Channelling other animal mascots like Sonic and Donkey Kong, Tembo the Badass Elephant attempts to burst into the platformer pantheon by rolling, jumping and splashing his way through hordes of baddies. Is Tembo as badass as his name suggests, or is he blowing his own trumpet?
Let’s start off with the name. It is silly. I understand that Sega and Game Freak are trying to capture that pulpy, 80s action movie vibe but not only is the name a mouthful, it doesn’t really match up to Tembo in game, as he seems more like a heroic saviour than an animal badass. I know it seems stupid to even analyse the title but I feel it handicaps the game straight off, as people might give it a miss due to its stupid name. The actual reason for the name is that the titular Tembo is a former marine, who after helping out the army in some jungle conflict, has been called in to help protect Shell City from the wrath of PHANTOM.
Again, this is a platformer so you aren’t expecting a thrilling story but it does the job of setting up why you need to bulldoze through a bunch of levels across a peanut shaped island. The story is told via short comic panel openings which can actually be very funny. The sight of an elephant in a bandana, stirring a can of soup with his trunk whilst sitting in front of a campfire will raise a hearty chuckle in anyone playing. Unfortunately, besides some sight gags in the form of shop signs in level background or the occasional billboard, none of Tembo’s adventure retains the same wit as these little comic strips at the start of every zone or boss fight. This becomes a running theme through your time with Tembo in the fact there is so much potential for interesting designs both visually and gameplay wise, but it never seems to be capitalised on.
As mentioned earlier, Tembo takes a lot of inspiration from many other animal mascots from other franchises, with Sonic and Donkey Kong being the main two. Tembo’s fastest movement option is his spin slam, in which after jumping into the air, you input the dash button to send Tembo flying to the ground at great speed, covering tons of horizontal distance. The move is great for building momentum and speeding through courses, as you can go into the spin slam after you uppercut an enemy with your trunk and then continue to bounce along the ground, taking out more enemies as you go. Clever usage of the spin slam will be vital for speedrunning through Tembo but there is hardly any emphasis placed on its usage during the majority of the levels. Hardly any of them require you to chain all of Tembo’s movement options together in sequence and it seems that Game Freak are happy to fall back on traditional level designs rather than to really push the envelope, which is a shame given the potential. Tembo’s dash and overall feel as a character is incredibly similar to Rambi from Donkey Kong Country and you can tell Game Freak took a hell of a lot of ideas from the series to create Tembo. The usage of cannons to propel you to further parts of the stage, the very similar way secrets are placed and even the boss designs seems very much inspired by Nintendo, Rare and Retro’s work with the tie-wearing ape. Yoshi is also a touchstone for Tembo’s movement, having a flutter jump which seems ripped straight from the dinosaur’s own adventures. So while Tembo has the DNA of other great platformers in him, it never really comes together to create something which is all its own, feeling more something which is just constantly playing homage to other series rather than forging its own identity.
For the most part, running through levels with Tembo is great fun. There is a great focus on the destructible nature of your environment, as you charge straight through buildings, people and even vehicles in order to reach the goal. There is some clever usage of physics with certain areas having you manipulate giant bowling balls in order to demolish the PHANTOM army, as well as the use of Tembo’s trunk to platform and clear the way. Along with it extending to help you swing off certain obstacles, Tembo can spray water at his foes, helping to put out fires or damage certain enemies. Like with his movement options, you can chain the water spray into your movement, creating a water shield as you charge through fire or becoming an incredibly heavy sprinkler as you bounce through the sky. Again, loads of potential for really engaging and memorable levels but Tembo never steps out of the box to do something new and fresh. Unfortunately, it simply does not have the flair or originality of series like Donkey Kong Country to make it an experience to return to.