Tomb Raider, the classic action-adventure game from Core, made its worldwide debut on the SEGA Saturn in 1996. Contrary to what the PlayStation Twitter account would have you believe, the series did NOT get its start on the PlayStation. No indeed – Lara Croft, wealthy British aristocrat with a taste for adrenaline and adventure, first appeared on SEGA’s 32-bit warhorse.
I’ve given the game a proper review treatment back in 2018, and the game finds itself the topic of our latest SHIRO! Podcast. Here, we’ll take a walkthrough-like look at the game’s unique training level, as well as one of the coolest levels of the game proper – the Lost Valley.
Croft Manor
The training level is a tour of Lara’s country mansion. Nestled in the gently rolling hills of the English countryside, Croft Manor is a vast building. We only explore part of the interior; subsequent sections of the manor (and indeed, the courtyard) are explored in later installments of the series.
Lara begins in her quaint library and quickly makes her way to the judo area. Here, she practices leaps and jumps. Onwards to the main hall! Here, Lara must vault over the many boxes littering the space. She must get past the obstacles to reach her converted ballroom, which she had transformed into a cardio-style gym. Past the ballroom is Lara’s private Victorian-style swimming pool. After a quick dip, Lara exits the pool and removes all her now-wet clothes.
The Lost Valley
Tomb Raider consists of fifteen levels, set across four themed worlds. The first world, Peru, includes the Lost Valley level. Sequentially it’s the third level Lara tackles, and it’s here that Tomb Raider really shows the ambition of the game. Where the first two levels dealt with relatively simple construction and beginner puzzles, no doubt adjusting the player to the all-new 3D action adventure genre, it’s Lost Valley where both the gameplay and the story begin to pick up, setting the rest of the game up as the fabulous adventure that it is.
Running down a tunnel, Lara hears rushing water getting increasingly louder. She soon hits upon a subterranean river.
Jumping back and forth between riverbanks, she negotiates her way up the river. At the mouth of the waterway, she finds a gate, directing the flow of water downstream. A cog mechanism controls the gate, but there are three missing cogs!
Lara investigates the dry path where she wants to divert the river. She happens upon the bones of an adventurer who met their demise here. Luckily for Lara, the adventurer had a shotgun! She quickly adds the powerful weapon to her arsenal, slinging it over her back, but so far, the few bats and wolves have been easy enough to put down with her pistols. What could she possibly need her shotgun for?
To make her way downriver, Lara dives off the wood and straw bridge. The swift current takes her downriver, and she takes a huge fall from the top of the waterfall and into the pool below.
Swimming to the surface, she climbs out and dispatches a couple of wolves looking for some fresh meat.
She climbs a tall cliff and finds the remains of another adventurer who met their doom in the caves. No time for sentimentality. She picks up the health pack and continues on.
Climbing down, herself in a very ancient valley, untouched by the hand of man. Flora of all manner grow in this mysterious valley that time forgot.
Exploring, she is suddenly attacked by… velociraptors? What is going on here? The raptors take several hits to waylay, forcing Lara to do some acrobatics to keep away from the raptors’ sharp bite.
Another skeleton lies in the Valley, as well as some gargantuan animal tracks. Not good. Lara cautiously prepares the shotgun.
A T-Rex suddenly lunges at Lara! The sparse game music comes on, heightening the mood. It takes several shotgun blasts to down the giant ‘saurus.
The valley is home to a great many waterfalls. At the foot of one, Lara finds a seemingly deep pool. She takes a dip and follows the underground vein to a secluded section of the valley. She is immediately greeted by a raptor and a very tall, narrow climb. At the summit, she finds her first cog!
Back in the main valley and Lara spots light coming from a previously hidden passageway in the valley’s rock face. Climbing in and around the tunnel, she comes to the foot of the broken bridge. Only the longest jump she can muster will successfully land her across. And what’s this, at the other end of the bridge? A cog! Only one more to go.
At the end of the valley, Lara finds a mysterious ancient temple. Inside, a narrow but deep water-filled pit leads Lara to the final cog!
Lara now treks back across the entire valley, back to the waterfall and pool, up the cliff, and follows the river upstream. At the cog contraption, she inserts the missing pieces and voila! She activates the door and diverts the river away. Back at the pool, the waterfall, now diverted, no longer flows… revealing the exit to the level! Awesome.
The game is largely about negotiating the fabulous 3D environments with many puzzles to solve, occasional wild predators to gun down, and of course, her human opposition in the race to uncover the secrets of the mythical Scion. Upon release, this title became an instant classic. Even today, with horrendously pixelated visuals and archaic controls, the game remains a joy to play on the Saturn. Go on… you know you want to!
A Saturn fan since the beginning, Peter plays Saturn almost exclusively. For Peter, Saturn represents a moment in time where 2D games were at their best, 3D was just rising, and fascinating gaming ‘firsts’ were commonplace. There are very few Saturn games that Peter cannot find some enjoyment in!
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