Tomato Adventure Ripping Project

[E-Man]

Welp, I already submitted a custom sprite sheet to the site, so why not expand on that by proving that I am capable of ripping sprites?

Originally, I wanted to rip some of the sprites from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, but considering that two certain users who… Weren't very pleasant to me for years ended up ripping a lot of them and leaving me without my mark on it, I decided to instead invest my time taking sprites from another Alpha Dream masterpiece that has barely been touched.



So far, I ripped as many sprites as I can from the first few scenes from the game (I would rip the intro, but that has already been done). So far, 1/4 of the character naming screen has been ripped (I say 1/4 because there are four characters to name in the game) and I ripped most of the intro cutscene. I am not certain if I ripped the adorable Tomato guy properly because he was in front of a black screen, which caused his outline to blend. The thing about the outlines in this game are that they are a little dodgy because they are a little "stepped" and jaggy if you know what I mean. As a result, it is total guesswork at how the actual outline looks in respect to the game's style. Also, there is the matter I might might have missed a few poses.

The other challenging part of this is the stage where the Tomato Baby King demonstrates his ray weapon. Not only was the audience a little hard to rip (they moved too fast an randomly for me to get all their poses), but I also had some trouble ripping the gun when it was shooting out sparks. Regardless, I did my best.

By the way, in case your'e wondering why I have so many text boxes lying about, it is due to the fact that I am attempting to rip the font from the game. Since I cannot speak/read Japanese, I had to rip these boxes and save them for when I compare the symbols and compile a list of them. Understandably, this would be the hardest part of the project.

Besides ripping complete sheets, the other thing I intend to do is expand upon the sheets already there (such as the ones ripped by Solink) by adding my own additions. The only unusual thing is that when I rip from the emulator I am using (an OpenEmu since I use a MacBook Pro), the sprites are displayed in a completely different palette than the one used in the already ripped sprites. With this in mind, what needs to be done about that?

Anyway, with that said, I would like this to become a ripping project. As I mentioned before, I cannot understand Japanese, so ripping from this will be harder than it would be if this was translated from the start. In short, I could use some help gathering the sprites that are a little more tricky to obtain. Thankfully, though, I could rip the backgrounds and several characters with ease, but the ones that require had to trigger events and are too fast to capture would prove troublesome. This is made even more difficult because of the emulator I am using. Considering that the OpenEmu has some basic functions, I would have a hard time getting all the sprites that would require me to toggle layers/slow down time. As I currently do it, all I have to rely on are save states, the master pause button (which freezes the entire game), and Grab (the screen capturing application for Mac).

What do you think, guys?

[Mystie]

I've never heard of this game until now, and after hearing about it, I want to play it, especially since it's from the creators of the Mario & Luigi series. (I'll probably need a translation patch though, since it looks like one of those games in which you need a translation in order to know what you're doing)

Anyway, great job on the rips so far!

[E-Man]

I'm glad you want to play the game for yourself, Mystie! Considering that you are a ripper yourself, maybe you would like to take an emulator and help me rip from this game?

Anyway, I'm sorry for the delay of any new sprites, but the difficulties of ripping and Full Sail prevented me from doing a whole lot more quickly.



One of the things I noticed that has yet to be ripped are the NPCs in the towns. I already took care of most (if not all) of the NPC sprites in the first town. I left the guy who give you your first weapon alone because Solink already ripped him. Considering this, would it be possible to just rip these sprites all over again for submission or something? The palettes the other rippers used do not match the one I am dealign with and I do not know what to do about it.

[Garamonde]

Are your emulator color settings on Poppy Bright? If not, try that and compare the sprites again. Different emulators also play a part in color alterations, but it's really not a big deal.

[E-Man]

I checked the guide for the OpenEmu emulator and there is no option to change the brightness. Like you said, though, I'm guessing this is the least of my concerns.

My big concern is that the emulator I'm using is more or less easily outclassed by better emulators. I think there are emulators that have the capability to slow down the game, so I can rip the sprites with ease. I don't know if an emulator like that exists, but it's clear that the one I'm using lacks that ability. I would seek out another one, but this is one of the few emulators compatible with Mac (let alone any that has a ROM that could play Tomato Adventure).

Considering this, I would like it if were to have at least another person working on this project with me. I've got the backgrounds and most of the overworld sprites under control, but if you can help me with the tricker sprites out there, including compiling a list of the text characters used in the game, I would like that.

Currently, I am attempting to rip DeMille's Gear Yo-yo attack. It's hard to do since it moves too fast. Also, whenever he hits an enemy, it splits into cubes. Do I need to rip that effect?