If you love retro, family-friendly platformers, then you may have picked up de Blob 2 on your Nintendo Switch recently. While the game just splashed onto the Switch eShop, de Blob 2 is an older game that's been released on several platforms. But now's as good a time as any to jump in, because this is a fun and quirky platformer that everyone can enjoy.
It may look simple on the surface, but there's a lot of intricacies when it comes to de Blob 2. Fortunately, our guide will help you get started in Prisma City and restore it to its natural, colorful glory.
- Always follow the compass
- Observe and plan for puzzles
- Know your objectives
- Paint and liberate
- Don't worry too much about the time
- Watch your Paint Points
- Take care of the environment
- Always look for pickups and collectibles
- Focus on certain upgrades
Always follow the compass
Prisma City proves to be quite vast, with many areas to explore and restore. Getting lost is definitely a possibility! Fortunately, there's a compass and it's going to be your best friend in this game.
With the compass, you'll be able to see what paint colors are nearby in either pools, or from Paintbots. You'll even see where you need to go to complete objectives, and where to start the next part of the stage.
You can toggle the compass on and off by pressing X.
Observe and plan for puzzles
Even though de Blob 2 is a basic platformer, there are still a lot of puzzles to solve in order to progress in the story. Puzzles include figuring the right order to paint in, hitting switches, and more.
When it comes to solving these puzzles, you'll need to observe them first, and then figure out your plan. It's important to think downward when it comes to these too since Blob paints anything he touches with color.
For example, in the beginning level, there's a part where you must paint two chimney stacks that are on top of two different buildings. The stacks must be red and yellow, and they're on top of a yellow and red building. So you'd want to paint the top parts first, and then go back and paint the bottom part. Otherwise, you'd be going back and forth over and over again with no progress.
The puzzles prove to be fairly challenging as you get further into the game. Remember; observe and strategize.
Know your objectives
A single level consists of many different objectives that must be completed one-by-one before you finish the entire stage. Usually, you'll just need to follow the compass, since it points you in the right direction. If you ever get confused on what you need to do, bring up the pause menu and it will you what you should be doing.
Pinky (your colorful and charming sidekick) is usually pretty straightforward and clear in telling you what needs to be done at the start. Still, it's nice to have an option to check your progress in the middle of a task.
Paint and Liberate
When you get Blob into pools of color, or you smash up Paintbots, you'll absorb that color and store it as Paint Points (press ZR to fill it up quickly). You start with the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue), but these colors can be mixed to get shades like green, orange, purple, and brown. Water washes color away, and black ink is dangerous and must be washed off.
As you go around painting buildings and restoring color, the Paint Points slowly deplete. But again, follow the compass, since it tells you where you can find more color.
As you paint buildings and landmarks, you'll liberate the inhabitants, who come out cheering. Sometimes Blancs will greet you instead. Just press ZL to target them and then A to smash them, freeing them from Comrade Black's spell.
Liberating the inhabitants of Prism City also earns time pickups, which add more time to the clock.
Don't worry too much about the time
Speaking of clocks, yes, each level has a time limit for players to get through the main story quest. As long as you complete the goals in a timely manner and pick up all clock power-ups, then you shouldn't worry about the timer too much.
Honestly, it feels like plenty, especially with the extra time you'll nab, And even though side quests open up once you get to the end, the time limit doesn't apply towards secondary missions. It's recommended to spend your time doing the main story line first, and then come back for the optional extra stuff.
Watch your Paint Points
As Blob gathers color, he can only carry so many points with him at once. And while the points are mostly for painting, sometimes you need a certain number of points to perform various moves. For example, Blob has a new charging dash that requires at least 80 points to activate. Sometimes you'll need to have the right color to activate switches and pipes, which may require 10 points each.
It's important to make sure you know how much paint Blob has because if you don't, you'll have to backtrack and get more color.
Take care of the environment
Prisma City is a beautiful and lush place, that is until Comrade Black decided to suck out all color and joy. As Blob, it's up to you to restore the mesmerizing world to what it once was.
As you go around in color, your surroundings come back to life. But if you color up trees and other parts of the environment (aside from buildings), you'll earn Environmental Points, which contribute to your overall score for a stage.
Comrade Black has also left behind black and white INKT property all over the place. These come in the form of crates, statues, and other knick knacks. You can clean up Prism City as you color it by smashing those objects up. This nets you Clean Up points.
Always look for pickups and collectibles
If you're the kind of person who loves to collect everything in video games, then de Blob 2's got your back.
There are always several different types of item pickups in each stage, along with collectibles like artwork. The purple swirls are for style and change how your paint patterns look on buildings. Gallery Cards look like cards and unlock pictures that you can view.
The most important pickups are Inspiration, which appear as light bulbs. If you see these, grab them! You'll want them all since they're used to upgrade Blob and make it easier to get through the game.
Focus on certain upgrades
To upgrade Blob's abilities, you'll need to find the blue marker somewhere on the map. Usually, you'll end up finding it just by exploring around you. It's pretty hard to miss once it's in your scope.
The easier way is to just access the Upgrades from the game's menu if you're not in a stage already.
There are five upgrades available: lives, paint capacity, ammo for Pinky (two player co-op), armor, and decreasing charge cost. It's recommended to focus primarily on armor and paint capacity because those are the ones that end up helping you out the most. The rest are nice to have but of slightly lower importance.
Get painting!
De Blob 2's a vivid and cute puzzle platformer adventure that's friendly enough for everyone to enjoy. The gameplay and mechanics are fairly straightforward, but the levels still prove to be challenging enough.
Have you picked up de Blob 2 on your Switch yet? Have any other tips that newcomers should know? Sound off in the comments!
