Bat Boy has no relation to the caped crusader or his sidekick, or the fictional character turned off-Broadway musical for that matter. Instead, Bat Boy is a modern take on a superhero platformer that combines two of Japan’s proudest pastimes, baseball and classic video games. Game Rant spoke to Sina Faroughi of X PLUS and Sergio Matta of Sonzai Games about the story behind Bat Boy and the inspirations they drew from classic NES games.
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Bat Boy’s Story Draws From Japan’s National Sport
Designing Bat Boy was a collaborative effort between the X PLUS team and another Osaka-based studio, Sonzai Games. While Bat Boy is an X PLUS game, the developer has gotten invaluable help from a friend at Sonzai Games. X PLUS and Sergio Matta have cooperated from the first X PLUS game with level creation and coding. However, in the case of Bat Boy, the origin of the story involved him, too.
While the X PLUS crew consists mostly of golf fans, Japan’s national sport and a favorite pastime were a perfect fit for the theme of the game. From the start, the game was going to be based on one sport or another, and the studio noticed starting in 2021 at BitSummit that there was a surge in sports-themed action games, like the hybrid sports game Dodgeball Academia. According to Sonzai Games’ Sergio Matta, tons of people in Japan enjoy baseball, so the choice was natural. However, the story needed elements of a classic video game narrative. Transporting the characters into a different world allowed them to play with the story, characters, and monsters a little more. The aim was to create a gripping story that the player would relate to immediately.
The baseball team is a close-knit community of friends, which is something almost everyone can relate to. Losing friends would create an urge to save those closest to the player, which is why the team decided to go with a kidnapping scenario. To make it more appropriate for the style of the game, the kidnapper is an evil villain, Lord Vicious, that has brainwashed the baseball team for his brutal athletic event, the Trials of Darkness. Each of the team members is a superhero with different powers, like the bosses in Mega Man with their weapons.
Gameplay Makes Bat Boy Instantly Recognizable
The story is far from a traditional damsel in distress narrative, and even the theme of baseball doesn’t immediately bring to mind superheroes or classic video game protagonists with weapons and supernatural skills. However, it seems to lend well to the genre in a very similar way to Super Mario in all of its quirkiness. In fact, that was very clear in the mind of the creators from the beginning.
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The instant that a player steps in the boots of Bat Boy, they are transported to a world reminiscent of the 80s and 90s platformers. The visuals have taken a page from the early Ninja Gaiden games, the beaten monsters rolling across the map are akin to sliding turtle shells in Super Mario, and the animations and abilities, gained by saving teammates, are heavily inspired by Mega Man. It is a fascinating combination of classic platformer elements that naturally make sense to the player.
Even for a first-timer, picking up the game seems oddly familiar. The simple control scheme and hard-to-master dynamics that made the NES platformers so addictive are most definitely present. It isn’t all carbon copy of the games the developers adore, though. Baseball and batting in particular are present in every aspect of the game and are not just a prop of the protagonist.
The combat, the skills, and even the movement are related to that very special bat. Monsters can be killed in various ways, whether it is in close combat with a quick swat or a power-up move that throws the bat in the desired direction. Abilities can also have multiple uses, like the aforementioned throw doubling as a lever turning tool and double jump mechanic.
As mentioned, more abilities are acquired by defeating level bosses in the same vein as in Mega Man. In Bat Boy, the bosses are the protagonist’s brainwashed fellow teammates. Each of these teammates possesses a special skill that is added to the player’s repertoire. In the demo version of the game, defeating Starlet Twirl will teach Bat Boy a Grapple Ribbon that works as a weapon and helps players traverse the maps vertically, perhaps finding new secrets.
Bat Boy Might Grow Into a Franchise
At this point, Bat Boy is already an intriguing classic NES-like platformer with a unique story, a very recognizable look and feel, and some original game mechanics. However, it might be the first franchise X PLUS has developed, according to Sina. They have gotten great feedback from multiple sources, and the team has a lot of ideas about Bat Boy’s future.
The game’s Kickstarter campaign surpassed their funding goal and was contacted by IndieLand organizer The Completionist’s team. Interest in Bat Boy and the fantastical world of Stratoss has been exciting for both Sina and his co-workers.
As the company prepares for its appearance at this year’s IndieLand, with a few prizes for those that join to donate to a good cause, it is also dreaming bigger with Bat Boy. While the launch of the game is still months away, there’s talk about future Bat Boy-related products. At this point, Sina cannot say whether the future holds a DLC, a sequel, or even a prequel to Bat Boy, but confirms that there most definitely are plans on expanding it into a series.
Bat Boy is aiming for an early 2023 release on PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game will appear as part of IndieLand 2022 on Tuesday, November 8 at 7:00 p.m. PST.
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