A delicious and nutritious adventure.
PLAYERS: 1
PUBLISHER: Hudson
DEVELOPER: Hudson
GENRE: Adventure
RELEASE DATE: February 1991
An overflowing bowl of salad makes the night come alive with freshness, but don’t tell Sir Cucumber I said that! Princess Tomato is a riveting, 100% green adventure game that chronicles the Great Vegetable War between Minister Pumpkin and the Salad Kingdom. As Sir Cucumber, you must avenge the late King Broccoli, save the Salad Kingdom from the Farmies, and rescue Princess Tomato from the Minister and his sicko son Junior. Your menu is filled with standard adventure game commands, like ‘Look,’ ‘Use,’ and ‘Move;’ and some not-so-familiar ones like ‘Praise’ (used to flatter veggies, so they’ll cough up information) and ‘Percy.’ Percy is your persimmon partner you find on the second screen of the game. Give him some water and he’ll remain your loyal companion, whether you want him to be or not (the manual says it best: “he’s sometimes quite helpful”). There is also an option to ‘Fight,’ but the fighting is not your standard action or RPG battling. If you engage an enemy, you’ll play two rounds of Finger Wars. The first round is Rock, Paper, Scissors, with the D-Pad corresponding to the three options (‘Up’ and ‘Down’ are both Rock). The second round is called Try to Look Away and it’s strange. After you complete the first round, pay attention to the direction your opponent is facing. If you won and he’s facing up, press ‘Up’ on the directional pad. If you lost, do the opposite and press ‘Down.’ I didn’t really understand the point of this game, but knowing how to play is all you really need. Princess Tomato is ripe with funny, clever dialogue, unique characters, and a lightness of touch. As refreshing as a salad bar, and with none of the sass back.
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5 replies on “#489 – Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom”
I love this game. It’s weird, funny, and a tiny bit naughty. (“Pervert!”)
An F for lame boxart, lol.
My all time favorite NES game. Still trying to figure out what kind of plant Lisa was supposed to be…
Absolutely loved this game. Beat it with my brother over the course of a weekend. It was fun with a little challenge and LOTS of personality. It is a shame all games these days are ‘gritty’ and have seemed to have lost that charm of the by-gone era.
Sleepyweasel
The look away game is in Hatsune Miku Project f on the Ps3/Vita, so it must be some Japanese thing we dont really understand. I played this once on a lark right after it came out (Salad Kingdom, not Look Away), but never really “got it”. Your review makes me want to dig into this again, maybe it will be tastier nownthat the flavor has had a few decades to sit.