Arcade Archives’ Naughty Boy leaves me frightened and confused

(Not to be confused with UK hip-hop producer)

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For the latest addition to the now triple-figure Arcade Archive range, publisher Hamster is delving into the catalogue of Jaleco, pulling out its very strange maze game Naughty Boy

Originally released in 1982, Naughty Boy comes from that glorious arcade era where nothing had to make a lick of fucking sense. Players control a kid (presumably the titular “naughty boy”) who must make his way through a monster-filled forest, a haunted field, and then a moat filled with fire-breathing something.

Our hero then arrives at a MEDIEVAL CASTLE where, for some reason, he must destroy a collection of pirate flags, which in turn causes the entire building to erupt into flames like a Dario Argento finale. Oh, he’s a farmer, maybe? And he can kill ghosts by throwing rocks at them. There’s also a robot who is blatantly not R2-D2.

And there’s a bonus stage where you drop umbrellas on a lady ghost to make her cry… I got nothing.

See what you make of the action in this video, courtesy of YouTuber Old Classic Retro Gaming. Naughty Boy is available to download now on Nintendo Switch, priced at $8.


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Author
Chris Moyse
Senior Editor - Chris has been playing video games since the 1980s and writing about them since the 1880s. Graduated from Galaxy High with honors. Twitter: @ChrisxMoyse