253 · A Boy and His Blob
In this unique Platform/Puzzle game you take control of a boy who has to help a blob getting to his home planet. It isn't a conventional Platformer, as the boy cannot jump or attack enemies. Instead, the Blob can be fed with different kinds of jellybeans, which will transform him into various objects. He can be used as a ladder, a bridge or a trampoline, turned into an umbrella to slow down the boy's fall or shield him from falling objects, into a bubble to let the boy swim and breathe underwater, a blow torch to burn certain obstacles or even a bird which enables him to follow the boy everywhere. There's total of 12 different shapes the blob can take on, all of which can be used to freely explore the game world.
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Show notes
- TROUBLE IN BLOBALONIA
- NES Longplay
- Introductions
- I can’t be the only one getting Steven Spielberg vibes from this game.
- Indiana Jones font on the main menu
- Kid teams up with an alien like creature and sets out on a journey bigger than it first appears
- I can’t be the only one getting Steven Spielberg vibes from this game.
- Overview
- In this puzzle/platformer you play as the boy, who must help blob save blobalonia. Blob can transform into many useful tools and shapes depending on the jelly beans the boy feeds him.
- Gameplay
- And that’s the core mechanic of this game, the jellybeans and using them appropriately
- Though the player directly controls the boy, Blobert is controlled by the computer
- A licorice jelly bean, for instance, will change Blobert into a ladder.
- The flavors were named specifically as either puns or alliteration to help the player remember them.
- KNOWING WHICH JELLYBEAN DOES WHAT
- Whistling at Blobert causes him to revert to his original shape and continue following the boy.
- Movement is limited
- Boy is limited to running left or right. The player cannot jump or swim, and if the boy falls too long of a distance, he dies on impact
- So with that in mind let’s talk about the puzzle solving skills created by a boy who has limited communication and control with his blob
- Scattered throughout Earth's caverns are various treasures and diamonds that increase the player's score and can be used to purchase vitamins at a drugstore located within the game world.
- Vitamins can be used in conjunction with a special "VitaBlaster" gun, which is in turn used on Blobolonia to complete certain tasks.[5] Also found on the map are extra jelly beans and peppermints, which increase the player's lives.
- The adventure between Earth and Blobalonia
- And the unique feel between them?
- And that’s the core mechanic of this game, the jellybeans and using them appropriately
- Development
- This game was created by David Crane who thought a boy accompanied by a morphing blob was unconventional and wanted to try his own hand at implementing useful tools for the player.
- David made the game in allegedly just 6 weeks. Not suggesting foul play, David had a whole team at imagineering making the game.
- A MIKE AND HIS PODCAST - TROUBLE IN CHRONOLOGY
- The game was released just prior to Christmas in 1989 as Absolute's first game on the NES. But the info we have referred to a January 1990 release so possible that we have the WIDE RELEASE date.
- A MIKE AND HIS PODCAST - TROUBLE IN CHRONOLOGY
- He’s well known for his Atari 2600 games, you might know PITFALL, DRAGSTER, and GRAND PRIX
- But he’s also going to make some games our Patreon subs keep calling out like Bart vs The Space Mutants and Bart vs The World.
- Sequels and Spinoffs
- A Boy and His Blob was followed by a sequel on the Game Boy titled The Rescue of Princess Blobette.
- A Boy and His Blob: Jelly's Cosmic Adventure was was being developed by Pipe Dream Interactive (Majesco's in-house development team) and was scheduled to be a Gameboy Advance release in 2002, but was cancelled due to publisher Majesco's financial troubles .
- in 2005 an A Boy and His Blob remake was being developed for the Nintendo DS. AND this unreleased game can be found online
- After two failed attempts to bring the series to Nintendo's other handhelds over the yemars, a re-imagining of Trouble on Blobolonia was developed by WayForward Technologies and released by Majesco Entertainment on the Wii in 2009.
- EGL
- This is the kind of game that has enough uniqueness to sell someone like me on the concept of the game before I even play it. Controlling a helpless boy who requires the assistance of a blob you cannot control, great! Unfortunately, I feel like the jellybean system and lack of multiple solutions made the possibilities in my head feel really limited during gameplay. It’s a neat idea and it does translate msot of it’s ideas into the game, just not in a grand enough matter to keep me hooked.
- NEStalgia Byte - All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. (a look at MANY SMB games)