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Narita Boy is a side-scrolling 80s VCR-soaked pixel adventure. You play as the titular Narita Boy, a chosen sort of hero who is tasked with saving a digital dimension from its almighty creator. There’s a lot more story here than you might think – most told through long dialog boxes – but the bottom line is that you’re on a pretty epic quest and you’re going to kick your ass.
Narita Boy is mostly made up of combat, platforming, and light puzzle solving. It’s not really a Metroidvania – there’s no hookup card – but there’s quite a bit of going back when you find keys that unlock previously unreachable slots. It’s a linear journey, and the game keeps track of your current goal, but without markers and a map, you can easily lose your bearings. This isn’t necessarily a problem – the way forward is usually much more obvious than it looks – but it does mean that you need to be constantly mindful of your surroundings.
Fortunately, the world of Narita Boy is wonderful. The aesthetic of the 80s VCR is certainly not original, but the game does it extremely well. Again, this is a digital field; its inhabitants are mostly mechanical beings with screens for faces, and their land is filled with discarded data in physical form. It’s a world filled with incredibly bizarre details and sights. It’s still, incredibly creative – and it’s another great example of what can be achieved with relatively simple pixel art.
This creativity also bleeds in combat. Encounters with enemy programs punctuate the entire release, and the good news is that Narita Boy feels good to be in control during these action-based battles. You regularly unlock a range of combat abilities, from the standard evasive dashboard to specialized super moves, and everything serves one purpose. As you might expect, the complexity of these encounters gradually increases as more dangerous enemy types are introduced, but the difficulty curve is masterful. Plus, boss fights are usually a joy.
It’s a shame, however, that the platform isn’t quite as pleasurable as the action of swinging the sword. The nature of Narita Boy’s glide and slide movement lends itself well to combat, but when it comes to precision rigs, he’s a little unwieldy. Fortunately, there are only a handful of really difficult navigation sequences throughout the game, and even then Narita Boy is reasonably forgiving. Losing your whole life simply puts you at the start of the screen, or the last checkpoint (of which there are many).
If it’s not already clear, Narita Boy is one great independent adventure. Its gameplay is satisfying and the graphics are a delight. But maybe the real star of the show is the stellar electronic soundtrack. Whether it’s sparkling ambient melodies or booming synth chords, the music is superb.
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