Narita Boy

Narita Boy is a 2021

Combat revolves around using the game's Techno Sword in order to defeat enemies, called Stallions. The player can do a standard melee attack by pressing a button, or hold it down in order to do a stronger attack. In combat, the player can also dodge, which avoids enemy attacks, and allows the player to get behind enemies. Alongside these moves, the Techno Sword can be used as a shotgun as a high-damage attack.

Throughout Narita Boy, the player gains access to various abilities such as the Wild Fire attacks. They come in three different colors, which allows the player to do increased damage to enemies of the same color, but also decreases the player's resistance to attacks. Each Wild Fire ability also allows the player to summon one of three NPC companions to fight by the player's side in combat.^[5]

Development

Narita Boy was funded through Kickstarter in 2017, raising €160,946. Eduardo Fornieles, Narita Boy's director, states that his childhood experiences in Spain and his time spent living in Japan influenced the story and the aesthetic of the game. When discussing the game's mix of technology and natural environments the director added, "I find beauty in the mix between organic and non-organic."^[6] The game was initially set to launch in December 2018, but was delayed to Spring 2021.^[7] The game launched on March 30, 2021.^[8]

Reception

Narita Boy received "mixed or average" reviews according to Metacritic, except for the PlayStation 4 version which received "generally favorable" reviews.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Rachel Watts of

Edge enjoyed the game's music and its retro art style, but felt that the gameplay did not live up to the standards of Narita Boy's audio and visuals.^[20] Mitchell Saltzman of IGN appreciated the visuals of the game, but strongly disliked Narita Boy's gameplay, writing "Narita Boy is at best serviceable, with hollow exploration filled with constant backtracking, simple puzzles, and combat that never really evolves in ways that make tougher enemies any more fun to fight."^[21]

References