A Boy and his Blob feels right at home on the Nintendo Switch

WayForward’s classic platformer A Boy and his Blob returns on the Nintendo Switch

WayForward’s A Boy and his Blob is the classic that keeps finding its way back to mainstream consoles time and time again and this time on the Nintendo Switch.

Originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1989, A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia came from the creative mind of David Crane.

It was praised for being one of the first games to have an AI-controlled partner. It was followed by the Game Boy sequel The Rescue of Princess Blobette, which was well-received for its fun and accessible gameplay.

Then in 2009 developers, WayForward released a remake that was a charming re-imagining of the original on the Nintendo Wii.

Praised for its stunning hand-drawn graphics and faithfulness to the original, this version was able to win over a new generation of fans.

Since its release in 2009, A Boy and his Blob has found itself ported to almost every console and now the Nintendo Switch.

A Boy and his Blob follows the titular Blob who has escaped his home planet Blobolonia, seeking help on Earth.

After crash landing on Earth, Blob meets Boy, who agrees to help him defeat the evil emperor. The newfound friends set out on a quest that will see them travel from Earth to Blobolonia in an effort to defeat the Evil Emperor and his minions.

A Boy and His Blob is a charming tale that clearly pays homage to 80s sci-fi classics. The game manages to portray the Boy and Blob’s heartwarming friendship beautifully and without using dialogue.

The 2009 remake displayed stunning hand-drawn visuals that were breathtaking at the time for a 2D platformer. It featured remarkable real-time lighting and gorgeous levels that just added to the games charm.

A Boy and His Blob’s simplistic design really feels like playing an interactive children’s book or watching a Studio Ghibli film. It is lacking in its overall creativity, especially in level designs that tend to repeat themselves.

Visuals still look sharp on the Nintendo Switch, with the odd blurry background here and there.A Boy and his Blob is primarily a platformer, with levels that feature generally clever puzzles to complete.

Players will control the Boy, who has a limited jumping ability, meaning he pretty much dies in every scenario. To make matters a tad worse he doesn’t have a health bar and will die on first contact with the enemy.

This is where Blob comes in, as players will use him to progress through the game and complete all puzzles.

The Boy will have access to several different jelly beans that can transform Blob into an object such as a trampoline, ladder, bowling ball and more.

These transformations can be used to destroy enemies and help the Boy to reach new areas. There are more than forty levels, each filled with challenges that look simple but require a bit of thought.

The game also features boss battles that utilise all skills available at the time for a well thought out battle.

A Boy and His Blob isn’t the hardest game, and although it does feature some nice designs, fans of the genre won’t really find this game challenging enough.

The controls remain as accessible as ever, with players still being able to call and hug Blob like before.

My only gripe and this goes back to the Wii version, is how unnecessarily and convoluted the transformation process has remained.

There are just far too many steps in getting a blob to eat a jelly bean, it would’ve been nice if there was a faster option for newcomers to the series.

Verdict

A Boy and His Blob retains all the charm that made past games such precious titles. There’s a good amount of replayability with this title, especially for newcomers, but there really isn’t anything new other than the portability for returning fans.

The Nintendo Switch version improves the performance of the Wii version, so this is probably the best way to play the game.

A Boy and His Blob is out now for the Nintendo Switch