone, and are only hostile due to the Evil Pigs' curse.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: Something Tomba is terribly guilty of, by stocking countless items, including living creatures and objects bigger than him, inside of his stomach!
- Incendiary Exponent: The Jewel of Fire lets you do this. It also gives you the appropriate hair color.
- Jungle Japes: The Masakari Jungle. Features include large jungle drums, dangerous biting plants, a raging river, and the Masakari themselves, an indigenous tribe who are hostile to Tomba thanks to the curse of the Navy Blue Evil Pig.
- Lean and Mean: The Yellow Evil Pig. He's the tallest and skinniest of the lot, and as for mean—well, they don't call him the Yellow Evil Pig for nothing.
- Lethal Lava Land: The inside of Phoenix Mountain.
- Load-Bearing Boss: After defeating the Real Evil Pig, the entirety of Pig Island immediately crumbles into the sea, with Tomba flying away on top of Baron.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: You start the game with the Blackjack, good for smacking around enemies. Outside of the Lava Caves, you get the Grapple, which lets you swing around and hang from walls and ceilings. If you complete the "Power Up for Tools!?" event, you can get the Grapplejack, which functions as both.
- Non-Indicative Name:
- The Orange Evil Pig is a variation: Non-Indicative Curse. The other Evil Pigs battle with spells that correspond with the curses they cast over particular areas (the Green Evil Pig summons fire and created massive flames in the Lava Caves; the Yellow Evil Pig is fought underwater and flooded Trick Village; etc.). The Orange Evil Pig hexed Baccus Village by turning everyone into mice...but instead conjures massive boulders and tries to crush Tomba with them.
- The Haunted Mansion has plenty of the trapping of a Haunted House—it's Always Night, perpetually stormy, and there are Creepy Crows flying around. But the one thing it doesn't have is ghosts, which means that it's not really "haunted" at all.
- NPC Round-Up Mission: The penultimate primary quest is to gather together seven "friends" to stand on seven switches. Finding them all is notoriously frustrating, since the first six are generic NPCs with no indication that they're a friend until Tomba talks to them. On top of that, the seventh is Baron, the dog who can be summoned from the inventory, who only gets revealed upon returning to the gathering point after the other six are found.
- Parasol Parachute: If Tomba helps Charles find a new pair of pants, the grateful chimp will reward him with the Funky Parasol. It serves as a parachute for Tomba, letting him drift slowly toward the ground as opposed to falling immediately; as such it comes in handy in the Lava Caves, which have no floor.
- Plot Coupon: The Evil Pig Bags, which Tomba needs to collect so that he fight Evil Pigs directly.
- Punny Name: There is an item called Getwell Plant that is used for... getting well.
- Railroading: The game all but forces you to fight and seal the Green Evil Pig, who cursed the Lava Caves, as soon as possible: the 1,000-Year-Old Man spells out exactly how to do it, the Red Fortune Teller (who provides hints for the locations of the Green, Pink, and Red Evil Pig Gates) gives you a blatant clue about the Green Evil Pig Gate being in the Haunted Mansion; and, most importantly of all, the entire final third of the game world is only accessible by traveling through the Lava Caves, which can't be done until the Green Evil Pig is defeated.
- Real Men Wear Pink: One of the Evil Pigs in the game wears a pink outfit and is male. Tomba's hair is bright pink as well.
- Remixed Level: Every level becomes one when it is lifted from the Evil Pig Curse.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: At the end of the first game, the Million-Year-Old Man asks "What? Your heading back home already?" A few seconds later, the 100-Year-Old Man says "Now who's memory is fading, ehh gramps?"
- Running on All Fours: Tomba does this when he learn to run faster with the Animal Dash move.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: What Tomba does to the Evil Pigs when he traps them in their dedicated Evil Pig Bags.
- Shout-Out:
- Possibly coincidental, but an early task in the first game requires the rescuing of seven dwarves.
- When the 100-Year-Old Man tells Tomba about the coming of the Evil Pigs, there is a scene in the FMV of the seven Pigs scattering all over the lands that is similar to the seven Dragon Balls scattering after a wish has been granted.
- Smurfette Principle: Only one of the evil pigs in the game is female, and no, it's not the Pink Pig. It's actually the Navy Blue one.
- Speaking Simlish: Characters speak in gibberish when talked to. Averted in the second game, which was fully voiced.
- Sprite/Polygon Mix: How the game is presented. Averted in the second game which has a much higher proportion of polygons.
- Stout Strength: The Green Evil Pig has quite a large gut, but he's also muscular enough to tear through his clothes whenever he flexes (which, apparently, is often).
- True Blue Femininity: The Navy Blue Pig is the only female villain.
- Warm-Up Boss: The Green Evil Pig—unlike the other six, his spell over the Lava Caves needs to be broken to unlock new areas (namely, the Hidden Village, Masakari Jungle, the Village of Civilization, and Trick Village). As such, his Pig Bag is the easiest to find (it's sitting in a treasure chest as soon as you enter the Caves), and the battle itself is designed to introduce players to the boss mechanics: the Green Pig Bag spins slowly in the center of the room, the room itself is quite small, and the Green Evil Pig's fireball spell is relatively easy to dodge.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Tomba himself. Less so in the second game, where he can wear a variety of costumes.
- Wild Man: Tomba, our hero. He behaves in a very feral manner, going as far as to run on all fours (as shown in the intro) and apparently lives in the wilderness.
- Wind Is Green: The Wind Jewel is green, as is its experience tracker. And Tomba's hair once it's activated.
- Wutai: The Hidden Village has shades of this trope. The villages is inhabited by ninja and has a vague East Asian vibe going on.
Tropes for the second game
- 100% Completion: If you complete all 133 events in the game (the additional events from an Old Save Bonus are not required), you get an extended ending.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: When you obtain the Last Evil Pig Bag, you get infinite magic. This is because you need the magic from the robes to advance, but there are no enemies to grab to recharge it, and you might not have magic-refueling items.
- Ability Required to Proceed: Special doors in the game require Tomba to be in a certain state.
- Laughing and Crying doors require Tomba to have eaten the corresponding fruit in Donglin Forest. One of them holds a reusable item to enter laughing or crying state, and another one holds a reusable item to get cured from such states.
- Tiny mice doors require Tomba to be in mini status to fit. In one of them you can find the Minitta Mushroom to shrink and enlarge at will.
- Ghost doors can only be entered while in invisible status. One of them holds a reusable item to cure invisibility, but unlike the other ones, there is no item to induce invisibility.
- Artistic License – Physics: The propeller that can somehow carve steps out of stone - said steps also seem to be able to stay there perfectly fine without any kind of supports at all.
- Ass Kicks You: When wearing the Pig Suit, pressing X while in the air causes Tomba to take on a position similar to a cannonball. This is strong enough to kill any enemy that is immediately vulnerable by landing on them.
- Bag of Spilling: Tomba has kept none of his items and powerups from the first game.
- Beast Man: The Pig Tribe are a species of humanoid pigs, distinct from the humans who have been turned into pigs. All the ones you meet in the game are wise elders who know how to deal with the Evil Pigs.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: The Last Evil Pig uses the items you have equipped at the time, including attacking you with whatever weapon you currently have equipped.
- Big Bad: The Last Evil Pig, the leader of all the other Evil Pigs.
- Blessed with Suck: Ghost Pigs will turn you invisible, which might seem cool at first, until you realize that you can't use any of your clothes or interact with anybody. One adventurer in Circus Village has been affected by it, and mentions that he found it nice at first, but now he wants people to notice him again.
- Bottomless Pits:
- The Pipe Area consists of lava pits that kill you if fall down. After the Evil Flame Pig is defeated, the lava disappears, and falling down takes you to the mine area, but there are still deadly pits here and there.
- There are also some gaps to fall into in Deep Forest, Kujara Ranch, and the Water Temple.
- Bragging Rights Reward:
- All of the Evil Pig Robes can be considered this, for the simple fact that there is no enemy in the game that they're worth using on, and they don't work on bosses. You must use them in the final area of the game to advance, and the Ice one is needed for a sidequest, but other than that they're only useful for bullying pigs while bored. Mana-restoring items are almost redundant.
- Completing the game's most difficult sidequests will grant you the Golden Power, which grants invincibility, but falls into this because Death Is a Slap on the Wrist anyway.
- Butt-Monkey: Charles in this game (no pun intended); whenever he appears, he suffers various misfortunes: falling into mud that hardens into a ball of dirt, becoming hungry to the point of exhaustion, feeling uncontrollably itchy, and getting trapped in a cocoon of leaves.
- Collector of the Strange: A man in the Kujara Ranch collects rare aquatic lifeforms, and rewards you with the "taboo" status if you bring them all to him.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: There are 4 different colors of Inexplicable Treasure Chests: red, green, blue, and white. Random people all over the world have the keys for them, and you need to complete quests involving them in order to get them.
- Cool Old Guy: Kainen at first appears to be a random old man, but he shows up every now and then giving you help and hinting he knows more than he lets on. At the end, it's revealed he's in fact an ancestral magical sage.
- Damsel in Distress: Tabby, Tomba's childhood friend, has no role in the story beyond serving as the motivation for Tomba to go on a new adventure by being kidnapped by pigs.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Dying gives you a game over screen, but you can simply continue, respawning at the start of your current area with all your progress intact.
- Dishing Out Dirt: The Earth Pig uses these spells offensively—his battle takes place in a cave and his main attack is to conjure stalactites as projectiles. His area-affecting curse, though, has nothing to do with earth—he instead transformed the citizens of Circus Village into humanoid pigs. After defeating him, Tomba gets his stalactite powers.
- Door to Before:
- After acquiring the Water Pig Bag, a door in the Water Temple opens that connects back to Waterfall of Heavens at the very start of the game.
- After defeating the Evil Flame Pig, all of the areas in the game become connected via the underground mine (through the blue doors that were locked for most of the game).
- Elemental Powers: Displayed by the Five Evil Pigs: The Evil Flame Pig, The Evil Ice Pig, The Evil Ghost Pig, The Evil Earth Pig, and The Evil Water Pig. Defeating them grants Tomba a robe to use the same powers.
- Dub Name Change: Most of the characters kept their names, but a few were changed.
- Scara to Zippo
- Santa to Charles (carried over from the first game, and perhaps more justified since the Santa Claus is also featured in the game)
- Pansy to Tabby
- Empty Room Psych: The crying door in the Water Temple only leads to an empty room with nothing in it. Turns out it only gains relevancy in one of the extra missions from the first game's Old Save Bonus.
- Fat Bastard: Most of the Evil Pigs are rotund evildoers, but the Earth Pig takes the cake for being grotesquely obese even compared to his colleagues. If his claims are to be believed, he's 78% body fat.
- Fetch Quest: Many of the games events (both optional and mandatory) involve fetch quests. However, their non-linear nature means that you might already have the desired item by the time you receive the quest.
- First Town: The Fisherman Village. Sometimes, it's even referred to as The Starting Beach.
- Forced Transformation:
- The Evil Pig Curse over the Circus Village has turned its inhabitants into pigs. Tomba will only hear their words as startling oinks unless he's wearing the Pig Suit.
- Tomba can turn enemies into popsicles by using the magic of the Water Pig Robe.
- Foreshadowing: Even if you lift the curse on the Donglin Forest, Baron remains as a statue. This is because he's under the curse of the Last Evil Pig, whose last-ditch effort to stop Tomba involves him doing this to the entire game world.
- Free-Sample Plot Coupon: Oddly, all of the Evil Pig Bags become this, which is a departure from the previous game that had you actively hunt for most of them. Here, major characters give you the Pig Bags after you complete all of the story-driven missions in a particular area; in fact, you can't advance to the next areas without getting the Bags.
- Fusion Dance: After defeating three large ghosts in the first screen of Donglin Forest, they will merge into one, with a long dragon tongue. The same thing happens at the very end of the forest, when multiple ghosts merge into a larger one before being exorcised by Kainen.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Baron has been Taken for Granite and left as a statue in Donglin Forest. You're supposed to use Holy Water to un-petrify him, but the thing is that this is a sidequest, and thus you don't really have to free him. Even if you don't, though, he still shows up in the ending.note
- Golden Ending: If you complete all missions, you get an extended ending. First Kainen gives Tomba a tuxedo, then all the NPCs you've met throughout the game gather at the Beach of Beginnings to bid you farewell. Tomba gets on a flying boat invented by Win, throws the tuxedo away, then flies into the horizon. The final shot is of the boat exploding.
- Gotta Catch Them All:
- In the main story, Tomba must find the five Pig Bags in order to defeat their respective Evil Pigs.
- Several optional events require you to get multiple items; the four rare lifeforms, the 30 ice candy, the halves of the song to enter the mythical towers, the 5 nose pig panels to enter the Golden Tower, etc.
- Grimy Water: The water in the cursed Donglin Forest is rainbow-colored, and Tomba drowns in it even when he's wearing the Swimming Pig Suit. After defeating the Evil Ghost Pig and removing the curse on the forest, the water becomes a pleasantly clear cyan and is no longer hazardous to the touch, allowing Tomba to swim in it.
- Guide Dang It!:
- The location of the three mythical towers. Nothing in the game tells you where they are, you just have to sing the songs in suspicious dead ends until finding them.
- The "Precious Ring" sidequest requires you to drop into a very specific and completely unindicated location in the giant bottomless pit of the Pipe Area, when falling into the pit in any other location instantly kills you.
- Hamster-Wheel Power: The lift of Kujara Ranch is powered by a couple of Kujara (giant, rotund bird/seal hybrids) running in one of these. Tomba needs to find their favorite food if he wants to go further.
- Heart Container: Collecting 2 Half Pots of Life (or the single Pot of Life) increases Tomba's health by one. Completing a certain quest involving Charles prompts the monkey to give him a fruit that allows Tomba to have up to 16 health.
- An Ice Person:
- The Ice Boomerang and its upgraded form, the Glacier Boomerang, allow Tomba to freeze certain enemies.
- The Ice Pig, who cursed the entirety of Kujara Ranch to be sealed in perpetual winter. His spells in battle include conjuring giant snowballs and icy tornados. After defeating him, Tomba gets the power to turn enemies into popsicles.
- Inconsistent Dub: Some of the items in this game which were also featured in the previous game have different translations here. For instance, Megumi no Hane (literally "Wings of Blessing") are translated as Magic Wings in this game, while the previous game called them Charity Wings. The Doka Pin also keeps its Japanese name here, while the first game called it the Grapplejack. (The Japanese name is a combination of the Japanese names for the Blackjack and Grapple, which are Gurudoka and Gurupin respectively.)
- Incredible Shrinking Man:
- The Minitta Tunnel in Water Temple causes Tomba to shrink to diminutive size (or grow back by going the other way). This allows him to enter mice's residences, but forbids him from attacking. The Minitta Mushroom allows him to shrink and grow back at will.
- The Pig Ball (obtained from the ice cream seller in Circus Village after getting him 30 popsicles) turns enemy pigs into tiny versions of themselves which can then be picked up. The ice cream seller then uses them for a juggling act.
- Invincibility Power-Up: The Golden Powder. In order to get it, you have to get the Golden Moon, Golden Star, Golden Sun, Glacier Boomerang, Torch Hammer, and Doka Pin and then go to the Golden Tower and talk to the Pig Elder while wearing the Swimming Pig Suit. What you get for doing all of that is invincibility that you can enable and disable whenever and wherever you want.
- Knights and Knaves: The "Who's the Liar?" sidequest has Tomba listening to what 3 girls say and then presenting the "Badge of Liars" to the liar, 3 times. The second session of this quest has the girls calling each other or themselves liars or truthful people, requiring Tomba to figure out which one is feeding him bull.
- Life Drain: Using the magic of the Evil Ghost Pig Robe kills enemies and restores Tomba's health bar at the same time.
- The Lost Woods: Donglin Forest is a mix of this and Bubblegloop Swamp while cursed, being a dark forest filled with murky water, ghosts, fruits that curse you if you eat them, and a creepy background music. Once the curse is lifted, it becomes a pleasant Enchanted Forest
- Making a Splash: The Water Pig. She cursed the Water Temple with a perpetual rainstorm that's flooding the place and making its currents extremely dangerous. In her battle, she uses her staff to send massive jets of water at Tomba. After defeating her, Tomba gets the ability to attack with water.
- Meaningful Name: The Toradako, those tiger-striped octopodes, are named after tigers (tora in Japanese) and octopus (tako).
- Minecart Madness: Two of the sidequests in the game have you delivering quick-drying cement by riding minecarts that you must keep on their tracks.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: Like the previous game, you start with the Blackjack. In Laughing Crying Forest, you get the Grapple, which lets you swing around and hang from walls and ceilings. If you find the Tower of Wisdom, you can get the Doka Pin, which functions as both.
- Mood Motif: The music playing during a conversation or cut scene usually depends on the situation. For example, during a normal situation, peaceful music will play. Also, during a emergency or a serious situation, really frantic music will play.
- My Name Is ???: Two endgame areas both have their name as question marks.
- "...???" is where you can meet Kainen after defeating the Evil Flame Pig, and the gate to the final area.
- "????" is said final area, the room where the Last Evil Pig's door is hidden.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Zippo, the dragonfly who acts as Tomba's mouthpiece.
- Nothing Is Scarier: After the Last Evil Pig stops time, the world becomes empty. There are no enemies or NPCs at all, everything is dark and monochromatic, and the only music is a creepy droning sound.
- Old Save Bonus: Four additional events are only available if you have a save file from the first game that has certain events cleared ("The 100 Year Old Wise Man", "A Lost Child", "Hide and Go Seek", and "The Cute Witch"). These events can only be unlocked late in the game in the Mini Temple, after completing "Nishiki Bird Servants". With the exception of Mizuno, who is already possible to see in the base game, all four of these events have cameos of characters from the first game, who are each tied to the aforementioned Tomba! 1 events.
- Parrot Exposition: Zippo has the annoying tendency to repeat whatever important information an NPC has just told him.
- Playing with Fire:
- The Fire Hammer and its upgraded version, the Torch Hammer, can break giant ice blocks.
- The Fire Pig (or Flame Pig, as he calls himself). He flooded the Great Underground Mine with lava and greatly increased the heat of the region, making it dangerous for everyone who lives there. His battle takes place in an active volcano. After defeating him, Tomba gets the power to attack with fire.
- Point of No Return: At the end of the game, just before the final boss, the world state changes and you can no longer do anything but progress towards the final boss. Unfortunately, you can save during this point, and in the era of small memory card space, you may unknowingly overwrite your save here not realizing you're permanently stuck here, and need to restart the entire game.
- Power Copying: Defeating one of the Evil Pigs grant you a robe with the powers of said pig.
- Priceless Ming Vase: One of the miners in the Coal-Mining Town has a pot made for him by another resident of the town. Interacting with it twice causes it to fall on the floor and gives you the Clay Spatula, which you can give to the guy who made the pot. Giving him the spatula along with clay lets you defy this trope by making another pot, which you aren't allowed to break, and giving it back to the first miner finishes a quest.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The five evil elemental pigs: the Fire Pig, the Ice Pig, the Ghost Pig, the Earth Pig, and the Water Pig.
- Remember the New Guy?: Both Zippo and Tabby, introduced at the start of the game. They are Tomba's friend and childhood friend, respectively, but were never even mentioned in the previous game.
- Rube Goldberg Device: Win's machine requires four golden crabs to climb up a wall following a water course and cut ropes with their pincers, releasing a giant propeller that somehow carves steps out of stone.
- Santa Claus: He randomly shows up when you go down a chimney in Kujara Ranch. After giving him his toy sack back, he gifts you his Fire Hammer then flies off on his sled (which isn't moved by reindeer or anything at all).
- Shaped Like Itself: "This is called a Fire Hammer. As you can see, it's a hammer that has the power of fire."
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Kujara Ranch under the Evil Pig Curse suffers from a constant snowstorm that turns it cold and slippery. Tomba can in fact get frozen and take damage if he stays still without wearing a flying squirrel suit. Once the Evil Ice Pig is defeated, the ice and snow disappear.
- Songs in the Key of Lock: There are 3 mythical towers in the continent, and each one can only be accessed by singing a song at a specific spot. Completing missions will give you halves of each song, one for revealing the door, and the other one for unlocking it.
- Soul Power: The Ghost Pig, who claimed Donglin Forest as his own. Under his curse, the forest is trapped in perpetual night, the water is toxic, and ghosts are flying around. In his boss battle, he can conjure skulls (which turn into spirits) and hurl them at Tomba.
- Status Effects: A few odd ones, which are also suffered by some NPCs. They can be cured by eating a specific sandwhich, or using the spring at Circus Village.
- Getting covered in oil by a toradako makes you more susceptible to fire. A traveller in a shed got hit by one, and needs a Steak Sandwich to be cured.
- Eating a laughing or crying fruit causes Tomba to either laugh or cry instead of attacking (for crying, he also waves his arms forward while moving). Eating an expresionless fruit will cure him, and you can find reusable item versions of all these fruits. A traveller in a cabin ate a laughing fruit, and he needs a hash potato sandwhich to be cured.
- Getting caught by a ghost pig turns Tomba invisible. He can't attack (but can still wield weapons for other purposes), he can't call Baron, effects of clothing stop working, and both enemies and NPCs will ignore him, but he can enter ghost doors. Cured by a reusable fruit you can find in one such door. A traveller in Circus Village got hit by this, and needs a dry fish sanwhich to be cured.
- Entering the Minitta Tunnel or eating the Minitta Mushroom turns Tomba tiny. He can't attack, and exploring the enviroment becomes more difficult, but he can enter mice' houses.
- The "portal to the forbidden world" in the collector's house gives Tomba the Taboo status, which cause him to animal dash at high speed all the time, until he gets hit. A hidden location beyond the holy tree holds the Taboo Fruit to enter Taboo status anywhere.
- Supreme Chef: The chef at Coal-Mining Town's cafeteria, whose sandwiches can cure status effects.
- Taken for Granite:
- Tomba's canine companion Baron was turned to stone. Fortunately, a bucket of Holy Water will cure him (and even if you don't, he shows up during the ending).
- Tabby herself has also been turned to stone, as seen in the final area. She gets back to normal with the defeat of the Last Evil Pig.
- The Holy Tree in Kujara Ranch has been turned to stone, and can be made to grow back to its full height with some holy water.
- Time Stands Still: The Last Evil Pig. Once Tomba reaches his hiding place under the Pipe Area, the Pig stops time for the entire world, trapping it in black and white. He can also transform individuals into time-frozen statues, as demonstrated by Baron and Tabby.
- Underwater Ruins: The Water Temple is an old temple that's flooded due to constant rain, and a sanctuary for mermaids.
- Vent Physics: Tomba's primary means of navigating around the Pipe Area at first is by the steam let out by the pipes.
- Violation of Common Sense:
- The best way to get oil off of yourself is to swing the Flame Hammer as soon as you're covered. Normally, exposing yourself to flames while covered in oil deals damage to you and removes the oil, but using the Flame Hammer during your Mercy Invincibility from being hit by the oil will instantly get it off without the damage. And since the only enemy that can cause the Oil status effect is found in an area full of icy blocks that need the Flame Hammer to break, getting oiled is basically just a minor inconvenience.
- There's a sidequest where you have to fall into a very specific spot in the huge pit in Pipe Area in order to find a clump of mud with a Miner's Ring in it. Falling in the incorrect area is an immediate Game Over. At least Death Is a Slap on the Wrist.
- Vocal Dissonance:
- Apparently, the voice actor for the Water Pig didn't realize that she was female, even if she refers to herself with feminine pronouns and has a clearly female-shaped body and lipstick. (They may have just thought she was a crossdresser or a transvestite or something, especially since the English voice sounds like a man trying - with limited success - to do a feminine voice.) Averted in the Japanese version, where she has a clearly female voice.
- Mizuno has a mild case of this too - she's supposed to be young and cute, but the voice actress made her sound like an old woman.
- The three little girls who speak with adult women's voices in the Kujara Ranch.
- Water Is Womanly: The only female of the Evil Pigs is the Evil Water Pig, who has the power to control and weaponize water.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Tomba can wear the Water Pig Robe. Despite what her voice would tell you, the Water Pig is female. Zippo even mentions that it's a woman's robe, but it fits Tomba, too.
- "YEAH!" Shot: The final shot of the normal ending is Tomba jumping triumphantly during the celebration feast.
