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レジェンド オブ ヒーロー トンマ
©1991 IREM Corp.
Release : 1991-03-13 (¥7000)
HuCard (4 Mbits) IC03005
Action / Platform game
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Released in America as
LEGEND OF HERO TONMA
( TGX040083 )
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Legend of Hero Tonma is a side-scrolling platform game
and conversion of Irem's arcade game originally released in 1989.
The kingdom's princess has been kidnapped by an evil goblin monster and
he is now keeping her captive in his terrifying castle.
Tommy, a cute caped boy, embarks on a treacherous journey
to save her. But Tommy is not
just a typical boy and he is fact the apprentice of a powerful magician - his
magic cape allows him to hover for short distances
and his magic gloves can fire small, yet powerful, fireballs.
Magic orbs scattered throughout the game can upgrade Tommy in
all kind of ways - better fireballs, rotating shields, bombs
or homing-fire. And yet, Tommy has a final trick up his sleeves
- he can jump on an enemy's head in order to freeze him for a short amount of time,
allowing him to escape from even the deadliest situations.
Various special items appear later in the game, such as scrolls
(reveal hidden passageways) and magic books (kill all enemies on screen).
The game consists of seven large stages and is single player only.
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The original arcade game was released by Irem in 1989 (picture on the right) and
apparently used the same hardware that powered the classic R*Type. The
game was curiously only ported to the PC Engine system (version
tested here) and the American Turbografx-16 version, being one
of the last games to be released for the system in the US, is extremely rare.
A conversion for the Famicom system was announced but later cancelled (please
read the section below for more information). The PC Engine port
is incredibly faithful to the arcade game, despite being more colorful
with a slightly re-designed hero character.
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Legend of Hero Tonma was announced many times for the Famicom system but
was ultimately cancelled. The game appeared in many Japanese video game
magazines at the time (pictures on the left and below), and short commercials from the early 1990s even show actual gameplay.
The game was apparently pretty far along and nearly finished, but the reasons
surrounding its cancellation are unknown. But something is sure, a prototype
most certainly exists.
Click on the links below to see more images from various Japanese Video Game magazines
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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Teaser text from the American version:
MAGIC MONSTERS
In the days when we could still travel between the human world
and the world of magic, there lived Tonma, an apprentice
of the wizerd Merlin. One day when meditating,
Tonma heard the voice of a princess crying our for help.
He asked Merlin what this might mean and Merlin told him:
"Tonma. You were born a Royal prince in another country,
and that princess is destined to be your bride."
Tonma resolved to rescue the princess, and he set off on a
journey to the world of magic...
Additional information:
By collecting power-up items you can use two types of weapons at the
same time. And there are lots of other hidden items! In two-player mode,
two of you can take turns to play. You can have music, too.
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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As a young kid, I clearly remember playing Legend of Hero Tonma
in the arcades and wasting most of my (very limited) pocket money
trying to kill that deadly skeleton boss et the end of the
first stage. This is why Tonma is one of the first games
I had to find for the system, and this PC Engine version
is amazingly close to the original game. Irem made the excellent
decision to use the console's high-resolution which gives the game
an incredible flair, with crisp and detailed graphics and a very large
playing area on screen. I may be a little biased (well, that kid is still
in me), but it hardly needs to be pointed out how distinctive
and unique the art direction in Tonma is. And this port
is magnificent, incredibly polished with perfect controls, fun enemies and levels,
and a catchy and awesome soundtrack.
The only problem with Tonma is its incredibly
brutal difficulty level and painful checkpoints, and you lose all your
weapons once you die making later stages virtual impossible to beat.
But, all in all, this conversion is a must have
for any PC Engine owner, especially as the game was
never ported to any other console systems as far as I know.
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