I feel like the most underrated aspect of this game is the addition of the enemies getting scared when you run at them at a certain speed. it's not just a visual gag, it actually makes them drop your guard so you can maintain your speed without having to risk getting injured by their weapons or having to do awkward short hops above them. ramming headlong into damage due to your speed has been a problem that has plagued many games, including Wario Land 4 and pretty much every Sonic the Hedgehog game in existence. but this single feature, one that is simple, and flies over many new player's heads when they first start the game, means the absolute WORLD to Pizza Tower. many areas would be unfair or even just straight up impossible without it, but with it the game achieves a Rayman Origins/Legends type of flow where you can bash your way through vast armies of enemies with only a single attack for each, all because of a single extra animation for the enemies when you run fast enough. more speed based games need to implement this feature. I don't care if people would say that they're ripping off Pizza Tower, because at this point we NEED devs (especially including triple A devs) to copy the homework of the games we love, because then that leads to more like them, more games that we love. TL;DR: being afraid to go fast in speed-based games is a problem, Pizza Tower fixes it by making enemies scared of you :]
Thank you. Yes I've been wondering why this game felt like a better sonic game and that's it. It's so simple but it makes everything work. *chefs kiss*
@@volnartheunforgiving3952 fun fact! did you know that koalas are literally smooth-brained? on a totally unrelated note, it's kind of hard to tell but my pfp is of a koala. this kind of stuff is a given-
Fully agree 1000000% as both a gamer and a game-dev. Letting the player do anything fun and then punishing them for doing so is the most stupid thing you can do. If anything, the fact that this mechanic in pizza tower is slightly overpowered is a plus, as it incentives people to go fast and to learn how to not crash into walls. It's the kind of mechanic I would use to teach a class about good game design and how to encourage players into a specific play-style.
@@Dookas if it's speedrunning, the slide is faster because it's a similar speed to mach 3, so it _technically_ gets you to that speed instantly however you don't get the abilities until it ends so in usual playthroughs the grab is better
I'm so glad there's a mod for a lap 3. It's got an new track to go with it. Kinda a custom rank that goes above P but that would be cool to have it fully realized.
"the visual style of pizza tower is genuinely on par with the likes of cuphead" as much as i love pizza tower's style, it just isnt, where the games' styles differ is the fact that cuphead spent years perfecting its style to effectively mimic its inspiration, while pizza tower has a visual style i could perfect in minutes, it has very few visual components, unlike something like... well.. cuphead, that has water color backgrounds but lineart foreground elements, completely hand-drawn animation, ect. i dont think anything is comparable to the likes of cuphead visually, comparing an indie games visual style to that of a studio founded by brothers that sold their house to perfect their game is always going to be a stretch
The visuals or 'graphics' are a turn off for some. The game Pizza Tower is a millions to 1 chance. No BILLIONS to one. The stars aligning to make something that seems to be from the 2000's with the constrains and veteran gamedev decision making?? And this is a indie game and basically there first game? What? No joke it is so constrained and way to professionally made. Like just demo version of the game months before the release? VS the release? Where and how?? Is this game some kind of money laundering or wtf is going on?? Can not really find a flaw that actually sticks. If there is anything it has to be a screen or tip at the tutorial level to not use joysticks but d-pad. And keyboard controls eh. I move jump to space bar etc. But it is just strait up a video game. And it has made sure to create a difficulty system that makes as many as possible able to experience it even if your completely new to gaming. And still allow even the avrage player to get to the point of feeling like your a speed runner. Everything is just so well done. But Peppino and Pizza Head is just AAAAWWW! When you stop and Peppino idle he looks scared. And when your new to the game or mess up Peppino shows it. But just the moment you start to get to grips to the controls even slightly Peppino turns into a sick monster! And ones your truly starting to be able to go fast? Like really the scared Italian is a thing of the passed! Ones your getting combos even standing still Peppino is PISSED! And I mean PISSED! He is not confused he is just strait up INSANE and scary until the combo or level is over! It was incredible noticing Peppino walk backwards in pure ANGRE and blind RAGE ones getting the combo above 50 or whatever! And the grab attacks you do in the bosses and in general just adds to that blind rage. Like you hit attack and you literately as a player miss it and return back into the game with a Peppino standing idle and the enemy gone. And the same when you start to rack up combos for the first time your most likely not noticing the blind rampage you found yourself executing. Peppino do such a good job at expressing the players actions! And the taunt button to parry! OOo It takes what should be a meme key and turn it into perfection of game design. Peppino makes Mario and Sonic look pathetic! Only reason Peppino collect rings or in the case of Pizza Tower food items? It is to keep that combo meter going and help on the way towards the P rank. And Pizza Face/Head? There is no better antagonist possible for the game. When the reveal happened and the Pizza threw a gun at Peppino? Standing there not at all worried? With the hole Cuphead stye and music? I knew by then that the game was taunting the world. Victory lap. Then the boss rush... Watching Peppino having enough? I... How. If Peppino is forced to do a second game? I DEMAND that Peppino go naked like cut content / dev has hinted at as one of the ideas for the final boss for Pizza Tower. It is the only thing able to top that ending. This time pile driving the hole tower down in one go. No escape part. XD Make Peppino truly go nuts.
I’ll be honest, the is the best PT review in my opinion. It’s just… fun, everything feels well placed an with a purpose. Ironically, just like pizza tower. Keep up the good work, you’ve earned yourself a fan
@@Gatitasecsii the fuck? hes not saying hes not supporting tour de pizza to make better games than nintendo, he is saying that hes hoping nintendo realizes how beloved wario land was based off this video. also from reading your reply its making me have a brain tumor
Look, it's yet another excellent Pizza Tower review. I swear these keep on getting better and better! I love how you managed to do a deep dish dive into PT's many specialties like the impeccably versatile movement options, the brilliantly structured level/game design, grimmy yet goregous artistry of the animation & music, and absolute adrenaline rush that is the P rank runs. This detailed dish is immaculate (just like the game itself), and I'm happy it's getting the love and attention it deserviolis! Long live the Tower of Pizza aka GOTY of 2023 (and possibly of all Pizza time).
You sir have very clearly mastered pizza towers movement system and I applaud you for even bothering to share some of that knowledge. Signed- some random backer.
I enjoy your point about how the game makes you feel like you’re total ass at it at first. Everyone who plays games I’ve seen, is really good at a particular genre, like, unreasonably good and it varies per person. My buddy is great at shooters, another fighters, for me it’s platformers probably cause I grew up on them, and let me tell you how much John Gutter and Pizzascape made me question my own ability to play a 2d platformer. And it’s an intentional design choice I feel, one of the better ones I’ve seen. At the beginning blazing through a stage seems impossible, a common thought was “what the hell do speedruns for this look like”, turns out, you just gotta be kinda alright, it sets itself up to make you feel really cool in the end. Great video dude
I've been watching every review/essay on Pizza Tower since I finished it, and this one is most likely the best one in describing what this game's essence.
Its honestly kind of crazy how I could literally feel my heart thumping in my chest when I started lap 2 on john gutter the first time and saw that purple P appear
I have been playing the first 3 levels for 15 hours, because learning how to go fast through the levels is fun, and then adding the secrets and treasure to the mix is an interesting extra challenge, and then getting an S rank is just a little out of reach, and then I might as well keep practicing until I get P rank while I’m at it. So much fun
We call the feeling you get when you're running lap two and knowing the layout of a level when going for a P rank "In the zone." I've been there many times in my life.
Y'know, I have been looking at this game for around 5 years. It feels so weird always seeing this in a very niche community to exploding into popularity today. Honestly I'm glad, I wonder why it didn't get much traction back then though.
@@geschnitztekiste4111 Yeah, this. It did get a small boost in public consciousness in 2019 because of the SAGE demo, but most of the other demos were only ever distributed in the Discord or through Patreon, so if you weren't in the minority already following the game during development you weren't playing the game. Now that the game is out for everyone, at a great price, and is an amazing game, it blowing up as it has only feels natural.
One of the top comments on the upload of The Death That I Deservioli describes it perfectly. While Pizza Time feels like you’re running for your life with death on your heels, the lap 2 track feels like sprinting at a blistering pace, DARING death to catch you if he can.
I really wish people would do such expressive animation like pizza tower. Like people overrated sonic's animation so much. In a perfect world we'd have a great mix of the bouncy and rubber looks of cuphead and the grotesque lanky animations of pizza tower. No fan game has even tried doing something similar to that also.
Pizza Tower proves that you really don't need an open world, a compelling narrative or next gen 3D graphics with Ray tracing or anything fancy like that to be a great game. It's a much-needed return to form in a sea pretentious award-seeking games. There is nothing wrong with simplicity if you have the right execution.
Pizza Tower is just so fun, plain and simple. In 2023, having a game that is just fun is very rare. Also, I absolutely love the aesthetics of the game. As someone who loves cartoon art styles and drawing cartoons, I love the expressions Peppino makes and they make me laugh so much.
Awesome video! Pizza Tower is absolutely my GOTY 2023 -- I don't know what the hell is going to come out this year that could possibly contend with let alone beat it. People are going to be talking about this game, the mechanics, the art, the music, hell the surrounding *lore* for years and years and years. We're going to see a whole subclass of "pizzalike" platformers focusing on high-octane escape sequences. We're gonna get games deliberately going for that Klasky Csupo 90s Nicktoon style. We're gonna get soundtracks with the filthiest fucking synths and more samples than a Beastie Boys album. And it's all going to be *glorious*. Video games are back baybee
>We're going to see a whole subclass of "pizzalike" platformers focusing on high-octane escape sequences. Pizza Tower is already a Wario-like (the escape sequence was taken from Wario Land 4), and we also have Antonblast as an upcoming entry in that genre.
For me, golf felt HIGHLY obtrusive. I hate that level with all my heart. Running at Greaseball often sends him where you didnt want him, and repeatedly falling into multiple second periods of being tossed around was infuriating
I bought pizza tower recently, the game is AMAZING!!! I remember seeing the trailer before it was released. Waiting on its steam page, I bought the game and played it. Seeing others play and enjoy the game makes me happy, because this game should be INDIE game of the year!
The only recent memory of an indie game going this hard was Freedom Planet 2. Even then it had tiny quirks shy from perfection Pizza Tower, even with lil snippets cut from Patreon, it still feels wholly complete and perfectly executed to the topping and crust
5:43 movement tech spoilers ig if you want to figure out how to move peppino more effectively yourself by doing a grab into a *slide* and popping out of said slide as soon as possible, you can hit mach 3 with even less distance required
I've messed around with that but never did the analysis to see if it's actually faster or not. My perspective has been that if done completely optimal the shorthop is better, but I could be incorrect.
15:40 it glitched and called your combo of 115 here lame lol Edit: After playing the game myself (favorite game of all time now btw) and P Ranking like 5 levels, I've seemed to notice it always does this for some reason... weird.
asi de from the obvious picks "its pizza time" and "unexpectancy" the golf theme is actually my favorite with crust cove being a close call they are so upbeat and just wanna make you jam along
One of the things I love about this game’s mach dash is that everything you can do out of it is dedicated to letting you get *everywhere* and *FAST.* Your super jump travels upward indefinitely, allowing you to reach heights other characters could only dream of. The wall run will retain speed and even speed up if it’s held longer, allowing you to immediately get back to moving as fast as possible. The super jump can be cancelled into a shoulder bash-based move which immediately returns you to mach 3. With these and more, you can place yourself in nearly any location on the map, and fast. (Fun fact: The grab slide is one of the fastest ways to get mach 3, if you cancel it immediately while holding the run button, you skip any form of build up, immediately reaching mach 3 when you cancel the slide.) You can travel any direction at any speed, and find ways to do it faster. The sky is the limit, and peppino’s approaching it fast.
Will FNF Loose Popularity Because Of Pizza Tower? (Dont get me wrong I want pizza tower to be super popular but I want FNF To also still be super popular.)
Your entire description of a lap 2 is something that most reviewers don't touch on. That's the magic of the game, it makes you crave a degree of perfection that you know that the devs wanted you to truly hunger for. It has you tearing apart every mechanic and, in the most loving way, making the game your bitch. Pizza tower is one of the best games in the last 20 years, easily.
I do wonder how soon it'll be before triple A game devs start casting their eyes at Pizza Tower and wanting a slice of the action, so to speak. I don't think that they'll replicate it though. There might be a surge of 2d platformers, 'speedy' games or even 'random' games, but Pizza Tower was clearly a passion project with a clear inspiration and elements that are included for no other reason than because the dev thought it was funny. Like, a TV screen showing Peppino's mood as he sprints and changes form is technically pointless, and it's the kind of thing a big studio might mix for being too weird, but it all adds to the unhinged atmosphere of PT that makes it so great. It's a game that knows exactly what it wants to be, and I don't think studios simply looking to cash in can hit that.
The grimy art style is so good because nowadays art styles are just so clean.. I'm so happy Pizza Tower is popular so more grimy art styles get more widespread and popular!
This game is just.. perfectly designed. It’s kind of baffling. The mechanics often stick to one level and never overstay their welcome (that takes a ton of restraint and play testing as game devs.) The bosses are hard enough to be a fun challenge for even really skilled gamers, but not so hard that anyone can’t beat them. The levels have so many ways that it tries to keep you engaged while also not breaking the flow of gameplay. No puzzle feels like much of a puzzle because it’s more of a cool thing you learn and then apply in the platforming. And on top of it all the game is hilarious and charming and is animated in an amazingly awful and beautiful way and has some good music too. Just the whole package. I normally get bored going for top ranks and medals but I’ve P ranked up to floor 3 so far and it’s still endlessly fun
im on my way to all P's just started floor 3 (only the noise left!) Oregano dessert so far is the ONLY level to truely piss me off something about it just, was a huge challenge, finally finishing it was so worth it the only level i feel i'm dredding is war, but i feel once I give it enough playthroughs and learn how to do it, It'll be one of my favorites Pizza tower is honestly a new standard for videogames in my opinion
The best thing in Pizza Tower, the soundtrack, basically represents what I've known for a while: your mental faculties _change_ while under the influence of the right tune for the situation. I've lost count of how many times a good headbanger has gotten my ass out of the fire in War Thunder, or has gotten me through the enemy base unscathed while being an absolute menace. With the right tune, anything is possible.
the death that i deservioli does something to the inermachinations of my mind that i cant put into language. a video game should not make me experience post nut clarity for a solid minute strait. a video game shouldnt make me see god. but damn does the second lap just, do all of that and more!
5:40 There's actually a faster way to get to mach 3. If you hold downwards as you grab, peppino will slide along the ground and will be at mach 3 instantly once the dash has ended. It's a really cool piece of tech, and it's super useful when you're trying for a P rank.
I love how you seemingly P Ranked every level before making the video, even P Ranking one shows that you have a understanding of the game and it creates an educated and fun essay about what this game does right, it also just makes really pleasing BG footage.
My first playthrough of the Golf level was pretty slow, but after I found out you can mostly just mach dash into the greaseball, it's a much faster and smoother level.
Speed runners use this tech to achieve Mach 3 the fastest: press grab immediately into slide and then forward and continue to hold dash. This is the fastest way to gain speed.
