''Blue's Journey'' is a side-scrolling platform game released by Alpha Denshi in 1990 on

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

's Neo Geo MVS arcade system and their AES home system. It was ported to the Neo Geo CD in 1994. It was rereleased on the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

in Europe on November 9, 2007, followed by North America on November 12, 2007.

Gameplay

Blue has the ability to stun enemies, pick them up and throw them as projectiles. He can also shrink himself down in order to access hidden areas. A second player can take control of a unnamed green palette swap of Blue.''Blue's Journey'' user's manual (Neo Geo AES, US)

Plot

In the game the player controls a heroic young man named Blue who was sent by Princess Fa to save the peaceful

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

of Raguy. The planet is inhabited by insect people (Insectarians) and Blue is in love with the Princess Fa. It has been invaded by the evil Daruma Empire, who plans on consuming the planet's resources and

polluting Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

it. There are several endings different endings in the game depending on certain events such as whether or not the player defeated their rival.

Development and release

Reception

''RePlay'' reported ''Blue's Journey'' to be the sixth most-popular arcade game at the time. The game received generally positive reception from critics since its release in arcades and other platforms, most of which unanimously praised the colorful graphics. Both the Neo Geo and Nintendo Switch versions hold a 48.75% and 50% respectively on the review aggregator ''

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

''. '' AllGame''s Kyle Knight praised the "cutesy" and colorful graphics when compared to other systems released at the time such as the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

and

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

, as well as the multiple pathways but ultimately regarded its gameplay as average, noting that it lacked difficulty. ''Consoles Plus'' Pingos and Badin highly commended the presentation for being varied, simple controls and multiple paths but noted that the music was repetitive. '' GameFan'' and ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' gave high remarks the colorful visuals, music, characters, gameplay and controls but Andrew Cockburn of the former publication noted its short length. ''

Hobby Consolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1990. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' Marcos García highly praised the technical presentation, colorful graphics, samba-style soundtrack, numerous secrets, bosses, gameplay and two-player co-op feature. ''Joypad''s Alain Huyghues-Lacour and Seb, as well as ''

Joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

'' Jean-Marc Demoly, noted its low difficulty level but commended the animated graphics, controls and audio. ''Player One''s Cyril Drevet gave positive remarks to the colorful graphics, sprite animations, sound, difficulty and longevity. ''

Tilt Tilt may refer to: Music * Tilt (American band), a punk rock group, formed in 1992 * Tilt (British band), an electronic music group, formed in 1993 * Tilt (Polish band), a rock band, formed in 1979 Albums * ''Tilt'' (Cozy Powell album), 1981 * ...

''s Laurent Defrance and Jean-Michel Maman regarded it as a cross between ''

Marvel Land is a platform game released by Namco in arcade video game, arcades in 1990. It runs on the Namco System 2 hardware. The game was published for the Sega Genesis, Mega Drive in 1991, with the European version renamed ''Talmit's Adventure''. The ga ...

'' and ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...

'', while ''Génération 4''s Frank Ladoire also drew comparison with '' Super Mario Bros.''. Both publications praised the colorful graphics, fluid animations, responsive controls and soundtrack, with both Defrance and Maman stating that ''Blue's Journey'' was an original and varied adventure-platform game. ''Consolemania''s Marco Auletta criticized the graphics and sound for being simplistic and bland respectively, as well as its gameplay for being frustrating. In recent years, ''Blue's Journey'' has been met with a more mixed reception from critics. ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

''s Dan Whitehead criticized the visuals for being "crude and blotchy", recommending ''

Super Mario Bros. 3 ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was released for home consoles in Japan on October 23, 1988, in North America on February 12, 1990 and in Europe on ...

'' on the

instead. ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

''s Frank Provo praised the sound design and sountrack but criticized the graphics and gameplay. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

''s Lucas M. Thomas regarded the title as a passable platform game. In 2014, ''

HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1990. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' identified it as one of the twenty best games for the Neo Geo AES.

Notes

References

External links

''Blue's Journey''
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...

''Blue's Journey''
at Giant Bomb
''Blue's Journey''
at

Killer List of Videogames Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pla ...

''Blue's Journey''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

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