Narita Boy has an eclectic aesthetic in a way that is both charming and seemingly born from the mind of an over-imaginative child. However, this clear replication of design also sadly retains some unwanted shortcomings that by no means make the experience worse, but just simply make it harder to fully engage with in a consistent way. The game provides a good amount of challenge when it comes to both platforming and combat, with a skill ceiling that is not entirely different from games it’s paying homage to. That’s not to say there isn’t a game to enjoy here from a gameplay perspective. It wasn’t a topic I expected, nor was I prepared to explore in this style of game but Narita Boy is able to use these themes surprisingly well and to great effect. Narita Boy is a story about grief and the emotional journey of trying to process that grief through nostalgia. Being an on-the-nose 80s videogame throwback to titles such as Castlevania or Space Quest grounds the game heavily in nostalgic overtones for reasons other than nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.
Narita Boy may seem familiar in terms of its initial premise, but it makes up for it in what it tries to say using that premise. It’s a clichéd narrative tool that has become commonplace in stories throughout history, but there’s a good reason for it. The unique individual who is destined to save the world, save the galaxy, or the universe depending on the threat level.
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