A Boy and His Blob (Wii)

A Boy and His Blob is a Wii retelling of the NES video game of the same name. The game follows the basic structure of the previous game, containing similar, albeit greatly improved, gameplay mechanics and fantastic hand drawn characters, stages and backgrounds. The game was developed by the critically acclaimed developer WayForward ('Shante, Contra 4, and Lit) and, like the previous game before it, published by Majesco. The game was revealed in an issue of Nintendo Power.

Plot
The game is, according to the creators, a retelling of the original classic. The game's levels will be entirely different, and the overall game will be much longer to complete, thus not making it a remake, but rather a reviving of a franchise. The creators explain that the characters present in the game aren't exactly the same characters as before, and that since The Legend of Zelda can do it, so can they.

The game's story starts with the blob crashing onto Earth, looking for someone who's willing to save his planet Blobolonia. He comes across the boy, and the two become friends. They then both agree to help each other save the blob's homeworld from the tyrant whose taken over.

Gameplay
The game plays very similarly to its predecessor. You'll control a boy (much younger than the original to symbolize his innocence) who gives jellybeans to a blob that he recently befriended. The blob will follow the boy around, and will transform into something depending on what flavor of jellybean the boy gave him. For example, one type of jellybean may transform the blob into a ladder, which will give the boy access to higher grounds. The majority, if not all, of the puzzles revolve around this core mechanic which made the original so appealing.

Development
The game began when the game's director, Sean Velasco, started to conjure ideas for a new entry in the Boy and His Blob franchise, which hadn't seen a new entry in years. Basically, it was a dead franchise. And one that Majesco, creator of the original game, was willing to revive. WayForward was already discussing potential projects with Majesco, so this gave Sean the perfect opportunity to create a pitch and send it to them. They approved it and were enthusiastic about the team that was soon to work on this old series which the company had previously tried to revive before on the Nintendo DS, but ultimately failed resulting in the game to be cancelled.

Regarding the hand drawn look, Marc Gomez, the art director, explains that he drew inspiration from classic Miyazaki movies, Winnie the Pooh, and The Iron Giant, mostly due to the stories' heavy involvement with friendship, sometimes a symbiotic one as it is in A Boy and His Blob.