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.
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
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.
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
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
Developed by Bit Managers and IWP: Isidro Gilabert, Alberto Gonzalez, Ruben Gomez, Ricardo Fernandez, Sergio Palacios, Daniel Lopez, Alberto Pleguezuelos