Narita Boy
Developer-Studio Koba
Publisher-Team 17
Format-PC (tested), PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Release-March 30
A single screen does Studio Koba’s artists a disservice: vistas such as this, rendered with bloom effects within CRT-style curved screen edges, come thick and fast throughout the six or so hours it takes until the credits roll
W e’ll say this: it’s a heck of a fur coat, at least. If you think you’ve seen everything pixel art has to offer – that after decades of experimentation the number of possible permutations of coloured dots has at last been exhausted – Narita Boy will prove you wrong. This is a remarkably attractive game, one that, while in clear creative hock to the ’80s, brings past aesthetics right up to modern standards, and then some. This is no mere retro pastiche, though there’s certainly plenty of that about it. Developer Studio Koba clearly takes its craft seriously.