Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom is an obscure 1984 Adventure Game by Hudson Soft, originally released for certain Japanese home computers and later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Famicom. It stars Sir Cucumber, a knight of King Broccoli, whose kingdom has been usurped by the evil Minister Pumpkin and his cruel farmies. The king charges Sir Cucumber to rescue Princess Tomato and regain the turnip emblem, promising her hand as his reward.
Gameplay alternated between a puzzle Point-and-Click interface, a few mazes, and "battle" sequences that are actually games of Rock Paper Scissors. Although a few sequences can leave the player stumped, it's impossible to make the game Unwinnable and only one round of Rock Paper Scissors actually has negative consequences for losing. Obscure, quirky, and a bit short, the game's nothing if not unique.
This game contains examples of:
- And Now You Must Marry My Son: Minister Pumpkin's plan for Princess Tomato.
- Bag of Spilling: At the end of every chapter, Percy will accidentally drop, be stripped of, or intentionally throw away some of the items you've gathered. Fortunately, it's never anything you need to keep.
- Death Trap: At one point you're thrown in a sealed room filling... not actually all that quickly full of water.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Aspirin is the wonder drug that works wonders!
- Distressed Damsel: The eponymous Princess Tomato.
- Dressing As the Enemy: Through "chameleon grass".
- Fantastic Racism: Radishes apparently get a poor deal.
- Frothy Mugs of Water: Cigarettes were changed to coffee, and alcohol to juice.
- Global Currency Exception: It's easy enough to collect "gold," but almost every single shopkeeper in the game only accepts coins.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: The city gate guard sees through your borrowed ID, but falls asleep at his post; the prison guards can't tell you're not one of them if you're carrying a paper lantern and their warden mistakes a carved piece of soap for a grenade; the palace guard is easily distracted; and the guard to Minister Pumpkin's room makes you fight him but after you win apparently decides you're pals.
- Heroic Mime: Sir Cucumber.
- Kid Sidekick: Percy.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: Somewhat unusually for its genre, the game actively discouraged this type of behavior: Your inventory space is very limited, Percy constantly loses things in between chapters, and quite a number of items (mostly purchasable from stores) are completely Useless Item.
- The Klutz: Percy.
- La Résistance
- Maneki Neko: There's one in the antique shop.
- Non Standard Character Design: Lisa, for reasons never mentioned let alone explained, is human despite being Princess Tomato's sister.
- Overlord Jr: Jr. Pumpkin.
- Password Save
- Point and Click Game
- Punny Name: "Bananda," the bandit banana.
- Rock Paper Scissors: Battles are a combination of Rock Paper Scissors and "Look Away".
- Rouge Angles of Satin: A few instances, such as "you can get passed the gate guard".
- Save the Princess
- Snot Bubble: The sleeping guard.
- Standard Hero Reward
- Throwing the Distraction: Part of getting past a guard.
- Turns Red: Sgt. Pepper.
- Vendor Trash: Clover and carrots can be picked and sold, but are otherwise useless.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: "Hit" is one of your options. The game will often chide you for attempting to use it on helpful people, but it will occasionally allow you to deck someone for no purpose but your own amusement.
- What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs: It gets a lot of this.
- What the Hell Player: Loves this one. You'll be scolded for everything from trying to "take" people to entering Lisa's room without knocking.