Tomato Adventure

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

Plot
The game takes place in a land, known as "The Ketchup Kingdom", which is a kingdom for children, by children and ruled by children. It was Tomatoversary, and to celebrate it, the main antagonist, King Abira, with the help of the 6 Super Kids, created a machine known as "The Super Kara-Cooker", which will allow all of the people in the kingdom to stay as children, which in reality, it will turn them into toys, meaning that Abira had a plan to turn the Ketchup Kingdom into a land of Toys. Then, the main protagonist, DeMille's TV turns off and it doesn't turn on. He tries to turn it on again, but he breaks it instead. He then decides to visit his neighbor and friend Selemo (Seremo) and asks him if he will make a new TV for him. Selemo says he will and gives DeMille his first Gimmick, the Gear Yo-Yo, and wants him to play with it. After DeMille learns how to use his first Gimmick, his girlfriend, Pasaran (Patharan) wants to come with him to the Toy Ruins to find her fantastic toy, the Gimmick Robo. However, when they arrive, it is absent. Pasaran then gets captured by Brikky and Grikky, and DeMille grabs on to her while being pulled up to the airship, the Carorna No.2, piloted by Brikky and Grikky. After DeMille fights Brikky and Grikky, they drop DeMille from the airship into the Tomato Pond, only for him to notice that he is standing near Abira's home, the Gimmick Palace, a tall, red, tower with a tomato-shaped top. DeMille then decides to save Pasaran and the entire Ketchup Kingdom. However, he encounters a wall that he cannot pass through without 6 key items called "Toy Parts" by defeating the 6 Super Kids. This is told to him by Rellek (Rereku). During DeMille's adventure, he makes friends with Alesa (Arisa), Sofubi, and Rellek to help him save Pasaran and the Ketchup Kingdom from Abira.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The graphics are colorful and vivid that are really good to look at for GBA standards. The game looks like it has the same graphics as Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, which does a good job at looking like the said game, considering that both games were developed by the same company.
 * 2) The soundtrack, composed by Yoko Sakai, is awesome and has many catchy themes that would make you want to listen to it anytime you enter an area or actually start a battle with an enemy or the boss. It does sound like it was composed by Yoko Shimomura, who would later compose games for the Mario & Luigi series, which is a nice touch. You can also listen to the game's music after completing the game by going to DeMille's house in the Spillage and standing in front of his TV without even needing to fight an enemy.
 * 3) The characters are very well developed and are likeable, especially Rellek, Sofubi, Pasaran, and of course the game's main protagonist, DeMille.
 * 4) Each gimmick has a minigame before it you could attack an enemy, either picking something, pressing a button at the right time, or pressing several buttons to fill the bar. If the minigame is done correctly before the timer runs out, the character deals a good amount of damage to the opponent. If failed, however, the opponent will receive less damage.
 * 5) After Alesa joins your party, you get special moves called AWE! attacks. Before you can even use them, you have to fill the whole bar by completing the minigames before you can attack an enemy with a gimmick. Then, if the bar is almost full, a gimmick icon will pop up, with the second appearing if you fill the bar completely. They function as attacks, but are much stronger than the normal attacks. Also, falling a minigame before filling the bar completely resets the bar, forcing you to fill it again.
 * 6) *Rellek also has a special move called "Invincibility Song", which shows Pasaran signing a song, causing it to struct DeMille with a lighting, causing both of them to be invincible for three turns. This can only happen if Rellek is selected as a playable partner in battles and if the AWE! bar is completely full.
 * 7) The game has surprisingly high amount of saves. You can save up to 4 slots, which is a very nice touch. Also, you don't need to talk to someone or hit something just to save. Instead, you simply just open the menu, and then select "Save" to save the game, although there are some areas in the game that you cannot save.
 * 8) Tons of humor in the game, especially in the scene where DeMille hits Alesa intentionally, before a replay playing that he bumped after falling into Oops' room, allowing for a smile and fun while playing the game.
 * 9) The bosses are somewhat tougher than the enemies, but are not too hard enough, especially on high level. Each one also has some other attacks and some more stuff to hit to damage them, either the ones that attack, or make them have the said boss' defense, especially the Super Kids.
 * 10) Each Super Kid's toy part can be made by the Hanzo Bros. into a gimmick, which could look like a reward for defeating the Super Kid before heading to the next area in the game that you have to go. You can also get some minigames in Kaizo's laboratory for blinkies, an item hidden in some areas that can be collected by pressing the A button.
 * 11) The game's credits show you the gimmicks you have earned and their info, including how many times you have used them. It even shows gimmicks that you have never received at all, meaning that it could tell you that the game was not completed 100%, though completing the game 100% is absolutely optional, so you don't need to collect every gimmick to beat the game.
 * 12) The game's plot is very interesting; King Abira shows a machine that will allow everyone in the Ketchup Kingdom to stay as children forever, though it turns out that it will turn them into toys, and DeMille's girlfriend, Pasaran, gets kidnapped, forcing him to go on an adventure to defeat six Super Kids to defeat Abira and rescure her.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While Alesa is likeable, she can act like a brat sometimes.
 * 2) The game ended on a huge cliffhanger; DeMille and his friends suddenly transport to the Pepper Kingdom, and Alesa gets captured by Pimara, the king of the Pepper Kingdom. While it sounded like an awesome idea for a sequel to the game, AlphaDream went bankrupt on October 1, 2019, which ruined any chances for the game's sequel to actually happen.
 * 3) The final boss, while amazing, can be sometimes way too tough, usually lowering your speed and damage you way too much to give you a Game Over very quickly, and sometimes even leave you at very low HP.

Critical reception
Tomato Adventure was met with a rather mixed-to-positive reception. On release, Weekly Famitsu gave the game 29/40. As the time progressed however, Tomato Adventure received much more positive reviews, with it being considered as one of the best RPGs released for the Game Boy Advance and one of the hidden gems on the said platform.

Legacy
After the game was released, AlphaDream began developing a Mario RPG game, which would be known as Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, spawning 4 sequels and 2 remakes. Superstar Saga also takes inspiration from Tomato Adventure, even featuring an unused, rearranged theme of the latter game's title theme.

Fan translation
As mentioned before, Tomato Adventure was never released outside Japan. On July 26, 2021, an unofficial English translation has been released, which translates the game's text to English. It does not need any additional programs to make it work.

It can be downloaded here.

Trivia

 * Originally, the game was going to be titled Gimmick Land (ギミックランド, Gimikku Rando) and was supposed to be released for the Game Boy Color as a Japan-only title, like AlphaDream's first game, Koto Battle: Tengai no Moribito. However, when Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance to make the Game Boy Color obsolete, they requested AlphaDream to redevelop the game and rename it to Tomato Adventure.
 * The reason why the game stayed only in Japan and wasn't released in the west is because the targeted age group was considered too low, the battle system had some problems and the reception wasn't that positive enough.
 * It can be however understandable why, especially since the game was targeted at younger audience.
 * DeMille and the Tomatrio make a cameo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as two of the collectable spirits.
 * And on top of that, it was expected that DeMille would appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, due to him being included in a poll twice. However, he never made an apperance outside Tomato Adventure yet.

Game Tips

 * Don't spam the same gimmicks all the time. Each one can be used only a few times. If you use them all, you are completely unable to use it again until you spend all other gimmicks.
 * Make sure to buy a lot of healing items that heal your party members at Gimmick Palace and some other areas. This can especially be important for the final boss.

Videos
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