It’s going to be a weird time calling this game Tomba! 2. If you didn’t already know about it, in Europe, the game was localised as Tombi! due to the NA title also being the word for a tomb in Italian. So, mentally, I’m going to spend the entirety of this Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Special Edition review mentally correcting that title like it’s a typo. Let’s take a look at this classic platforming adventure and see if it still holds up to modern scrutiny.
What Is Tomba! 2?
If you’re not already familiar with the series, Tomba! is a franchise about a pink-haired kid who goes around hunting evil pigs that keep casting curses over the land. As you explore, you find items, complete quests and gain new equipment as you work your way around the world capturing colour-coded pigs in their matching bags to stop them. This time around, the pigs are back at it again, and you’ll have to gather those colour-coded bags all over again.
If you’ve already played the original release, you’ll be familiar with the gameplay as it’s pretty much identical, though visually, things are a bit different. While you’re still mostly moving along a 2D-plane, jumping backwards and forwards to reach different layers, the entire world and all of the characters are fully 3D-rendered this time rather than all of the living beings appearing as 2D sprites. Basically, it’s fully-fledged 2.5D without cardboard cutout characters.
Time to Climb
As with the previous title, Tomba! 2 has you mostly exploring single planes, though this time, you can swap perspectives on the fly a bit more easily due to the 3D rendering being a bit easier to navigate. You’re still going around experiencing events and trying to solve various puzzles or tasks, but you’ll have an easier time finding your way around while doing it, which is nice. In general, the earlier environments also give you a bit more freedom to explore, with fewer locked doors or “come back later” messages in your way.
Other than that, the gameplay has remained largely unchanged. You can bash enemies in the face with various weapons, rendering them unconscious, then you have to grab them by the head and check them as hard as you can to finish them off. It’s honestly a bit fiddly trying to land directly on some enemies, but that’s an old problem left over from before, so it’s nothing to concern yourself with if you enjoyed the first title.
Ch-ch-ch-changes
That’s not to say that there are not changes for Tomba! 2. Some of the biggest gameplay additions are the suits you can find as you explore the world, each of which gives you different abilities. For example, the Squirrel Suit protects you from the cold weather and allows you glide around, while the Pig Suit allows you to understand pigs and gives you access to a new type of attack. This is a big update from the previous game that basically only let you change your shorts. It’s good to see that Tomba is learning the sartorial arts and doesn’t have to walk around mostly naked.
The inclusion of various suits that allow you to glide also means that the levels can be a lot more open and sprawling too. Once you get your hand on the Squirrel Suit or the Bird Suit, you can cover a huge amount of distance, and both of them show up pretty early on, so the levels can really spread themselves out a bit, and it makes the world feel a lot larger and a bit more interconnected. The boss fights are a bit dull and repetitive, though, which is a shame.
Visuals and Audio
Things have been cleaned up both visually and aurally compared to the original Tomba 2! but not by an insane amount; this isn’t a remake, after all. In terms of graphics, it’s mostly been given a re-render at HD resolutions, leaving the original polygonal graphics effectively untouched. If you’ve ever emulated the game on a modern system, then you’ll probably already know what to expect. That said, I didn’t notice any overscanning glitches or anything of the like, which means that Limited Run has put in the legwork to make the HD rendering and emulation work flawlessly.
In terms of the game audio, things have mostly been left alone as far as I can tell, but that might be more of a hindrance than a help. The music and sound effects are fine, but there’s nothing that really sets you alight like the first game did. None of the music stands out particularly, and the sound effects can actually be a bit grating at times. Honestly, most of the time I was playing with the sound turned off and an album playing, but that’s really more to do with the original design rather than the re-release.
Final Word
Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Special Edition is a great re-release that makes this the most playable version of the original game, and it’s a damn sight cheaper too. While there’s not much you can do to fix the broken elements, like boring bosses and mediocre music, the stuff that has been added is very welcome, and the gameplay is a lot smoother and more manageable than either the original release or the first game in the franchise. IF you’re a fan of the comedic adventure gameplay, then you’ll find plenty to love here, but just keep that volume dial down low.
Developer: Limited Run Games
Publisher: Limited Run Games
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release Date: 15th December 2025
