Back in 2017, Studio Koba made waves with the announcement of Narita Boy, a game intriguingly named after Tokyo’s second-largest airport. It felt like the perfect match for Kickstarter. With its sleek pixel art characters set against a neon-lit, side-scrolling backdrop, the game exuded an enticing mix of ’80s anime nostalgia fused with contemporary visual flair. It held a compelling storyline about a developer—Eduardo Fornieles, previously a part of Friend & Foe—returning home to craft his dream game.
At that stage, it was just an idea, albeit a stunning one. Yet, that was all it took to propel a successful crowdfunding campaign.
Fast forward four years, and Narita Boy finally hit the shelves, quickly emerging as one of the more triumphant stories to come out of Kickstarter projects. The game felt like a living cartoon, uniquely surreal yet reminiscent of a classic action-adventure title. However, it didn’t quite play as smoothly as it looked. The combat remained straightforward, and the game was often bogged down by text-heavy sequences that slowed its momentum.
The studio’s next release, Haneda Girl, neatly sidesteps these issues.
Introduced last year and already available as a demo on Steam, Haneda Girl—this time drawing its name from Tokyo’s largest airport—isn’t a sequel despite the naming convention. It’s a fast-paced action-platformer that demands agility and precision. Players dart between wall jumps while dodging shots from all directions, courtesy of the game’s improved controls and brisk pace.
Players step into the shoes of Chichi Wakaba, a nimble character armed with a sword. She can’t attack from a distance, pushing her to close in on enemies. Her skills allow her to activate “ghost mode” to evade lasers or slice through panels in a strategic nod to games like BurgerTime. But there’s a catch: she’s extremely vulnerable and falls if hit even once.
Adding a clever twist to the gameplay is her mech companion, M.O.T.H.E.R., which Wakaba can pilot. Although the mech moves sluggishly and jumps less nimbly, it packs a machine gun turret and can withstand several hits before needing a few seconds to regenerate.
While trying out the demo, I frequently switched between Wakaba and her mech. The mech became essential for charging Wakaba’s moves, absorbing enemy fire, or just unleashing a barrage of bullets, often successfully. The level design is crafted to encourage alternating between their abilities, with narrow spaces and tall walls that only Wakaba can navigate, or enemy-filled rooms that the mech was clearly designed to tackle. It seems plausible to imagine a speedrun that leans heavily on Wakaba, but the interplay between Wakaba and the mech is what truly makes the demo shine. I often found myself tempted to rush to the end, only to remind myself to take a beat—a moment for strategy followed by a burst of action.
And yes, sometimes that meant failing spectacularly. Just as the trailer hints, expect to see plenty of that.
