recovers his bracelet and leaves it resting upon his grandfather's grave. Development Tomba! was created by Tokuro Fujiwara, who left Capcom in December 1995 after 13 years as an employee. Fujiwara's motivation stemmed from a desire to create new and original games, which he felt he was unable to do within Capcom. Upon exhausting his accumulated vacation days, Fujiwara resigned immediately following the release of Resident Evil. Fujiwara soon established the independent development studio Whoopee Camp, and became the director, producer and lead designer of the studio's debut game Tomba!. Fujiwara chose to make a side-scrolling game as he believed this fundamental experience would excite players in a straightforward way. To distinguish Tomba! from other action games, Fujiwara designed a non-linear event system, as well as Tomba's gradual growth in abilities and resources. Tomba!s score was composed by Fujiwara's longtime Capcom collaborator Harumi Fujita, who eagerly approached Fujiwara for a position upon learning of Whoopee Camp's establishment. The game's Japanese version features the song "Paradise" by Tokyo Channel Q as its opening theme, and "Que Serã Serã" by Fumitaka Fuchigami as the ending theme. Release Tomba! was released in Japan on December 25, 1997. Promotional plush figures of Tomba and a Koma Pig were distributed in limited quantities around the game's original release date. The figures were also offered as prizes in a sweepstake run by Gamers' Republic in 1999. Though Whoopee Camp retained a close relationship with Capcom, the North American publishing rights for Tomba! were given to Sony Computer Entertainment. Tomba! was released in North America on July 16, 1998 and in Europe on August 28, 1998. The international release was improved, with shorter load times, more responsive controls, Gouraud shading on background elements, and other visual improvements. The intro theme "Paradise" was retained for the American release, but with the vocals removed. The game is titled Tombi! in European territories; Erik Engström of Hardcore Gaming 101 speculated that the change was motivated by the fact that "tomba" is an Italian word meaning "grave". The theme song of the television series No Sweat was used as the opening theme for the European version. Tomba! was re-released on the PlayStation Network in Japan on July 6, 2011. Distributor MonkeyPaw Games spent one year formulating an English-language distribution deal with Sony and Fujiwara. The English-language version of Tomba! was re-released on the PlayStation Network in North America on June 19,