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Tiny Thor from Asylum Sq. has been a very long time coming. After one in every of its lead builders got here up with a tough reduce of its idea in a 48-hour recreation jam in 2012, its improvement proceeded in suits and begins for slightly over a decade earlier than it lastly noticed launch this previous June. Video games that spend that lengthy in improvement hell might be notoriously uneven, however we’re comfortable to report that Tiny Thor has confirmed to be well worth the wait. This can be a robust, attractive, and altogether nice retro platformer that you simply ought to think about choosing up.
The 16-bit-inspired recreation follows the adventures of the titular Asgardian warrior throughout a time lengthy earlier than he was the buff, long-haired hero you all know—the story right here opens on his eighth birthday. As a gift, Odin items him the legendary Mjolnir hammer, which Thor instantly takes to. Whereas he’s out playing around together with his new toy, the boy is approached by a sure mischievous particular person, who methods him into destroying the anchor of the Bifrost, chopping off all of Asgard from Midgard. Joined by his father’s ravens, Tiny Thor thus units out to restore the harm and stop Ragnarök from inflicting the top of the world.
![Tiny Thor Review - Screenshot 2 of 5](https://images.nintendolife.com/screenshots/137961/900x.jpg)
Gameplay follows a simple 2D action-platforming template, whereby you journey between robust ranges, gather a complete lot of goodies, and wreck home along with your new magic hammer. Every stage takes about 10 to fifteen minutes to clear, that includes an assortment of platforming gauntlets and puzzles that you simply normally have to unravel by in some way utilizing Mjolnir. Holding down the best set off will trigger Thor to spin it up and, as soon as thrown, the hammer will bounce off partitions, ceilings, and the edges of the display indefinitely till you both name it again or it makes its approach again to you. It’s a easy, however efficient mechanic, and Tiny Thor will get quite a lot of mileage out of inventive methods to make use of it in each fight and puzzle situations.
Stage designs are usually linear, with a smattering of secret rooms and facet routes you’ll be able to take right here or there to gather gems. There are just a few hundred blue gems and three pink gems in every stage, with the latter positioned in particularly tough-to-reach locations. In the event you take any harm alongside the way in which—and boy will you—Thor will die in a single hit until you latterly touched a coronary heart field. In the event you did so, a coronary heart will leap out of his chest and bounce away from him as a timer ticks down, a bit just like the well being system from Yoshi’s Island. Fail to choose it up, and also you’re by yourself, however it might probably typically be equally dangerous to chase after it when it goes careening over spike pits or behind enemy strains.
Total, stage designs really feel fairly stable, however they are usually slightly inconsistent with the problem curve. Typically you’ll be progressing simply superb till a nasty part all of the sudden stops you in your tracks for a number of makes an attempt, solely to be adopted by extra simply handed areas. Or on the puzzling facet of issues, you’ll typically be confronted with an environmental puzzle that expects you to use an answer utilizing a mechanic that you simply weren’t taught but. Fortunately, Tiny Thor will get sufficient proper with its stage design that it’s nonetheless a totally pleasing expertise, simply be ready for it to be slightly ‘cease and go’ in some locations.
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Problem spikes apart, Tiny Thor nonetheless is not for the faint of coronary heart. It’s not fairly at Super Meat Boy ranges of ache, however that is undoubtedly not a platformer you can sleep by and discover some problem within the endgame. Even the sooner ranges can put up extra of a combat than you could count on, and issues solely get harder as you beat bosses and unlock extra motion skills like a wall leap or a double leap. Typically you’ll get ganked by a horde of enemies and never have the ability to retrieve your coronary heart earlier than the reasonably brief i-frame window ends. Typically you’ll be racing to outrun a rising flood and leap only a second too late, drowning Thor. Generally, it looks like such deaths are the consequence of foolish errors and gradual reflexes, however there are nonetheless many instances when it feels just like the physics are at fault.
For instance, one widespread early-level gimmick is a vine that rapidly swings forwards and backwards, which Thor ought to seize onto robotically when you’re inside vary. But in our expertise, there have been many instances the place we made a leap of religion solely to look at him fortunately sail proper by the vine and to his early loss of life. A wall leap must be initiated by first holding the stick away from the wall you’re clinging to after which rapidly urgent the leap button. Even after getting the texture for it, there have been nonetheless many situations the place Thor would simply fall off the wall and die. We’ll concede that most of the errors we skilled might feasibly be chalked as much as a ‘ability difficulty’, however Tiny Thor nonetheless looks like its controls typically fail you, which might be damning given how a lot precision the extent designs demand.
![Tiny Thor Review - Screenshot 4 of 5](https://images.nintendolife.com/screenshots/137967/900x.jpg)
Although there aren’t any issue mode choices, you’ll be able to take the sting off by spending blue gems in an improve store, netting you boons like a sooner recall for Mjolnir or a slower countdown when your coronary heart leaps out. None of those are a substitute for easy ability, however they definitely do assist tone down the problem, particularly in the event you’re a completionist. Going for 100% completion on every stage isn’t any joke, and this goes double for the facet ranges you unlock with pink gems, which provide devastating, no-checkpoint gauntlets demanding nothing in need of perfection.
As for its visuals, Tiny Thor options among the most interesting 16-bit spritework out there on the Change, courtesy of Henk Nieborg. Animations are easy and color palettes are extensively different, making each minute of this expertise a visible deal with. Whether or not you are sliding down the grassy slope of a mountain, slaying a mighty kraken, or exploring the chilly halls of a frost big fortress, every locale is realized in spectacular element and all of it runs at an unbroken body fee. It’s the little issues like tiny mice scurrying across the flooring of caves that basically promote Tiny Thor as such a visible marvel, and whereas it could be that an precise 16-bit console might’ve by no means hoped to hit this stage of constancy, it’s satisfying to see what pixel artists can do after they’re let unfastened on {hardware} that may comfortably ship their full imaginative and prescient.
![Tiny Thor Review - Screenshot 5 of 5](https://images.nintendolife.com/screenshots/137963/900x.jpg)
These visuals are then matched by an equally glorious soundtrack by Fabian Del Priore and Chris Hülsbeck, delivering catchy chiptunes that completely match the widely lighthearted tone. We’d have appreciated slightly extra selection—it looks like some tracks get recycled slightly an excessive amount of—nevertheless it’s practically unimaginable to complain in regards to the high quality of the music right here.
Conclusion
Tiny Thor is a well-crafted retro platforming journey that no fan of 16-bit gaming will wish to miss. Although its controls generally is a tad irritating and its issue might be sometimes inconsistent, there’s no denying that this a totally pleasing expertise from stem to stern, particularly for individuals who get pleasure from a fittingly old-school problem. We’d give this a robust advice to anybody on the lookout for one other solidly constructed neo-retro platformer so as to add to their assortment, although we’ll warning anybody with slower reflexes to brace yourselves for a tough time. In all one of the best of how, Tiny Thor looks like a misplaced Sega Genesis recreation, simply value your money and time.
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