TowerFall Ascension: Porting the Original King of Couch Multiplayer

TowerFall Ascension, the original couch multiplayer archer game by Maddy Makes Games, ported to PS4, PS Vita, and Xbox One by Sickhead Games

Title: TowerFall Ascension
First Release: 2014
Developer: Maddy Makes Games
Publisher: Maddy Makes Games
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Engine: Microsoft’s XNA

TowerFall Ascension is Maddy Thorson’s archery combat platformer: a four-player local brawler built around the kind of chaotic, split-second competition that makes people yell at each other from across the couch.

This was Sickhead’s first game port, our first collaboration with Sony’s newly formed Third Party Production team and one of the first C# XNA titles on PlayStation 4. As part of the broader effort to bring Towerfall beyond its PC and Ouya origins and onto console platforms we wrote the first version of MonoGame for PlayStation 4 used in other hit titles like Fez. That groundwork would help us eventually ship the game to Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and even PS Vita.

TowerFall is a game where the entire experience hinges on frame-precise inputs and pixel-perfect collision. Catching an arrow mid-air, stomping a friend a hair’s-breadth before they stomp you. Getting that feel right on across multiple platforms is exactly the kind of low-level porting work that looks invisible when done well. The fact that TowerFall landed cleanly on every platform and remained a beloved staple of the couch multiplayer genre is testament to our foundations.


Sickhead Games is the leading game porting studio, bringing Unity, Unreal, Godot, and custom engine titles to console and handheld including PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS. From codebase assessment to post-launch support, we're trusted by solo indies and major publishers alike, including Humble Games, Sony Interactive, Nintendo, Annapurna, Good Games, ConcernedApe, MegaCrit, 17-Bit, Maddy Makes Games, Zachtronics, Keen Software House, Thomas Happ, Pocketwatch Games, EXOK, Young Horses, Taito, Jaleco, and Microsoft. We've shipped over 100 releases, among them Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, Axiom Verge, Space Engineers, and Celeste. We specialize in bringing retro masterpieces, indie darlings, and PC classics to modern audiences like Grandia, Enclave, and Jaleco Sports titles.