Every pixelated screen is a glossary of computer programmer words. Only later does it cut you loose and let the gameplay do the talking.īut I’m quickly over Her Royal Verbosity as the digital decay of this CRT kingdom flip flops between chalky opacity and epileptic fits of flashing lights. Narita Boy introduces its world with stuttering steps. Narita Boy, however, is afraid you’ll miss all the neon signposts if you aren’t stopped in your tracks every few seconds to talk over your mission objectives again. A game like Hyper Light Drifter, to compare and contrast, is celebrated for its wordless world building. Everything is a capital-M Metaphor in Narita Boy. And yes, there’s a mother figure named Motherboard. That didn’t require a repeating 5,000-word monologue from you, Motherboard. For instance, I needed to collect 12 totems. If you go into Narita Boy expecting a top-to-bottom Metroidvania, you’re in for a surprise with how much lore you’ll be reading. Then the platforming and hacking and slashing and near-JRPG-amounts of dialogue either grew on me or the Stockholm Syndrome fully set in, and I ended up pushing hard towards the end game. For story, there is a father-son tale set inside a ham-fisted hall of memories and a lorebook that reads more like a glossary of computer terms. For action, it’s a hack n’ slasher that’s a little bit stingy with its slashing. He did it all, I have to mention, to a sick technowave soundtrack worth every dollar as a separate purchase.įor movement, Narita Boy is a side-scrolling platformer that wants you to hate its platforming. Behind aviator shades and a cop mustache, the Creator stayed up dark days and bright nights, pounding away at his keyboard, building the Digital Kingdom one red/yellow/blue beam of light at a time. Like in Ready Player One, there’s a Creator. And if Narita Boy had launched a few years earlier, he would’ve had a cameo in Ready Player One.

Especially if those things are the ego-fueled equivalent of a 14-year-old living out a Tron-loving power fantasy.

Narita boy wallpaper