Topic: PREVIEWS: A Boy and His Blob

[Chessa]

The NES classic is being revived on the Wii this holiday season.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/previewArt.cfm?artid=17927

 A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobonia is an NES game released in 1989, developed by David Crane, best known as the creator of Pitfall. The side-scrolling platformer followed the tale of a boy and his blob friend, Blobert who travel to Blobert's home planet, Blobonia in order to save it. A remake, currently titled A Boy and His Blob, is being made for Wii by developers Wayforward Technologies and is due out during the 2009 holiday season.    

Players will once again return to Blobonia; however, quite a few changes and additions have been made to the original NES formula.    

The simple 8-bit graphics of the original have been replaced with hand-drawn characters and backgrounds, made to resemble a moving painting. Players will be able to travel through Blobonia's four worlds each of which contain ten levels rich with treasure to collect and enemies to battle. Players will fight against serpents, the Quadruped Beast, and even the Blobonian Emperor himself.    

For those that remember the original, Blobert was controlled by his consumption of jelly beans. This unique feature will return, though it is updated in many new ways. The jelly beans fed to Blobert will still make him transform into different objects useful for solving puzzles and escaping danger, though new jelly bean flavors such as Caramel Cannon and Bubble Gum Bubble have been added. These two specific flavors will transform Blobert into useful items such as a cannon and a shield. A total of fifteen jelly bean flavors will be present in order to guide Blobert and the boy through Blobonia.    

  Blobert's shape-shifting abilities are a crucial part of the game, as the boy's movement and range is extremely limited. Players will need to make both characters cooperate in order to reach new areas and battle enemies.    

Unlockable bonus content will also be included in the game as a celebration of the original's twentieth anniversary.

[Jonnyboy117]

That last line sounds like they might toss in the original NES game, eh?  Actually, I'd be even more excited to have the Game Boy sequel, since I never got to play that one.

[Nick DiMola]

I'm really looking forward to this. The game's concept always seemed ahead of its time, and now with better hardware, smoother controls, and better overall gaming conventions, I have a feeling that this game is going to shine.

[ReverendNoahWhateley]

The original really was ahead of its time.  It was a novel idea, implemented poorly.  I'm definitely going to reserve this newest rendition, however.

[GoldenPhoenix]

It is great to see the Wii stimulate a resurgence of sorts with 2D hand drawn games.