REVIEW # 00000000 01000111
My heart says…
Splash screen
I don’t know if it’s just me but the splash screen along with the soundtrack you can hear looks like a Indiana Jones homage (or maybe “copy”) gone wrong. Even the way the title is written reminds a lot aour famous archaeologist. Apart from this is cool that the opening screen is not black but a fun shade of yellow-orange!
Graphics
Narrative
Gameplay
The game is a platformer in which our human protagonist has to solve some simple but tricky puzzles with the help of Blobert. The first one are quite easy but I’m 99% sure that soon you’ll be stuck at a point from which you cannot go further. Blobert can help the titular boy eating Jelly Beans with which he is able to modify his body and assume different shapes.
A total of 14 Jelly Beans are available in the game, each one with their effects on Blobert:
- Apple Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a jack to raise objects
- Cinnamon Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a blow torch to burn spiderwebs
- Coconut Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a coconut that, thrown as a bowling ball can explore the surroundings
- Cola Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a bubble inside of which the boy can breath underwater
- Honey Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in an hummingbird to follow the biy quickly
- Ketchup Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a useless brick. Blobert will eat it only if the boy throws at him an Honey Jelly Bean and a Ketchup Jelly Bean immediately after.
- Licorice Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a ladder
- Lime Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a key
- Orange Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a vitamine-laucher weapon
- Punch Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a hole to connect two different places
- Root Beer Jelly Bean: turns Blobert into a rocket to transport himself and the boy between the Earth and Blobolonia
- Strawberry Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a bridge to connect two different platforms
- Tangerine Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in a trampoline
- Vanilla Jelly Bean: turns Blobert in an umbrella to land softly from great heights or to cover against falling objects
Controls
For a strange twist of fate in this game, created by the same person who developed Pitfall!, the first game featuring a jumping character, the boy of the title can’t jump. I don’t know if this can be considered a big limitation, since the game flows naturally anyway, but watching someone jumping in a platform is always relieving. In this game the human player can control only the boy and he can only run, thow jelly belly at his blob and whistle at him. The controls are quite intuitive, even the button select so choose the jelly bean taste. In the end rather straightforward controls.
Sound
Even though as I said the intro sound looks a lot like Indiana Jones score, the in game music is different and even if is in a never changing loop throughout all the game is amusing and not so dangerous for your ears like some other repetitive soundtracks in other games.
Longevity
The game is not so easy so it’s very unlikely you’ll bet it quickly so it can assure hours and hours of play.
Final Score 70/100
Year: 1989
Developer: Imagineering
Publisher: Absolute Entertraiment
Genre: Platform
Game Mode: Single Player
Original Platform: NES
From the same developers:
- Commando (1988) for Atari 2600
- Ikari Warriors (1989) for Atari 2600
- The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants (1991) for NES
From the same publishers:
- Kung-Fu Master (1984)
- Super Battletank (1992)
- The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (1992)
- Rise of the Robots (1994)
Inspired to:
- Pitfall! (1982)
If you liked it you can also try:
Other chapters of the saga:
- The Rescue of Princess Blobette Starring A Boy and his Blob (1990)
- A Boy and his Blob (2009)
