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Post by Nester the Lark on Mar 4, 2009 16:19:54 GMT -5
Adding on to the news from the announcements thread, here is Majesco's official announcement and the fact sheet (courtesy of GoNintendo). Here's a bunch of screenshots. I have to say, I LOVE the style of the graphics. Not "like" - "LOVE!" And 2D sprites are awesome! I am officially curious about this game.  EDIT: IGN has an interview with members of the development team at WayForward, as well as the first footage of the game. It looks just as good in motion as it does in the screenshots! It sounds like the team is really focused on making a high profile 2D game. IGN: Obviously the first thing we noticed about the product is that it's entirely 2D, and has an almost Wario Wii look to it. Is it a fully-2D game? What was the inspiration for going this route?
Sean Velasco: A Boy and His Blob looks fully 2D, although it uses 3D power for things like effects. The characters are all hand-drawn, and we have taken animation fluidity to a new level with this game. The backgrounds should also have a soft, almost watercolor look. Everything in the world around you in this game breathes with life. Our goal with this game was to make it look like an animated movie, and I'd say it's a success!
Marc Gomez: As far as what inspired us to go in this direction, all of our art team was trained in traditional 2D animation. We made a lot of pixel based 2D games, and with the power of the current generation of consoles, we can finally go hi-res with our traditional animation. |
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Post by 8bitretroshit on Mar 5, 2009 3:13:31 GMT -5
Looks great. Being able to see which jellybean transforms Blob into what makes it a lot easier for me. Seems like the game is split up into several stages instead of one huge Metroidish world this time around.
Also I like that remix of the classic NES tune.
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Post by Koopaul on Mar 5, 2009 10:19:00 GMT -5
It warms my heart to see more classics get revived. And they say classic gamers are getting ignored on the Wii? HA!
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Post by Wildcat on Mar 7, 2009 10:05:40 GMT -5
This is awesome. Looks fantastic, too. ^_^ I have to say I did enjoy the original game when I was a kid, but I hope they can pad the new one with more levels - if you knew what to do, you could beat it in 2 hours or less, I think.
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Post by Da Robot on Mar 7, 2009 22:23:22 GMT -5
I think this needs to be said, ABahB is NOT A REMAKE, it's a entirely new game. "We want to make sure people know this is not a remake! It’s not Resident Evil GC, it’s not Metroid Zero Mission. It’s a whole new game that is more “inspired by” the original than anything else." - Robb Alvey, Producer Source. |
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Post by parrothead on Mar 8, 2009 3:10:42 GMT -5
If it's not a remake, then they should add a subtitle to it, like "A Boy and his Blob: The Danger Returns", or just add number 3 to it, because the second game in the series was released for the original Game Boy, but like most other games for the same handheld, it did not catch much attention due to most gamers prefering home consoles and even arcades over handhelds.
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Post by The Qu on Mar 8, 2009 4:17:19 GMT -5
Given that the last game in the series came out over fifteen years ago, I really don't think that is necessary, Parrot. Most people have forgotten about it.
SEGA did something similar with Shinobi. I don't recall people complaining about that.
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Post by parrothead on Mar 8, 2009 19:49:59 GMT -5
Given that the last game in the series came out over fifteen years ago, I really don't think that is necessary, Parrot. Most people have forgotten about it. SEGA did something similar with Shinobi. I don't recall people complaining about that. Calling the new ABahB game simply "A Boy and his Blob" is just like what is happening to most movies based on television shows and older movies nowadays. The Rocky series used to just be titled with Roman numerals, but then came a movie titled "Rocky Balboa". For the Rambo series, the first movie was titled "First Blood", then came "Rambo: First Blood Part II", then "Rambo III", and finally, the fourth movie was simply titled "Rambo". That name makes you sometimes ask "Oh you mean the series, the first movie, the second or the most recent?" When Street Fighter II: The World Warrior came out, it made its predecessor, Street Fighter 1 quite obscure enough for people to think it doesn't exist, just like what happened to the Punch-Out!! rip-off, Power Punch II. Not even its only home console port, the TurboGrafx CD version titled "Fighting Street" with nothing but music altered to a high level of greatness, helped the game catch some attention, until the Internet and some Capcom collections that included it came out. After Street Fighter II: The World Warrior came out, there was SFII Turbo, Champion Edition, Hyper Fighting, Super SFII, Super SFII Turbo, some Street Fighter Alpha/Zero titles, Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight (unrelated), three Street Fighter III titles, and recently, Street Fighter IV. Why didn't Capcom update SF1 and port it to home consoles with easier controls and more characters to choose from? That probably would of made it as successful as SFII. Similar with the Shinobi series? You mean like Revenge of Shinobi, Shadow Dancer and Nightshade (not to be confused with the NES game by Ultra and Beam Software). That's sort of like what happened to the Rush'N Attack series (first one known as "Green Beret" and second one known as "Missing in Action" in Europe and Japan) and the two Super Scope games: Battle Clash and its sequel, Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge. |
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Post by Manspeed on Mar 8, 2009 20:30:37 GMT -5
^ Proof that Parrot is the Angry Video Game Nerd. ;D
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Post by The Qu on Mar 8, 2009 20:34:18 GMT -5
No, I meant when SEGA rebooted the Shinobi series, the PS2 game was called Shinobi.
Hell, the other Ninja series, Ninja Gaiden, had the same thing happen to it.
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BeamClaws
Balloon Fighter
Beam claws closes the gap with his excellent foot speed!
Posts: 934
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Post by BeamClaws on Mar 9, 2009 15:04:23 GMT -5
Wow, the original was as fun as hell, I'll sure be waiting for this one. what's also good is that they took the american boy, who looked alot better than the boy in the japaneseversion.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Mar 9, 2009 21:59:45 GMT -5
G4 has a new interview with the guys at WayForward. They start off talking about A Boy and His Blob, and then branch off into a bunch of other stuff... They also ask about the possibility of the original game appearing on the VC: Steve: Do you know of any plans to release the original game? Maybe as a Wii download?
Sean: Well, the VC is definitely fertile ground; I wouldn’t be surprised to see the game come out there. However, that’s in Majesco’s hands. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Mar 20, 2009 17:41:11 GMT -5
Joystiq has an interview with Majesco's Joe Sutton, and WayForward's Sean Velasco. They talk about why WayForward was chosen to create the new A Boy and His Blob. Did WayForward's "reimagining" of another classic franchise, Konami's Contra, factor into Majesco's decision to look to the studio to revisit this classic, though certainly more niche franchise?
SV – I wouldn't imagine it could have hurt!
RA – I think one of WayForward's strengths is the side-scroller genre. While our involvement in Contra 4 was probably a factor, I would have to think that our background in platform games and the ability to bring a 2D world to life had a lot to do with that decision as well.
JS – WayForward has been on our radar for a very long time now, going back to their Game Boy days, through the very impressive Shantae, Contra 4 and others. We felt they were the perfect fit for this franchise and they have exceeded our expectations in every way.
When we sat down with them to discuss the games features and look, they really nailed down what makes the original idea so compelling while adding elements of mechanics art and storytelling all their own. The screens and videos released thus far only hint at what will be in the game. Some of the transformations are truly remarkable and we think players will really enjoy the relationship and synergy between the 2 characters.
This game will only further the legacy of WayForward as one of the best developers working today. Sean mentions some other classic franchises he would like to work on, including " E.V.O. – The search for Eden, Ninja Cop, Metroid, Clash at Demonhead, Milon's Secret Castle, Dig Dug, River City Ransom, [and] Yar's Revenge." Finally, they mention that Majesco owns the rights to A Boy and His Blob outright, and ask about the possibility of the original game appearing on the Virtual Console. So you own the rights outright now? Could this release mark a release of the original A Boy and His Blob over the Wii's Virtual Console?
JS – We own the rights to the franchise outright now and are definitely looking at that option.
. . .
Finally, Joseph mentioned earlier that Majesco is looking into releasing A Boy and His Blob over the Wii's Virtual Console. Is there any chance we might see the original game as an unlockable in this game as well?
SV – With the Virtual Console on Wii, putting NES games on the disc is a tricky situation. Stay tuned for more on what we have planned to honor the original game... |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Apr 2, 2009 19:53:50 GMT -5
3-hit combo!!! David Crane was interviewed by Game Informer and asked about the new A Boy and His Blob. Again, Crane isn't involved with the new Wii game (altho he was apparently involved with the cancelled DS game from a few years back), but he seems happy that there is a new one. GI: There was a recent announcement of a new A Boy and His Blob game. Did you have any involvement with that at all, or was it something that just popped up?
Crane: It just popped up. The last A Boy in His Blob, I had some involvement in, and Majesco ran into financial problems and canceled a number of projects. You probably heard about the new one before I did. Someone sent me an e-mail link and said, “Hey, look! They’re coming out with another blob.” It’s Majesco. They’ve accurately diagnosed that it belongs on the Wii. Again, when I did it, it was because I was doing casual games, even for the NES.
GI: It’s got to be kind of strange to see things like Pitfall—something that you created individually—and A Boy and His Blob just showing up in the wild, independent of your involvement.
Crane: What do they say? What’s the sincerest form of flattery…? When I did certain things, they were cool for their own reasons. A Boy and His Blob was just a great concept. You’ve got this shape-changing sidekick, who you use as a tool to get yourself through an adventure. It was a fun concept. We had a writer-producer who had done the Transformers animated features in on the project, and we were trying to do a video game, a toy and a movie simultaneously. We never quite pulled that off. It would have been the first. ( Source) The full interview is pretty interesting, too. |
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Post by Wildcat on Apr 2, 2009 20:30:51 GMT -5
Hm, that would be weird, wouldn't it? *ponders my own projects forging ahead without me*
Another game I need to put on my radar, methinks.
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