Every fight is about pattern recognition and finding gaps in which to deal damage. Every time you unlock a new skill, you can be certain an upcoming new enemy type or boss encounter will test your mastery of it. To keep things fresh, you’ll also get to battle in a mech-suit, ride across a desert on a techno-steed, and surf the waves on a floppy disk!Īs the complexity of your move-set grows, so too does the difficulty of combat encounters. Before long, you’ll unlock a back-dash, a slashing uppercut, a shoulder charge, a dash variant that can teleport you through enemies, and an armour breaking piercing manoeuvre. You’re introduced to basic platforming elements first, before recovering the “technosword” that grants you a simple slashing combo, along with close-range shotgun blast or screen-penetrating charge attack using recharging ammunition.
#Narita boy code#
Of course, there’s no shortage of corrupted “Stallion” code and nefarious bosses to slay along the way. At its most basic, you could fault Narita Boy for its simplistic progression: find “techno-key”, backtrack to a locked door, enter a new area, find techno-key etc. Battling in an arena while an electronic rock band thrashes away in the background is just one of many ways Narita Boy merges gameplay with visuals and audio.ĭespite all my discussion around the narrative and themes, Narita Boy still has some solid action-platforming gameplay to keep you entertained and challenged. I just wanted to see how the story ended and was always thrilled to see what the next location would look and sound like. It kept me pushing on through tough encounters and I gladly forgave several gameplay flaws.
More and more indie games are creating experiences with strong narratives and underlying themes, but few are as cohesive as Narita Boy. Every character and gesture has some connection to events in his life. The purpose of Narita Boy, the creation of HIM, the structure of the three kingdoms, the presence of the “Motherboard”, the ritual movements. They are equally impactful and allow the player to identify parallels in the Digital Kingdom. The creator’s memories gradually reveal the tragic origins of a Japanese-American boy with an interest in coding – his father clearly worked in the video game industry. They slowly reveal key moments in the creator’s life and their impact on his Digital Kingdom. The memory sequences are just as well-written and crafted as the rest of the game. With the characters and locations in the Digital Kingdom so well-realized and clearly representative of the “functions” they embody, I couldn’t help but be drawn into the lore. Narita Boy does a great job of leaving the player to decide if the Digital Kingdom is a real construct in this fantasy story, or simply a manifestation of the creator’s experiences throughout his life.
#Narita boy Pc#
Across town, a young boy who spends his nights playing video games on his PC is drawn into the Digital Kingdom as “Narita Boy”, champion of the three houses, tasked with awakening the memories of the “Creator” so he can purge the code of “HIM” and his “Stallion” minions. In the 1980s, a coder falls asleep at his desk as a malevolent force begins to take control of his hardware. Between the Tron-inspired title screen, the catchy Narita Boy theme, and the stylish intro, you know you’re in for an audiovisual treat.
It’s not a case of style over substance – Narita Boy has solid gameplay on offer – but it’s one of the rare games in which the presentation is an inseparable part of the experience. However, few can come close to the stylistic impact of Narita Boy. Like so many modern indie games, Narita Boy is a 2D action-platformer with pixel-art visuals. The other is the incredible soundtrack that I can’t stop hearing in my head.
Part of that stems from it forcing me to reconsider my beliefs on the importance of presentation relative to other gameplay elements. Narita Boy is one of the rare video games I can’t stop thinking about since the credits rolled.
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