Ty the Tasmanian Tiger Series

[Ogilvie]

It all started with an E3 reveal…

Posing himself as someone who could easily usurp Sonic, Crash and Spyro (but humble enough to not dare challenge Mario), our little thylacine friend first emerged as a multiplatform title in 2002.

 

Ty’s biggest quirk is his Boomerangs, or Rangs for short. Upgradeable as one progresses through the game, they can generate fire, ice, electricity, and a myriad of other powers, which are expanded even further in the sequels. These powers can be used to access new areas in earlier levels in order to collect everything the game has to offer… and if you are a lover of collectibles, this game sure has a lot of them (and it gets even better in later games).

Ty’s story centers around the struggle between the villain Boss Cass and Ty’s family, who protect a series of talismans that guard the entrance to the Dreamtime, an alternate reality. Cass hopes to use the talismans to banish all mammals from the Earth, but he is foiled; everyone except Ty pays the price and are sealed in the Dreamtime in the process, however.

Many years later, Ty (having been orphaned and raised by friendly creatures called Bilbies) becomes aware of his heritage and sets out to stop Cass all by himself, armed with only two Rangs and an assortment of buddies. He encounters a variety of enemies along the way, but he emerges victorious and is able to reunite with his family.

By the time of Ty 2: Bush Rescue, Cass still has not given up his plans for world domination and wiping out all mammals. Ever innovative, he arranges being broken out from prison. Right after, he manages to take over a city and declare its independence, granting him diplomatic immunity from Ty and his friends (now including Sly, Cass’ former right-hand man and as it turns out, Ty’s brother). Fortunately for the citizens of the new settlement of Burramudgee, Ty and co. have formed their own all-purpose force called the Bush Rescue, however, which performs tasks that range from clearing out crocodile infestations to fighting off Cass’ invasions. Despite managing to create a whole slew of new weapons, Cass is beaten yet again.

Ty 2 is notable for a much larger overworld and expanded sidequests. It also includes a wider range of level types in true platformer style; examples include (required; in the first game they were optional) racing and mech fights. Ty’s signature boomerangs have several more options for customization, most of them being acquired via Ty’s brother Sly (who not only lives high up in the middle of nowhere and is hard to get to… but charges a sizable sum for the upgrades. There is no confirmation whether or not this includes a family discount).

Ty 3 causes a much more drastic turn in tone, in a way that seems almost comparable to the transition between Jak 1 and 2 or from Adventures of Sonic to SatAM. When word arrives that the Dreamtime (inhabited by Ty’s allies from the first game, the Bunyips) is being attacked by beasts known as Quinkan, Ty and his friends travel there to help them out. Ty is successful in this, but on his way back home, is attacked in the time stream between his world and the Dreamtime. When he finally returns to his world, he finds it in ruins; six months have passed since he left, and the Quinkan have taken over the whole region except for a few settlements (most of the people Ty knows have safely relocated to a ramshack fortress called New Burramudgee, the old city having been destroyed).

 

Desperate as the situation in Southern Rivers is, Ty and his friends work together to kick the Quinkan out of the region, even if circumstances require their working with Boss Cass. After enjoying considerable success in this regard, it becomes apparent the only way to truly beat the Quinkan is to defeat their leader, the Quinking, and the game shifts to collecting the only weapon capable of hurting him thereafter. In the end, Ty is able to triumph over both Boss Cass and the Quinking, and Southern Rivers returns more or less to normal.

Ty 3 changes up the gameplay of the second game yet again, preserving the large overworld (and expanding it) and exploration, while altering Rang customization to be centered around “Chasses,” that can be modified with various elemental stones to change their impact on various enemies. Combat is notably more intensive in Ty 3, as many enemies take several hits to defeat, and some can’t be harmed except in close quarters (fortunately, Ty is fairly adept at using his Rangs as swords).

The end… right? I’m afraid not!

After many years’ hiatus, Ty returned in 2013 to Xbox Live Arcade and Windows PC. In this 2.5D side scroller, Ty and co. are once more at odds with Boss Cass, who between the events of 3 and 4 managed to destroy New Burramudgee (not again!) via flooding the whole area. Unlike the implied mass deaths of Ty 3, however, people seem to have gotten along fine enough, having built the town of Coolarangah on Lake Burramudgee’s shores. Ty 4 centers on numerous smaller plot points, such as the search for Ty’s missing brother Sly, while working to stop Cass’ various schemes (e.g. destroying an irrigation system so as to kill an entire town via dehydration).

 

All of Cass’ seemingly-unrelated plans come together in the end, however, as it’s revealed he not only has pulled an asteroid into the planet’s orbit so as to kill all life (and allow reptiles to regain dominance afterward), but has fortified his island to a point he won’t be affected and can emerge as the new world’s leader. As always, Cass finds himself bested by Ty; Ty is too late to stop the asteroid from falling… right into Lake Burramudgee, where it doesn’t create the cataclysm Cass had hoped for. Defeated yet again after he tries to incinerate Ty, Cass initiates plan B: he cryogenically freezes himself and the whole island for 1000 years, gloating that when he thaws, Ty and everyone who can oppose him will be dead.

Ty 4’s gameplay is simplified but consists of the basics – walk, jump, glide, etc. – as well as a charged attack that costs a few Opals but can cause serious damage. As in prior games, there are plenty of side missions. For the diehard Ty fan, you will appreciate the fact the bulk of the soundtrack consists of remixes of classic tracks from the prior 3 games (for example, one boss theme is a fast-paced rock remix of Outback Safari from Ty 1).

With the game’s end, the exact future of the TY series remains uncertain. Krome has certainly seen better times (the company actually was bankrupt for a year or two), but he clearly still holds a place for some folks, to say nothing of the team who created him.

This thread is for discussing any and all things Ty. Played it as a child and never looked at it since? Dabbled in the series? Coocoo over it like myself? Giving the sequel games a shot? Theories, fanfiction, fanart? It’s all welcome here!

Some fans have started an officially-sponsored wiki here.!

3 of the games are available on Steam: Ty 1, Ty 2, and Ty 4.

[TheRedStranger]

TY and Jak were up and coming when I was too busy with the Gamecube and SA2 (and frowning at Sonic X). After Heros I kind of fell out of platformers and was going through my Sims, Metal Gear, and Resident Evil phase as a kid (I played Outbreak and The Sims so much I broke my PS2). It's always interesting to see the history and get a refresher course in the stuff you missed. Perhaps since these are mostly on Steam, I should give them a visit and take a trip back to the 2000's to see what I missed and to remind of what I miss about that time. Thanks for bringing such a fascinating topic to my attention, Ogi'.

[Mike Arcade]

I was quite aware of the series as a kid and I specifically remember that commercial you linked Ogi'. For some reason I never got into that series, I mean I did get into Jak & Daxter and then later on Ratchet & Clank, also played only a few of the Sly Cooper games but never crossed with Ty yet. Maybe I should rectify that some day, I mean I even got the two Blinx games and even the one shot platformers I-Ninja as a rental and ended up owning Vexx after trying to find it for the Xbox.

You know, maybe we should have a Platformer Topic, and not just for Mascot Characters either as Platformers usually overlap with them anyway. I gotta say though with Ty recently coming back lately it took me by a big surprise as I had no idea he had that much of a fanbase, still I'm glad people like me can now have a second chance to see what we missed back then and support the devs better then ever.

[WarTraveller]

I must admit, I've never been a big-ish fan of Ty. I never liked the adverts. What did you guys think of them?

[Wulfsbane]

You know, I completely forgot about this game. I remember reading things about it and wanting to play it but I never got a chance to.

@Ogilvie this is an excellent post. We thank you for making this up and I hope to see more akin to this post.

[Ogilvie]

On 6/6/2017 at 10:42 AM, WarTraveller said:

I must admit, I've never been a big-ish fan of Ty. I never liked the adverts. What did you guys think of them?

The games all score in the 70s range on Metacritic (regular gamers rate them higher than critics, though), meaning they aren't Game of the Year, but they are fun for what they are and worth picking up if you have any spare cash.

I tend to be happy with any game that is 70+, so naturally I'm quite fond of the Ty series. Besides, the best part about playing games that aren't perfect is you as a fan get to have fun pointing out all the bad parts (e.g. how Sonic fans are with Sonic 06's many flaws).

On 6/6/2017 at 3:21 AM, Mike Arcade said:

You know, maybe we should have a Platformer Topic, and not just for Mascot Characters either as Platformers usually overlap with them anyway. I gotta say though with Ty recently coming back lately it took me by a big surprise as I had no idea he had that much of a fanbase, still I'm glad people like me can now have a second chance to see what we missed back then and support the devs better then ever.

This might not be bad a idea. I basically got into all these franchises by deliberately picking up platform games besides Sonic. It never hurts to have mixing of the various fanbases.