Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Special Edition [REVIEW] – Saved by a Patch 

Time has a funny way of warping our memories of the original PlayStation era, doesn’t it? It’s easy to remember the groundbreaking creativity, the sheer variety of ideas, and the hours of fun playing, often (conveniently) forgetting the janky camera angles and unconventional control schemes… yeah, that lack of stick-based control REALLY stands out in some titles. Returning to Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Special Edition is a perfect exercise in confronting that reality, especially for me, who LOVED it back in the day. It’s a trip down memory lane that reminds you why you fell in love with this pink-haired, pig-wrestling goofball in the first place, while simultaneously reminding you that 1999 really was a long, long time ago… sigh. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

First, let’s address the elephant – or rather, the Evil Pig – in the room. If you followed the launch of this Special Edition last month, you likely heard some real horror stories -especially from long-time fans of the game. Early adopters were met with a version of the game that was baffling: it forced the Japanese soundtrack (which has a completely different vibe), lacked a ‘Continue’ option on the Game Over screen (forcing full resets… insane), and even had glitchy quest triggers that linked to the original game where characters would clip through each other. 

Luckily, I played this post-patch, and believe me, I can happily report that the developers listened to the early complaints. The US soundtrack is back and togglable (though you will require a full restart of the game to access it), you can actually continue your game if you die, and the specific glitches involving Tomba! 1 save imports have been ironed out. It’s a relief, because in its current state, the game is FINALLY the functional nostalgia trip it was meant to be. 

“Ultimately, Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Special Edition is a product of its time – it’s full of heart, weirdness, and ambition, but it also looks and feels a little dated in design.” 

The game itself remains a fascinating, if slightly clunky, gem. Unlike the standard side-scrollers of its time, Tomba! 2 leans heavily into an almost Metroidvania style of play, with players continually searching their surroundings to find that hidden piece of the puzzle required to progress. The world isn’t massive in terms of square mileage so it’s never daunting, but it is incredibly dense. It constantly keeps you busy, and whilst there is a lot of backtracking, you unlock enough new tools and solve enough puzzles to keep things interesting.  

The switch to full 3D environments (while keeping movement on a 2D plane) allows for some clever level design where you move into the background and foreground to uncover secrets too, with it rewarding to poke around every nook and cranny to see what you can uncover. It’s also packed to the brim with quests, though the objectives can sometimes be frustratingly vague – I beat the game multiple times when younger, but even with that experience, I’m not ashamed to admit I had to hit Google on a few occasions just to figure out what I needed to do. If I’m being honest, I was a little disappointed that this issue wasn’t addressed, if only to help modernise the experience for players who aren’t quite used to the cryptic elements found in video games of over twenty-years ago… maybe the purists wouldn’t agree, though. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

If I’m being completely honest, the ‘Special Edition’ part of the port is admittedly barebones. You get a Museum mode with some artwork and renders (which is nice), but it lacks the depth of developer interviews or documentaries that the re-release of the first game had. Visually, it’s a standard emulation job too – you have options for CRT filters and borders, but the 3D models and sprites are presented as they were. It hasn’t been remastered so much as it has been preserved, and whilst that’s completely fine, it feels like this was a bit of a missed opportunity to do more with the game. 

That especially extends to the controls, with Tomba… well… controlling like a character from the late 90s. His movement can feel twitchy and slippery, and his jump physics require a level of precision that the analog stick doesn’t always want to give you. Combat, which involves jumping onto enemies to toss them, can lead to cheap hits if you are even a pixel off too, with the imprecision of the controls often making for some unforgiving moments. However, this is where the Special Edition’s best feature saves the day: Rewind. Being able to instantly undo a missed jump or an accidental death turns what could be a controller-smashing experience into a much more manageable one, and whilst you will get used to the clunkiness of the controls, having a modern safety net makes the friction of old-school design much easier to swallow. 

Developer: Limited Run Games, Whopee Camp 
Publisher: Limited Run Games 
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch 
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3504560/Tomba_2_The_Evil_Swine_Return_Special_Edition/