Charming is not a word that usually enters my vocabulary in the milieu of discussing games, being a word better served in terms of describing handsome rogues and quiet country inns. Yet, as I played through A Boy and His Blob for the Nintendo Wii over the last several weeks, that was the word that I found popping into my head more than any other.

The original Boy and his Blob, back on the NES, was not a game I personally played all that much. I didn’t own it, and none of my friends owned it, and this was prior to me discovering the joys of renting games from the local video store. I did, however, have a strong image of the game in my head for an entirely different reason: Nintendo Power. The very first issue of Nintendo Power I received had a large article about the game, including sweeping maps of the early levels. I remember being enthralled with the artwork going over the different flavors of jelly bean and what the blob would turn into when fed them, and I remember the images of the first level, with it’s city skyline at night glowing in the background as the boy and his friend set out on their grand adventure.

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