Pizza Tower landed on my radar about 4 years ago, and it honestly entranced me. It's no secret that Nintendo has let quite a few of their franchises fall to the wayside over the years, but those franchises are old enough to have fans that are now willing to take matters into their own hands.
The artwork in this game is completely unhinged. Everything is overly detailed and animated in the best way possible. Peppino looks like he's going through 13 midlife crises at any given time. Truly, a man of the people. It's all fully animated in painstakingly detailed sprites, to boot! If I had it draw comparisons to anything, it would be the more out-there kinds of 90s animation; Stuff like Cartoon Network's "Cow and Chicken", or Nickelodeon's "Ren and Stimpy". It's definitely deliberate, seeing how every level starts with its own unique title card.
Heavily inspired by Wario Land 4, Peppino's moveset primarily consists of grabbing enemies with a melee attack, or dashing straight through them at Mach 4. The dash mechanics are this game's claim to fame, really. You can run up walls by jumping at them or using slopes, barreling through anything in your path. This game has hidden movement tech! Like, actual, godforsaken "Super Metroid shinespark" type movement tech, and it is endlessly fun to play around with. All the levels have a real sense of flow to them, reflected in the fact that there's a combo meter, score, and ranking system in place to reward players who learn the layouts. That's not to say you have to run past everything. Pizza Tower is littered with secrets, inside and outside the regular stages. Can't forget the iconic escape sequence at the end of each stage as well. Every single level is thematically unique, and throws its own unique mechanics into the mix. Part of me can never stop laughing at whatever new, absurd thing that the game decides to throw at me next. Grind rails? Sure! A chicken on my head? Why not!? A gun? Okay, maybe that's a bit too far, put the gun down, Peppino--PEPPINO, PUT DOWN THE GUN
The only genuine low point for me is the bosses. They are completely relentless, and a lot of the attacks you have to avoid can feel borderline random. Doesn't help that they're all twice as long as originally advertised; their health refills for a more frenetic round 2 once you knock off all their initial HP. It also hurts that the OST is just good. The stage music sounds great while I'm playing the stages themselves, but the only songs I can remember are the escape themes (the optional "Lap 2" theme absolutely rocks). It's a lot of fast paced synths, guitar, bass, and drums, and while each track is distinct, as a whole, they kinda blend together. (EDIT: What the fuck was I talking about here? The OST is incredible. Full stop.)
It delights me to no end that this game turned out the way it did. It started out looking like a Wario Land game, only to shift hard into its dash mechanics and gain an identity of its own. Its humor is cheesy, its content is beefy, there's a lot of love mixed into the sauce (at least, I hope to god that's just love I tasted), and it's been baked to perfection. It's pizza time.
The artwork in this game is completely unhinged. Everything is overly detailed and animated in the best way possible. Peppino looks like he's going through 13 midlife crises at any given time. Truly, a man of the people. It's all fully animated in painstakingly detailed sprites, to boot! If I had it draw comparisons to anything, it would be the more out-there kinds of 90s animation; Stuff like Cartoon Network's "Cow and Chicken", or Nickelodeon's "Ren and Stimpy". It's definitely deliberate, seeing how every level starts with its own unique title card.
Heavily inspired by Wario Land 4, Peppino's moveset primarily consists of grabbing enemies with a melee attack, or dashing straight through them at Mach 4. The dash mechanics are this game's claim to fame, really. You can run up walls by jumping at them or using slopes, barreling through anything in your path. This game has hidden movement tech! Like, actual, godforsaken "Super Metroid shinespark" type movement tech, and it is endlessly fun to play around with. All the levels have a real sense of flow to them, reflected in the fact that there's a combo meter, score, and ranking system in place to reward players who learn the layouts. That's not to say you have to run past everything. Pizza Tower is littered with secrets, inside and outside the regular stages. Can't forget the iconic escape sequence at the end of each stage as well. Every single level is thematically unique, and throws its own unique mechanics into the mix. Part of me can never stop laughing at whatever new, absurd thing that the game decides to throw at me next. Grind rails? Sure! A chicken on my head? Why not!? A gun? Okay, maybe that's a bit too far, put the gun down, Peppino--PEPPINO, PUT DOWN THE GUN
The only genuine low point for me is the bosses. They are completely relentless, and a lot of the attacks you have to avoid can feel borderline random. Doesn't help that they're all twice as long as originally advertised; their health refills for a more frenetic round 2 once you knock off all their initial HP. It also hurts that the OST is just good. The stage music sounds great while I'm playing the stages themselves, but the only songs I can remember are the escape themes (the optional "Lap 2" theme absolutely rocks). It's a lot of fast paced synths, guitar, bass, and drums, and while each track is distinct, as a whole, they kinda blend together. (EDIT: What the fuck was I talking about here? The OST is incredible. Full stop.)
It delights me to no end that this game turned out the way it did. It started out looking like a Wario Land game, only to shift hard into its dash mechanics and gain an identity of its own. Its humor is cheesy, its content is beefy, there's a lot of love mixed into the sauce (at least, I hope to god that's just love I tasted), and it's been baked to perfection. It's pizza time.
Reviewed on Jan 31, 2023
BlazingWaters
1 year ago