Nitrome Games Limited is a British company that makes video games and is based in London. The company used to create Flash and Unity games for web browsers, but now makes and publishes games for many platforms, including mobile devices, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Steam, with some games also available on Steam.
Their games are known for their pixel art style and cartoon-like look, along with a musical jingle at the beginning of each game and the use of chiptune music.
Nitrome was started on August 10, 2004, by Matthew Annal and Heather Stancliffe, who were graphic designers. They originally wanted to make games for mobile phones. However, they began making Flash games for the internet instead. Some of Nitrome's games include characters inspired by those from video games, TV shows, and other sources. Their online games are available on their website and were also licensed for other websites like Miniclip, MTV Arcade, and PCH Games.
History
Nitrome was created after Matthew Annal and Heather Stancliffe talked about making a game for mobile phones. Stancliffe was at first unsure, but Annal convinced her that the idea could be successful. On April 3, 2005, a temporary website for their upcoming project was launched, featuring a preview video of Chick Flick, their planned first game. Since then, Nitrome has created 146 flash games and is now exploring mobile phone and PC gaming because their flash games no longer provide enough income. In September 2011, Annal was joined by his brother, Jonathan Roy Annal. On November 24, 2011, Nitrome released their 100th game, Nitrome Must Die, in which players shoot enemies from their previous 99 games. In 2015, Nitrome released their 140th game, Fluffball, which was a game they had made in 2007 but had not yet published. Their first published game, Ultimate Briefcase, came out in 2016. In 2017, a teaser for the game Bomb Chicken was shared. In 2018, it was announced that Bomb Chicken would be released on the Nintendo Switch.
In May 2020, Nitrome announced a partnership with Poki B.V., a game publisher based in Amsterdam, to move their Flash-based games to HTML5 format. In 2022, Nitrome worked with Limited Run Games to distribute Gunbrick: Reloaded (a remastered version of their flash game Gunbrick) on physical Nintendo Switch cartridges. This release was not part of Limited Run Games’ usual collection, and Limited Run Games only helped with distribution.
Games
Nitrome's games are organized into four main groups. "Hearted" includes games that have received the most likes from players, making them the most popular. "All Games" lists every game created by Nitrome, while "Multiplayer games" are designed for two or more people to play together. "Touchy," launched in 2012, contained games that could be played on Nitrome's mobile app, Nitrome Touchy. Some games belong to more than one category. On July 8, 2015, Nitrome announced that Nitrome Touchy was officially stopped. All links and services connected to Touchy were removed. "Turn-Undead" was the last Touchy game, released in October 2014.
Nitrome has created games for MTV Arcade, PCH Games, and Miniclip.
Most games are divided into levels (usually between 10 and 100), and players can replay completed levels even if they failed. Some games include bosses as part of their design.
In July 2009, Nitrome Ltd released "Twin Shot 2," their first game to use MochiCoins, a system that allowed players to buy extra content in browser games. Matthew Annal stated that Nitrome was "testing" the system and did not plan to use it in every game. They used MochiCoins again in "B.C. Bow Contest," which was updated twice. However, Mochi Media stopped using MochiCoins, which prevented Nitrome from using them in future games. As a result, "Twin Shot 2" and "B.C. Bow Contest" were updated so their extra content could be purchased with in-game currency that players could get for free.
Since 2014, Nitrome has focused on making mobile games.