Legend of Hero Tonma (lost build of cancelled Famicom/NES port of arcade platformer; 1990)

Title screen of the Famicom port.

Status: Lost

Legend of Hero Tonma (レジェンド・オブ・ヒーロー・トンマ) is a platform game released in arcades by Irem in 1989. It was supposed to be released in 1990 as a Famicom/NES port, but was cancelled. It was then released for PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 on March 13, 1991, which is the only home console port of this game.

Plot

This is a story of a time when the demon world and the human world were connected. Tonma, an apprentice of the wizard Merlin, is meditating one day when she hears a princess somewhere calling for help. According to Merlin, Tonma is a prince of a certain country, and he is destined to be united with that princess. Tonma sets off for the demon world to save the princess.

Cancallation

The game was almost complete and was featured in magazines such as Famitsu and Famimaga, but was never finally released. When this game was reviewed in ASCII Game Information Video Magazine, released in the fall of 1990, it was rated "a little too easy." The fact that the gameplay was too easy compared to the original arcade version may have been one of the factors that led to the cancellation of the release.

Availability

Currently the prototype ROM is not publicly available and has not been dumped. A search shows pictures of the cart, but there is no evidence that they are authentic, so they are unknown.

Gallery

Videos

Irem Video Information Vol.2, This video introduces the game and includes commercials.

Legend of Hero Tonma review begins at 6:20 minutes.

Screenshots

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Reviews and Ads

• 

  Review article by Famitsu August 3, 1990 No.106.

• 

  Review article by Electronic Gaming Monthly 13.

• 

  Feature article by Famimaga September 21, 1990.

• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

• 
• 
• 

External Links

• NES World listing of the game.