Review: Belle Boomerang

destructoid.com:

As I played Belle Boomerang, my husband looked over my shoulder and asked if it was difficult. “Yes,” I replied, “but I have it set to retro difficulty.” He asked if I was going to review it, which I confirmed. “Why would you make it harder on yourself?” he asked.

There are a few reasons. The first is that I like the challenge. I also feel the need to play on the difficulty the developer “intended,” which is something that might not always exist. Finally, I have a chip on my shoulder. I’ve been strengthened in the crucible of retro games. I’ve climbed Castlevania and conquered Contra. Should be a cakewalk.

It wasn’t, but then, that’s what I enjoyed most about Belle Boomerang.

Belle Boomerang (PC)Developer: NarwhalnutPublisher: NarwhalnutReleased: June 3, 2022MSRP: $9.99

The boomerang is often the worst side-scroller weapon you can handle. It often doesn’t travel very far, and then you have to wait for it to come back before you can throw it again. It’s an odd weapon to pick as the primary attack of the game.

Not much backstory is given, and you mostly wind up putting the pieces together through short snippets of text. Save the King and Queen. Save the Kingdom. It’s nothing too revolutionary for the era that it tries to slot itself into.

I have to keep reminding myself that Belle Boomerang is a new release and not something that I had previously overlooked on my shelf. It looks like something between a Game Boy Color title and one from the NES’ library. The color choices are bright and almost garish, but the palette is restricted to a few colors per tile. It sticks pretty closely to the limitations of the era. It doesn’t go nuts with the animations, nor does it incorporate mixed pixel resolutions or sprite rotation; just