Narita Boy Switch Review – Totally Radical Trip

It is a bizarre concept to play a game within a game, but this has been a fun meta approach for quite some time, especially in a game like Animal Crossing on the Nintendo GameCube where you were able play NES games within the actual game. With Narita Boy, the whole concept is built around this premise. You are Narita Boy, the main character of the most popular game on the Narita One game console, and the feel of the game has a Tron-likeness that is both mesmerizing and captivating.

But is this retro trip down 80’s lane worthy of your stack of quarters? Or will the Narita Boy protocol fail to save the most popular game in its universe?

The game starts off with a man lying at his computer, and then suddenly the mysterious HIM comes up on screen and attacks the man known throughout the digital universe of Narita One as “The Creator”.

This action basically wipes the man’s memories and initiates the Narita Boy protocol, which spawns a hero program within the system that is the only way to protect Narita One, regain the Creator’s memories, and take out the program responsible for all that is happening: HIM.

The story is bizarre to say the least, but it is wonderfully told and has a wild cast of characters that span the entire digital world created in Narita Boy. Our main character does not speak, but he is a force to be reckoned with. The dialogs that happen throughout the game help to tell a deeper story, but unfortunately there is a ton of reading to really dive in and some characters are a bit more chatty than others. That’s not to say that the dialogs are bad. Quite the contrary, they are usually philosophical and emotional, which can be quite heavy to read before or after some of the challenging moments in the game.

Despite that, the story of Narita Boy is a powerful one told in an abstract way, and it is hard to not be sucked in by what is being communicated.

As far as gameplay goes, Narita Boy is equal parts brilliant and confusing. The game looks and feels a lot like an old PC game along the lines of The Way, Another World, and Flashback. The long and lanky character designs, as well as the beautifully pixelated backgrounds, show that this genre of action game is still something to be recognized even in the year 2021.

But the game also has a metroidvania feel about it that gives it a bit of an edge over its gaming relatives. Narita Boy is constantly looking for new disks to either upgrade his abilities or to access certain doors and elevators to move forward, but although these seemingly progressive powerups are necessary to move to the next area, the game is still quite linear in design.

The powerups, however, are freakin’ fantastic! Once you initially claim the Techno Sword and boogie on down, our hero claims more and more disks over the coarse of the game that give him immense power and ability. Some disks even call upon other powerful programs to come in and assist during trivial moments in the game if they are called upon. Learning to use all of the abilities well takes some practice, but when executed rightly, it is a glorious feeling, especially when you can one-shot a challenging boss. Speaking of bosses…

The bosses of Narita Boy are the highlight of the game. They are large, varied, and will put your skills to the test each and every time, and I seriously cannot stress this enough: Not a single boss is comparable to another. This is one of the best cast of bosses I have experienced in gaming, and all of them are a blast to fight against.

Combat in the game is a mixed bag, though. On one hand, the boss fights feel perfectly balanced and are the right amount of challenge. On the other hand, gauntlets spread through the game, which are similar in feel to Guacamelee, can vary from too easy to unfairly hard. Thankfully, respawning is quick and painless, so you will be right back where you were moments before. When facing hard groups of enemies, it is also a bit overwhelming to know what abilities to use and when to use them, but at the end of the day, the Techno Sword does solid damage and is always the most dependable attack.

Platforming, although not so much on the difficult side, is a lot of fun and controls really well. I personally love using the Dodge and Shoulder Bash power-ups to gain extra ground while making bold jumps over scary gaps. The way the game uses power-ups in more ways than simply during combat helps to make the game feel so much bigger than your average indie adventure game.

Some times the game makes you do some painful backtracking, which is made even more frustrating at times due to the lack of a proper in-game map, but Narita Boy more-often-than-not pushes forward and gets you to the next section.

The puzzles are not the most complicated, but there are moments in the game that require some proper attention to the world around you in order to collect certain symbols. This can be a bit complicated if you are not paying attention, but there are some genuinely intricate puzzles spread out in Narita Boy that add a lot of value.

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Another major highlight for the game is its stellar soundtrack. It has an 80s vibe about it, but that does not mean it is not an eclectic mix of styles. Each area presents a differing sound and feel, and the music particularly sets the mood for each stage, each enemy encounter, and each boss fight. This is an excellent mix tape that includes anything from techno to jazz and everything in between.

Complimenting the look and feel of things, the visuals are a wonderful blend of old and new, and the way Narita Boy marries the time periods together is a treat. The whole game looks as if it is being played on an old digital interface and screen, which warps the top, bottom, and sides. It also has a filter that even makes everything on screen look like it is being seen through the glass of an old monitor. Everything about the game feels retro in the right kind of way, and it is nostalgically beautiful because of it.

What Studio Kubo made is a work of art and it is a radical collaboration of multiple game styles and even multiple time periods, and even though it has its issues and even lacks some properties that would make the experience even better, the overall feel is one of a kind and an experience that gamers should dive in to.

The price may seem a bit intimidating for an indie title, but there is a ton of game here. For a pretty straight-forward action adventure title, Narita Boy will take you anywhere between 7 and 10 hours to play through, and because of the deep and engaging story, multiple playthroughs may be needed to get the fullness of the game.

Narita Boy is an acquired taste, but it is one that will wow you from start to finish and will challenge you mostly in just the right way. The sprite work, animation, and soundtrack, particularly, will transport you to a time-period 40 years old, and the boss fights will keep you on your toes and challenge you perfectly. He may be nothing more than lines of etheric code, but Narita Boy is the digital hero that saves this gorgeous game and earns my recommendation.

Narita Boy Review provided by Nintendo Link
Developer: Studio Koba
Publisher: Team17
Release Date: March 30, 2021
Price: $24.99, £19.99, €24,99
Game Size: 892MB