Battle Narf
====== BATTLE NARF ======
by Dying Eyes Productions.
VERSION 1.7 (March 15 2026)
An extremely late entry for the Vextro Unplugged jam, strongly inspired by Battle Kid, Fortress of Peril.
https://itch.io/c/6893661/vextro-unplugged
Programmed with Haxepunk!
NOTE: The html5 version should be fully playable, but if you want the best experience, I strongly recommend downloading the standalone versions of the game. They have generally better performance and much better audio quality in my experience. However, you can play the entire thing on whichever service you want and there should be no major issues with completing it.
====== THE STORY SO FAR ======
Narfs and Frans have battled for untold ages.
Where were you born and why?
For what do you live and how will it end?
These are irrelevant questions.
Just kill Frans.
That's the only reason you exist.
Right?
====== CONTROLS ======
Arrow Keys, WASD - Move
Z, J - Jump
X, K - Shoot
Up - May have a use later.
Enter - Pause
Esc - Close game.
Backspace - Press on pause screen to return to main menu.
Hold Z and X together to skip through textboxes faster.
R - Music volume down 10%
T - Music volume up 10%
F - Sound effects volume down 10%
G - Sound effects volume up 10%
===== NOTICE ======
This game is very hard and kind of unfair. But that's sort of the point. Your enemy wants you to do something easy and simple and stay in that role. If you want to change your life, it will be a little difficult. But at the end of the day, it's just a video game, so please don't feel like you need to complete it if it makes you mad. I hope you have fun!
===== PASSWORDS ======
When you die, a password will appear on the death screen.
You can input this in the password screen on the main menu
to resume from a checkpoint you've reached before.
You can type any ten alphanumeric characters into the
password system and press enter to try the password.
If you just want to skip later into the game, I've
included the main game's passwords in the Passwords.txt
file in its folder. That way if you're just curious
or you forgot what your last password was, you can
simply get back to where you were.
There are some special passwords.
Here is a secret one you'll only learn about from the
readme: Type FASTFIRE in and you'll hear a strange
noise, even if the password screen doesn't allow it.
This will change the game's autofire speed when you hold
the button down to be very fast. I didn't balance the game
for that speed, but since it's a hard game with a lot of mashing,
you can think of it as an easy mode of sorts.
If you want to turn it back off, either reload the game
or just input FASTFIRE again.
Credit for materials is in the ending credits, and also
in text files included with the version 1.7 downloads.
===== TIPS ======
- You might see some surprise text on the pause screen.
It doesn't mean anything, it's just there for fun.
- The game doesn't save deaths if you close it, but it
will keep track of deaths until you do that.
- If you type in the password SPEEDRUN and start a new game
from the beginning, you can see how long you've spent
in the game by pausing.
Thanks for playing!
- NARFNra
March 1st, 2026
Changelog:
V1p1 ~ Made some noises less annoying when you are SLAIN
V1p2 ~ Replaced a quote that was both misattributed and also dealth with a topic that I think I'd rather not
V1p3 ~ Various level adjustments. Fixed positioning error with final boss. Really a ton of small changes.
V1p4 ~ Fixed another error with Boss 3 and Boss 2's cutscenes
V1p5 ~ Making ???'s attack more obvious after seeing it's pretty much unreadable to a normal player, some annoyance fixes
V1p6 ~ Void's Burial less burial, the roll of the dice dreadful. Checkpoints announce themselves now without dying.
V1p7 ~ March 15th 2026 - I wanted to wait a little longer on this one, but I had enough changed I did this anyway...
~ Fixed a major bug with resizing the screen.
~ You can increase and decrease volume now with R, T, F, G.
~ Fixed bugs with checkpoints and made the passwords more obvious.
~ Removed Zol randomness.
~ Fixed a targeting bug with the castle.
~ Fixed ??? whitening bug.
~ Fixed a weird bug with enemy gravity that affected Vextro
~ Added a game timer to display after the credits, but only if you play the game all the way through from the beginning.
Download
Install instructions
The Main file in the included folder is the standalone executable. You should be able to simply run it by clicking on it.
Development log
- Update to v1p72 days ago
- Update to V1p514 days ago
Comments
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This is amazing! It’s an incredible game, and I had a fantastic time!!!
Both the stages along the way and the boss battles felt very carefully crafted, and I had fun the entire time while playing.
At first, the difficulty felt high and a bit unfair, but the controls were straightforward and easy to handle, and once I learned the patterns, the boss fights became manageable.
The ending scene was the best reward.
After finishing the game, I never expected to feel that Narf would become such a lovable presence…
It turned out to be a truly great game experience!! (=ΦωΦ=)
never imagined I'd feel emotional about the gnostic battle between game's and slayer's. may we continue to fight every battle and keep our brilliancy
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genius level design and giga genius boss fights. if you're not familiar with homebrew and romhacks, then you'll be surprised by the slim margins of success here. but in those margins are new frontiers of action game's. don't be afraid to die, keep trying, for every narf!
awesome!! i really loved playing this over the last week or so, plugging away at the stages and bosses. i really like the style of the levels, and the bosses were all cool and memorable. some of the boss attacks could feel a bit unfair sometimes but overall they did feel really learnable, sometimes surprisingly so given how wild the attacks are.
Thank you so much for playing it!!!!! I am always seeking to look at the razor's edge between nonsense and reality... perhaps in some ways that's what the game is all about...
I completed a playthrough of Battle Narf (V1p6) in under 30 minutes, you can watch if you are having trouble with the game.
Battle Narf Review
Battle Narf is a difficult precision platformer with creative boss fights. It took me around 6h30m to clear.
The world is divided into screens, with a checkpoint usually every four to six screens or so. Outside of screens with boss fights, each screen is "static" in the sense that while there might be moving obstacles and projectile attacks, there's no randomness or variance and the same strategy will work every time. The dynamic of Battle Narf is learning how to complete the early screens in a checkpoint as quickly and consistently as possible to get more attempts at the later screens. Often you'll find a clunky route through a screen at first, and then realize that you can optimize it. It's satisfying to develop and learn these new strategies, and it keeps it from becoming too draining to repeat the early screens.
Every so often you'll encounter a boss. The bosses were the highlight of the game for me, but also where I got the most frustrated. They have funny and surprising attacks with unique concepts. They're also extremely strict and unforgiving, and it's hard to tell if the attacks are always fair and reactable. I don't mind when randomness in action boss fights leans on the unfair side, but I did get exasperated a few times, particularly when fighting the 3rd boss and the final one. Nonetheless, it was satisfying to get better at reading the complex attacks and take the bosses down. The final boss was really cool even if I got a little mad at it.
The game also has a charming aesthetic, with crunchy hand-drawn tiles, cute sprites, and music that I didn't realize was from external sources until a song from Lagoon (SNES) came on. Give Battle Narf a try if you want to play a challenging game.
Thank you so much for playing my game! I'll take the concerns to heart and think on them... I find it tricky sometimes to figure out attacks that are truly fair and often lean on the side of making ones that are interesting for me even when I've played it a lot, which can make things kind of troublesome. But I will keep on doing my best to make bosses fun!
wow I love narfing