SALADA NO KUNI NO TOMATO HIME
( Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom )
Game Cover
Game
サラダの国のトマト姫
©1988 Hudson Soft
Release: 1988-05-27 (¥5900)
Cartdridge HFC-RT
Adventure game

American Version
country
Released in America as
PRINCESS TOMATO IN THE SALAD KINGDOM
( NES-RT-USA )
Salada no Kuni no Tomato Hime (aka Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom) is a graphic/adventure game by Hudson Soft. The game takes place in the Salad Kingdom, a peaceful place where fruits and vegetables live in harmony with each other. It is ruled by the respected King Onion (aka King Broccoli), whose wisdom protects the kingdom from evil and unwelcome intruders. Unfortunately, a clan led by the malevolent Kabocha Daiō (aka Minister Pumpkin) decides otherwise - from his castle, he establishes a new social order and sends his army in waves in an attempt to conquer the Kingdom. King Onion and his daughter Princess Tomato decide to assemble an armed resistance, but she soon gets captured and imprisoned in Pumpkin's castle, destined to marry Minister Pumpkin's son against her will. The noble Kyūri Senshi (aka Sir Cucumber) and his young persimmon Kakippachi (aka Percy) seem to be the kingdom's last hope, and they embark on a long journey to rescue the princess and save the day. The game displays the surrounding scene and various commands (such as move, talk, check, use and so forth) allow the player to interact with it. Sir Cucumber can look for items, talk to other people or gather information and hints. Our hero also faces rare enemies throughout his journey - battles use an unusual system based on traditional Japanese 'Jan-Ken-Pon' (aka 'finger wars' battles), and this dual challenge follows a blood pumping two rounds rock-paper-scissors formula where each direction on the controller translates as a form (Up/Down. for Stone, Left for Scissors and Right for Paper), followed by a phase where the player must guess which direction the enemy's head will face. Interestingly, the player never loses a battle and is given a chance to fight again in the case of a shameful defeat.
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Salada no Kuni no Tomato Hime - PC-6001 Salada no Kuni no Tomato Hime was first released for the PC-6001mkII Japanese computer in 1984. It was then ported to the PC-8001mkII (picture on the right), Sharp X1, FM-77 and finally for the MSX (which is the only monochrome version of the game as far as I know). The original game didn't use menus but an English text parser instead, which is rather odd as the rest of the game is entirely in Japanese. Interestingly, this was also the case for other early Hudson Soft graphic adventure games, such as Dezeni Land (1983) and Dezeni World (1986). The Famicom port of Salada no Kuni no Tomato Hime (version tested here) followed much later, in 1988. Although the story closely resembles that of the original, all of the graphics were redrawn and several new features were introduced. The most noticeable are the new maze sections, the 'Jan-Ken-Pon' (aka 'finger wars') battles and, of course, the menu-driven interface. The text and graphics were also toned down for a children audience - the original version featured more 'mature' graphics, such as a crucified tomato inside a church early in the game, or some rather scary fire-breathing bananas. The Famicom game was later included in Hudson Best Collection Vol. 4: Nazotoki Collection for the Game Boy Advance (2005), along with Binary Land and Nuts & Milk. Interestingly, Hudson Soft released an i-appli remake of Salada no Kuni no Tomato Hime for Japanese cell phones in 2004.

Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom The American release of the game was slightly censored and edited to remove references (among other things) to smoking. For instance, in the Japanese version, it is possible to buy tabacco in a store in Saladoria - this was replaced by coffee in the American version. Some of the character names have also been slightly changed - King Onion became King Broccoli, and Persimmon was renamed Percy. Finally, the Japanese version had the name of the game displayed above the playing window, and this detail was removed from the American version.

Teaser text from the American version:
You've got a problem. You're a Cucumber. But you're also a Knight of the Realm, which helps make up for the fact that you go through life long, green, and with seeds. And now to make matters worse, your beloved princess Tomato has been kidnapped by the wicked Minister Pumpkin, who then boots King Broccoli off the throne and proceeds to abolish all truth, justice, sweetness and light from the Salad Kingdom. So why are you just laying around waiting to ripen ? As Sir Cucumber, you've got to rescue your princess and save her domain from the power-mad Pumpkin. Otherwise, the entire Salad Kingdom will be tossed into a frenzy--or even into a bowl with a dash of oil and vinegar. Sir Cucumber, your princess awaits!

Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :

STAFF

Story Writer
Megupyon

Chief Programmer
Yoshiyuki.K

Assistant Programmer
Okkun
Oichan
Ryouichi Nakaya

Assistant Cordinater
Billiard Ga Daisuki Syounen
Fumiya Nagata Deshita
Chief Designer
Tetsuka.A

Sprite Designer
Negi Jiisan Tottemo Kawaii
Commando Sasaki
Juanken Kozou Character

Background Designer
Yasue Oikawa

Special Background Designer
Gary Fujimoto

Special Character Designer
Yasai Wa Mou Korigori
Koara Takaoka

Background Designer
Hideyuki Ogura
Music Composer
Tomotsune Maeno

Sound Programmer
Katsunori Takahashi

Total Adviser
Nontama And Ura San

Special Thanks
Hiroyuki Sakai

All Rights Reserved
Hudson Soft

See You Again


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Japanese Guidebook
Japanese Guidebook


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Salada no Kuni no Tomato Hime manual
Click on picture to enlarge

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Japanese Passwords:

1) えふとしうたみつひくうおみ
2) あたしみきえとにぬとぬのけ
3) ねさせそしあちつつぬつかせひほ
4) たさえきえあちつつてとかせひにはぬ
5) へきけこえにさせせそたあはてつおほみ
6) なぬにはふさはほほまみちこういなせく
7) にひねせまそほいいうえおほきかのこそく



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Salada no Kuni no Tomato Hime is a really unique and unusual game. The coarse graphics may turn you off at first, but a few minutes in and you'll find that there's a neat game lurking underneath them, that oozes with humor and charm. The adventure has an interesting aspect to it, and Sir Cucumber must use his brain and common sense, rather than his sword and strenght which gives the game a nice breath of fresh air. Well, on another hand, the game heavily relies on regular item-fetching, where you have to retrieve the correct objects for specific persons or situations. However, some events and characters only appear at specific time-points and places, and for this reason things become increasingly complex as the game progresses. Although you never really get stuck, you often end up looking for something... that you've already missed, but you simply don't know about it. All in all, Salada no Kuni no Tomato Hime is a sweet and colorful graphic adventure game, and it is definitively one of the best of its genre for the system. You will need a good knowledge of Japanese to really appreciate it though, or you can try to hunt down the American version instead (which seems to have jumped in price recently).




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