Man, these new additions to Switch Online are weird, aren't they? BACKGROUND:
Again, I had no idea that this game existed prior to its addition to the emulator service. I will note that during the update trailer, the gameplay snippet they showed of this got an audible "wow, that shit looks weird" reaction out of me. SUMMARY: Jelly Boy is a side-scrolling platformer where you play as a squishy jelly being trying to... escape... from somewhere? That's as much as I can glean from what information the game itself conveys about the story. Control-wise, the titular jelly boy has straightforward mechanics: a jump, a melee attack (that makes a fist pop out of the boy's belly), and a duck (which, amusingly, transforms you into an actual duck). Seems simple enough, but the game has a key mechanic that really spices things up. Majority of the levels have power-ups you can collect that give the jelly boy timed transformations, adding to the variety. There are a ton of transformations you can encounter, from a pogo stick that lets you jump higher, a helicopter that lets you fly and shoot bullets, an umbrella that lets you fall slowly, and even weird shit like a soda bottle that floats across water. These abilities are a lot of fun (and occasionally tricky), and the levels (which, themselves, have all sorts of interactable elements/hazards that fit the theme of their respective worlds) are all designed around these mechanics. Though pretty much every level plays like your typical side-scroller (just get to the end), completing the game will actually require you to be more exploratory. In each level, there's a puzzle piece that's off the beaten path that you can collect. If you want to progress the game, you'll have to collect all the puzzle pieces for each world (of which there are six, each all having eight levels), which unlocks the boss of that world. Beating the boss will give you one of the six world items needed to unlock the end of the game. Finding the puzzle pieces can actually be quite challenging, since some of them are pretty well-hidden (a few even employ devious shit like hidden blocks that would require a walkthrough to figure out). Plus, each level has a time limit, which means you have to find the puzzle piece quick enough such that you can beat the level, and some levels have rather low time limits. I found this focus on looking around for secrets quite novel and engaging; despite platformers from this era including more exploration-based elements than the previous generation (see Mario World or Super Metroid), not many of these games had their completion fully tied to finding a purposely hidden item within the levels. Even unlocking access to the rest of the worlds is tied to finding well-hidden keys within certain levels. This is probably the point where the whole secret-finding aspect of the game goes a step too far, as the game doesn't really indicate that you need these to progress. In fact, one could say the same about the puzzle pieces themselves; you're only really told that you need the six key items to finish the game, but they don't connect the dots between puzzle piece to boss to key item. As much as I enjoyed the emphasis on finding secrets, it would have probably been better design-wise to convey that that's the whole point of the game. Perhaps such information was in the original release's instruction manual, but it's better to show that in-game. There's a surprising amount of variety when it comes to the enemies, and while only a handful of them are truly unique gameplay-wise, I was still impressed at all the unique enemy sprites that fit the theme of each world. The bosses aren't too hard, but many of the fights are distinct and take full advantage of the transformation power-ups. I thought this game's visuals were particularly good. Aside from the aforementioned variety of sprites, a lot of are well-animated and had great detail. Jelly Boy himself looked very.... squishy. VERDICT: I think Jelly Boy is a delightfully weird platformer with some neat visuals and some neat gameplay choices. Though unintuitive at first, I liked that the main focus is finding secrets as opposed to simply clearing levels. I also enjoyed the many transformations the titular character can undergo, and how the game's many levels are designed around using said transformations. I wouldn't call it revolutionary, but the game was different enough while still being fun, and I appreciate that. If you're in the mood for a side-scrolling platformer with a big focus on exploration (with just a dash of platforming skill mixed in for some levels), you might enjoy this game. It may behoove you to keep a walkthrough handy just in case, though, because some of the collectibles are well-hidden. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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