A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia (1990)

Preliminary: Based on the playthrough I peeked at, the Look was not good. But I liked the title screen and now love the cityscape vibe of the beginning

Oh wait I just pieced together is that supposed to sound like Indiana Jones? I never really watched those much so I dunno. Sheesh that's a lot of different jelly bean options haha but I do like this subway and the first puzzle I figured out once I read what the different jellybeans do. Not bad.

My goodness is the throwing of the jellybeans so slow tho I hope that doesn't bog the game down too much cuz most the movement is very fast (even if a bit slipper)

Meh but as I dug deeper into this pit and had to deal more and more with whether I can whistle call for the Blob and the intricacies of the game (and the reality it will be more of a puzzle game than a platformer.. I wish I could jump!), I knew it wasn't worth pushing through. Great Look with the cityscape tho

I vaguely recall renting this back in the day but never got very far. The concept of the game was cool and stuck with me throughout the years, but the actual game was mediocre at best. It was not fun to explore the limited world, nor to figure out how to proceed. I used an online map to make it faster but got stuck trying to get back to the surface. There was a big chasm with a few caves that I tried many times to trampoline up only to fail because the guy would not fall left enough. Had to check a walkthrough to find out the other chasm was the correct way up. If this game was more like a traditional platformer (like Mario) it would have been more fun, with more of a sandbox feel for the different blob forms. There were way too many forms, which made it difficult to keep track of what did what. A more physics based mechanic where you only have 1 type of jellybean that allows manual morphing of the blob into whatever shape would have been more fun. There was not enough action, the environments were not interesting, the gun sucked, the late game design was obnoxious, and the final boss was not even a fight. Overall lame game.

5.0/10

History:
So when I was much, MUCH younger, my mom used to work at a video store. During the Summer, she'd take me to work with her during the day, and I'd pass the time by connecting rental consoles (Remember rental consoles?) to the small TV behind the counter and browsing the store for games to play during the day. I'm SURE this was one of those games, though I literally remember nothing about it aside from seeing the box every day and picking it up several times.

Expectation:
I'm expecting to be able to beat this game easily enough, just from what I've heard. Who knows at this point, my track record so far is... questionable.

Pre-Game Thoughts:
Onward, to Blobolonia!

Night 1:

First things I notice as soon as I turn the game on. First, the music is awesome. Second, the development team for this game consists of eight people. God bless 80's game design!

So as expected the game starts you off with literally no direction as to what to do. I see I have a decent number of lives, a score, my current jellybean of choice, and whatever the TR is, I have 22. As soon as I find my way down into a subway I see a glittering pile stuff I want and no way to get to it. I go back to the surface and start feeding my blob various beans. Nothing clicks... I'm running back and forth in the subway like an idiot until it finally hits me! I feed my blob a Punch Bean and he turn into a hole, which I presume was punched into the floor. Go back a couple screens and a Licorice Bean turns him into a ladder, presumably entwined like licorice. The shinies are mine and my TR value drops to 21. TR, treasure, got it. I have 21 left to find.

At this point, now that I know I can slap an ACME hole on the ground, I can start exploring, and at this point, I begin dying... repeatedly, I finally figure out the umbrella can be used to slow my falls, and from here the whole map more or less opens up to me!

The game is starting to feel like it's almost entirely trial and error, and memory. It took me several times of breaking my legs just to figure out where to put the holes. Not really knowing what else to do, I just kept going down...

Scenery change!

I jump off a ledge and find an underground lake area, where I immediately drown. Now I know what the Cola Bean is for! I encase myself in a protective bubble and begin exploring the depths, finding lots and lots of treasure.

Then I died... HORRIBLY!

Game over, yeah no kidding...

Feeling pretty good about this game actually, but I'm ready to check in for the night. My weekend was eaten up by a complete living room rearrangement which involved consolidating both my "modern" and "retro" entertainment centers. The result is seeing my old games running through the Framemeister at 1080p, which is just amazing.

Night 2:

Boy I've been ignoring this one... I've played through the game a few times now, and it's always the same: I can get down and grab most of the treasures in the cave... then I can't get back! I finally decided to try to just go beat the game.

I was able to make it through the fields, through the factory, through the caves and...

Yeah Blobert, I hear ya. So I guess I can't cheese this one. I'll make this happen, tomorrow if I can!

Night 3:

Sat down this afternoon with intent to win and win I did! I was able to collect all 22 treasures before flying to Smallville.

Conclusion:
I almost gave up on this one, but I'm glad I pushed through, if only to say I beat it. I had a pretty fun time once I finally got the layouts memorized, and I felt pretty good making it to the end. I guess if I had to pick a real problem with it, it's that there's no real difficulty, just memorization. Once the game is committed to memory, beating it can be accomplished quickly and easily.

Play it Again?
Maybe. I've never liked Pitfall and I feel the same way about this game. I may pick it up again to speedrun, as it definitely appeals to me in that regard..

Personal Score: