A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia
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| A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia | |
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| Developer(s) | Imagineering |
| Publisher(s) | NA Absolute Entertainment NA Majesco (Virtual Console) JP Jaleco |
| Designer(s) | David Crane |
| Composer(s) | Mark Van Hecke |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System, Virtual Console |
| Release date(s) | NES NA 1989 EU 1989 JP November 29, 1990 Virtual Console NA November 23, 2009[1] PAL December 18, 2009 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) PEGI: 3 |
A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia is a video game released in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The game was developed by David Crane, creator of the Pitfall! series. A Boy and His Blob follows an unnamed protagonist and his shapeshifting blob on an adventure to save the latter's home planet of Blobolonia. The gameplay revolves around feeding the blob different flavored jelly beans to change his shape into various tools in order to overcome obstacles and traverse the game's world.
A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia was followed by a sequel on the Game Boy titled A Boy and His Blob in The Rescue of Princess Blobette. A modified engine was used for making the SNES title Casper, by Natsume. A reimagining of Trouble on Blobolonia was developed and released on the Wii in 2009. The original NES game was also released on the Wii Virtual Console on November 23, 2009 in North America and on December 18, 2009 in the PAL regions.
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[edit] Gameplay
A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia is a side-scrolling platformer in which the character and his friend Blob (full name Blobert) travel together on Earth and on Blobert's home planet Blobolonia in a quest to defeat an evil emperor.
Blobert can change into several different items when he is fed jelly beans. A licorice jelly bean, for instance, will change Blobert into a ladder, while a honey jelly bean will turn him into a humming bird. Most of these transformations can be remembered mnemonically due to a correlation between the flavor of the jelly bean and the item that results. Whistling at Blobert causes him to change back, often with a musical accompaniment similar to the main theme.
It is possible to trick Blobert into eating a ketchup-flavored jelly bean by throwing him a honey jelly bean first and then quickly throwing the ketchup one. Doing so will cause Blobert to transform into a brick wall which serves no purpose.
The boy must make use of all of these jelly beans to traverse the sewers on Earth, collect diamonds and treasure, and defeat the final boss on Blobolonia, The Emperor, by using vitamins. The emperor has a sweet tooth to the extent that vitamins are fatal.
[edit] Development
A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia was designed by David Crane, the creator of the Pitfall! series. The concept of a boy accompanied by a shapeshifting blob was described by Crane as an "off-the-wall idea".[2] He stated in an interview with G4 that Blobert's design was heavily inspired by the characters Gloop and Gleep from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Herculoids. The jellybean flavors were named specifically as either puns or alliteration to help the player remember them.[2] Crane also stated that the team originally wanted to create both a tie-in toy and movie to be released simulataneously with game.[3]
When the game was released in Japan it was retitled Fushigi na Blobby: Blobania no Kiki (ふしぎなブロビー ブロバニアの危機). The game's sprite for the boy was changed to a more detailed and "cute" look, and jellybeans are simply called "candies".[4]
[edit] Reception
The advocacy group Parents' Choice Foundation awarded A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia with a Parents' Choice Award in 1990.[5]
Mean Machines gave A Boy and His Blob an overall score of 91%, noting excellent graphics and sound, challenging puzzles, and "amazingly addictive gameplay".[6] The game was reviewed in 1990 in Dragon #157 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars, calling it creative and original.[7]
IGN gave the Virtual Console release of the game a 4.5 noting poor execution, frustrating difficulty, and an overall inferior game to its Wii counterpart.[8]
[edit] Sequels
A sequel to the game was released for the Game Boy in 1990 under the name A Boy and His Blob in The Rescue of Princess Blobette. The game takes place in a castle with the titular characters attempting to save a princess named Blobette from a boiling pot of water.
Although not a direct sequel, a revised version of the game engine was used in making Natsume's Casper for the Super NES.
A Game Boy Advance incarnation of the series titled A Boy and His Blob: Jelly's Cosmic Adventure was announced by Majesco and was to be released in 2002. However, it was cancelled.[9] Majesco announced another sequel for the Nintendo DS in 2005 to be published by Skyworks Technologies.[10] Using 3D graphics, the game was originally scheduled for release on November 11, 2005. Although it was rumored to be completed, Majesco's financial troubles have delayed the game's release indefinitely.[2] The new game was set to feature between 15 and 20 differently colored jelly beans and 15 levels. The touchscreen feature of the DS would have been used to manage jelly bean inventory.[10]
A Wii reimagining also titled A Boy and His Blob was developed by WayForward Technologies and released.[11][12]
[edit] References
- ^ "Download New BIT.TRIP Kicks, Speeding Karts, Magic Castles and More". Nintendo of America. 23 November 2009. http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/O-6Hu5sS3KndAbl1v6fJElEIDoveAwhn. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
- ^ a b c G4 staff (April 10, 2009). "David Crane Interview Part 2: Pitfall and A Boy and His Blob in High Definition". G4. http://g4tv.com/videos/37663/David-Crane-Interview-Part-2-Pitfall-and-A-Boy-and-His-Blob/. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
- ^ RawmeatCowboy (April 2, 2009). "David Crane talks about the new A Boy and His Blob". GoNintendo. http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=77768. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
- ^ Discoalucard (August 18, 2009). "A Boy and His Fushigina Blobby". Hardcore Gaming 101. http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2009/08/boy-and-his-fushigina-blobby.html. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
- ^ "Classic Gaming Expo Distinguished Guest: DAVID CRANE". Classic Gaming Expo. 2007. http://www.cgexpo.com/bios/dcrane.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
- ^ "Reviews: A Boy and His Blob". Mean Machines (9). June 1991. http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/review/144/a-boy-and-his-blob.php. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
- ^ Lesser, Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk (May 1990). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (157): 96–103.
- ^ Thomas, Lucas M. (November 25, 2009). "A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia Review". IGN. http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/104/1049779p1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
- ^ "IGN: A Boy and His Blob: Jelly's Cosmic Adventure". IGN. http://gameboy.ign.com/objects/016/016509.html. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ a b Leeper, Justin (May 20, 2005). "GameSpy: A Boy and His Blob Preview". GameSpy. http://ds.gamespy.com/nintendo-ds/a-boy-and-his-blob/618138p1.html. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ Harris, Craig (March 4, 2009). "IGN: The Blob Team Speaks". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/959/959250p1.html. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
- ^ Watts, Steven (March 3, 2009). "Reimagined Boy and His Blob Coming to Wii". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3173061. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
