Style over Substante: The Game.
The artstyle is amazing just like the fantasy world inside of a computer. The story is also kinda good and sweet. Everything works in perfect harmony.
But the combat just feels off, I couldn't tell when and why I got hit most of the times because the animations are made after the artstyle which makes it difficult to see when the hitting animation beggins.
The world structure is also poor, the game tries to pass of as a metroidvania but the metroidvania factor boild down to a NPC saying "Go back and get the key to open this one door" and then you have to get another key in a empy room to open the door that leads to the first key.
It gets boring and frustrating and it's really a shame because, as I said, the visual, the music and the world are insanely good.
The artstyle is amazing just like the fantasy world inside of a computer. The story is also kinda good and sweet. Everything works in perfect harmony.
But the combat just feels off, I couldn't tell when and why I got hit most of the times because the animations are made after the artstyle which makes it difficult to see when the hitting animation beggins.
The world structure is also poor, the game tries to pass of as a metroidvania but the metroidvania factor boild down to a NPC saying "Go back and get the key to open this one door" and then you have to get another key in a empy room to open the door that leads to the first key.
It gets boring and frustrating and it's really a shame because, as I said, the visual, the music and the world are insanely good.
Good game right up until the end, where I just gave up because of the immense difficulty spike and the mechanics being kinda boring. The story carried most of it.
This review contains spoilers
Made an account because I needed somewhere to write about this game after finishing it. I will try to remember to come back here and log all my other games and probably not write nearly as many words as this.
I was getting through the game fine enough for the first 4-5 hours; the combat, while occasionally grating, never got repetitive thanks to a large array of enemies. I also didn't mind the linearity of the platforming, even though the layout felt it was begging to be a sprawling Metroidvania. The Kickstarter page listed numerous inspirations but the two truest are Superbrothers and Ready Player One, the former in its (quiet pretty) pixel art and the latter in its synthwave album cover aesthetics and affect (though thankfully not references...mostly).
So for most of my time playing, the audiovisuals and combat were able to carry me through the blander platforming and storytelling. As the game went on though, I found my moveset for the battle scenes became far too complicated, with special moves feeling redundant (two separate, situation-dependent dash attacks) or awkward to use (maybe the worst uppercut in any video game). This is compounded in the late-game (starting with the train in the red zone) when enemies and bosses get ridiculously long patterns in their movesets, culminating in a final boss fight which has what feels like five or six different phases.
It's also around this point where the game's real story fell flat on its face. The intermittent flashback scenes - which despite some bizarre time jumps are at least respectable somber - become cloying and heavy-handed; you will never guess who Motherboard and Narita Boy are supposed to represent! Yet even that gets trampled by the tonal whiplash of the final ending, where it appears your mother was murdered by your father(??) before he offers you a Back to the Future reference and the credits roll. It's been a while since I remember playing a game that lost this much goodwill from me so fast.
I was getting through the game fine enough for the first 4-5 hours; the combat, while occasionally grating, never got repetitive thanks to a large array of enemies. I also didn't mind the linearity of the platforming, even though the layout felt it was begging to be a sprawling Metroidvania. The Kickstarter page listed numerous inspirations but the two truest are Superbrothers and Ready Player One, the former in its (quiet pretty) pixel art and the latter in its synthwave album cover aesthetics and affect (though thankfully not references...mostly).
So for most of my time playing, the audiovisuals and combat were able to carry me through the blander platforming and storytelling. As the game went on though, I found my moveset for the battle scenes became far too complicated, with special moves feeling redundant (two separate, situation-dependent dash attacks) or awkward to use (maybe the worst uppercut in any video game). This is compounded in the late-game (starting with the train in the red zone) when enemies and bosses get ridiculously long patterns in their movesets, culminating in a final boss fight which has what feels like five or six different phases.
It's also around this point where the game's real story fell flat on its face. The intermittent flashback scenes - which despite some bizarre time jumps are at least respectable somber - become cloying and heavy-handed; you will never guess who Motherboard and Narita Boy are supposed to represent! Yet even that gets trampled by the tonal whiplash of the final ending, where it appears your mother was murdered by your father(??) before he offers you a Back to the Future reference and the credits roll. It's been a while since I remember playing a game that lost this much goodwill from me so fast.
Esse jogo fez eu sentir tantas coisas em tão pouco tempo e eu sinceramente não consigo pensar um único motivo pra ele ser tão underrated. É uma obra de arte completa com gameplay variada e divertida, exploração intrigante e recompensadora, trilha sonora maravilhosa e como se não bastasse tudo isso, tem uma história incrível.
Fazia tempo que eu não jogava algo tão intrigante e diferente. Narita Boy trouxe esse sentimento de volta, sendo assim uma das melhores surpresas no meu 2022.
Fazia tempo que eu não jogava algo tão intrigante e diferente. Narita Boy trouxe esse sentimento de volta, sendo assim uma das melhores surpresas no meu 2022.
An overlooked gem of the Retro-Metroidvania craze. The presentation of the game is just sublime, offering a unique and highly stylish ride through crazy 16-bit vistas with an amazing synthwave soundtrack. The attention to detail is often staggering and rarely matched by other games. While the gameplay is nothing outstanding or snappy, it is fun from beginning to end and avoids overly hard difficulty spikes like many other games in the genre. This is mostly a relaxed, sometimes slightly challenging 5-7 hours escapism with a pretty decent story attached to it. There isn’t much replay value or innovation to be found but still highly recommended.
Too much jargon, great style and music , needs better gameplay for sequel
Sem dúvidas um dos melhores jogos indie que eu já joguei até agora, a história é incrível, game play é incrível, trilha sonora é a melhor que eu já escutei vindo de um jogo que é indie e enfim, é muito bom. Gamer Tag (nome no xbox): xTiuJow557
Sinceramente sono abbastanza deluso, dal punto di vista estetico sicuramente è notevole ma allo stesso tempo nulla di particolare e poi il gameplay è tra l'inesistente e il controproducente. Gran peccato
Incal en juego, pero mejor 👍
This review contains spoilers
the song at the end actually makes it all worth it
Not going to give a rating due to limited playtime. Unfortunately, I've become photosensitive these past few months and this is just too aggressive for me to play without having massive headaches. A shame because I loved how it looked and sounded. I got it on sale for cheap at least.
A bunch of talented artists made a game thats just not fun to play.
Honestly a pretty darn fun and frantic action platformer with an amazing aesthetic, style and some chunky but fun fights... But its also let down by some rather floaty platforming, a lack of a mapping system and a few other rather strange elements that dont really work such as a health system where it often feels easier to kill yourself off and respawn vs actually trying to battle through things.
Still. The neon-soaked graphics and great soundtrack make this still worth playing.
Still. The neon-soaked graphics and great soundtrack make this still worth playing.
Fantastic aesthetic that works in tandem with the game's story. Often gets a bit too obtuse, but the largest element holding the game back is that it never really feels like it has much care for its combat or desire to really do much with it. Pads itself out and by the end just kind of wears out its welcome to the point that even the final boss fight feels uninspired.
Enjoyed my time with it, but leaves a stronger first impression than it is able to sustain itself.
Enjoyed my time with it, but leaves a stronger first impression than it is able to sustain itself.
I happened to be lucky enough to find a physical Limited Run copy of Narita Boy at my local game store. Was it worth the $60 I paid for it? Sadly, no. BUT THAT BEING SAID…I still really enjoyed this game. When I wasn’t confused by its lackluster Metroidvania-like progression and infuriating combat system, I was awed by its insanely dope artstyle and animations, banger soundtrack, and lore that made me feel like a kid discovering an all-expansive world again. Studio Koba clearly put a lot of love into the Digital Kingdom of Narita Boy, so I hope if they get around to making a sequel, they can improve upon what they’ve made here and produce a kickass game. I truly believe that if they spruce up the combat and exploration, “Narita Boy 2” could become one of the indie greats. I almost feel bad for rating it as “low” as I did, but hey, 3 stars is above-average in my eyes.
Pros:
- I didn’t expect myself to get as immersed in the lore and world of Narita Boy as I did. The basic plot is that the Creator (a game developer) loses his memories to an evil sentient program in the game he designed, and you, as Narita Boy, must travel throughout the Digital Kingdom (the game world) to defeat the Stallions (hostile programs) and reassemble the Creator’s memories. The kicker here is that all of the NPCs that you meet in the Digital Kingdom are fully aware that they are in a simulated environment, and have taken to studying its source code in a techno-religious fashion. That’s just objectively awesome. Like, maybe I’m easily entertained, but like, c’mon.
- All the residents of the Digital Kingdom worship the ‘Trichroma’ and venerate the ‘Motherboard’ (who is your quest-giver by the way) and have little dialogue quirks like speaking in code (like, JavaScript type code) when they’re on the verge of death or referring to each other as ‘instances’. NPCs from different locations have different ways of looking at the source code and will mention areas that the player may or may not get to see. It really made me feel like this world was much larger than it actually is, in the same way that the book Ready Player One does. I ADORED it.
- The actual progression of the story is nice too. Most of it is your standard action hero journey stuff, but Narita Boy leans into it a lot so it never feels cheap. You also get to view the Creator’s memories that you find, and they tell an admittedly emotional story, though nothing super life-changing or anything. It definitely made me speculate a lot on his relation to his creation.
- The artstyle of this game is utterly fucking spectacular. It’s the artstyle of classic retro side scrollers, but what you saw in your imagination while you played them rather than what was actually on screen. It’s vibrant and has that hazy, dreamlike feel of CRT computer screens (with the rounded corners on the display to boot!). And the animation is just buttery smooth, it is genuinely so impressive.
- The clean style of the combat animations is probably one of the only good things I can say about that system. The attacks themselves look amazing; they have this weighty but smooth animation that works great with all the enemy death animations and makes you feel like you’re cutting through bamboo like a samurai. You’ve also got a shotgun that shoots laser beams and that’s just sick. Animation is what made the combat tolerable (see cons for everything else about the combat).
- And the soundtrack? Certified slapper. Salvinsky (the composer) walked into the studio and wrote nothing but Ws. Take chiptune EDM and vaporwave and put it in a blender, then add a bit of rock guitar, choral arrangements, and corny retro theme songs and you’ve got the Narita Boy soundtrack. I beg of you, PLEASE give this a listen. Stallion Threat, Techno-Sword, Narita Boy Theme, and Saving the World all go so hard.
- Now, because I really don’t like the combat of this game, I didn’t find many of the boss fights all that good. Some were just ‘fine’, and one I’ll mention in the cons section is soul-suckingly agonzing. But there were a few I actually really liked: Black Rainbow, Hex, White Noise, and the final boss fight were all very enjoyable, partly because the soundtracks of the same name were also great (listen to those too!). All the boss fights (and all the enemies for that matter) are also animated insanely well and that increases the fun as well. It’s no coincidence that these fights are also the fights where I felt like I had multiple options to approach them from.
- A minor praise here, but I liked the end credits sequence. The music was great and the art team made detailed pixel arts that (presumably) depict some of the developers and fans interacting with Narita Boy.
Cons:
- While I did praise the story, I will admit that a good portion of the lore is told to the player via large text boxes. There certainly is some environmental storytelling but it’s hard to discern with the pixel graphics at times. The dense dialogue in this game is made worse by the fact that most NPCs can only be spoken to once, meaning if you forgot what they said you’re out of luck. Naturally this can have dire consequences on your ability to progress.
- Exploration can also use some work. While I found a lot of the environments really aesthetically pleasing to walk through, Narita Boy is very linear and has a lot of areas that amount to little more than pretty loading screens while you walk to the next area. There is also no ability to backtrack into a House (kind of like levels) once you’ve left, meaning if you miss one of the four floppy disc collectibles to unlock a bonus Creator’s memory—oops, time to play the whole game again.
- Conceptually, I like that the game put you in a lot of situations where you would be wise to start picking up a pen and paper and writing down tips. I think it’s meant to invoke an era before online guides, where the rumors you heard on the playground at school meant getting an edge in your game. That’s being said, it just does not work here. Writing down codes for portals is fine I guess, but not having reference tools like an enemy bestiary or even a map is brutal. I constantly forgot the strategy to beat certain enemies and just had to rely on trial and error to defeat them, which with this game’s combat, made the experience a lot worse.
- Okay, I’m not going to hold back on the combat system. It is just not good. First, while all the abilities look really nice, a lot of them are really useless. The shoulder bash is just a dash with pitiful damage, and there’s no reason to use it over actually dashing and attacking. The downstab (a ground pound) is also basically useless and is more likely to get you killed since you lose all forward momentum when you do it.
- The summons and wildfires are a different breed of redundant. ONE summon is useful and a good game mechanic. THREE of them that ALL DO THE SAME THING just from different sides of the screen is pointless. There were exactly ZERO situations where the side of the screen the attack came from mattered.
- Wildfires (buffs that increase damage to enemies that match the wildfire color you have) are even more useless. Not only do they take time to activate (which can get you killed), but all three do the exact same thing. See an enemy with a yellow fire animation over their head, you use yellow wildfire. See one with blue fire? Blue wildfire. Red? You guessed it. This truthfully isn’t that bad until later in the game. This square-peg-square-hole-ass combat system gets even worse when there are multiple enemies with different wildfire types, and you need to dedicate a whole button press (that FREEZES YOU IN PLACE DAMMIT) to “un-wildfire”. Why you can’t just immediately switch from one type to the other is beyond me.
- What I’m about to say next might be a skill issue, but I’ll die on this hill. While enemies in this game get stronger, and encounters get longer, I never felt like I as a player got stronger. You never get a longer health bar, you never get a higher shotgun ammo capacity, and you never get more Trichroma energy (used for summons and health regen). Most of the abilities you get like the aforementioned shoulder bash, summons, downstab, and wildfire didn’t have much application in combat, save for the enemies where shoulder bashing their guard is literally the only way to defeat them.
- Mini-rant time but the train segment and the Glove bossfight can go to hell. That part of the game is so hard for absolutely no reason. Clown me all you want but that was just way too brutal. Like five different encounters before you got to an autosave point, meaning if you died you had to do it all again. That brute enemy with the big shield you can only bait into a vulnerable stance by dodging through him sent me back too many times. And the Glove is actually harder than the final boss. I’m really glad that the final boss fight was really enjoyable, because if the Glove was the final boss I would have rated this game even lower.
- One final thing about the combat: I think it would have been a better idea to allow players to use the D-pad (on console at least, I don’t know what PC controls are like) to control movement and combat. Directional controls aren’t as enjoyable using a stick since it's easier to mess them up.
- Okay, now I’m done with the combat. Sorry if that sounded a little toxic; I tried my best to stay objective while still being entertaining. One small nitpick left: I wish the button prompts were in pixel art style instead of being rendered as vector graphics. It would have fit the atmosphere better. Also, this isn’t really a con but when this game warns you about photosensitive epilepsy, heed its warning because DAMN there are a lot of flashing lights.
Objective rating: 3 stars
Subjective rating: 4 stars
Pros:
- I didn’t expect myself to get as immersed in the lore and world of Narita Boy as I did. The basic plot is that the Creator (a game developer) loses his memories to an evil sentient program in the game he designed, and you, as Narita Boy, must travel throughout the Digital Kingdom (the game world) to defeat the Stallions (hostile programs) and reassemble the Creator’s memories. The kicker here is that all of the NPCs that you meet in the Digital Kingdom are fully aware that they are in a simulated environment, and have taken to studying its source code in a techno-religious fashion. That’s just objectively awesome. Like, maybe I’m easily entertained, but like, c’mon.
- All the residents of the Digital Kingdom worship the ‘Trichroma’ and venerate the ‘Motherboard’ (who is your quest-giver by the way) and have little dialogue quirks like speaking in code (like, JavaScript type code) when they’re on the verge of death or referring to each other as ‘instances’. NPCs from different locations have different ways of looking at the source code and will mention areas that the player may or may not get to see. It really made me feel like this world was much larger than it actually is, in the same way that the book Ready Player One does. I ADORED it.
- The actual progression of the story is nice too. Most of it is your standard action hero journey stuff, but Narita Boy leans into it a lot so it never feels cheap. You also get to view the Creator’s memories that you find, and they tell an admittedly emotional story, though nothing super life-changing or anything. It definitely made me speculate a lot on his relation to his creation.
- The artstyle of this game is utterly fucking spectacular. It’s the artstyle of classic retro side scrollers, but what you saw in your imagination while you played them rather than what was actually on screen. It’s vibrant and has that hazy, dreamlike feel of CRT computer screens (with the rounded corners on the display to boot!). And the animation is just buttery smooth, it is genuinely so impressive.
- The clean style of the combat animations is probably one of the only good things I can say about that system. The attacks themselves look amazing; they have this weighty but smooth animation that works great with all the enemy death animations and makes you feel like you’re cutting through bamboo like a samurai. You’ve also got a shotgun that shoots laser beams and that’s just sick. Animation is what made the combat tolerable (see cons for everything else about the combat).
- And the soundtrack? Certified slapper. Salvinsky (the composer) walked into the studio and wrote nothing but Ws. Take chiptune EDM and vaporwave and put it in a blender, then add a bit of rock guitar, choral arrangements, and corny retro theme songs and you’ve got the Narita Boy soundtrack. I beg of you, PLEASE give this a listen. Stallion Threat, Techno-Sword, Narita Boy Theme, and Saving the World all go so hard.
- Now, because I really don’t like the combat of this game, I didn’t find many of the boss fights all that good. Some were just ‘fine’, and one I’ll mention in the cons section is soul-suckingly agonzing. But there were a few I actually really liked: Black Rainbow, Hex, White Noise, and the final boss fight were all very enjoyable, partly because the soundtracks of the same name were also great (listen to those too!). All the boss fights (and all the enemies for that matter) are also animated insanely well and that increases the fun as well. It’s no coincidence that these fights are also the fights where I felt like I had multiple options to approach them from.
- A minor praise here, but I liked the end credits sequence. The music was great and the art team made detailed pixel arts that (presumably) depict some of the developers and fans interacting with Narita Boy.
Cons:
- While I did praise the story, I will admit that a good portion of the lore is told to the player via large text boxes. There certainly is some environmental storytelling but it’s hard to discern with the pixel graphics at times. The dense dialogue in this game is made worse by the fact that most NPCs can only be spoken to once, meaning if you forgot what they said you’re out of luck. Naturally this can have dire consequences on your ability to progress.
- Exploration can also use some work. While I found a lot of the environments really aesthetically pleasing to walk through, Narita Boy is very linear and has a lot of areas that amount to little more than pretty loading screens while you walk to the next area. There is also no ability to backtrack into a House (kind of like levels) once you’ve left, meaning if you miss one of the four floppy disc collectibles to unlock a bonus Creator’s memory—oops, time to play the whole game again.
- Conceptually, I like that the game put you in a lot of situations where you would be wise to start picking up a pen and paper and writing down tips. I think it’s meant to invoke an era before online guides, where the rumors you heard on the playground at school meant getting an edge in your game. That’s being said, it just does not work here. Writing down codes for portals is fine I guess, but not having reference tools like an enemy bestiary or even a map is brutal. I constantly forgot the strategy to beat certain enemies and just had to rely on trial and error to defeat them, which with this game’s combat, made the experience a lot worse.
- Okay, I’m not going to hold back on the combat system. It is just not good. First, while all the abilities look really nice, a lot of them are really useless. The shoulder bash is just a dash with pitiful damage, and there’s no reason to use it over actually dashing and attacking. The downstab (a ground pound) is also basically useless and is more likely to get you killed since you lose all forward momentum when you do it.
- The summons and wildfires are a different breed of redundant. ONE summon is useful and a good game mechanic. THREE of them that ALL DO THE SAME THING just from different sides of the screen is pointless. There were exactly ZERO situations where the side of the screen the attack came from mattered.
- Wildfires (buffs that increase damage to enemies that match the wildfire color you have) are even more useless. Not only do they take time to activate (which can get you killed), but all three do the exact same thing. See an enemy with a yellow fire animation over their head, you use yellow wildfire. See one with blue fire? Blue wildfire. Red? You guessed it. This truthfully isn’t that bad until later in the game. This square-peg-square-hole-ass combat system gets even worse when there are multiple enemies with different wildfire types, and you need to dedicate a whole button press (that FREEZES YOU IN PLACE DAMMIT) to “un-wildfire”. Why you can’t just immediately switch from one type to the other is beyond me.
- What I’m about to say next might be a skill issue, but I’ll die on this hill. While enemies in this game get stronger, and encounters get longer, I never felt like I as a player got stronger. You never get a longer health bar, you never get a higher shotgun ammo capacity, and you never get more Trichroma energy (used for summons and health regen). Most of the abilities you get like the aforementioned shoulder bash, summons, downstab, and wildfire didn’t have much application in combat, save for the enemies where shoulder bashing their guard is literally the only way to defeat them.
- Mini-rant time but the train segment and the Glove bossfight can go to hell. That part of the game is so hard for absolutely no reason. Clown me all you want but that was just way too brutal. Like five different encounters before you got to an autosave point, meaning if you died you had to do it all again. That brute enemy with the big shield you can only bait into a vulnerable stance by dodging through him sent me back too many times. And the Glove is actually harder than the final boss. I’m really glad that the final boss fight was really enjoyable, because if the Glove was the final boss I would have rated this game even lower.
- One final thing about the combat: I think it would have been a better idea to allow players to use the D-pad (on console at least, I don’t know what PC controls are like) to control movement and combat. Directional controls aren’t as enjoyable using a stick since it's easier to mess them up.
- Okay, now I’m done with the combat. Sorry if that sounded a little toxic; I tried my best to stay objective while still being entertaining. One small nitpick left: I wish the button prompts were in pixel art style instead of being rendered as vector graphics. It would have fit the atmosphere better. Also, this isn’t really a con but when this game warns you about photosensitive epilepsy, heed its warning because DAMN there are a lot of flashing lights.
Objective rating: 3 stars
Subjective rating: 4 stars
Pegou meu interesse pela direção de arte, mas o que eu encontrei foi um beat-em-up cheio de charme, uma história pessoal e melancólica e um time de produtores que genuinamente ama o que faz.
Infelizmente perdeu algumas estrelas por causa da progressão esquisita que te prende de certas áreas sem motivo algum - você fica meio paranoico procurando segredos em todos os cantos do mapa quando você não sabe se, quando passar por uma porta, vai poder voltar atrás. Combinado com o auto-save intenso e alguns puzzles crípticos, Narita Boy faz você repetir o trabalho para um 100%, coisa que eu não tive vontade alguma de fazer.
Posso recomendar como um beat-em-up, mas acho que o forte de Narita Boy está em explorar esse cyber-espaço repleto de criatividade. Good vibes
Infelizmente perdeu algumas estrelas por causa da progressão esquisita que te prende de certas áreas sem motivo algum - você fica meio paranoico procurando segredos em todos os cantos do mapa quando você não sabe se, quando passar por uma porta, vai poder voltar atrás. Combinado com o auto-save intenso e alguns puzzles crípticos, Narita Boy faz você repetir o trabalho para um 100%, coisa que eu não tive vontade alguma de fazer.
Posso recomendar como um beat-em-up, mas acho que o forte de Narita Boy está em explorar esse cyber-espaço repleto de criatividade. Good vibes
Ótimo visual e música, porém gameplay enjoativa e com uma história q n prende
No me ha parecido un buen videojuego. Sabe derrochar estilo e imaginación con un apartado artístico realmente desbordante y llamativo, pero es un videojuego poco intuitivo a la hora de desplazarse por el mapa en los primeros compases, el combate es un poco soporífero y hay zonas que no aportan nada más que alargar el reloj.
Ah, y al final decide transformarse de repente en un Hollow Knight.
Ah, y al final decide transformarse de repente en un Hollow Knight.
I was initially surprised at the mostly negative/medicore reception the game got, but as I progressed through the game, I started understanding why. The back half of the game really drags. I liked the aesthetic though, and the story's actually pretty interesting. They needed to tighten up the platforming a little, because it never felt good.
this game seems like it was designed for me--love the plot set-up, world, aesthetic, and swords, but the controls didn't feel tight or responsive in a way that felt good, instead feeling 'slippery' in a way that didn't ultimately click for me
The game really wants you to notice the visuals. They are so in-your-face and over-the-top. The gameplay is plodding and slow. The excessive screen flashes are what really killed it for me. Luckily, I played it on Gamepass so I didn't have to buy it.
Played on Gamepass
Played on Gamepass
Awesome world with fusing the aesthetic of Tron with Japanese Folklore. Fantastic soundtrack. Decent combat but poor platforming. Gameplay loop drags with copious backtracking and poor sign posting.
Buen juego con una banda sonora increíble, muchos enemigo diferentes, buena animación en combates (aunque cuesta acostumbrarse a los saltos), y momentos bastante épicos dada la alta calidad visual que tiene todo el título. Ahora, el juego avisa que los epilépticos tengan cuidado y joder si deberían tenerlo. Hay luces estroboscópicas en muchas ocasiones que hasta a mi me han dado algún dolorcillo de cabeza. En las 6 h que dura aproximadamente introduce unos 60 millones de términos, arriba abajo, lo cual hace que muchas veces leas y no te estés enterando del todo a que coño se refieren. Quitando eso, no es un juego difícil, pues incluso si mueres te carga la partida con toda la vida al lado de donde has muerto. Eso si, el juego consiste en ir a un sitio y coger la llave A para abrir la puerta A y detrás está la llave B, para abrir la puerta B y así todo el rato. Le metes en medio colorines, enemigos, y ya estaría.
Ah, el final es bastante abierto, así que si eso te molesta pasa del título.
Ah, el final es bastante abierto, así que si eso te molesta pasa del título.
Sights & Sounds
- The 80s are alive and well in Narita Boy. The music and visuals really hammer home that point
- The pixel art is gorgeous, particularly the backgrounds. The devastated sci-fi environments you traverse all feel distinct and storied, each with their own palette and fine details
- Unfortunately, there's a slightly annoying CRT filter over all that gorgeous artwork that plays into the 80s veneer while diminishing all the effort that clearly went into the art
- I really hope you like droning synth music, or else the soundtrack is going to wear on you. I found it appealing in that Stranger Things vein, but it may not appeal to all tastes. If you play to the end, at least, you get a fun J-Pop theme song to cap things off
Story & Vibes
- The story has a fairly interesting premise. The developer of a video game is attacked by the villain of his creation, causing him to lose his memories. It's up to the legendary Narita Boy to save the game world and restore his creator's memories
- As you play, you'll find shrines containing the memories of the creator, which will gradually explain the relationship between Narita Boy and the programmer who created him
- The narrative surrounding the in-game world isn't quite as interesting. You mostly just navigate from objective to objective as directed by the Motherboard. It's a little dull, but at least the gameplay is fun
Playability & Replayability
- Nariata Boy largely plays as a beat 'em up with puzzle platforming sections
- Despite starting the game with no combat capabilities at all, the combat soon becomes the focus of the gameplay and fortunately feels pretty good. The controls are tight, and your attacks feel weighty
- After getting the Technosword, you begin with a basic combo, charge attack, and "shotgun" attack that basically serves as a powerful horizontal ranged option
- You'll eventually get a jump attack and dive attack, but these are only helpful against certain mobs. Additionally, you'll find your basic combo, dodge, and jump can solve most combat
- Despite combat feeling good, you wind up fighting a lot of the same mobs over and over again. It can feel a little tedious at times. Luckily, you can get rechargable screen wipe attacks to speed things up, and boss fights inject some much needed variety. They're still button-mashy, but at least they require pattern memorization and careful dodging
- Platforming feels secondary to all the combat, and once you get used to the floaty jump, getting around isn't too hard. There's nothing that'll require more than a single attempt or two to get past
- The puzzles are also fairly simple. It boils down to symbol and color memorization
Overall Impressions & Performance
- The game comes so close to being good. The combat feels like it's so omnipresent simply to pad out the length of the game. Big waves of tanky enemies get boring after a bit. It took the shine off the otherwise fun combat. Similarly, the CRT monitor definitely detracted from the visuals. It would have made more sense if it disappeared when you were in the game world
- This was a really good Steam Deck title. It's well-suited for handheld play and ran very well
Final Verdict
- 7/10. In all, it's a good experience with some definite 80s style. It plays well and sounds good, but there are some annoying gameplay and visual aspects that diminish what could have been a better experience
- The 80s are alive and well in Narita Boy. The music and visuals really hammer home that point
- The pixel art is gorgeous, particularly the backgrounds. The devastated sci-fi environments you traverse all feel distinct and storied, each with their own palette and fine details
- Unfortunately, there's a slightly annoying CRT filter over all that gorgeous artwork that plays into the 80s veneer while diminishing all the effort that clearly went into the art
- I really hope you like droning synth music, or else the soundtrack is going to wear on you. I found it appealing in that Stranger Things vein, but it may not appeal to all tastes. If you play to the end, at least, you get a fun J-Pop theme song to cap things off
Story & Vibes
- The story has a fairly interesting premise. The developer of a video game is attacked by the villain of his creation, causing him to lose his memories. It's up to the legendary Narita Boy to save the game world and restore his creator's memories
- As you play, you'll find shrines containing the memories of the creator, which will gradually explain the relationship between Narita Boy and the programmer who created him
- The narrative surrounding the in-game world isn't quite as interesting. You mostly just navigate from objective to objective as directed by the Motherboard. It's a little dull, but at least the gameplay is fun
Playability & Replayability
- Nariata Boy largely plays as a beat 'em up with puzzle platforming sections
- Despite starting the game with no combat capabilities at all, the combat soon becomes the focus of the gameplay and fortunately feels pretty good. The controls are tight, and your attacks feel weighty
- After getting the Technosword, you begin with a basic combo, charge attack, and "shotgun" attack that basically serves as a powerful horizontal ranged option
- You'll eventually get a jump attack and dive attack, but these are only helpful against certain mobs. Additionally, you'll find your basic combo, dodge, and jump can solve most combat
- Despite combat feeling good, you wind up fighting a lot of the same mobs over and over again. It can feel a little tedious at times. Luckily, you can get rechargable screen wipe attacks to speed things up, and boss fights inject some much needed variety. They're still button-mashy, but at least they require pattern memorization and careful dodging
- Platforming feels secondary to all the combat, and once you get used to the floaty jump, getting around isn't too hard. There's nothing that'll require more than a single attempt or two to get past
- The puzzles are also fairly simple. It boils down to symbol and color memorization
Overall Impressions & Performance
- The game comes so close to being good. The combat feels like it's so omnipresent simply to pad out the length of the game. Big waves of tanky enemies get boring after a bit. It took the shine off the otherwise fun combat. Similarly, the CRT monitor definitely detracted from the visuals. It would have made more sense if it disappeared when you were in the game world
- This was a really good Steam Deck title. It's well-suited for handheld play and ran very well
Final Verdict
- 7/10. In all, it's a good experience with some definite 80s style. It plays well and sounds good, but there are some annoying gameplay and visual aspects that diminish what could have been a better experience
8/10
Fallin love...
Narita Boy really should've captured me with its aesthetic and vibes, but the gameplay was just too boring (and at worst frustrating) to keep me interested. Fights were same-y, and not challenging in the right ways mainly coming down to a formulaic "if this enemy, use this skill" type of fighting. This, combined with some wonky controls really marred the cool exterior of this game.
Mola Pesicola
Not quite the game I wanted it to be. The greasy floor platforming feel is just something I cannot deal with in games right now.