Strange game, strange title, but strangely fun to play.

User Rating: 7.7 | Fushigi na Blobby: Blobania no Kiki NES
There are a lot of video games out there that don’t really don’t fit any mold. Some are so far out there that many won’t play them because they are too weird. Others just have a certain charm to them, despite having a strange premise, that many players grow fond of them. A Boy and his Blob is definitely in the latter category. Anyone just looking at the title might easily write this off as some quack job of a game. I was more curious about the game and gave it a chance. What I discovered is that not all games need to have guns, babes, or ninjas to be fun to play.

When I saw a screen shot of A Boy and his Blob, I was impressed by how the graphics looked. With a title like A Boy and his Blob, I was expecting more of a campy, cartoonish look. The graphics actually had more of a realistic look to them. The animation of the Blob was also amazing. Despite being an 8-bit game, the Blob actually had quite a bit of character to it. The music is pretty mundane with just a few tunes throughout the entire game. The sound effects are minimal, but get the job done. Overall, I found the lack of decent sound not to be much of a liability. The game play itself if very unique. You control a normal kid with his trusty blob following in toe. The kid has the basic running and jumping actions to get past most of the basic obstacles. The uniqueness comes with your supply of jellybeans you carry. The different flavors transform your Blob into various shapes and devices to get past the more daunting obstacles: like cola flavored jellybeans that turn the Blob into a bubble to get through the underwater zone. Luckily I had a Nintendo Power that documented what the different flavors did; otherwise I would have to resort to trial and error.

For a game with a title like A Boy and his Blob, it really had a unique theme and decent game play. For someone who is all about blowing stuff up in my games, I enjoyed the rather pacifistic nature of this game. Sometimes using brains over brawn can be fun.