NES Game Review #21 – A Boy & His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia
A Boy & His Blob is a flawed game but somehow its charm and originality manages to just about paper over the cracks for an enjoyable ride.
Simply put, there’s a boy and his friend, a Blob! His Blobbyness comes in useful. He can mould into just about anything! You control the boy and feed Blob a range different flavoured jelly-babies. Blob morphs his shaped accordingly. Many flavour/morph combinations make logical sense such as Punch = Hole, Apple = Jack, others however leave more to the imagination: Cinnamon = Blowtorch? Vanilla = Umbrella? Paring aside, it’s necessary to learn early on what each does what and how it can be used.
You start out on a quiet empty street, you can find a Health Food store, but you cant buy anything. There’s a subway you can enter but no train comes. Eventually I work out how to make a Hole, and drop to the lower platform, what now?
I run around transforming blob into all kinds of unhelpful items to no prevail. Eventually a rocket shoots me off to another planet (Blobolonia). I soon discover the game is incredibly difficult! I mean they expect you to dodge through tiny gaps left by falling white dots that kill! Boy leaps back and forth like he has a wasp in his pants. He is incapable of delicate movement its a bloody nightmare! Make it past here and the cherry bombs end you. I mean it!
Many restarts later, back in the subway I realise you can punch a hole in the lower platform as well. What a merry-go-round. I hope that explains what this game is like cos it doesn’t get any easier! Many perils await in the subterranean landscape. You’ll need to utilize all of Blobs arsenal. When you eventually make it back to the street, you use treasure to purchase vitamins and finally head back to Blobolonia. Armed with the vitamin gun you can dispatch the cherry bombs and make some progress. Why are you allowed to come here in the beginning? It just adds confusion to an already very confusing intro!
Overall this is a truly rewarding adventure with some of the most creative mechanics on the NES. It’s a shame its let down by buggy gameplay, clunky control and wild crypticness.
