Nitrome Games Limited is a British company that makes video games and is based in London. The company first made games for the web using Flash and Unity, but now creates and shares games on many platforms, including mobile phones, Nintendo Switch, and PS4. Some of their games are also available on Steam.
The games made by Nitrome are known for their pixel art style, which looks like simple cartoon drawings, and they often include a short musical tune at the beginning of each game. They also use a type of music called chiptune.
Nitrome was started on August 10, 2004, by Matthew Annal and Heather Stancliffe, who were both graphic designers. They originally wanted to make games for mobile phones, but instead, they began creating games for the internet. Some of their games include characters that are based on characters from other video games, TV shows, and other sources. Nitrome's online games are shared on their own website and were also available for other websites, such as Miniclip, MTV Arcade, and PCH Games, to use.
History
Nitrome was created after a conversation between Matthew Annal and Heather Stancliffe, in which Annal suggested making a game for mobile phones. Stancliffe was not sure at first but was convinced that the idea could work. A temporary website for their new project was launched on April 3, 2005, featuring a preview video of Chick Flick, their planned first game. Since then, Nitrome has created 146 flash games and is now expanding into mobile phone and PC gaming because their flash games are not generating 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 published before. Their first published game, Ultimate Briefcase, came out in 2016. In 2017, a teaser for the game Bomb Chicken was released. In 2018, it was announced that Bomb Chicken would be available on the Nintendo Switch.
In May 2020, Nitrome announced a partnership with Poki B.V., an online game publisher based in Amsterdam, to move their Flash-based games to HTML5.
In 2022, Nitrome worked with Limited Run Games to distribute Gunbrick: Reloaded (an improved version of their flash game Gunbrick) on physical Nintendo Switch cartridges. This game was not part of the Limited Run collection, but Limited Run Games helped with distribution.
Games
Nitrome's games are grouped into four main categories. "Hearted" includes games that have received the most hearts from players, making them the most popular. "All Games" is a list of every game created by Nitrome. "Multiplayer games" are designed for more than one person to play together. "Touchy," introduced in 2012, includes games playable on Nitrome's mobile app called Nitrome Touchy. Some games may belong to more than one category. On July 8, 2015, Nitrome announced that Nitrome Touchy was officially discontinued. All links and services related 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 Nitrome games are divided into levels (usually between 10 and 100). Players can replay any completed level, even if they lost. Some games include bosses.
In July 2009, Nitrome Ltd released "Twin Shot 2," their first game to use MochiCoins, a system that allowed players to pay for 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 discontinued MochiCoins, preventing Nitrome from using them further. As a result, "Twin Shot 2" and "B.C. Bow Contest" were updated so their extra content could be purchased with free in-game currency instead.
Since 2014, Nitrome's game development has focused on creating mobile games.