Tomb Raider

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TombRaider title.png

TombRaiders Saturn JP Title.png

Tomb Raider
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Eidos Interactive (US), Sega (EU), Victor Soft (JP)
Developer:
Distributor: Ecofilmes (PT), Tec Toy (BR)
Sound driver: SCSP/CD-DA (56 tracks)
Genre: Action Adventure[1], Action[2]

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Saturn
JP 		¥5,800 (5,974)5,800e[3][4] T-6010G
Sega Rating: All Ages
Sega Saturn
JP
(Satakore) 		¥2,8002,800 T-9113G
Sega Rating: All Ages
Sega Saturn
US 		T-7910H
ESRB: Teen
Sega Saturn
EU 		MK81086-50
ELSPA: 15+ OK
Sega Saturn
DE 		MK81086-50
USK: 16
Sega Saturn
PT 		STJSE0376
Sega Saturn
UK 		£44.9944.99[9] MK81086-50
ELSPA: 15+ OK
Sega Saturn
PL
Sega Saturn
AU 		FTOM05SSC
OFLC: M15
Sega Saturn
BR 		193516
Tectoy: 18+
Non-Sega versions

This short article is in need of work. You can help Sega Retro by adding to it.

Tomb Raider is a highly successful video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos in 1996. It was the first in a long line of Tomb Raider games. Victor Soft published the game in Japan, pluralizing the title to Tomb Raiders (トゥームレイダース).

Initially developed with the PlayStation in mind, the game was ported to the Sega Saturn (whose version shipped in Europe six weeks earlier than the PlayStation and PC releases due to a licensing deal with Sega) and PCs, becoming Core's most successful video game project to date and a video game icon.

Gameplay

At the time of release Tomb Raider was considered a revolutionary title, combining platforming, puzzle solving and action sequences together in a 3D environment, something that, until this point, had not been done before. It was often said to be a 3D alternative to Prince of Persia (until, of course, 3D Prince of Persia games were released). Tomb Raider was also notable for starring a female protagonist, Lara Croft.

Levels

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Caves

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City of Vilcabamba

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Lost Valley

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Tomb of Qualopec

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St. Francis' Folly

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Colosseum

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Palace Midas

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The Cistern

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Tomb of Tihocan

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City of Khamoon

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Obelisk of Khamoon

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Sanctuary of the Scion

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Natla's Mines

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Atlantis

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The Great Pyramid

History

Development

Tomb Raider was one of the first true 3D titles to be undertaken by Core Design, following a trip to the States in which producer Jeremy Heath-Smith caught wind of Sony's PlayStation console and asked the company to come up with ideas for 3D games. Tomb Raider was put forward by BC Racers animator Toby Gard, who did the bulk of the design work surrounding Lara Croft and her in-game animations.

Eidos and Core signed a deal with Sega to ship the game six weeks early in Europe as an exclusive title on the Sega Saturn

Release

While Tomb Raider became one of the best selling Saturn games on the market, US Saturn sales were less than a quarter of the PlayStation total[10].

Legacy

Tomb Raider II was planned for release on the Saturn, but was eventually cancelled for the platform.

With the Saturn's failure to attract the greater market share, development for the sequels were focused on Sony's console, and Lara Croft became an unofficial mascot for the system. The Tomb Raider series would not see a return to Sega platforms until Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation on the Sega Dreamcast.

The original Tomb Raider was re-made in the 2007 release of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary.

Versions

Despite being the target platform for the game, the Sega Saturn version of Tomb Raider is considered to be the weakest version, primarily due to not being optimized for the way the Saturn hardware handles 3D graphics. On a technical level, the VDP2 is rarely used in the game, with the vast majority of work being handled by the VDP1, thereby using only a fraction of the Saturn's power. The European Saturn version also have minor differences to level layouts (specifically some secret areas) because it was rushed to launch three months before the PlayStation version. This was fixed in the North American and Japanese versions.

The Saturn Tomb Raider runs faster than its PlayStation counterpart in some situations, but while the PlayStation targets and largely maintains a 30 FPS refresh rate, the Saturn struggles to maintain 20 FPS. The Saturn version also lacks reflections on the save crystals as well as alpha transparency.

On the other hand, the PlayStation version lacks perspective correction and has issues with texture warping and polygon seams, whereas the Saturn's forward texture mapping provides some perspective correction, its bilinear approximation reduces texture warping, and higher polygon accuracy results in almost seamless polygons. The Saturn version also has refractive water surfaces, which both the PlayStation and PC versions lack.

The Saturn version had smoother Gouraud shading, whereas the PlayStation version had color banding, when running on the original PlayStation hardware released from 1994 to 1995. The color banding was eventually eliminated on the new PlayStation hardware, which improved the system's transparency and shading capabilities. The PlayStation version is thus able to have smooth shading when running on newer PlayStation models, despite the PlayStation version originally not having smooth shading upon the game's release in 1996. (See Sega Saturn: Hardware comparison for more technical details).

The Saturn version is also darker in comparison, due to the way Gouraud shading works on the Saturn hardware. The Saturn's VDP1 uses additive shading, which often results in darker shadows but more shades, whereas the PlayStation's GPU uses multiplicative shading, which often results in brighter lights but less shades.

Pre-rendered videos are slightly smaller in terms of resolution, although the Saturn's D-Pad is regarded as being more suitable to this game than the PlayStation's. Sound effects are sampled at a lower bit-rate than on the PlayStation too.

Against the PC DOS version, the Saturn (and PlayStation) versions of the game offer more varied music (the PC opting merely for ambiance due to disc space restrictions) and higher colour depth (the PC restricted to 8-bit colour, i.e. a palette of 256 colours, due to the use of a software renderer). The PC version does, however, have the option to run in a 640x480 mode (and a lower 320x200 mode), though in 1996 this was only achievable with high-end hardware. By 1998, PC versions of Tomb Raider had been adapted to multiple 3D graphics cards to address some of these graphical concerns, and fan-made mods allow the game to benefit from modern systems.

Localised names

Also known as
Language Localised Name English Translation
English Tomb Raider Tomb Raider
English (US) Tomb Raider Tomb Raider
Japanese トゥームレイダース Tomb Raiders

Production credits

Western version

  • Created by: Neal Boyd, Paul Douglas, Toby Gard, Heather Gibson, Jason Gosling, Gavin Rummery
Source:
In-game credits
Tomb Raider Saturn credits.png
[11]


Japanese version

  • Programming: Paul Douglas, Gavin Rummery, Jason Gosling
  • Graphics: Toby Gard, Heather Gibson, Neal Boyd
  • Sound Effects: Martin Iveson
  • Music: Nathan McCree
Victor
  • Software Evaluation: Ryo Misawa
  • Directer: Gaku Sato
  • Assistant: Inazou Urano, Hiroki Takasu PTW


    • Lara: Megumi Ogata
    • Natla: Michie Tomizawa
    • Larsen: Wataru Takagi
    • Pierre: Yasuhiro Ishii
    • Baldy: Masaru Sasahara
    • Cowboy: Yuzi Ueda
    • SkateKid: Kousuke Okano
Source:
In-game credits (JP)
Tomb Raider Saturn JP credits.pdf
[12]

Magazine articles

Main article: Tomb Raider/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Tomb Raider/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
95 №49, p34-37
Sega Saturn
 95
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Ação Games (BR)
90
[13]
CD Consoles (FR) PAL
100
[14]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
100
[9]
Digitiser (UK)
93
[15]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
78
[16]
Fun Generation (DE) PAL
100
[17]
Gambler (PL)
83
[18]
GameFan (US) NTSC-U
90
[19]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
78
[20]
Game Informer (US) NTSC-U
86
[21]
Hacker (HR)
94
[22]
Hobby Consolas (ES)
94
[23]
Intelligent Gamer (US) NTSC-U
100
[24]
Joypad (FR)
92
[25]
Level (TR)
75
[26]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
89
[27]
Mega Force (FR) PAL
94
[28]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
90
[29]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
94
[30]
Next Generation (US) NTSC-U
100
[31]
Player One (FR)
98
[32]
Power Up! (UK)
88
[33]
Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J
76
[34]
Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J
70
[35]
Saturn+ (UK) PAL
97
[36]
Secret Service (PL)
90
[37]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
93
[38]
Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) PAL
92
[39]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
67
[40]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
90
[41]
Total Saturn (UK) PAL
97
[42]
Total Saturn (UK) PAL
97
[43]
Videogame Advisor (US) NTSC-U
100
[44]
Sega Saturn
 90
Based on
33 reviews

Tomb Raider

Saturn, JP
TombRaiders Saturn JP Box Back.jpgTombRaiders Saturn JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
TombRaider Saturn JP Spinecard.jpg
Spinecard
TombRaider Saturn JP Disc.jpg
Disc
Tomb Raider Sega Saturn Japan Manual.pdf
Manual
Saturn, JP (Satakore)
TombRaiders Saturn JP Box Back Satakore.jpgTombRaider Sat JP Satakore cover.jpg
Cover
TombRaider Saturn JP Spinecard Satakore.jpg
Spinecard
TombRaider Saturn JP Disc Satakore.jpg
Disc
TombRaider SS jp manual Satakore.pdf
Manual
Saturn, US
TombRaider Sat US backcover.jpgTombRaider Sat US cover.jpg
Cover
TombRaider Sat US disc.jpg
Disc
Tombraider sat us manual.pdf
Manual
Saturn, EU
Tomb Raider Saturn EU Box.jpg
Cover
TombRaider saturn eu cd.jpg
Disc
Saturn, EU (Newer)
TombRaider Sat EU alt cover.jpg
Cover
Saturn, PT
Tomb Raider Saturn PT Box.jpg
Cover
TombRaider saturn eu cd.jpg
Disc
TombRaider Sat PT Manual.pdf
Manual
Saturn, PT (Newer)
TombRaider Sat PT alt cover.jpg
Cover
Saturn, AU
TombRaider Sat AU cover.jpg
Cover
Saturn, BR
TombRaider Sat BR cover.jpg
Cover
TombRaiderSaturnBrManual.pdf
Manual

Technical information

Main article: Tomb Raider/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Saturn
✔
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
494,705,568 CD-ROM (EU) MK81086-50 V1.000
Sega Saturn
✔
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
512,192,688 1996-12-04 CD-ROM (JP) T-6010G, T-9113G V1.000
Sega Saturn
✔
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
494,162,256 CD-ROM (US) T-7910H V1.000
Sega Saturn
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
1996-08-02 CD-R Page
Sega Saturn
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
1996-10-16 CD-R Page

Extra content

This game has extra content which can be viewed when accessing the disc on a PC.

Saturn (JP) Extra files
Folder / File Type Size description
\DATA\SAVE\DOCUMENT.TXT TXT 4,595 Messages from the developers.
SMP_ABS.TXT TXT (Abstract) 42 About this game.
SMP_BIB.TXT TXT (Bibliographiced) 64 About this game
SMP_CPY.TXT TXT (Copyright) 88 Copyright


References

  1. ↑ File:TombRaiders Saturn JP Box Back.jpg
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://sega.jp/fb/segahard/ss/soft_licensee3.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-03-20 23:05)
  3. ↑ File:Marica Saturn JP Spinecard.jpg
  4. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "1996-22 (1996-12-27)" (JP; 1996-12-13), page 21
  5. ↑ http://sega-saturn.com/software.htm (Wayback Machine: 1996-12-15 06:01)
  6. ↑ File:DailyMirror UK 1996-10-24 45.png
  7. ↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1996-10-21), page 20
  8. ↑ Computer & Video Games, "November 1996" (UK; 1996-10-09), page 49
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Computer & Video Games, "December 1996" (UK; 1996-11-xx), page 74
  10. ↑ Ultra Game Players, "August 1997" (US; 1997-07-22), page 14
  11. ↑ File:Tomb Raider Saturn credits.png
  12. ↑ File:Tomb Raider Saturn JP credits.pdf
  13. ↑ Ação Games, "Março 1997" (BR; 1997-xx-xx), page 26
  14. ↑ CD Consoles, "Novembre 1996" (FR; 1996-xx-xx), page 84
  15. ↑ Digitiser (UK) (1996-11-06)
  16. ↑ Famitsu, "1997-01-31" (JP; 1997-01-17), page 1
  17. ↑ Fun Generation, "12/96" (DE; 1996-11-13), page 82
  18. ↑ Gambler, "1/1997" (PL; 1997-xx-xx), page 1
  19. ↑ GameFan, "Volume 4, Issue 12: December 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 20
  20. ↑ GamePro, "January 1997" (US; 1997-xx-xx), page 112
  21. ↑ Game Informer, "November 1996" (US; 1996-1x-xx), page 12
  22. ↑ Hacker, "12/1996" (HR; 1996-xx-xx), page 57
  23. ↑ Hobby Consolas, "Noviembre 1996" (ES; 1996-xx-xx), page 68
  24. ↑ Intelligent Gamer, "December 1996" (US; 1996-1x-xx), page 85
  25. ↑ Joypad, "Novembre 1996" (FR; 1996-1x-xx), page 82
  26. ↑ Level, "5/97" (TR; 1997-xx-xx), page 1
  27. ↑ MAN!AC, "12/96" (DE; 1996-11-13), page 72
  28. ↑ Mega Force, "Novembre/Décembre 1996" (FR; 1996-1x-xx), page 78
  29. ↑ Mega Fun, "12/96" (DE; 1996-11-20), page 44
  30. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "December 1996" (UK; 1996-11-01), page 28
  31. ↑ Next Generation, "January 1997" (US; 1996-12-17), page 182
  32. ↑ Player One, "Novembre 1996" (FR; 1996-xx-xx), page 85
  33. ↑ Power Up!, "Saturday, November 16, 1996" (UK; 1996-11-16), page 1
  34. ↑ Saturn Fan, "1997 No. 2" (JP; 1997-01-17), page 187
  35. ↑ Saturn Fan, "1997 No. 5" (JP; 1997-02-28), page 98
  36. ↑ Saturn+, "Issue 5" (UK; 1996-12-19), page 7
  37. ↑ Secret Service, "Styczeń 1997" (PL; 1997-01-01), page 62
  38. ↑ Sega Power, "December 1996" (UK; 1996-10-24), page 40
  39. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "November 1996" (UK; 1996-10-17), page 70
  40. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "1997-02 (1997-01-31)" (JP; 1997-01-17), page 224
  41. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "Readers rating final data" (JP; 2000-03), page 11
  42. ↑ Total Saturn, "Volume One Issue Two" (UK; 1996-09-30), page 32
  43. ↑ Total Saturn, "Volume One Issue Four" (UK; 1996-12-29), page 60
  44. ↑ Videogame Advisor, "Volume 2, Number 10: October 1996" (US; 1996-0x-xx), page 41


Tomb Raider

TombRaider title.png

Main page | Comparisons | Hidden content | Development | Magazine articles | Video coverage | Reception | Promotional material



Sega Saturn
Prototypes: 1996-08-02 | 10-16



Tomb Raider games for Sega systems
Sega Saturn
 Tomb Raider (1996) | Tomb Raider II (unreleased)
Sega Dreamcast
 Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (2000) | Tomb Raider: Chronicles (2000)
Sampler Discs
Sega Saturn
Tomb Raiders Taikenban Hibaihin (1997)
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