A bit of variety makes games enjoyable and deeper. Adding a mixture of mechanics makes creative player figure new ways and techniques of fighting, solving puzzles, or helping a speed run player better. So who would of thought two games from different genre’s can be so intriguing and evolving for certain series. One that I find though who share many similarities in odd ways is A Boy And His Blob for Wii and Okami.

Huh? Hold up! Don’t roll the eyes and laugh, just look at these two games. A boy and his blob is a platform puzzler with minimum action and Okami is a adventure RPG with minimum puzzles. They both incorporate some things gamers can eye. These two games share more than just game play mechanics.

A Boy and his Blob teamwork is one of the major premises of the game. The main game play is you using the jelly beans given to you at the start of the different levels. The chemistry though, with its Walt Disney cuteness, works well because the Boy intention is to help blob. Basic yet sweet. Okami shares this same logic. Amaterasu and Issun go on a quest to stop the eight headed demon Orochi. They work well with them collecting different Celestial Brush styles to help them fight and solve puzzles to get further in the game but they work well together with their comedic yet heroic partnership. It is these things, like the hug button or helping Amaterasu feed tigers to get praise that make games standout from the normal way we now view games. Instead of online co-op, having a single player adventure game with characters that fit well together and truly work as a team, is definitely seen in games like Windwaker or the latest release, Portal 2 more invigorating to the player. Taking these types of characters and placing in them in a quest may create nice crossovers in fan fiction, personal artwork, or even ideals for future sequels.

Another aspect is real art style in the graphics. Both have a whimsical art form attach to them and beautiful, that they remind you of great cartoons with fluid animation. A Boy and His Blob has a westernized Hayao Miyazaki film adaptation and Okami has the sumi-e inspired art to it. Both breathtaking and fresh that a lot companies barely make. Mega man 8 has beautiful 2D artwork but it doesn’t resonate to the gamers eye like these two. A Boy and His Blob could’ve been turned into a cartoon series or a nice home video with classic animation. Okami’s art could have just been drawing and posted in art museum. These two games art can be used in graffiti around the world and with Okami, it was something fresh that hasn’t been carried into the HD era. Although having real life presentation and nice lighting in games, a lot of western developers have not brought anything to the table in their graphical depiction. I know it takes a while to make games look great but Wayforward is the only company that took risk with using the gorgeous 2D style. The Behemoth has more of a flash game appeal to there artwork, but that goes in hand with there game design. They haven’t used anything else creative, art wise.

Last but not least is the recognition these games have receive. Both didn’t sell well and both were critically acclaimed. Though gamers taste have change and lot of perception of game is FPS or OTS (over the shoulder) action games, these games haven’t become the big sellers they should have become. They share the same negative attention from the gamers because they belief of it being a game with out gun or for the hardcore player. A lot of gamers can’t speed run through them and don’t like to think. Some people interest is complete lost for not understanding Japanese culture in Okami, or having grown up mentality to play a kid and a blob on a quest with a minimum story. Since a lot of gamers who range from 13 and up are hooked on online gaming, they won’t challenge themselves to play something out of that one genre they are stuck in. A Boy and His Blob and Okami carry something exciting, adventurous, and completely fresh.

A Boy and His Blob could also work in The Last Guardian but that is yet to be seen. Of course, Okami has taken it’s liking to Zelda but so did Darksiders. I want to play more games like these and hope that Okamiden sells well and Wayforward bring a original sequel sometime in the future because I believe these two games get a lot right.