2012 and in Europe on October 3, 2012. The deal between MonkeyPaw Games, Sony and Fujiwara did not initially include the game's sequel, and the involved parties elected to wait until Tomba!s re-release showed satisfactory sales figures before arranging the sequel's re-release. In the month of its North American debut, Tomba! was the third best-selling PS one Classic. Reception Tomba! was met with positive reviews upon release, obtaining an aggregate score of 84% on GameRankings. The events were praised for their variety, quantity, and non-linearity. Mark Cooke of GameRevolution noted that Tomba! was the first platform game to grant such freedom, following attempts by RPGs such as The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. However, John Ricciardi of Electronic Gaming Monthly and Joe Rybicki of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine warned that the overlapping events may easily result in players getting sidetracked. The game's side-scrolling segments were considered reminiscent of platform games from earlier generations, particularly Fujiwara's past titles Ghosts 'n Goblins and Ghouls 'n Ghosts. Cooke, however, felt that the lack of innovation made the gameplay "a little too tired". Several reviewers praised the responsiveness of the controls. Rybicki cited the high amount of load times as a negative point, and John Broady of GameSpot criticized the limited save system as a "chore", suggesting that a system that saves the game after each event would have been more logical. The game's visuals were lauded for their bright and colorful presentation, smooth character animation, and combination of 2D character sprites and 3D polygonal environments. Crispin Boyer of Electronic Gaming Monthly compared the game's visuals to Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, particularly in the "almost perfect marriage" of its disparate graphical elements. Cooke described the hand-drawn cutscenes as endearing and humorous, and regarded the introduction to be the game's best feature. All four reviewers for Electronic Gaming Monthly appreciated the game's eccentric and lightly humorous tone, as did Rybicki, who found the game refreshing after a glut of post-apocalyptic three-dimensional third-person shooters at E3 1998. Erik Engström of Hardcore Gaming 101 saw influences by various anime from the late 1970s and early 1980s; he compared the game's rural and fantastical setting and occasional scatological references to Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump, and compared the Koma Pigs to the Yatterman character Odate Buta. Reactions to the audio were more mixed. Some were impressed by the soundtrack and considered it catchy, with Cooke declaring that the game "may