MonkeyPaw Games
MonkeyPaw Games was a video game publisher that specialized in localizing and releasing older games to the PlayStation Network (PSN) as digital downloads, including Tomba! and Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return.
History
MonkeyPaw Games was founded in 2009 by John Greiner, who was previously the president and CEO of Hudson Entertainment. The company focused on digital game downloads, bringing somewhat more obscure Japanese PlayStation games to the Western market that the original publishers were hesitant to release internationally. They played a key role in establishing the Import section on PSN.
Although the company focused on bringing over mostly Japanese games, they did not do any original localization work (likely as this is a very time intensive and technical task). All their games were either in the original Japanese with a translation guide on the website, or localized previously.
As of today the company appears to be defunct. Its website went offline in August 2020, and its domain name is now under ownership of a different company.
The company was based in San Jose, California, USA. The Twitter account listed its location as Hokkaido, Japan.
Tomba games and promotion
Both Tomba games were released on PSN by MonkeyPaw Games, with Tomba! 2 being released both in Japanese and in English at different points:
- 2012-06-19: Tomba![1]
- 2014-02-18: Tomba! The Wild Adventures[2] (title re-localized as Tomba! 2: The Great Adventure; Japanese only)
- 2015-11-03: Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return[2]
People who bought the Japanese-only re-release of Tomba 2 were later able to download the English version free of charge.[3]
To promote the English re-release of Tomba 2, the company commissioned a new Tomba plush to be created for a giveaway. It was first unveiled on February 21, 2015. The actual giveaway started on the day of the game's English release on November 3, with people being asked to retweet the launch announcement on Twitter. The contest lasted from November 3 to December 25, with 100 winners being selected to receive a plush during that time. Only people with a North American mailing address were eligible to win.
Notes
- ↑ "Tomba! Releases". MobyGames. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Releases". MobyGames. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ↑ The Tomba 2 page on the website states: "Starting November 3, 2015 through November 9, 2015, players who have purchased the Japanese version will be able to download the English version of Tomba! 2 at no charge. If you have the Japanese version, instructions on how to get the English version will be messaged to you by Sony." A subsequent blog post further clarified the process.
External links
- MonkeyPaw Games official website, archived on the
- Official Twitter account, Instagram page and Facebook page
- Company information and games list on MobyGames
- Archive of the MonkeyPaw Games Instagram account on the