Tintin in Tibet

n/a

Mega Drive Game Gear
Tintin in Tibet
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Infogrames
Developer: Infogrames Bit Managers
Distributor: Halifax (Italy)
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: Français English Deutsch Español Nederlands Svenska
Release Date RRP Code EU 1996 T-151036-50 FR 1996 T-151036-09 PT 1996 MDJIM0214 UK 1996-07 T-151036-50 AU 1996 FTIN03SMC EU 1996 T-151038-50 PT 199x GGJIM0404
Non-Sega versions Game Boy Game Boy Color IBM PC Super Game Boy Super NES Windows PC

Tintin in Tibet, distributed with localized names such as Tintin au Tibet in French, is a 1996 action game by Infogrames for various platforms, including the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Game Gear. It is based on the 1960 book Tintin in Tibet by Belgian cartoonist Hergé.

Story

Set in the 1950s, the young reporter Tintin is on vacation in Switzerland with his friend Captain Haddock. Tintin learns that a passenger airliner, caught in a violent storm, has crashed into the Gosainthan mountain in Tibet. He later receives a letter from his friend Chang Chong-Chen (Tchang Tchong-Jen in French), a young orphan whom Tintin had befriended and saved from drowning in a trip to China years prior. Chang writes that he would be arriving in Europe after a stopover in Katmandu. Tintin realizes that Chang was one of the passengers on the doomed airliner. Though there is little hope of finding any survivors, Tintin nonetheless leaves immediately for Tibet to try to find Chang.

Gameplay

Mega Drive version

The game is a side-scrolling platformer played as Tintin. Levels typically involve dodging hazards, solving simple puzzles, and talking to other characters in order to acquire necessary items or advance the story. Tintin walks with or and runs by holding . He ducks with and jumps with . He talks to other people when he is near them (and the player can repeat the dialogue by pressing ). Some levels are designed with foreground and background layers, which Tintin can move between at certain points with or . This is sometimes done to avoid hazards or to climb stairs. Tintin can pick up objects that he is standing beside with . When carrying an object, he can set it down with or throw it with .

Tintin has four health points, depicted by a scroll in the top-left corner of the screen. He loses a life and restarts from a predetermined checkpoint if he loses all of his health. Additionally, levels are timed, and Tintin loses a life if time runs out before he completes the level.

There are three difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, and Hard). The game uses passwords for continuing.

Items

	Golden Apple (Pomme en Or)
	Restores one health point to Tintin.
	Golden Timer (Sablier en Or)
	Replenishes some time.
	1 Up
	Gives the player an extra life.

Levels

	Level 1
	While on vacation in China, Tintin's train stops along the Yangtze. He encounters the orphan Chang and rescues him from drowning in the river.
	Level 2
	In a hotel in Switzerland, Tintin recounts to Captain Haddock the story of how he met Chang. Tintin learns from a television news program that a DC-3 en route to Katmandu has crashed in Tibet. He goes to the front desk and learns that a letter has arrived for him from Hong Kong, which was given to Captain Haddock. Tintin receives the letter from Captain Haddock, in which Chang says that he is arriving in Europe after a stopover in Katmandu, and realizes that Chang was on the crashed plane.
	Level 3
	Tintin sees in a dream that Chang is still alive. He, his dog Snowy (Milou in French), and Captain Haddock travel to Nepal and split up to look for Chang's relatives in Katmandu. Tintin asks a local potter for help, who says his son will help him. After finding the son, he runs off, dropping a ball. Tintin takes the ball to Snowy, who leads him to the potter's son.
	Level 4
	Tintin speaks with a relative of Chang and tells him that he believes Chang is still alive. The relative tells him to find the sherpa Tharkey to serve as his guide. Tintin helps a woman cross the flooded street, and she directs him to Tharkey at the end of the street.
	Level 5
	Tintin convinces Tharkey to help him and act as his guide. The group starts their ascent, and Tintin finds Snowy.
	Level 6
	Snowy falls into a river, and Tintin saves him.
	Level 7
	The group runs down the side of the mountain. Tharkey instructs Tintin to pass the chorten monuments on the left and not the right.
	Level 8
	The group make it through a snowy mountain pass.
	Level 9
	The group finds the wreckage of the plane. Tintin acquires an ice axe from Tharkey and a rope from the fuselage of the plane, which he uses to ascend the mountain. He finds Snowy at the top and uses the ice axe to break open the entrance to a cave. Inside the cave, Tintin finds a mark scrawled with Chang's name. Tintin uses the ice axe to climb steep slopes with + or uses it to break the ground with +. He can crawl in the cave with or .
	Level 10
	Tintin, now convinced that Chang is alive, sees a scarf on the mountain. Tharkey thinks Chang is dead and decides to turn back. Tintin and Captain Haddock continue without him and scale the mountain to reach the scarf. The player controls both Tintin and Haddock on this level, who are tethered together with a rope, and switches between them with . They use the ice axe with . If one falls from slipping on ice or getting too far from the other, both fall unless the other is anchored with an ice axe or standing on a rock ledge and holding the rope. When standing on a ledge, the character switches to climbing with or to holding the rope with .
	Level 11
	On top of the mountain, Tintin searches for Chang through a blizzard. The wind direction shifts periodically. Tintin finds a cave that takes him to the other side of the mountain.
	Level 12
	The group comes to a lama monastery. Tintin completes multiple challenges for the monks: replicating drum rhythms, sorting books by color, arranging symbols in an order given elsewhere in the level by drawings on the wall, and finding a bell with a given tone. A monk has a vision of Chang being chased by a Yeti.
	Level 13
	Tintin and Captain Haddock find the cave of the Yetis. Tintin braves the cave and finds Chang, still alive.

History

Development

A Sega Master System version game was planned, but eventually cancelled.

Legacy

Infogrames developed a spiritual successor, The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun, based on the books The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun. It was released in 1997 for the Super NES, IBM PC and Game Boy (and later received a Game Boy Color version in 2000). It did not receive a Mega Drive version, nor a Game Gear version.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Tintin in Tibet	Tintin in Tibet
French	Tintin au Tibet	Tintin in Tibet
German	Tim in Tibet	Tim in Tibet
Spanish	Tintin en el Tibet	Tintin in Tibet
Italian	Tintin nel Tibet	Tintin in Tibet
Portuguese	Tintin no Tibete	Tintin in Tibet
Dutch	Kuifje in Tibet	Kuifje in Tibet
Swedish	Tintin i Tibet	Tintin in Tibet

Production credits

Mega Drive version

• Programmed by: Eric Angellier, Lionel Laissus, Alexandre Bacquart, Frederic Bibet
• Tools Programmers: Vincent Pourieux, Yannick Turbe
• Graphics: Delphine Personnaz, Nathalie Jeanbart, Barry Hutchinson
• Sound and Music: Fabrice Bouillon, Emmanuel Regis
• Design: Xavier Schon
• Executive Producer: Edith Protiere
• Production: Bruno Bonnell
• Thanks to: Francois Bourgaux and Moulinsart S.A., Frederic Jay, Nadege de Bergevin, Anne Lena, Sylvain Branchu, Stephane Pradier and all the testing deparment, Beate Reiter and all the translation department

Source:

In-game credits

Game Gear version

• Production: Bruno Bonnell
• Executive Producer: Edith Protiere
• Production Assistant: Nadege de Bergevin
• Design: Xavier Schon
• Developed by Bit Managers and IWP: Isidro Gilabert, Alberto Gonzalez, Ruben Gomez, Ricardo Fernandez, Sergio Palacios, Daniel Lopez, Alberto Pleguezuelos

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Tintin in Tibet/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source GamesMaster (UK) 54

	54
Based on 1 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 Consoles + (FR) 90 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 3 (RU) 50 Joypad (FR) 84 Mega Force (FR) PAL 90 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 70 Player One (FR) 92 Sega Power (UK) PAL 80 Sonic the Comic (UK) PAL 81 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 68 Video Games (DE) PAL 62

	74
Based on 11 reviews

Tintin in Tibet

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, FR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, IT
Cover

Mega Drive, PT
Cover

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Game Gear version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Hobby Consolas (ES) 90 Joypad (FR) PAL 87 Player One (FR) 78

	85
Based on 3 reviews

Tintin in Tibet

Game Gear, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, PT
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Tintin in Tibet/Technical information.

References

Tintin games for Sega systems
	Tintin in Tibet (1995) | Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun (unreleased)
	Tintin in Tibet (1995) | Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun (unreleased)
	Tintin on the Moon (unreleased) | Tintin in Tibet (unreleased)