Tembo The Badass Elephant

Tembo The Badass Elephant is a 2D side-scrolling action game from GAME FREAK - yes, the Pokemon studio - published by SEGA, and it wears its Saturday-morning-cartoon energy without any apology. You play as Tembo, a military elephant called out of retirement to crush the forces of PHANTOM, a shadowy army that has seized Shell City. The pitch is pure pulp, and the game commits to it visually with thick outlines, exaggerated destruction animations, and a color palette that feels sun-bleached in the best possible way. The core loop revolves around charging, stomping, and body-slamming through enemies, vehicles, and destructible environments. Tembo can sprint into a shoulder charge that demolishes tanks and soldiers alike, ground-pound platforms apart, and use a water-spray move that doubles as both an attack and a way to douse fires that block progress. There is a secondary layer in each stage where you hunt down captive civilians to rescue, and that collectible goal gives completionists a reason to slow down and explore corners the speed-runner instinct would otherwise skip. The stages are dense enough that a first pass rarely catches everything. Where Tembo shines is in its momentum. When you are moving well - chaining charges into stomps into wall-bounces - the game has a kinetic satisfaction that bigger-budget action titles sometimes forget to include. GAME FREAK clearly understood the fantasy of being an unstoppable, several-ton animal, and the controls are tuned to make you feel that weight without making movement feel sluggish. The soundtrack matches this energy: punchy, brashy, and occasionally a little funky in the way old 16-bit action soundtracks got funky when the composer was clearly having fun. The honest criticisms are real, though. The game is short - most players finish it in four to six hours - and the difficulty curve is inconsistent. Some boss encounters feel genuinely inventive, while others overstay their welcome through repetitive patterns and hitboxes that don't always feel fair. The mixed Steam review score reflects a real split: players who wanted something longer and more polished came away frustrated, while players who treated it as a tight arcade experience reported a good time. It is not a game that reinvents the genre or pushes any boundary. It is a well-made, modest, one-sitting action game from a developer that doesn't usually make action games, and that novelty is part of what makes it interesting. If you grew up with Earthworm Jim, the early Donkey Kong Country games, or any of the weirder licensed action games of the early-to-mid 90s, Tembo speaks that language fluently. It doesn't have their legacy, but it has their spirit. For narrative-first players or anyone wanting a long campaign, this isn't the right fit. For someone who wants a brisk, cheerful, slightly chaotic side-scroller that ends before it wears out its welcome, Tembo delivers exactly what it promises on the tin.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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