This is a theory attempting to detail the order of events that occur within the "Nitrome Must Die" universe. This is an open article that encourages readers to contribute their ideas. (Discuss this in the Talk page or comments)
What is the NMD Timeline?[]
The timeline includes all of the games that have a direct or implied connection to the characters and/or events that originated from the game Nitrome Must Die. Enemy cameo appearances from that game do not count (e.g Hot Air is not explicitly connected to the timeline despite a Hot Air enemy being present in-game.)
What applies to the NMD Timeline?[]
The following are the games that fall into the Nitrome Must Die Timeline:
- Nitrome Must Die
- Super Stock Take
- Oodlegobs
- Loop (Jam Game) - A game developed by team Awesomotronice (Tom McQuillan and Giuseppe Longo, both being Nitrome employees at the time) for the 2014 Nitrome Jam with the theme of "Dreams". The connection to the Nitrome Timeline is only implied in the character's complaint about the view from his balcony. However, this connection is only loose since the game takes place inside of a looping dream that also references to other Nitrome employees and the game Flue.
- Bump Battle Royale
- Icebreaker Now Has Achievements! - A trailer announcing the addition of achievements to the Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage Game. In the story of the trailer, the Vikings visit the Nitrome headquarters, confirming that it is indeed located in London as indicated by the London Eye and the Big Ben clock tower seen in the background at the beginning. As a result, this also confirms the same for the MewTube headquarters. Inside Nitrome Towers, Austin is seen in the background being carried away by two employees alongside a few other Nitrome characters that the Vikings walk past to the games studio to speak with the Nitrome Boss and Cuboy. A few wanted posters of Austin, Justin, and the Chimp from Superstocktake are shown on the wall.
The following list contains connections with less concrete evidence:
- Facebook Comments
- Nitrome Must Die Website
- Nitrome Accounts Trailer -
- Gopogo blog article
The Gopogo update blog post
- Gopogo
- Nitrome accounts teaser image
The following are speculative in connection to the NMD Timeline:
- Nitrome Enjoyment System
- Rubble Trouble series
Timeline[]
The beginning of the timeline is shown at the introduction of the game Nitrome Must Die. Austin Carter is seen recently losing at a game on Nitrome's website and his friend Justin Bennet messages him about how awful the latest game is. The two talk about taking down Nitrome in person and proceed to head out on their bikes to Nitrome Towers.
This is likely the point when the two of them first break into Nitrome's headquarters, possibly unprepared, and consequently getting captured on the spot. In the snot room in the game Super Stock Take, Austin is seen locked up in a cell. Justin isn't shown to be caught and likely wasn't, allowing him to help Austin break out. In the trailer Icebreaker Now Has Achievements, Austin is seen being taken away by two workers, likely back to his cell. On the wall of the office displays wanted posters of Austin, Justin, and the Chimp (for stealing peanut provisions), showing that this trailer takes place after the events of Super Stock Take and sometime before the ending of Nitrome Must Die. Austin and Justin eventually take Nitrome down and use the money they stole to start up their new game company. It is possible that the events of Nitrome Must Die don't occur in real-time, let alone on the same day in one sitting. Regardless of how long the player finishes it, it is more plausible that what's shown in-game is the result of intensive planning and trial and error.
Strange Implications[]
There are a couple of odd hints scattered throughout games, videos, images, and blog posts that contradict the events that occur in Nitrome Must Die. For instance, Nitrome Towers appears in the background of Oodlegobs' intro located nearby MewTube's headquarters. We are later shown this scene again in the Icebreaker Achievements trailer (which also confirms that both Nitrome Towers and MewTube are in London, judging by the Big Ben tower and the London Eye in the background). But if this is the case, how would MewTube appear outside Nitrome Towers if Oodlegobs is a Nitrome game?
It's possible that in-game Nitrome simply added that in as an easter egg (much similar to the real-life Nitrome) however, that would not explain why we also see MewTube in the background of the Icebreaker Achievements trailer which the Vikings from the game come to visit. This scenario is unrelated to Oodlegobs and it would be strange if the entire trailer just so happened to take place within the Oodlegobs game as well.
Of course, there's the possibility that this trailer is also a fabrication of in-game Nitrome, but that would make no sense for this video isn't from any game at all and it uploaded to YouTube in our real world, which in-game Nitrome would have no access to.
Also, the Vikings are seen flying from into the scene from off-screen towards the tower. This means that the Vikings came from someplace other than Nitrome Towers, despite Nitrome creating Icebreaker and, consequently the Vikings too. This shows that the Vikings live somewhere in the world outside Nitrome Towers, with the freedom to come and go as they please. If that is the case, then could the same be possible for the case of MewTube if it's also outside?
Interestingly, Nitrome the company is mentioned a lot in Rubble Trouble Tokyo, especially towards the end where a playable game of Off The Rails is displayed on a gigantic screen. Other games in the Rubble Trouble series seem to reference Nitrome in interesting ways as well. Electronic billboards showing Godzilla and Ultraman from Pixel Pop and Takeshi from the Final Ninja series show up in RT Tokyo. And in RT Moscow, metal barrels with the Hazmat hero's face from the Toxic series are around. The amount of cameos in the Rouble Trouble series has the second most Nitrome cameos after Nitrome Must Die itself, as well as the confirmed existence of Nitrome as a company in the Rouble Trouble games as well, leading strong possibility that the RT series is strongly linked with the NMD world as well.
Another strange situation is that Austin Carter wrote the Gopogo blog article on Nitrome's website, likely because Austin makes an appearance in that game as well as his partner, Justin. But what's strange is how Austin would have access to publishing a blog post on Nitrome's website in the first place, and why he'd even be willing to write such an enthusiastic announcement in the first place if he dislikes Nitrome so much. Not to mention that Nitrome Towers has long been destroyed by him unless we interpret this taking place long before the events of Nitrome Must Die. This explanation is further backed up by his appearance in the Nitrome Accounts announcement video posted on July 5, 2013, where he shows a somewhat impatient but tolerant attitude. Oddly enough, Austin is seen making an iconic hate comment in the preview of the comments section before accounts were added. This likely takes place before the accounts trailer since this preview image appeared long before that announcement video came out.
Additionally, since the game Nitrome Must Die is also a Nitrome game (made by the real world Nitrome), wouldn't the discrepancies to do with the Icebreaker Achievements trailer apply to Austin, Justin, and the Chimp too? The way the Vikings act towards the Nitrome boss and Cuboy gives the impression that they are impartial to the Nitrome boss and show no hesitation to speak up against him despite being the creator, meaning that either the Vikings are unaware that they themselves were created by Nitrome and are likely made from the Charomat goo. (Perhaps even assuming that Nitrome only made the game alone separate to them) Or perhaps they have just come to terms with it and see it as no big deal.
If the former possibility is true, this raises an interesting idea that Austin Carter himself may just another character created by Nitrome from the Charomat machine. But that is true, then the same honestly applies to the rest of the other human characters in NMD which despite not bleeding slime when killed, doesn't prove they aren't created by Nitrome since they are similar to the Toxic robots which also don't drop fluids when killed.
The only problem with the characters in NMD all being created by in-game Nitrome itself is that if the entire game were just to be written off as another game made by in-game Nitrome, then that means none of the things that show up within that game can be trusted to even be true or accurate, which would cancel out the Charomat machine used as an explanation. This is a bootstrap paradox that cannot be explained with in-game, in-universe canonical events.