a boy and his blob (Wii) Preview
Posted by Tommy Coloma on 07.15.2009
First Look: Director Sean Velasco tells us what we can expect in WayForward's remake of the 1989 NES classic.
Going into E3, I wasn't expecting to see anything that could even approach Muramasa's impressive visuals on the Wii, at least as far as 2D was concerned. Nor did I expect to see a good looking 2D platformer that seasoned gamers could get into. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I was shown a demo of a boy and his blob during my visit to Majesco's room. I only played the NES version once back in the day, so my knowledge of the game is fairly limited. Luckily, Sean Velasco, the game's director, was on hand to tell me about the remake and answer some questions.
The original a boy and his blob was created in 1989 by David Crane, the developer of Pitfall! and one of the founders of Activision. For it's twentieth anniversary, WayForward, best known for Shantae for the Game Boy Color and the more recent Contra 4 for the DS, decided to do a complete reimagining of the well known side-scrolling platformer. A lot has changed in the update, but, according to Sean, the premise is still the same - "the boy is alone, and a blob crash lands down from his home planet of Blobolonia and meets up with the boy. So the problem is that there's this evil emperor that's taken everything over in Blobolonia, and so, the blob needs you to come and help be his savior and free everyone from this malevolent emperor." He adds that "the boy and the blob have to rely on each other to get what they want. And I think that a big part of this game is that relationship between them, the heartwarming, feelgood relationship between the two characters."
Like in the original, the boy himself is not very strong. Consequently, he has to rely on the blob's ability to transform into various objects in order to get through the obstacles and puzzles that get in his way. He persuades the blob to transform by enticing it with different flavored jellybeans. Those familiar with the first game will quickly recognize some of the already established flavors and transformations such as the punch hole, licorice ladder, tangerine trampoline, coconut coconut, and root beer rocket. Sean says that "there are fifteen different flavors in all, and so about half of them are new and half of them are from the NES game, although each one has been totally rethought, reimagined, and redesigned to be implemented in whole new ways." Some of the new transformations include the hippity hop which lets you float in water and also bounce very high, the block breaking and enemy crushing anvil that can also serve as a step, the shield that deflects enemy fire, and the parachute which can be used to ease the boy's fall from high places. With the inclusion of both old and new jellybeans, there are plenty of transformations to explore for both veterans and newcomers alike.
A lot of thought went into the development of a boy and his blob's new look and feel. "We looked at films like ET, Iron Giant, Totoro, Winnie the Pooh - a lot of really heartwarming family films where you had a friendly character that meets up with a boy. And he may be a little weird, or he may be alien, or he's a giant robot, or he's a forest spirit, but in every case, you really have this great relationship that's developed, and that's something that we really wanted to go for for this game." One of the steps that the developers have taken to elicit a similar feeling from its audience is to make sure that everything is hand-drawn and hand-painted. WayForward even brought in artists from Cal-Arts in Valencia, the same place where Disney gets a lot of its animators, and it really shows. The result is a game with visuals that are on par with the aforementioned animated classics. They have also added various animals and insects as well as some 3D enhanced elements such as swaying vines and bushes in order to create a living environment. "We've gone to great pains to try to make everything very vibrant and alive." Thankfully, in the short demonstration that I was given, the minor integration of those dynamic elements appeared to be very seamless and complementary to the impressive 2D artwork.
In keeping with the whole family-movie aesthetic that they were trying to convey, WayForward implemented a limited emotion system for the blob, the centerpiece of which happens to be a dedicated hug button. There are times when the blob will become upset, and it is at these times when it will change colors to reflect its changed emotional state. Most players will, of course, want to keep the blob happy, and that's where the special hug button comes in handy. It's not something that has much of an effect on gameplay, but it's a nice addition that will "add a little bit of flavor and spice to the proceedings."
The game contains forty story levels of increasing length and difficulty. In order to keep casuals interested, there is a very forgiving checkpoint system and, unlike the original, the boy now has an infinite supply of beans as well as infinite lives. These changes allow the player to focus on executing what needs to be done instead of worrying about having to redo things after every mistake. That's not to say that the game is a complete pushover - "there's multiple ways to solve puzzles, a lot of interesting lateral thinking that you can do. And approaching things in multiple ways and wracking your brain. And on top of that, there should be a good mix of the action and physical gameplay also. So it should use your brains and your dexterity." Another welcomed change is the blob's ability to rejoin the boy if they become separated. Sean explains - "[even if the blob] falls into something, he'll always come back to you as a balloon. So you shouldn't have to worry about him getting lost." You can also press the minus button to activate the "blob cam" in order to see wherever the blob is. But hardcore gamers need not worry, as there are a few features that were added to help keep them interested. Each level, for example, contains three treasures that require some puzzle-solving to get to. "It's like a completionist's dream." In addition, there will also be forty additional challenge levels that are geared toward the hardcore. These will mostly focus on one bean and require players to do very specific things to get by. "So parents and children can play this game, but hardcore gamers are gonna really dig into the challenges, dig into collecting all of the treasure."
Overall, I was impressed with the short demonstration that I was given. The visuals are quite impressive and the puzzles that I was shown are fairly imaginative and make good use of the unique jellybean system. As far as third party Wii games go, this looks to be one of the better ones to come out this year, especially if you like 2D platformers. Make sure you keep an eye out for a boy and his blob when it launches in October.
Sean Velasco talks about a boy and his blob
Q & AI had a chance to ask Sean a few questions during and after his walkthrough. Here are his responses.
Did the original creator have any input in this reimagining?
Sean Velasco: David Crane wasn't involved with this game.
How far along is this? note: this question was asked at the beginning of June during E3
Sean Velasco: We're just about at beta. We're releasing October 2009, so it's very far along. I'd say this is relatively representative of what the final product would be like. Now, we're still going to do control tweaks, and we're gonna enhance the visuals in all the levels - just layer on as much polish as possible, but what you see here is pretty close to what you're gonna get.
Will someone who has played the original recognize the new levels?
Sean Velasco: Definitely - we took a lot of pains to sort of like have some fun throwbacks and nods to the original game, so there are some environments where you go - "wait, no no, I recognize this! This is from somewhere I've been before."
So this is a retail game?
Sean Velasco: Absolutely. It's a big, giant game. That's for sure.
How about the music? Is it remixed music from the original?
Sean Velasco: Well, you know, the original only had basically one song to speak of. And it was a great song - don't get me wrong. And yes, we have a remix version of the song in this game, but the music was composed by Daniel Sadowski, who is a fantastic composer. He worked closely with us to really help match the look and feel of the game. Sometimes the level will be finished before the music will be finished and vice versa, so we really influenced one another when coming up with the look and feel of the game. I think it matches perfectly. And he created just an amazing original score that really combines the best of all the classical symphonic movie scores that you expect from a cartoon-type movie like this.
Is there going to be an effort to release the original on Virtual Console before this?
Sean Velasco: I can't speak to that but it was rated by the ESRB so I would probably expect it to come out at some point. But I can't say whether or not.
I have a slightly unrelated question - Is there going to be a Sigma Star Saga sequel?
Sean Velasco: [laughs] You know, I can't speak to that, but WayForward is always looking for new opportunities, so we've always got something in the works. Just let me put it that way...
