Created by ex-Capcom veteran programmers and the legendary Makaimura Fujiwara, Whoopee Camp (Choice name, lads. -Jet) is developing a highly original sort of side-scrolling platform game for the PlayStation. Tomba! is a lighthearted romp that beautifully meshes the best of 2-D and 3-D graphics into a slick and colorful package, not unlike our featured title Klonoa. Its featured star is a pink-haired caveman who, er, battles an evil race of walking pigs. Think that's weird? Even less conventional is this disc's combat system. Eliminate enemies by jumping straight on top of them, then somersaulting them into oblivion. It's a lethal pounce, certainly a far worse fate than Super Mario's boot.

Our first hands-on trial at Tomba! further revealed a surprising number of RPG elements. The titular character can visit towns like Dwarf Village and engage with the town residents, a tonal shift that switches the perspective to an overhead view. In typical gameplay areas, this disc will take advantage of the PlayStation's 32-bit hardware to add new sorts of polygonal environments and a sense of depth. 3-D ledges and obstacles, for example, add some innovation to a genre many games players shrug off as last-gen fodder. Whoopee's creation is out now in Japan, and is due out this July in North America.