Gamertell

A Boy and His Blob is a series with a lot of history. It’s all pretty much ancient history though. Before the announcement of the forthcoming Majesco Wii remake, the last we’d seen of the boy and the blob was the Game Boy game The Rescue of Princess Blobette in 1990.

Those who played the original game may or may not have fond memories of it. While it was fun, with many ways to solve puzzles thanks the the plentiful jellybeans and blob transformations, it was also incredibly frustrating. The A Boy and His Blob games were of that rare variety that delighted in little hidden secrets and requirements. Didn’t go back and get this one item? Well, I bet you’re regretting that now that you’re trapped in a dungeon with no way to advance. Nope - we won’t let you backtrack and get that item. You brought this on yourself. It’s the only way you’ll learn. Go ahead and start over - and use a guide this time!

While we eagerly anticipate the forthcoming remake of the original, Gamertell decided to drag out the Nintendo and Game Boy and spend some time with the original games in order to take readers back to A Boy and His Blob‘s roots.

Who’s David Crane?

Look at the box art for both of the first two A Boy and His Blob games. Scroll down a bit. Whose name do you see right at the top, before even the title? David Crane. In movies, when a name appears before the title, you know that someone incredibly important’s been working on it, and it’s the same way with video games.

David Crane’s had an incredible video game career. Crane first started working with Atari, where he created Canyon Bomber, Outlaw and Slot Machine. He then, in 1979, went on to co-found Activision. While there, he created and worked on Pitfall!, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, Ghostbusters, Freeway, Little Computer People, The Activision Decathlon, Dragster, Laser Blast, Grand Prix,  Fishing Derby and The Transformers: Battle to Save the Earth.

Once again, Crane changed companies in 1986. He co-founded a new company called Absolute Entertainment. It was with Absolute Entertainment that Crane created both A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia and A Boy and His Blob in The Rescue of Princess Blobette.

A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia

David Crane’s A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia originally debuted on the NES in 1989, and was similar to Maniac Mansion as the players were given an extraordinary amount of freedom in a side scrolling adventure where solving puzzles was the preferred method to progress through the game. The boy makes friends with an alien being that happens to be a blob. It turns out an evil emperor has come to power on the blob’s home planet, and it is only with the help of the boy that the blob can return home and save Blobolonia. At times, the blob could feel more like a pet than an assistant, as the boy would summon him with whistles and really seemed to be the brains of the operation.

Players have to travel through both Earth and Blobolonia, overcoming various obstacles by making the blob transform with 14 different flavors of jelly beans. You had to be careful, because, unless you had a Game Genie, your jelly bean supply was limited. This meant that some sort of guide was practically a necessity. Or, at the very least, you had to pay close attention to the included instructions.

Jelly Bean Flavors and Functions

• Apple turns the blob into a car jack.
• Cinnamon turns him into a blow torch.
• Coconut turns him into a coconut that rolls ahead as a scout.
• Cola makes him into a bubble that surrounds the boy.
• Honey turns him into a hummingbird.
• Ketchup makes the blob catch up to the boy. If you’re quick, you can actually feed it to the blob to make him turn into a useless brick wall.
• Licorice turns him into a ladder.
• Lime turns him into a key.
• Orange turns him into the Vitablaster - a gun that shoots vitamins.
• Punch makes the blob become a hole in the ground.
• Root Beer turns him into a rocket.
• Strawberry makes him become a bridge for crossing gaps.
• Tangerine turns him into a trampoline.
• Vanilla makes him into an umbrella so the boy can survive falls.

A Boy and His Blob in The Rescue of Princess Blobette

A year later, in 1990, David Crane’s Rescue of Princess Blobette was released for the Game Boy. Once again, the boy and blob would have to meander through another challenge, this time to try and save Blobolonia’s Princess Blobette. The sequel also features 14 different flavors of jelly beans, only this time the cinnamon blow torch and orange vitablaster were replaced with the banana monkey wrench and mint ice patch.

Where the previous A Boy and His Blob game had players exploring both Earth and Blobolonia, The Rescue of Princess Blobette took place entirely inside a castle. The boy and blob begin locked in a tower, tasked with saving the princess who is trapped in a cage over a boiling vat of… something.

The Rescue of Princess Blobette is much easier to complete and doesn’t present situations where if players failed to do things in the correct order, they’ll be trapped. This is due, in part, to bugs in it that allows players to skip through the game quickly.

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