Game: A Boy and His Blob
Platform: NES
Year Released: 1989



I’m not even sure how to start off this review, exactly. How do I give an intro for a game that has none? When you start playing A Boy and His Blob, you’re standing on a street next to a blob with a bunch of jellybeans in your inventory. No instructions, no menu to tell you what the jellybeans do, and not even a hint of direction.

As well as I can piece together the story for this game, you’re a young boy on Earth with a pet blob from Blobolonia. Together, you and the blob roam the street, subway, and caves and river underneath the subway to collect treasure. In exchange for the treasure you can get the ultimate weapon… vitamins. Yes, vitamins, to be used when you and the blob get back to Blobolonia. Why any of this is happening, I couldn’t tell you.



Some trial and error are needed to determine exactly what to do with the jellybeans. They are fed to the blob, and each type makes him change into a different thing: licorice jellybeans make a ladder, while punch-flavored beans turn him into a hole in the ground, for example. Unfortunately, you only have a limited number of each type, and you will waste some unnecessarily while trying to figure out what to do with them. Even after you’ve tested out every kind, the game still won’t actually tell you what they do, so you might want to keep a pen and paper handy unless you have a photographic memory.

After screwing around a little bit you’re off collecting treasure in the subway. Figuring out where you’re supposed to go is a challenge in itself, since there’s no indication of where these treasures you have to get actually are. The number of treasures is shown, however, so at least you’ll know how many you have left to get. Careful and precise uses of blob and jellybeans are required; the simplest error will result in death and the loss of a life.



Because of how easy it is to mess up, you will find yourself plummeting to your death, being attacked by subway worms, or getting hit by spikes quite a bit. This usually doesn’t set you back too far, but you do only have five lives. I think A Boy and His Blob would have done a little better to give the player infinite lives, if nothing else; it would be one thing if it wasn’t so easy to lose, but the amount of failures that come from the trial-and-error gameplay can lead to a lot of game overs. Since there is absolutely no save or password system in effect, the game has to be beaten in one sitting. This seems insane by today’s standards, but in 1989 this was the norm for NES games. That doesn’t make it any less aggravating.

I really do like this game, but playing it again has just made me blatantly aware of its flaws. I’ve never gotten very far in it (I got farther while playing it today than I have in my life), and now I remember why. The concept behind this game is really unique, and the gameplay could have been a lot better with a little more tweaking and a bit more forgiveness.



It’s possible that this game just came out too early; video game technology was limited in the 1980s, and if A Boy and His Blob had been released only a few years later, the additional elements needed to make this a rewarding experience could have been implemented. There was a remake for the Nintendo DS in the works a couple of years ago, but it looks to have been cancelled, which is a shame because this game deserves another shot. With a little bit of story, some direction, and maybe an actual menu, getting treasure and saving Blobolonia could have been a great adventure. As it is, it’s a little more frustrating than any game should be.