Two essential PlayStation 1 games are getting a modern re-release. Whoopee Camp is developing an enhanced remaster of Tomba!, a 1997 platformer. The game's original director is on board with the project as well. Tomba! will be running on the Carbon Engine, Limited Run Games' in-house retro game engine, which is what the GBC Shantae remaster ran on, and developed by Modern Vintage Gamer. This remaster will be available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Steam.

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That wasn't the only announcement, either. Gex is coming back, in the form of the Gex Remastered Trilogy. This collection will pack together Gex, Gex: Enter the Gecko, Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, with all three set to be running in the Carbon Engine, too. The Gex games will be released on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

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[Foxi4]

I don’t understand what Limited Run’s “Carbon Engine” is. It says it’s their in-house retro game engine, but I mean what is that? Can’t be an emulator if they’re upscaling and altering the games. So it’s like some mediator between PC/modern consoles where if they can port the game to this engine, then it will be compatible with all their target platforms? I just thought Limited Run did physical releases for rare games, but this is a much more involved-sounding process; and these games will have digital releases anyway. So good on them. Hope they run well, I’m sure they will.

I’m a huge Tomba fan, but particularly Tomba 2. And I’m a purist, so I don’t really need to play anything but the OG games. Still it’s cool they’re doing this. Guess I’ll buy it.

There’s only so much you can achieve through emulation, and there’s usually some jank involved - if the native assets are available then gamers are generally better off getting a game rebuilt from the ground up. WayForward is well-known for adding additional content to their remasters, and is planning to add an animated intro to their upcoming Clock Tower re-release, for instance. The recent Ghost Trick remaster runs on the RE Engine rather than the original engine, which allowed for better visuals. Sometimes porting the original source is just more trouble than it’s worth.

 

[HellGhast]

View attachment 383073​

...master of Tomba!...LOL

You people have no idea what "Tomba" means in Swahili, please use a translater and you'll definitely go Lol.

 

[eyeliner]

I'm interested in Jurassic Park, so I can smash Timmy under a Triceratops horde.

I LOVED the NES game. The music in that is top tier.

 

[Foxi4]

You people have no idea what "Tomba" means in Swahili, please use a translater and you'll definitely go Lol.

Seems accurate to the source material to me.

 

[CMDreamer]

Damn, selling them on LRG is such a waste. LRG is killing good games and selling mostly crap ones.

 

[DarkCoffe64]

TOMBIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!


Even if it's just a like upscaled port of the game or what, am glad to see my favorite PS1 childhood game come back, more or less, heh.
As long as this port ain't shite like the crappy Klonoa remakes, don't fuck this one up ffs.
And if it ends up being a shit port... eh, it's not like emulating PS1 game's that hard, lol.

Honestly, I don't know much about them, but I absolutely despise the concept of a limited-time release of a game. Based on their name, seems like the main thing they do- which is a massive L for preservation.

 

[_47iscool]

Interesting, considering both Crash and Spyro are now on Xbox.

 

[punkyrule]

Played the hell out of Tomba 1 and 2! Hope a 3rd installment comes out after this! *wishfulthinking

 

[Aglaophotis]

Interesting, considering both Crash and Spyro are now on Xbox.

Now? Crash and Spyro have been on Xbox since the early-mid 2000s.

 

[MushGuy]

Say gex.

 

[Valwinz]

Gex was never good so not sure why people that were not even born when it release act like it is

 

[17hitcombooo]

slightly concerned that square enix still owns gex, despite gex being part of crystal dynamics' history. was gex never sold to embracer?

 

[LuigiXHero]

I don’t understand what Limited Run’s “Carbon Engine” is. It says it’s their in-house retro game engine, but I mean what is that? Can’t be an emulator if they’re upscaling and altering the games. So it’s like some mediator between PC/modern consoles where if they can port the game to this engine, then it will be compatible with all their target platforms? I just thought Limited Run did physical releases for rare games, but this is a much more involved-sounding process; and these games will have digital releases anyway. So good on them. Hope they run well, I’m sure they will.

I’m a huge Tomba fan, but particularly Tomba 2. And I’m a purist, so I don’t really need to play anything but the OG games. Still it’s cool they’re doing this. Guess I’ll buy it.

Carbon engine is the set of emulators that modern vintage gamer and his team are making dedicated for doing this kinds of collections. He's well known for making ports and emulators for homebrew so limited run hired him to start doing it officially.

 

[Lumstar]

slightly concerned that square enix still owns gex, despite gex being part of crystal dynamics' history. was gex never sold to embracer?

That's correct. square enix kept Gex, Just Cause, and Kane & Lynch (among some other stuff).

 

[Kirby6417]

Carbon engine is the set of emulators that modern vintage gamer and his team are making dedicated for doing this kinds of collections. He's well known for making ports and emulators for homebrew so limited run hired him to start doing it officially.

Oh wow. I’m subscribed to that guy on YouTube. I thought he was just an interesting content creator with a generic name. But good for him, that’s awesome!

 

[DarknessPlay3r]

TOMBIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!


Even if it's just a like upscaled port of the game or what, am glad to see my favorite PS1 childhood game come back, more or less, heh.
As long as this port ain't shite like the crappy Klonoa remakes, don't fuck this one up ffs.
And if it ends up being a shit port... eh, it's not like emulating PS1 game's that hard, lol.

I was expecting this intro...

 

[DarkCoffe64]

I was expecting this intro...

Heh, the one you linked is I guess the intro for all of the game versions aside the european/italian one? ^^
Over on my end, Tombi's intro has always been that rocking out one, ahah

 

[DarknessPlay3r]

Heh, the one you linked is I guess the intro for all of the game versions aside the european/italian one? ^^
Over on my end, Tombi's intro has always been that rocking out one, ahah

Did some digging, it's 1 of 3. The NTSC one has this intro, the PAL version has one you linked, and the NTSC-J version is the same as I linked but with lyrics.

I always just liked the drums in the NTSC one. It feels very Tomba.

 

[Eddypikachu]

Would've liked to see some gameplay for at least one of them...

 

[DarkCoffe64]

Did some digging, it's 1 of 3. The NTSC one has this intro, the PAL version has one you linked, and the NTSC-J version is the same as I linked but with lyrics.

I always just liked the drums in the NTSC one. It feels very Tomba.

I agree that the NTSC/Japanese version does fit better as, like, Tomba/i's theme, but for me, his theme has always been the one I've shared before, ahah.