Topic: Pokemon Developer’s Non-Nintendo Game Is Excellent

[NWR_Neal]

Tembo the Badass Elephant is a vibrant platformer from Game Freak that is, sadly, not coming to Nintendo platforms.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/40777/pokemon-developers-non-nintendo-game-is-excellent

When it comes down to it, the fact that Tembo the Badass Elephant isn’t coming to Nintendo platforms is a huge bummer. The Game Freak-developed game is coming out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam tomorrow, but even though the developers are the guys who make all of the Pokémon games (and Drill Dozer and Harmoknight), this platformer isn’t slated to hit the Wii U eShop. If you have the chance to play Tembo, I highly recommend picking it up. The Sega-published download title is a ton of fun, taking the best elements of Sonic the Hedgehog-like platformers and fusing it with awesome art design.

The title character is basically Rambo the Hedgehog, as his trademark attacks are a charging run and a sort-of spin dash where he barrels through the environment. The loosely controlled elephant wreaks havoc and destruction across every stage, as you have to destroy enemies while also uncovering trapped civilians. Guiding Tembo around is just plain fun, as he bounces around the colorful settings bringing about explosions and massive damage. The going gets tough pretty quickly, especially if you want to 100% each level. I successfully trounced my way through the first zone quickly, but after that, death was a regular event. However, death in this game does feature an adorable animation where Tembo is revived by eating peanut butter. So at least there’s that.

All of the enjoyment that the adventure provides is tempered, at least for me, by the puzzling absence of this game on Nintendo platforms. The reported reason why is that when Game Freak’s staff pitched the game, they just included PS4, Xbox One, and Steam as the listed platforms on some concept art. That’s a weird reason for a developer who, over their more than 25 years of existence, have released close to 90% of their games exclusively on Nintendo platforms. Nintendo does own a stake in Game Freak, but I guess it isn’t large enough to prevent them from releasing games on other platforms. It’s likely that the company’s outreach to PS4, Xbox One, and PC is a little bit of self-preservation. While Game Freak will likely be working on Pokémon games until the sun burns out, if the studio wants to make any other games, releasing them only on Wii U and 3DS might not be the best decision. That might partially explain why Solitiba, their Japan-only horse racing/solitaire game, found its way to iOS and Android after a 3DS debut.

At the end of the day, whether or not Tembo makes its way to Wii U is a moot point. What is clear is that Tembo the Badass Elephant is a top-of-the-line platformer that you should check out if you have access to one of the platforms it is coming out on. And who knows: maybe Tembo will come to Wii U one day and we can all rejoice by kicking back and eating some restorative peanut butter.

[azeke]

I've seen this video.

This game seems it took a LOT from Donkey Kong Returns: weighty protagonist, a few similar moves, circular panels that you flip by pounding on them and you fall under them.

[Luigi Dude]

This game not coming to a Nintendo system has more to do with Sega being Sega then anything else.  Lets see here, you have the makers of Pokemon making a game that plays like Donkey Kong County, and they'll release it on every system expect the system with the actual userbase this game appeals to.

It goes like this, Sega see's the Wii U hardware sales are bad so they decide not to release any more games on it, even though there is an active userbase of hardcore Nintendo fans that do buy certain games.  This is the kind of game they would have bought, but like always, Sega and logic do not belong in the same sentence together.

[Ninferno]

Sounds cool. As much as I’m tired of side scrollers (there really have been a shitload of them in the recent years, no matter how good some of them are), I might still get this when there is a Steam sale.

[Mop it up]

Maybe if it sells well then it will eventually release on Nintendo platforms.

[Wah]

This game not coming to a Nintendo system has more to do with Sega being Sega then anything else.  Lets see here, you have the makers of Pokemon making a game that plays like Donkey Kong County, and they'll release it on every system expect the system with the actual userbase this game appeals to.

It goes like this, Sega see's the Wii U hardware sales are bad so they decide not to release any more games on it, even though there is an active userbase of hardcore Nintendo fans that do buy certain games.  This is the kind of game they would have bought, but like always, Sega and logic do not belong in the same sentence together.

maybe if they stopped making games like sonic boom we'd but from them again..