A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia

A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia
Also known as: Fushigi na Blobby: Blobania no Kiki (JP) Developer: Imagineering Publishers: Absolute Entertainment (US), Jaleco (JP), Nintendo (EU) Platform: NES Released in JP: November 29, 1990 Released in US: January 1990 Released in EU: 1991 This game has unused areas. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused abilities. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences.

David Crane's A Boy and His Blob is the patriarch of the puzzle/platform genre. It's also one of the most bizarre and unique NES games.

X/Y Coordinate Display

A simple coordinate display can be enabled with the Game Genie codes XAKKEZXY UGKKOXXK. Note that all other status bar updates will be disabled until you change screens, due to a lack of Vblank time.

The first set of values is for the boy, and the second set is for the Blob. Each value represents the character's current screen number, X position, and Y position, respectively.

(Source: BMF54123)

Unused Screens

The game contains a number of unused screens, several of which are completely unique. Most appear to have been removed to make the game shorter (a strange decision, given the game's already short length). These can be seen in-game by setting RAM address $23 to the desired screen ID (set $24 to the same value or toss a ketchup jellybean to make Blob appear).

Screens D2, D4, D5, and D7 are particularly odd, as they consist of a limerick in various stages of completion. Judging from the slightly suggestive ending, it was likely used to test the screen drawing code and not actually intended to appear in the final game.

Screen FF is identical to the Evil King's chamber seen in-game, except the Evil King is missing. He does not normally disappear after you dump the vitamins on him, rendering this screen unused.

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  Screen A6

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  Screen A7

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  Screen A8

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  Screen A9

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  Screen AA

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  Screen BB

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  Screen BC

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  Screen BD

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  Screen BE

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  Screen C6

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  Screen C7

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  Screen C8

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  Screen D2

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  Screen D4

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  Screen D5

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  Screen D6

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  Screen D7

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  Screen DA

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  Screen ED

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  Screen FF

(Source: BMF54123)

Unused Graphics

Jellyfish

A simple little jellyfish, probably intended to fill some of the vast emptiness of the underwater areas.

Apple

A nasty-looking apple, probably intended to appear on one of the unused Blobolonian orchard screens.

Bubble

A bubble-like object. The bottom half is shifted downwards by one pixel, for some unknown reason. (An obstacle using these graphics actually appears on two of the unused screens, as shown below.)

Gingerbread Man

It seems the gingerbread men lining the walls outside the Evil King's chamber were originally supposed to attack you! How unpleasant.

(Source: BMF54123)

Unused Enemies/Obstacles

Green Bubbles

Screens BC and BE both feature glass jars in the background that spew large, green bubbles. Neither the jars nor bubbles appear anywhere else in the game. As is to be expected, touching a bubble means instant death.

Strangely, in the Japanese version, the bubbles were replaced with vitamins. Perhaps the developers had considered resurrecting this obstacle?

(Source: BMF54123)

Useless Hidden Ability

An early preview of the game in Nintendo Power featured a grape jellybean that turned Blobert into a wall, instead of the ketchup one featured in the final. A later issue then revealed a "code" to turn him into a wall by giving him a honey jellybean then switching to ketchup and tossing one in the opposite direction while the blob is transforming. This will result in a brick wall, which no longer has any use in the game.

Regional Differences

Title Screen

The title was given a very colorful overhaul for the Japanese release.

Europe/US	Japan

Character Sprite

The boy was given a more cartoony (and rather out of place) look in the Japanese version.

Europe/US	Japan

Staff Roll

The Japanese version displays the credits in green text, while the international versions use yellow text.