The combat consists largely of satisfying hack n’ slash action using your legendary sword, but you also have a shotgun side arm. Narita Boy almost plays as good as it looks. I loved gawking at Narita Boy’s art, and even those lacking programming knowledge or nostalgia for the time period should appreciate the creativity on display, like “what if digital horses were just four-legged computer rigs?” The synthwave soundtrack rocks, and the CRT-style overlay is the chef’s kiss of the whole package. This monarchy, consisting of a desert kingdom and coastal village, among other locations, feels fully realized, both in visual design and lore. Your goal: eradicate an evil program and restore the memories of the Kingdom’s human creator. Studio Koba borrows heavily from Tron in that the entire game is set inside a computer world known as the Digital Kingdom. I can’t stress enough how awesome Narita Boy’s presentation is. 1980s homages are nearly played out, but Studio Koba’s action title manages to reinvent that retro style of cool with an imaginative presentation that goes a step further than “let’s just slap neon and grid lines everywhere.” Narita Boy’s gameplay doesn’t quite live up to its killer looks, but if you can put up with some headaches, it winds up being an enjoyable romp. Another scene that sticks out in my mind was the statue of a pregnant computer program, it's huge belly surrounded by ceremonial candles-like something from the mind of David Cronenberg.Narita Boy's slick presentation hooked me before I even picked up my digitized sword. In one area, two priests suspended in mid-air have been hooked into a computer, electrical energy crackling as they convulse in the air. There's some back and forth between certain areas, but so much of the game has some incredibly striking scenes that it's a pleasure whenever you do have to double-back. Narita Boy's story is strictly linear, with marked goals to follow as you run around its pixel-perfect backdrop. One boss battle I had to dodge a giant mechanical carp in a Japanese bathhouse as I surfed on a giant floppy disk One boss battle I had to dodge a giant mechanical carp in a bathhouse as I surfed on a giant floppy disk-which was pretty fantastic. These dramatic encounters feel more about showing off the idea behind the creation rather than being actually difficult. Boss fights are more challenging, but not as much as I was expecting. The game brings technology and mythology together to create an interesting world.Įnemy attacks are clearly choreographed to the point where if you just remember which technique works for each enemy you'll breeze past with ease. There's a certain mysticism too, like how the high-priestess of the entire Kingdom is a supervisor program named Motherboard, how sentient programs called techno-fathers worship complex algorithms, how floppy disks act as keys to the holiest of temples, and how lines of code are treated as ancient scripture. It's the usual 'hero saving the world' narrative but with the twist of being inside a retro console from the '80s, and I think Narita Boy's execution of that idea is brilliant.Įvery scrap and segment of the gaming console has been assigned a specific role within this fantasy universe, and the world has enough lore that it could rival Game of Thrones. Traveling through each of the kingdom's three regions, you must defeat the evil servants of HIM, a dark program that wishes to see the Digital Kingdom fall. Playing as the titular pixel hero Narita Boy, you have been summoned to save the Digital Kingdom from crisis.
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