Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom for NES - A Review | hungrygoriya 

How are you not more popular?! I discovered your channel by this video and have binged almost everything. You deserve a million views per video! There aren’t a lot of people making videos on retro video games or at least they stopped and you are keeping this genre alive. Thank you for your dedication! Hungry Goriya Supremacy!

Back of the box: 'You're a cucumber...' "Yeah, tell me something I DON'T know!"

A pleasant surprise after playing this game as a kid was studying in Japan in HS and finding out that the pointing part is how rock-paper-scissors is played there. "Kizyr you seem to already know the rules, where did you learn them?" "Ah... ...a persimmon taught me...?"

I finished this one a few months ago! It can be obtuse at times, so I eventually just started using every command on every object in each room I entered. It was entertaining and did boast a great soundtrack :)

I remember seeing this game in a retail store when I was just a kid. I thought it was the most ridiculous title and premise for a game that I had ever heard, despite the fact that sub-consciously I really wanted to at LEAST try it out. By the mid 90's, emulation for NES had made great strides and I finally got to try it. I only played it for about 30 minutes and planned to come back to it. A few years prior to this, I fell in love with the RPG and adventure genres, and couldn't get enough of them. Anyway, here we are, nearly 30 years later and this is still on my bucket list. Thanks for your insight and for reminding me there's no time like the present to go enjoy it.

I've played that game 30 years ago and i still remember the music clearly. Amazing channel, congrats! :)

This game has so much charm and weirdness. I have a copy for the famicom and it's bright cucumber green

As salad has been my favorite food from early in my childhood, this game's title always intrigued me.

Thanks for having an amazing review without any spoilers. Great chanel to find out everything about the game without ruining it.

This brings back so many memories. I can’t even

It's amazing this game exists at all, given how rarely Japanese-style adventure games got localized in the West.

One of my favorite games as a kid! Not only because it's a fun game, but also because it was the only game I could get my dad interested in. I never considered your point about some vegetables being used as building material, furniture, etc. (now that I think about it, you can even buy different kinds of fruit/vegetable juice also)... I guess I always figured that only some vegetables in this universe are actual sentient beings. Like, pretty early in the game there is a spinach patch that you can pick spinach from, and it's just regular old spinach, not... spinach people.

I can’t forget the very brief review I saw of this in Nintendo Power back in the day lol. I rented it, while sick as a kid, and had a great time. Thanks hungry Goriya!

bring back weird games! Games need to be weird sometimes, I think that's the antidote for a lot of modern no-risk gaming blahs.

This is like something you’d describe from a dream. “I was playing some weird retro game.. you’re a tomato knight and buildings are eggplants..”.

Ill never forget taking 5 different city busses to get a copy of this when i was 9 or 10

My favourite NES game. Best music of all the system, in my opinion

Great video! I've ben hoping you'd do a video on this one!

Oh man this is the game with the nightmare inducing image of an orange either smiling or winking popping our from a shower door

Your channel is my nighty night soundtrack.

I see - the devs needed to spend more time addressing the salad kingdom's lore with more kernels of truth. But they sure produced a charming game.

I love seeing what these obscure and expensive old video games are all about. This game’s hilarious , good vid.

My brother still has his copy of this. We play this, Bad Dudes and Pinbot whenever we see each other. Nothing quite like retro games for this old dude. If you're into this kind of game you ought to try ShadowGate,Deja Vu and The Uninvited.

glad to see I shouldnt feel stupid for ending up trying every command everywhere whenever I got stuck :D Always had a real soft spot for first person pixel adventures like these. And yes the music is in fact AMAZING

you my favorite retro reviewer! so good, as always

I played this a long time ago, what most stuck with me is its really weird tone, it's literally like dreaming. The game has a very fancy-free style where it seems to actually forget what it was doing a few minutes ago, and the Farmies are like something straight out of an anxiety dream.

Love the concept and art direction ❤

i discovered this game a long time ago through a very early walkthrough posted here. i was intrigued, seemed kind of scary and forboding. the music is a true gem! i personally love the last area theme in pumpkins place.

I fell in love with the soundtrack to this game from watching your and Ren’s streams of it! Minister Pumpkin’s theme is my favorite 😄 Great review 😃

The artificial difficulty is a very fair criticism, but the positives you listed plus childhood nostalgia makes this game so amazing.

Oh my goodness! I didn't think anyone else knew about this game. I remember renting it when I was a kid, and finding it so strange.

A couple friends and I did a RU-vid commentary on this on a good decade back. I thought it was a great pick, with my rose-colored glasses of my youth when I had finished it once before. It wasn't too far in that we started getting frustrated with moon logic befitting a Sierra game. As you say, it starts out pretty well, but it wasn't long before Percy became our adversary as much as the puzzles. Point and click adventures is a genre that has only improved over time. Most developers today have taken a few notes from the outstanding LucasArts adventures and puzzle design is leaps and bounds better than most of the titles you'd find in the 80's and 90's.

So glad to see a review of this. This game holds some special kid memories and so few have even heard of it. Rented it from the local Video store based solely on that claymation cover and was far from disappointed. That music and the art style has stuck with me for like 30+ years. Also I can never forget the ridiculous puzzle of finding a donut in the club bathroom then giving it away for a puzzle... only adventure game logic. :)

I didn't mind this game when I was a teen. I don't remember much of it, but I remember having fun with it.

You really hit the nail on the head with "Logic Rarely Prevails.." . I really wanted to love this game with its adorable nature and amazing soundtrack, which just caresses your ears with warm feelings of childhood.. but I ended up loathing the experience of mindlessly trying everything possible until something inexplicably works. Great call with how it starts with so much cute promise, yet ends up in a ditch of frustration. Thank you for this.. I now feel validated in wanting to sucker punch Percy in the gut.

I saw the title and went "what? Lol" Then saw the game and went "I need this" Thanks for the video :)

Yet another cool retro game I would have never seen without you streaming it! 😁 Those rock paper scissors parts looked quite challenging but I loved the music that played during them, haha.

i played this game in the early 90s....and then again as an adult......it was a weird, but fun, game.

Always wanted to like this one. Good to know to run thru it with a guide.

Seriously, this channel deserves 100k more subscribers. Never stop! I love this show

I forgot all about this game. I loved it when I was a kid, and I didn't even realize how bizarre and rarely played it was when I played it. I recently got it again (emulator). I wish I still ad my original cart.

Thanks! I greatly appreciate your diving into games from my childhood, both well-known and (like this one) less well-known. Keep up the good work!

Always great content, thanks!

What a great review - subbed!

I was wondering if there were boss battles. I didn’t expect rock, paper, scissors though; I would have thought you’d be armed with a vegetable peeler and a cutting board shield🤭

Just discovered your channel. Gladly subbed as I really like your in depth review. Great job on this review.

I adore this game. It's like Wizardry for kids.

This was one of my favorite rentals from childhood. I never progressed past chapter 2 or 3 but it was my first experience with this style of game. The humorous tone was what drew me to it but the concept of interacting with a game through more than just the standard attack/dodge pattern that was common at the time. Looking back it probably helped spark my love toward RPGs and story based games in general.

"All of his exclamation marks on his comments have a special place in hell" is one of the funniest grammar pet peeves I've heard in a while!

I believe this was another entry on the sadly long list of NES games that never had an official release here in my country, the UK. In the pre-internet days, it was not easy to find out about games that were only published in other regions, so until recently I had no knowledge whatsoever of this game's existence. More than that, I had no idea that there were any games of this type on NES, so seeing Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom played during the livestream was a revelation! What a wonderful little review this is, summing up all aspects of the game beautifully. And those post-script musings... haha, such a Hungry Goriya touch! I love it!

I played this game from start to finish maybe a year or so ago, only having remembered it's existence vaguely from my childhood. I absolutely loved everything about it! The closest thing to a complaint would be the rock paper scissor battles, but I wouldn't even go that far. The storyline, music and graphics were all excellent and immersive. Percy is just adorable. The exploring and puzzles were wonderful. Btw, after completing this I read about it online to find out it was a port from the original, released for the MSX. Interesting!

Would love to see a remake of this title!

I really wish we had more games like this, and the Macventure trilogy that got ported to the NES. That blend of point-and-click mixed with text adventure works REALLY well

Wow, this brought back some memories. This game taught me what a persimmon was. Princess Tomato deserves a polished remake like Shadowrun received.

Lovely! This was the "meme game" of the first streamer I hang with in Twitch 5 years ago, memories... Did you know Percy loosing stuff is actually the game's way of getting rid of items that no longer have any use? 🍅

It's always neat when classic point-and-clicks made their way to the NES. Come to think of it, I feel like they more or less skipped the 16-bit consoles, huh? I remember Myst on PSone being a pretty big deal. Anyway, I remember seeing screens of this in Nintendo Power as a little one, it always looked so unusual and charming, and even today, I feel like it really stands out. Also, for that last part, my rationale is that both sentient and non-sentient vegetables (i.e. like veggies in our world) exist in this universe, sort of as if they are less "materials" that existence has to work with, so living creatures are made from the same stuff as plants. Yes, I have also overthought this xD

just wanted to say hello and i love your channel

This was my favorite game as a kid because it was the only NES game I was skilled enough to play. So I'd just play it over and over. This review is very accurate, flags to continue in the game sadly become more and more obtuse as the game progresses. I theorize the existence of so many commands is a symptom of this being a remake of a game that used to have a text parser on the PC.

I loved this game when I was a kid!

I remember seeing a Game Center CX episode on this game, the lack of logic on how to progress made me glad to experience the game through Arino instead, lol.

This is pretty cool for an NES game!

Ok let's be honest... the theme "Saladoria and orange park" AKA level 2 City is the best in the game.. I even have it set as my alarm

The box art is what drew me in when I saw it at the rental store. Princess Tomato is one of my favorite NES games especially because of the music and I enjoyed NES point and click adventures. TubaHero37 has tuba covers of several tunes form the game. I'm sure I have the game, but didn't see it when I was recently looking through boxes in the garage. It must be in another box. The quest begins!

omg, I loved this game as a kid!!

Probably one of the very first video games I ever played. I tear up hearing its soundtrack.

oh my goodness lol thanks once again... I think your channel might just become my soundtrack for a few days. I rented this one back in the day and loved it, played til I finished it. It's also very high on my NES collecting wish-list, probably #2. I've got 530 titles and still no Princess Tomato! --btw, #1 is Bandit Kings of Ancient China, if you've never played that I HIGHLY recommend it!!

Great review. I've never heard of this game.

This sums up why I stopped playing all Zelda games. The wind waker castles were so stupid that you almost had to get Nintendo Power Magazine. You literally had to look at every article in every single room and try all your tools on it. Like am I supposed to boomerang that bat up there or throw harpoon at that rock, or blow a bubble on that cactus? It just got stupid so I never played another Zelda since. I'm sure I missed out on a lot of amazing hours of gaming but I just couldn't do it. I even tried to go back in twice. It came out when I was about 23, then I tried again around 30 and one more time when my daughter was old enough, about 40, a couple years ago.

Back in the day, I traded a lot of games, and got a copy of Dragon Warrior 4, before my time, and as old RPG console games go it was one of the heavy hitters... Point was, I did a ton of housework, and traded in my copy of Bigindine, and stayed on that game for hours. But! While I was being a selfish little brother, my older sister started playing Nintendo ROMs for the first time, it was 98, but for the longest time, and it still lasts into her current years, she fell in love with this game, and I never played it. Great video, but this one is her's.

Oh man, this game. I think it was the first adventure game I ever played, must've been 5 or so. The concept of the 3D maze section was far beyond my grasp at the time. The ominous music struck me hard as well. It wasn't until a few years later that I even attempted to beat it, since the first maze was walling me off. I moved on to uhh... easier, less scary games... like Shadowgate and Uninvited, hah. I loved that you displayed the old lady as one of the "What do I even do?" puzzles. It's strange that this game has not one, but TWO old ladies who love to the Hit command. Random anecdote: The first time I ever said the word "hell" was because of Percy. I remember using the Percy command before even meeting him. The game displayed "Who is Percy?" and me, being a child who loved PG-13/R rated films, said "Yeah, who the hell is Percy?" My mom heard me and brought me to my grandparents, who lived a few houses down, to have me repeat myself to them. I could not tell if I was in trouble or if they found it funny. Thanks Percy.

I remember seeing screenshots of this game, but never got a chance to play it, such a unique game for the NES! The image of Percy has been forever burned into my brain.

Great review as always. Thanks!

Oh man, I have been looking for this game for about two years or more. Can't fine it anywhere.

I remember the last time I played this game, the cavern looking for the banana creature sucked lol

Wooow it reminds me of Earthbound somehow... I've never Heard of this game before. Thanks for reviewing it

I first played this when I was in highschool so that was 20 years ago (wow) and I didn't understand it at all which is a shame because I love Shadowgate and I figured I'd love this too but it was not the case. I remember I would tell people to play it as a troll/insult. It's wild whenever this game comes up in anyway.

🍅🙃Thanks for the change of pace.

I fell in love with this game as a boy. My parents got it on Famicom actually intended for my sister but she had no interest in it and I played it so much. As you've noted, the music was a huge appeal to me. That first stage music is unforgettable to me and sounds so happy but also sad to me. It's "bittersweet". This contrast of what seems like a very happy quality with something that seems so very sad and sentimental always struck me back then. I compare it to the cutscene music of Willow on the NES which is also forever stuck in my head. Also at least a boy, I found it so dark in a way despite its cute vegetable and fruit characters. It was actually scarier and darker to me in a way than even similar games like Shadowgate or Deja Vu which seemed to inherently lend themselves to a darker tone. I played the game originally in Japanese and the game used only Hiragana and Katakana making it one of the few adventure Famicom games I could read in primary school without asking my parents to translate any Kanji. It is one of those games forever etched in my mind as a monumental part of my childhood.

i love the art- even the wonky bits, but i never have made it to the end... maybe its time i give it another try. thanks for reminding me of this weird little game :)

If I were younger and had more time on my hands I might have given this one a go, but unfortunately I don't even seem to have the time for playing through some of my favs such as Faxanadu, Willow, or Battle of Olympus again.

Wonderful to finally see this game. I remember hearing about it when it was released, but as a kid I thought it sounded silly and never played it. :)

Hopefully your metaphorical beard isn't too strung out from Percy's berating comments! This art is so classic, and j think I could get invested into the dramatic lives of organic produce!

This is cool, mainly because this was one of 'very' few Japanese adventure games we got back in the day. Unfortunately, as with most of them, the moon logic is pretty prominent. Still, from what I could glean, in Japan it is quite well regarded. If you want a game in this style that's somewhat less cryptic, I'd recommend Ripple Island by Sunsoft or maybe Idol Hakkenden by Natsume (the latter being more of a VN). There were also lots of murder mystery games on the system, inspired by Portopia, but this genre is not very popular in the West; at least not the JP games. Famicom Detective Club games got remade for Switch, I'd recommend those perhaps.

I remember renting this game when I was somewhere around 10 to 12 years old and getting stuck so many times, not knowing what to do to progress. I called the Nintendo help line at least 10 times and my parents were not happy about it when they got the bill lol.

In Japan, if you at Rock Paper Scissors, you point up or down and if the other person looks that way, you win again.

Apparently that Acchi Muite Hoi (Look Over There) game is often combined with Rock-Paper-Scissors in Japan. It shows up in Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, but without instructions so I was also confused.

I’m so stoned.. I wanna live there. I could chill with Mr. Corn . . 🤓

If Shadowgate was cute. It's cuteGates. AdorableGate.

Fruits have to have official weddings because they cantaloupe.

Sounds like the instruction manual contained a lot of word SALAD.

So the Japanese versions had a "strawberry crucifix" where a church had a giant cross with a strawberry person Jesus hung up on it. I'm going out on a limb assuming that didn't make it to the NES version... Also the princess inexplicably having a human sister, the ONLY human in the entire kingdom.

"A broad array of flavors" I see what you did there.

I'm new to this channel. Good work here!

yep this game's main crippling flaw is it's reliance on flags being set in unrelated events. Causing needless retreading of the same check command over and over

Interesting game. you've reviewed one I have zero knowledge of, apart from your review of course heh. .. and yet, those characters have a certain familiarity to them... hmm, Great Review. Edit: OH! The Box Cover!! I saw it at rental places all the time and wondered about it! hahaha

I look up one obscure nes game some caveman amicon or something and on my feed this pops up Good work, don’t know a lot of nes games tbh that ain’t on NSO so gonna be fun to check out some stuff I never would’ve seen before

I try to teach the kids how to read with games like this.

I remember seeing the article for this in Nintendo Power back when it came out, and wasn't particularly enthused about it. Later videos made me wonder if I hadn't made a mistake, so it's interesting to know that the game does use so-called Moon Logic, which I am not a fan of. Thank you! This was a great video!

Great game! Best vegetable in the world of video games is....... Cucumber Knight the Kyuuri Kishi 🌟

1:27-1:44 Mind if I share this with the Ludomusicology Discord? I'm curious if other people are familiar with this game. I remember seeing you play it on Twitch once.