Pizza Tower | |
---|---|
![]() Steam artwork | |
Developer(s) | Tour De Pizza |
Publisher(s) | Tour De Pizza |
Designer(s) | McPig |
Programmer(s) | Sertif |
Composer(s) |
|
Engine | GameMaker |
Platform(s) | Windows |
Release | January 26, 2023 |
Genre(s) | Platform |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Pizza Tower is a 2023 platform game created by the indie developer Tour De Pizza. It follows a pizza chef, Peppino Spaghetti, who must scale a tower to prevent the destruction of his pizzeria. Across 20 side-scrolling levels, the player increases their score by gathering collectibles and defeating enemies to build combos. At the end of each level, they activate an escape sequence and must return to the beginning within a time limit. Pizza Tower does not feature health or lives, and its difficulty depends on what the player chooses to achieve.
The development began around 2018 and was led by the pseudonymous designer McPig and programmer Sertif. Pizza Tower began as a role-playing video game with survival horror elements before evolving into a platformer inspired by Nintendo's dormant Wario Land series, to which McPig wanted to provide a spiritual successor. It was developed with GameMaker and features a cartoonish, high-resolution pixel art style inspired by SpongeBob SquarePants and French comics. Wario Land 4 (2001) served as the basis for the gameplay and level design.
Pizza Tower developed a large fandom during its development through early access builds offered to Patreon backers and game demos. It was released for Windows on January 26, 2023. Pizza Tower received positive reviews and nominations for year-end accolades. Critics praised its gameplay, music, visuals, and humor. Critics favorably compared its art style to 1990s Nicktoons and the sense of speed to the Sonic the Hedgehog series. They considered it a worthy substitute for Wario Land, and some called it a rare spiritual successor that is better than its inspiration. Tour De Pizza has supported the game with updates adding new content into 2024.