Gorgeous Amiga Style Platformer Tiny Thor Heading To Switch On August 3rd

there has never been a platformer on a 16 bit system that looks like this. this is a 32bit style platformer.

Edit - "The 16-bit presentation is reminiscent of games popular with players back in the days of the Commodore Amiga..."

surely, the amiga is a 32 bit computer. 🤔

i find it disheartening that this site continues to call everything with 2D "pixel graphics" 16 bit, even after many readers have pointed it out in prior articles. Surely your journalistic curiousity is stronger than this. 👍

@-wc- I agree with you that this is more remeniscent of 2d platformers on Saturn and Playstation and I totally understand your sentiment. However it could equally be compared to a high end NeoGeo or other arcade title, perhaps CPS2, and how you label those as far as "bits" is highly debatable (the "24bit" claim of the NeoGeo is absolute nonsense marketing jargon).

As far as the Amigas, it depends really. The 1200 is 32bit, for sure. The 500 and 600 had some 32bit registers limited by a 16bit databus... but if you're going to argue that counts then the Megadrive / Genesis is also 32bit, as is the Neo Geo, the Sega System 16 arcade boards, even Atari ST, all of which used the same 16/32bit hybrid CPU.

In reality, there was never really a 100% cut off between 8/16/32/64bit that could show a definite jump in quality. There were extremely primitive 16bit systems in the 1970s, like the TI 99/4a... the PC Engine was "8bit" but outperformed the SNES and Genesis in several areas... lets not get into the arguements around the Jaguar! 😅

The fact that "bits" have never really been the thing that most affects the graphics performance or speed of a system means that its mostly a meaningless marketing term used by Sega as shorthand for "Genesis can wipe the floor with NES". We've had consoles refered to as 128bit or even 256bit when in reality they are 32/64bit... it was just shorthand for "this is the next generation up".

The most powerful PCs are still using 64bit processors, graphics cards and operating systems. To say a 4090 is in the same league as an N64, or that a TA99/4A is equivalent to a SNES shows how silly it is. Infact while we're at it, the SNES has an 8bit CPU 😂 its all just nonsense really.

The problem then for retro-style indies is that people will look at your pixel art game, and call it 8bit if it looks simple, and 16bit if it looks fancy. To most people, "32bit" makes them think of low poly 3d. Of course, you and I know that a game like Tiny Thor would never have been possible on any of the famous "16bit" systems, but I can see why people will think that its going for a modern version of that style.

If we're being actually technical and nitpicky, this game wouldn't have been possbile on any 32bit system either - pause the video any time any sprite object is rotated and you'll see that the "pixels" rotate at angles rather than the computer redrawing each frame to realign to the grid. Even ignoring this, the base resolution of the sprite appears higher than any of the "32bit" consoles.

Personally this is not a choice I'm fond of and in my own games I've worked extremely hard to make sure my games are truly "32bit" in style. I followed Sonic Mania's example of recreating the "16bit" style but with the extra colours, speed, memory etc of a 32bit system, and avoiding the pitfalls of modern indie games that just use pixel art in a 4k modern rendering style. The only change I allowed was to move the 4:3 aspect ratio to 16x9 - same as Mania. I think this makes sense for a modern game targeting the current gen platforms.

None of that is to insult Little Thor though, I think it looks really good. Its just not truly 16bit OR 32bit. Its a modern game with very pretty pixel art, and people are going to (incorrectly) label it as whatever "feels" right to them when they look at it.

@samuelvictor

i thought you would weigh in 🙂👍

i agree with everything you said, and it's definitely come down to a "i know its subjective, but i also know I'm right" kind of thing for me 😆

i think theres a look that describes 8 bit, 16 bit, 32 bit, as terms of art. this is VERY clearly of the 32 bit flavor. in my opinion, of course, but i can back up this assertion with examples, and i think really make the case.

i dont think theres much case for calling this game "16 bit inspired." as i said on another thread, this seems like someone flattening history a bit, calling everything that is 2D but with more colors than NES "16 bit," and thinking of 32bit as the era of chunky polygons.

@-wc- Yeah I totally agree with you, I feel the same way. But I won't at all be surprised or offended when my own games are called "16bit style" because of course they will - they are pixelated 240p with parallax scrolling and more colours than NES... that MUST mean they could run on the Genesis/SNES!

I too could rattle off a tonne of 2d 32bit games this Mighty Thor game looks like. But you hit the nail on the head with saying most people "flatten history" by thinking of 32bit as chunky polygons.

I think perhaps Sonic Mania is a good way to look at it. To enthusiasts very familiar with playing retro games to this day, its very obviously a case of "what would 2d Sonic have looked like if it were on the Saturn and used the extra power to increase the colours, frames of animation, details and music?" but to most people who used to love Sonic but haven't played it recent, they say "Wow, it looks JUST like the Genesis games!" when infact its FAR beyond what Genesis could do. I don't think the devs should take this as an insult, and really, its not even that the people who think it looks 16bit are wrong - because what they are actually imagining is that it looks like the Genesis games looked in their memory. They don't remember the lower number of animation frames, or the fact that Sonic only rotates in 8 angles rather than 360 when he goes round a loop. They just remember it was fast and fun and colourful and the new game has the same "feel" as they remember back then. People are always going to see "2d platformer" and think "16bit" until someone more technically minded, like you or I comes along and says "well actually..." and loses them with technobabble.

Again, I agree with you, 100%. I just don't think its a battle we should be fighting really as I don't see us winning. Its not like its a bad thing to associate a game with the Genesis/SNES era, those are some of the greatest games of all time. People don't use "16bit" as an insult, if anything its a complement 😀 (even if they are wrong 😋 )

To get around this, I usually pitch my own games as "its like a 16bit game but with the extra colours, memory and speed of more modern hardware". Then if someone says "like a Saturn game?" I know I'm among friends and say "yes EXACTLY". lol

@samuelvictor

hey, look at that! "Amiga-style!"

not one mention of 16 bit left on the page! 👍

I must say, given that the two of us seem to be the only people here interested in the topic, im a bit surprised (and delighted) to see the correction!

This is my favorite games site, and this is why! Great community, responsive editors 😄

BTW ive really enjoyed this conversation, and i have to say, im interested to see your games!

✌️

@-wc- Haha whadya know! We were listened to. Awesome 😀

I agree that this is a great site, I only started commenting recently (I have to be careful as I type too much and get sucked into wasting too much time in places online!) but I've been reading since the start. I read all their other sites too though so far I've only commented on Nintendolife.

Over the years (even before Nintendolife started) I've spoken to Damo a few times about my varied career path and our shared interests in 90s import gaming and UK games magazines, and he's a great guy. I've spoken to various other staff writers and the video creators as well, I expect/hope when the time is right, you'll see some or all of my gaming projects get featured/previewd/reviewed. I really like how passionate they all are about true indies and retro-flavoured projects - all my current games are going to be on all current consoles, and I'm also tentatively getting into NES and Gameboy development as well as a side-side hobby so I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about in the coming years.

Also, thanks, I enjoy talking to you too, and I hope you'll like my games! 😅