A Boy and His Blob, by WayForward Technologies, is a modern re-imagining of a classic 1989 NES game. I have fond memories of renting the original game on multiple occasions during my hardcore 8-bit days, but never managed to beat it. Not even close.

While the original game was tough as nails, the Wii installment is much more forgiving and approachable; a fact that makes it a wonderful choice for gaming couples. My wife and I played through WayForward's masterpiece together over the course of a couple of months, and had a blast doing so.

For those who are not familiar with the title, A Boy and His Blob is a puzzle platformer that puts you in the shoes of a young lad who, somewhat mysteriously, is in possession of an endless supply of jellybeans. Accompanying our pint-sized hero is a white blob that can transform into a variety of useful forms when fed different flavors of jellybeans. For example, a white bean transforms Blobert into a ball the boy can throw, a black jelly bean allows him to take the form of a ladder, and a red jellybean transforms him into a hole in the ground.

The game is broken up into four maps, each of which contains ten levels (more or less). In addition to these forty storyline levels, each area you explore has three treasure chests hidden within it, and finding all three chests unlocks a challenge level for you to test your skills on.

Fetch, blob! Click to enlarge

As the player you are in control of the boy, who is, for all intents and purposes, a wuss. Boy can't run very fast, can barely jump, and dies if he touches an enemy; in fact the only thing the hapless squirt has going for him is his interstellar buddy and a sack full of jelly beans!

Solving the game's environmental puzzles consists of utilizing the beans that you have been given for a level (which is never the full set) to overcome all of the obstacles in your way and reach the golden jelly bean at the end. At first the levels are trivial, but the difficulty ramps up quickly, and by the end of the game you will be forced to solve some tricky maps that involve good thinking and excellent timing. Challenge levels, on the other hand, are almost always tough and the level of perfection that is demanded could be frustrating for players who don't like to fail often. The rewards for completing challenges are worth it though: most levels unlock concept art that was used when designing the game.

Mechanically, A Boy and His Blob has a fairly simple control scheme that is both intuitive and crisp. It should be noted that WayForward decided not to include any sort of waggle in the controls, which was appreciated. Like any puzzle platformer, jumping precision is a required skill and you should expect to die quite often during some of the tougher sequences. In the normal levels death is punished by moving you back to the nearest invisible checkpoint (which is never far off), whereas in the challenge areas dying sets you back to the start of the level.

This doesn't look good - click to enlarge

The artwork in this game is simple yet beautiful. The hand drawn characters and backgrounds convey a distinct style that helps wordlessly tell the story of the boy and his adventure. Each block of levels has a distinct theme that ties it together and adds variety to the journey.

What is most impressive is how WayForward managed to take a shapeless blob and imbue it with a strong personality. The blob is usually white and fairly sedate, but he starts darkening when forced to approach an enemy, and his movements become more agitated. Likewise, when separated from the boy, blob will often turn slightly red and hop around frantically, but when the pair are again reunited he settles back down. This totally irrelevant game mechanic is actually a powerful tool in making the player feel attached to blob. It is reinforced by an equally useless "hug" command, which allows the boy to hug blob. My wife was very fond of making sure the little guy got hugs whenever he helped get the boy across an obstacle.

A Boy and his Blob is probably not for everybody, but if you like a good puzzle platformer then I highly recommend picking up a copy and playing it through. It is a great little game to turn on and curl up on a couch with your significant other to play, and the cute interactions between the boy and his interstellar friend are almost guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

Bonus content:
- Gamasutra recently ran an article on the way user feedback shaped the game
- Retronauts podcast #79 contained an interview with WayForward's Marc Gomez and Sean Velasco in which the NES and Wii games were discussed in detail.