Tomato Adventure and the Twenty-Year Wait for an English Patch
Tomato Adventure is a role-playing game that plays with food, toys and timing. AlphaDream developed it, and Nintendo published it on the Game Boy Advance in Japan on 25 January 2002. It began life as Gimmick Land, a Game Boy Color project that Nintendo asked the studio to rework for the GBA with a new title and more recognisable characters. Many see it as the forerunner of AlphaDream's later Mario & Luigi series, which also pairs RPG structure with action-based minigames.
You play DeMille, a boy shunned in the Ketchup Kingdom for disliking tomatoes. He sets out to rescue his girlfriend Patharan from King Abira, collecting six Toy Parts by beating six Super Kids to open the way to the Gimmick Palace. Enemies are visible on the map and touching one starts a battle.
At a glance
- Based on: original AlphaDream game (an earlier Game Boy Color project, Gimmick Land)
- Created by: AlphaDream; published by Nintendo
- Released: 25 January 2002 (Japan); English fan patch in 2021
- Genre: Turn-based RPG with timed action commands
- What sets it apart: the toy-themed "Gimmick" weapons and no random encounters
How the translation happened
- Around 2008, Clyde Mandelin of Legends of Localization began work after finishing the MOTHER 3 fan translation.
- He found far more text than expected and put the project aside.
- In 2010 he released his tools and a proof-of-concept patch, which a few other fans tried to build on.
- In 2016 he streamed a playthrough with the proof of concept while viewers suggested names for enemies and items.
- A full English fan translation appeared in July 2021.
Reception
Weekly Famitsu gave it 29 out of 40 and 1UP.com awarded an "A". A Chinese release planned for the iQue was cancelled over piracy concerns.