Presented in Retrovision: Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
I like niche titles--Those cute little games that only myself and a handful of fans have had an attraction to. Everyone has one of these critically panned games that never really received any major retail success. Yet, there are still die hard fans that will swear till the end of days that it was one of the greatest games ever created. Today, I will be be discussing a game of similar quality, a game that did not receive mass acclaim, though it still to this day has a strong following. This week, I present to you Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom.
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom is one of those games in which I am not entirely sure how I came across it. At some point it materialized in our living room, and when I first began playing it, I was unimpressed. The entire concept of talking vegetables really did not strike much of a chord with me for I neither enjoyed eating them, nor did I want to have an extended relationship with them. My feelings for produce aside, I managed to sit down and have a serious game play session.
"Many growing seasons ago, there was a place where vegetables lived happily, and in perfect harmony. One day, Minister Pumpkin betrayed King Broccoli. He kidnapped Princess Tomato and stole the Turnip Emblem. He took them to his castle in the Zucchini Mountains. He sent his cruel Farmies out to terrorize all the vegetables in the Salad Kingdom. Shortly thereafter, the poor King died from the loss of his beautiful daughter. But he promised you, brave Sir Cucumber, the Princess' hand and the kingdom if you bring them back safely. God speed Sir Cucumber! Hurry! Saladoria is down this path. The Zucchini mountains are over yonder."
These is the back story that scrolls across the screen after booting. Mind you, the vegetable theme does not let up through the entirety of the game. It only pauses briefly to include fruits into the mix (persimmons, oranges, grapes and tomatoes, if you're a stickler). It is in fact your quest to best a large, evil head of broccoli and avoid his many minions. Throughout the course of the adventure, you will encounter large mechanical villains called Dice-O-Matics, humans nicknamed "farmies" and other dinner plate fodder bent on foiling your quest.
The game itself is less action packed as the title screen would suggest. Princess Tomato plays much like Shadowgate, but without the point-and-click style interface. The majority of the game operates by selected one of the fourteen buttons laid on either side of the display. After selecting from the various actions (like move or talk) provided, players are given the option to select a target noun from a list (like melon or gold) of items within the game field. Interestingly enough, this provides more than enough challenge to keep the game running for a significant amount of time.
There are several twists and turns throughout the game. The simple action of placing a piece in a puzzle will unlock a completely new section of the game, which allows you to explore even more of the salad kingdom. Oddly, the game is unlike most text driven adventures in that the game follows a fundamentally linear course. After completing a major puzzle, the need to backtrack is completely eliminated, and the character is immediately transitioned to a new stage of the game. Each stage is self contained, and any useless items from the previous level are automatically discarded by Percy, your clumsy persimmon sidekick. Each break also offers a password of varying length to allow you to pick up approximately where you left off.
Now, no game would be complete without some form of combat. Heck, even Zork had that thief. In keeping Princess Tomato in the spirit of its family friendly nature, Hudson opted out of creating a violent combat system. Rather than using things like fondue forks or kebab skewers, players compete in a fierce battle of "finger wars". Raunchy insinuations aside, the battles are basically a supplemented form of rock paper scissors. The rules are essentially the same, with the addition of a "guess the direction" phase. If either competitor bests their opponent, they are given the opportunity to guess which way they will look. If they guess correctly, that character loses a point. This repeats until either party has lost all of their points. This would make the game random, except that certain opponents pick things in a specific pattern.
After several hours of toiling, the game will eventually come to and end. The puzzles are not terribly challenging, and there is really no way to get an "end game" except by winning or losing at one of the "finger war" battles. The game has a quirky, colorful atmosphere that, while being family friendly, is just bizarre enough so as appeal to the niche crowd. It is fun, and ultimately worth investing the time it takes to grind though it, even if the game is slightly dated and more than a little weird.
Asterick
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 7 February 2008
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Other stuff like this: hudson, nes, presented in retrovision, princess tomato in the salad kingdom, text adventure
I had this game and it was strange. The whole rock, paper scissors on certain bosses.