David Crane's A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia

aka: Fushigi na Blobby: Blobania no Kiki
Moby ID: 14618
NES Specs

Description official descriptions

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.

Spellings

  • ふしぎなブロビー ブロバニアの危機 - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Credits (NES version)

11 People

Designed by
Additional Design
Characterizations by
Graphics Design
Audio Director
Original Score
Sound Consultant
Technical Wizardry
Creative Consultant
Game Instructions by
Package Design by
Cover Illustrations by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 62% (based on 17 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 21 ratings with 2 reviews)

Feed the magic blob

The Good
I have always enjoyed A Boy and His Blob if only because it falls squarely into the "highly unique" category. It's a puzzle game where the puzzles are derived from feeding your faithful blob different flavors of jellybeans which cause him to assume various objects and tools (licorice = ladder, apple = jack, for example). I had never heard of anything quite like that before this game and I have never seen anything quite like it since.

It's worth noting, and appreciating, that the background graphics in this game are quite detailed in NES terms.

The Bad
While the background graphics feature a fairly exquisite level of detail, the primary characters-- that is, the boy and his blob-- are sorely lacking in the same area. They appear to have been transplanted from a game that was a console generation behind the background graphics.

The music was decent but also highly repetitive. The proper title of the game is "David Crane's A Boy and his Blob" which makes me wonder if a single person was responsible for the entire game, graphics, music, puzzles, and all.

The Bottom Line
Put on your thinking cap and dig into your bag of jellybeans. The blob is hungry and you have a mission to complete.

NES · by Multimedia Mike (20664) · 2005

A Wierd one for the books!

The Good
I love the unique plot and gameplay of this title. Who the heck thinks up this stuff? A boy....and his....Blob? You feed him jellybeans to make him turn into stuff? What a concept! I mean, seriously, even if your taste runs in other directions, who doesn't want to see where this one leads you?
The game itself is fairly simple, side-scroll your way through, using your pal Blog and jellybeans to figure out puzzles. And the puzzles are fun, you have to know what to turn Blob into in order to advance.
I have to agree with a previous reviewer, NES really did a nice job on the detail and artwork too. It looks very detailed and sharp for an NES game. Most NES games are a kind of blocky bitmap art, and they made this one fuller with more depth. Shadows in the trees/leafs, signs, etc. Lots of colour. It makes it fun to play. Surprisingly hard and took me lots of hours to finish!

The Bad
Not too much. Some area's were VERY difficult, made harder by running out of some of the jellybeans.
The side-scrolling nature of the game made it difficult as you sometimes advanced or retreated from the screen you were in by merely going to far. This was irritating because it usually reset the bad guy's you ALMOST just beat and now have to do all over again. But this was rare.
No real help, so some of the uses of jellybeans were not very apparent and as I said above, if you used them in the wrong place, you could run out, and have to go way back to get more! Not too much replay value though. Once you finish, there is no surprise or twist to be able to play over.

The Bottom Line
It is a refreshing change of pace to the usual fare. A highly unusual and unique game with decent graphics for the day. Lots of fun for everyone, say 10 and up. No gore at all, clean decent graphics make it good to the eye. Many hours of silly fun!

NES · by Oblio (97) · 2006

Trivia

AI Partner

According to the GamesRadar feature Gaming's Most Important Evolutions this was the first game with an AI partner.

Animation

It's interesting to note that the main character's animation in this game (and its Game Boy sequel) is exactly the same as in some of David Crane's earlier games, such as Pitfall! and The Activision Decathlon.

Cancelled Sequel

A sequel to this game, titled A Boy and His Blob: Jelly's Cosmic Adventure, was announced for release on the Game Boy Advance sometime in 2002. The title, also designed by David Crane, was never completed and ultimately cancelled.

That seems familiar...

The splash screen logo paired with the opening riff of the theme music deliberately evoke the Indiana Jones franchise. The game's title, on the other hand, evokes the 1946 movie A Boy And His Dog, a title later revisited by stories by Harlan Ellison in the '70s and their film adaptation.

Information also contributed by Pseudo_Intellectual, Giovanni Russo and M4R14N0.

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

A Boy and His Blob
Released 2016 on Linux, Windows, Macintosh...
Fushigi na Shima
Released 1993 on TurboGrafx CD
Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Tara's Adventure
Released 2001 on Game Boy Color
Mr. Driller Ace: Fushigi na Pacteria
Released 2002 on Game Boy Advance, 2015 on Wii U
Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Cobi's Journey
Released 2001 on Game Boy Color
A Boy and His Blob: Retro Collection
Released 2023 on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
de Blob
Released 2008 on Wii, 2017 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4...
Fushigi no Umi no Nadia
Released 1991 on Genesis

Related Sites +

  • everything2 node: "jellybean"
    A complete listing not only of the effects of differently-flavoured jellybeans in this game, but of the wordplay rationales behind them, useful in establishing mnemonics. Also includes relevant Game Genie codes.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 14618
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Mobygamesisreanimated.

Wii added by Charly2.0.

Additional contributors: Shoddyan, chirinea, Pseudo_Intellectual, Игги Друге, Patrick Bregger.

Game added September 2, 2004. Last modified March 27, 2024.