A Boy and His Blob: Trouble On Blobolonia - Legacy

Legacy

Since the original release of the game, A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia has received miscellaneous recognition from the media. In 2005, University of Houston newspaper columnist Jason Poland attributed the inspiration of game's premise, in which a young boy befriends an outerspace being, to the central theme found in a slew of 1980s films including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Last Starfighter. The writer found this especially true for the former of the two features, in which the earthling protagonist supplies his alien cohort with candy. "Although free from any Jelly Belly product placement," Poland explained, "A Boy and His Blob encompasses plot devices from every '80s buddy sci-fi film and acts as an end cap to the entire film genre." The website GamesRadar noted A Boy and His Blob as a milestone in gaming for having the first recognizable instance of an AI-controlled partner. Despite giving it such a low review score, IGN listed A Boy and His Blob as the 74th-best game on the NES, owing its inclusion to creative gameplay mechanics and a healthy mixture of action-adventure and platforming.

A sequel to A Boy and His Blob was released for the Game Boy under the name The Rescue of Princess Blobette. The game once again follows the titular characters as they attempt to save a princess jailed within a castle tower. Majesco bought the rights to A Boy and His Blob after Absolute's closure. A Game Boy Advance incarnation of the series titled A Boy and His Blob: Jelly's Cosmic Adventure was announced by Majesco in 2001. The game was ultimately cancelled. Majesco announced another sequel in 2005 as being in development for the Nintendo DS by Skyworks Technologies, a company formed by Crane and Kitchen in 1995. The game's story was to take place six years after the conclusion of the NES release. It was to feature 3D models, between 15 and 20 differently colored jelly beans, 15 levels, and a DS touchscreen feature for managing jelly bean inventory. However, Majesco's financial troubles delayed the game's release indefinitely.

A Wii re-imagining of A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia simply titled A Boy and His Blob was developed by WayForward Technologies and published by Majesco in 2009. Crane was not involved in the new game's creation. That same year, A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console service in both North America and PAL regions. Another new title in the series was listed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2010 as being in development for the Nintendo 3DS. WayForward later issued a statement that the listing was a mistake and that no new A Boy and His Blob was in production.