A Boy And His Blob Nes Game

I am Blobert, eater of worlds.

Released by Absolute Entertainment in 1989 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia (yes, that actually is the game's subtitle), features the adventures of our eponymous hero (the Male child) and his friend Blob (total name Blobert) as they race to Blob'due south home globe to defeat the evil emperor.

The chief draw of this platforming game (which was created by David Crane of Pitfall! fame) is that Blob has the uncanny ability to change into dissimilar shapes/objects depending on what blazon of jellybean the boy feeds him. From licorice to ketchup, each flavor turns Hulk into a dissimilar shape, allowing the boy to overcome obstacles and complete each level.

Numerous remakes were rumored since its release, but for xx years the series consisted of only the original and a 1990 sequel for the Game Boy, The Rescue of Princess Blobette.

Information technology was finally resurrected on the Wii in 2009 past WayForward Technologies, makers of Shantae and a bunch of licensed stuff, every bit a level-based puzzle platformer. The two main characters among with others were redesigned likewise. A high-definition update of this game was released for Windows (via Steam and GOG.com), PlayStation iv, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox Ane on January 19, 2016 and Nintendo Switch in fall 2021.

Both games provide examples of:

Adipose King: The Emperor of Bloblonia.
Alliterative Name: Those jellybean names that aren't pun-tastic tend to be these. Both games have the Licorice Ladder and Tangerine Trampoline.
- The original contains the Root Beer Rocket.
- The Wii game replaces Root Beer with Cinnamon for the rocket, but gives the states in return: The Berry Balloon, Bubble Glue Bouncer, Pear Parachute, Cream Cannon, Strawberry Shield (replacing Strawberry = Bridge in the original), and Cotton wool Processed Copy.
Batman Can Breathe in Space: The inevitable trip to Blobolonia. And back again in the Wii version.
Blob Monster: But the Blob isn't and then much a monster in this game.
- Some of the sequel'due south enemies fit into a Blob Monster category likewise.

Collision Damage: It applies to some of the enemies also if they collide with dissimilar enemies.
Edge Gravity: Doesn't exist in the original, where if you run off of a ledge the Boy runs in the air for a second Looney Tunes-style and then plummets. Present in the sequel.
Eternal Engine: In NES version, the sweets mill. In Wii version, the earlier levels of world 4.
Fat Bounder: The Emperor of Bloblonia. In the original game, this was part of the alleged Aesop, because the game had a whole "candy is bad for you" theme and the Emperor was but a sapient hulk of fat. In the Wii version, there's no such moral anymore, so he'due south just your standard big fat jerk.
Food-Based Superpowers: The titular Blob gains shapeshifting powers from eating ordinary jelly beans, and the flavor of edible bean determines what the Hulk volition turn into. Most of the transformations are based on wordplay, using Alliteration (Root Beer Rocket), rhyme (Tangerine Trampoline), or even puns (Apple Jack).
Inexplicable Treasure Chests: Who leaves those things scattered around the woods, city and Bloblonia anyhow?
Kid Hero: The titular Boy, obviously.

No Name Given: You're just a boy afterwards all.
Non the Autumn That Kills You…: Fall more than two screens without landing on something soft or bouncy, and you'll dice.
- This as well applies in the Wii version. If the boy falls far enough to start tumbling (nigh one screen in height), he'due south doomed. Exist very careful about where you Trampoline to....
1-Hitting-Indicate Wonder: There is no health bar. Annihilation that tin can injure the boy, can impale him instantly.
Parental Abandonment: In the Wii game, the Boy is specifically said to be around 6 years old. Where on Earth are his parents? The original looks like a teenager, and then he's probably OK on his own, merely nevertheless..
Portable Hole: When fed a fruit punch flavored jelly bean, the blob turns into the Punch Pigsty, which fits this trope.
Requisite Royal Regalia: All kings and emperors in the series seem to wear crowns.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Admit information technology: You lot desire a Blob of your very own, don't yous?
Rocket Ride: With your hulk as a rocket.
Shaped Like Itself: Coconut Jellybean = Plow Hulk into a coconut. Natch.
Spikes of Doom: Ooooh aye. All over the place...
Stalactite Spite: It's one of the few things that can kill the Male child when he'due south in the Cola Bubble.
Pun: A number of the jellybean'south abilities are linked to their flavors. Both versions have Dial = Hole, Apple tree = Jack, and the original has Lime = Fundamental. (* groan* )
Super Drowning Skills: The Male child and the enemies. Of form, equally mentioned to a higher place, he tin still breathe in space.
Super Not-Drowning Skills: While the boy can't swim, the Blob is unable to sink if he's non a bubble or an anvil.

The 1989 game and Game Boy sequel provide examples of:

Action Bomb: Cherry-red bombs explode when they touch the ground, and are fatal even if they detonate off-screen.
American Kirby Is Hardcore: When the NES game was released in Japan, the Boy and the title screen were inverse to look "cuter". Hilarious in Hindsight when the Wii remake made the boy "cuter" as well.
Awesome, but Impractical: The Vitablaster. It's a gun (fabricated by feeding Blob an Orangish jellybean) that tin be used to impale enemies on Blobonia by shooting them with vitamins. Even so, doing so puts you at risk of dying and it'southward far more efficient to simply curlicue the kokosnoot a huge distance into the screen to make them become away.
Cleaved Aesop: The original game seems to be proverb sweets are bad (marshmallows and chocolate kisses can kill y'all, and vitamins are used to destroy them) yet jellybeans are the Blob's source of power and peppermints are traded in for extra lives. Cherries (or more accurately, reddish bombs) are among the things that impale you.
Chekhov'south Boomerang: The Apple Jack is only used to open the manhole comprehend and defeat the final boss.
The Ghost: The Evil Alchemist responsible for capturing the princess in the Gameboy title, who never shows upwardly in the game itself.
Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Sometimes, when screeching to a halt at the border, the Boy will suddenly stand in midair. In true cartoon physics manner, he will gradually look down, realize his situation, and fall, usually to his death.
Leap of Organized religion: Or more accurately, fall of faith. In the subway, placing the pigsty at the wrong position may cause y'all to fall multiple screens.
Nintendo Hard: Only a handful of lives, no continues, and a finite number of jellybeans that mean squandering them tin can return the game unwinnable.
Not Completely Useless: Ketchup-flavored jellybeans have no consequence (the Blob hates them), but throwing one when the Hulk isn't on the screen causes him to teleport to where information technology landed.
Parasol Parachute: Vanilla = Umbrella.
Save the Princess: In the Rescue of Princess Blobette.
Script Breaking: Normally, getting past a screen on Blobolonia clears information technology, allowing yous to pass without further interference. Throwing the bean off the left of the left-hand screen will fob the game to think that all such screens are cleared.
Treasure Is Bigger in Fiction: Big blue gems.
Trial-and-Fault Gameplay: Some challenges require you to prepare for them before you lot enter the same screen.
Under the Bounding main: The caves in your world have water in them, and you lot won't be able to survive unless you lot feed Blobert a jellybean that turns him into a bubble.
Unwinnable by Design: Wasting your beans is technically Unintentionally Unwinnable as yous have more than than plenty to naviagate known areas. However, there are but two lime beans - you just need 1, merely if you lot experimented to see that information technology creates a fundamental, and accidentally throw the 2d on the ground, y'all tin't reach the emperor.
A Winner Is Yous: The NES release is a particular offender in this department.
Yous Have to Burn down the Spider web: At that place'south simply one web, simply enough of jelly beans to burn information technology away.

The 2009 game provides examples of:

100% Completion: Getting all 3 treasure chests in a level unlocks a challenge level. Beating challenge levels unlock things like concept fine art and another stuff.
All Animals Are Dogs: The developers said that the personality of the Hulk is largely based on dogs.
Anti-Frustration Features: Calling Hulk three times will crusade the Boy to whistle instead, which makes the Blob instantly turn into a balloon so it can attain y'all.
Anvil on Head: The Assistant Anvil is very effective when information technology comes to enemies.
Artificial Stupidity: At to the lowest degree the game is kind enough to note information technology — When Hulk cannot reach the player or seems to be getting stuck, he turns pink (every bit he turns gray well-nigh the enemies).

Bittersweet Ending: The evil emperor is defeated, but Blob has to render to his planet. The credits play a song chosen "Everything to Me" about how the blob is the greatest thing ever to happen to the boy, accompanied by a montage of pictures of them playing together with nobody else in sight, culminating in an end screen of him staring up at the moon.
Blackout Basement:
- Level ii-half-dozen. Hulk helpfully eats a firefly to aid you lot low-cal the manner, only if you don't have Blob cling shut to you, yous'll have no idea where y'all're going.
- The "g prize" for completing the T-rex set up of Challenge Levels in Earth 2 is an orb that you can utilize to turn the lights off and play whatsoever level in this manner if you desire.
Bottomless Pits: A quick mode to test them is to throw a jellybean downward and watch the Blob take the plunge for yous; if it's bottomless, he'll transform into balloon form and float right dorsum.
Bubblegloop Swamp: Second half of the first world.
But At present I Must Become: The hulk returns to his home planet at the cease, leaving the boy alone after an emotional farewell.
Came from the Sky: How the Blob got to earth.
The Cameo: In that location's a Shantae doll on the bookshelf in the Earth two Hub.

Challenge Run: At that place's an orb that turns off the lights.
Gainsay Tentacles: The second dominate, the Beast, has an entire dorsum full of writhing, deadly tentacles.
Concept Art Gallery: At all the hubs subsequently completing challenge stages. There are a few videos mixed in too.
Continuity Nod: The Male child is significantly younger than the original Boy... just he wears the same clothes, right downward to the colors.
Cool Chair: The main villain sits on one with heads and all.
Cranium Ride: You tin ride on sure enemies if you drop an anvil on their heads, which allows you to safely ride them.

Creepy Twins: Ane of the enemy types is a pair of twin blobs. Drop an anvil on one of them, and the other ane will counter by transforming into a Behemothic blob.
Cutscene Power to the Max: The opening movie depicts the blob eating a bean and transforming. All in midair. (The blob really tin grab jellybeans mid-air, but he usually waits for them to state earlier trying to chase them down.)
Cut the Knot: A bit of outside-the-box thinking and strategic bean usage tin can allow the thespian to completely bypass certain puzzles. For case, one room in World 2 has a giant blob monster blocking the fashion forward, and the game guides the player towards pushing a stone off of a high ledge, pushing it onto a ramp that can be lifted up with the jack, then dropping it down to break a hole in the floor that allows the role player to get underneath the giant blob monster and apply the jack to lift it up and vanquish it against the ceiling. Or the actor tin can just notice that the ledge the rock spawns on extends right over the giant blob, create a hole and push the stone through it to crush the enemy that style.
Dark Is Evil: All enemy blobs are black (though the blob emperor himself is greyness).
Directionally Solid Platforms: You lot need a pigsty to get back down from these.
Disney Death: In the second-to-final level, correct before the 11th-Hour Superpower kicks in, one of the Emperor's blob-tentacles appears to clasp the Blob to little bits. However, a few Swiss Army Tears—and the fact that he'south a blob—aid the Hulk get dorsum together in no time.
Ditto Fighter: A sure jellybean will brand Blob turn into Boy's shape and replicates his movements. One of the enemies tin also do so.
Eleventh Hour Super Power: Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha! during the penultimate level.
Energy Ball: Last boss tin can fire these.
Evil Laugh: When you run across the evil emperor.
Evil Overlooker: On its box fine art.
Family-Unfriendly Death:
- The emperor gets punched repeatedly in the skull past a giant robot, while bleeding black goo, and then, when he finally dies, he turns into a roiling mass of blackness every bit his face TEARS INTO TINY PIECES and he dissolves.
- Killing the frog mooks by having the blob alter from his coconut form to his basic form while inside it.
- What happens to the boy if you neglect. Picture this scene: A 6-year erstwhile boy with no special powers falls eighty feet into a bed of spikes, slumps over, and stops moving. He'southward obviously dead. Fade to black, reload the checkpoint.
Foreshadowing: The world 2 boss can exist seen wandering effectually the background as you lot traverse his level.
Iv-Fingered Hands: A rigorously enforced office of the Boy's design, to help make him as cuddly as possible.
Genre Throwback: Art style and the trailer of the game in inspired by 80-due south cartoons and films.
Ghibli Hills: The Boy makes his ho— er, tree fort in some truly beautiful woods land. It's correct next to Bubblegloop Swamp, though. (Just it's notwithstanding beautiful.)
Glowing Eyes of Doom: The enemies accept them.
Gusty Glade: Numerous, with Challenge 2-5 being a standout.
Guide Dang It!: In most cases, inverted. The hint signs are everywhere. They're left in that location as a remnants of the development and playtesting stage of the game development.
Heli-Critter: One of the pieces of native wild fauna in Blobolonia.
Helpful Mook: Although they can still kill you, you can driblet Anvil Blob on big enemy Blobs (and the small missive ones) to get on a Attic Ride of sorts. The large ones will also happily toss your Cola Bubble around to help embrace large distances. Enemy blobs can too weigh downward force per unit area plates (especially the Enemy Clone blobs) and set off the exploding blobs that hover in midair.
Hub Level: One for each of the 4 main worlds.
Human Cannonball: When your blob has a cannon class, that's what the boy can do while being able to stay invulnerable to some of the threats.
Infinite Supplies: Boy carries an infinite corporeality of jellybeans, to prevent the player from getting stuck in the center of a level.
Interface Spoiler: Directly inverted. All of the levels are 10 stages long, correct? World ane had 10, Earth 2 had 10, Globe 3 had 10, Globe four has... expect, why are you facing the Final Dominate? It's only the end of Level four-8! Why are we dorsum in Earth 1?Expect, did someone tape ''two more than levels'' to the end of the map? Oh, Crap!...
- The achievements in the rerelease in particular spoil the fact that World 4 has only 8 levels, while World 1 has 12.
Just Eat Him: If you lot get as well close to the behemothic fat blobs they will swallow you. Besides the frog enemies will eat Coconut Blob... only for him to emerge from their insides when you phone call him.
Level Ate: Bloblonia comes pretty close. Some parts of information technology do look organic, but there's a lot of towering gelatin-mold spires and jellybeans everywhere.
Loads and Loads of Loading: In levels with lots of doors.
Logo Joke
Long Song, Short Scene: Washed intentionally! At that place are four very hidden songs found simply in the Sound Test (It Makes Sense in Context). Musically, they don't fit the fashion of the balance of the game. However, they'll sound... familiar to those who've played the original game...
Luckily, My Shield Volition Protect Me: Ane of the Blob'due south powers in World 4 is a shield that can block enemy blobs.
Mood Whiplash:
- The absolutely beautiful opening levels are as lovely and as soothing as tin can be, full of fireflies and gently swaying trees... until you striking Level 1-10. "This music sounds... dissimilar. Everything's so red! I've got a bad feeling virtually this... HOLY CRAP OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT Thing!?"
- The poor Hulk getting a Disney Expiry, followed immediately past the 11th-Hr Superpower kicking in.
New Powers as the Plot Demands: Blob seems to just gain new powers and jellybeans without reason from level to level.
No-Gear Level:
- Level 4-1 requires you to traverse the unabridged level without Blob at your side. Blob? Hulk!?
- Starting time of the penultimate level has this affair happen too.
Nostalgia Level: Level 11.
Notice This: "Follow the fireflies" is a good maxim to follow if y'all want to find all the treasures.
One-Hitting Kill: All bosses take iii hits to defeat, except the boss at the end of the fourth and apparently final world.
I-Winged Affections The Emperor's final grade fifty-fifty has copious oral fissure-tentacles to put you in listen of Cthulhu. And Zoidberg.
Playing Tennis with the Boss
Pressure Plate: Quite a lot of them, specially in the last earth, equally well every bit several of the challenge stages.
Pulling Themselves Together: With the aid of Swiss Army Tears.
Puzzle Dominate: All of the bosses. Makes sense, since it's pretty much a puzzle game.
Crimson Sky, Accept Alarm: Before and during the first boss battle and during the final dominate boxing.
Respawning Enemies: But only those critical for completing a nearby puzzle.
Band Inventory: The menu for selecting the jelly beans.
Scenery Porn: Some admittedly gorgeous mitt-drawn artwork makes up the backgrounds.
Scenery Gorn: The second half of Earth 3, which features a decayed, dying version of the Dr. Suess-like scenery in the first half of world three.
Shapeshifter Baggage: Officially, the Blob maintains the aforementioned book in all transformations; larger forms (like the Cannon and Bubble transformations) are just lite and hollow. Withal, only the Anvil and Clone transformations are heavy enough to weigh downward pressure level plates.
Silence Is Aureate: The game has no dialogue... at all. (Well, the Boy yells "Blob!" and "Let'southward become!") And barely whatever on-screen text. Fifty-fifty the "hint signs" only prove pictures! It works, though.
Audio Examination: One of the unlockable bonuses in the World three Hub level: A level with a variety of friendly Blobs, who play music when you feed them jellybeans.
Spoiler Opening: The opening movie displays many of Blob'south powers, as well equally 3 of the 4 major bosses.
Stealth Pun: Added to the pun-filled jellybean flavors are Mint Double (or Doublemint) and Strawberry Shield (which could be argued is a stealth reference to "Strawberry Fields Forever.")
Stock Money Pocketbook: A lot of coin in the NES version is stored in bags.
Sugar Basin: The game specifically set out to evoke a heartwarming, Disney/Studio Ghibli-esque experience.
Sugar Apocalypse: When you reach the second half of world iii, you lot realize that a wide radius around the blob emperor'southward castle has become a decayed wasteland version of the vibrant environments you had just been through in the first half.

Temporary Platform:
- Small floating platforms will shake and fall when you pace on them, but they respawn, too.
- The final claiming level (1-12) has one room where a basic enemy Hulk moves back and forth across a Pressure Plate, toggling betwixt two sets of platforms that are form your merely way of crossing a bed of spikes (and a hill).

There Was a Door: Your first appearance in the Earth three hub involves crashing through the roof. Averted when going from Earth 4 back to World one, since the boy and the blob just fly in through the open window instead.

Triumphant Reprise: After the blob is brought back to life and turned into a mech.
True Last Boss: It actually manages to be a surprise for one time, due to a variant on Interface Spoiler.

Unexpected Genre Alter:
- Level fourteen/2-4. It's the beginning level you lot can use the Cola Bubble jellybean in... and it plays more than like something out of Sonic the Hedgehog than the other levels.
- The World 2'southward Challenge level #x, which involves flying the Root Beer Rocket through a massive labyrinth full of Deadly Walls.
Video Game Caring Potential:
- In that location'due south a "Hug" button; yes, you read that right.
- The 4th world also has a number of caged blobs in the Emperor'south citadel. Feeding them a Berry Balloon bean will gratuitous them, but y'all get nothing for doing so beyond warm fuzzy feelings (and achievements for each level cleared out in the rerelease.)
Video Game Cruelty Potential: The game has a "Scold" push button. Not that it does much beyond making the Blob stay in place until you call him.

Where It All Began: The game's concluding two levels are not in World 4. No, they're all the way dorsum in Earth one.
World Shapes: Bloblonia is very... edible bean-shaped.
Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: When the Final Boss comes at the end of level 8 of what's ordinarily a 10-level earth and all it takes to defeat him is a Ane-Hit Impale before he slinks away, you know something more than has to happen...