A Boy and His Blob (or A Bwai an’ ‘im Blab, if you’re on the island)
If you grew up with an original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, and had eclectic taste in games even as a child, then you might recall A Boy and His Blob. An incredible premise at the time, A Boy and His Blob’s core mechanic was the manipulation of the Blob, who would change shapes and become useful items after being fed particular flavours of jelly beans. He’d be able to turn into ladders, brick walls, hummingbirds and more (it was about 20 years ago … I don’t quite remember it all), and he’d be crucial to all your puzzle solving needs.
It’s not 20 years later, and most of the world has forgotten about this creative and endearing game. Many 8-bit gamers may have grown up and out of spending time with a good game, or have had their tastes ‘mature’ toward more serious and aggressive games like the Halo’s, Quake’s, or Metal Gear Solid’s. But anyone still with an inner child will be happy, or at least interested to know that A Boy and his Blob are making a comeback to both Wii and DS systems.
So far, we can tell that the DS version will feature a 3D rendition of the original game’s art style. But here, the boy has grown into adolescence, and the array of objects into which the blob can turn are of similar fair: ladder, trampoline, bomb, blow torch, even a suit of armour. The DS’ touch screen has been confirmed to be used in “jelly bean management” and an overhead map.
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The announcement of Wii version hasn’t had as much detail in its description as the portable version, but I can say this: I love the art style. A combination of hand drawn sprites and three dimensional cel-shaded backgrounds give this game a stylish and much needed update (and are nicer to look at over the DS’ graphics, to boot!). See the screenshots below to see what I mean.
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… I’d end this preview with a little snappy thing to quote … but … I’m late for work.
