| Smart Ball ジェリーボーイ |
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|---|---|
North American cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Game Freak System Sacom |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Distributor(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Ken Sugimori Satoshi Tajiri Akihito Tomisawa |
| Composer(s) | Akira Yamaoka Yasuhiko Fukuda Manabu Saito |
| Platform(s) | Super Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Action/Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Media/distribution | 8-megabit cartridge |
Smart Ball is an Action-adventure game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, known as Jerry Boy (ジェリーボーイ) in Japan. A sequel called Jelly Boy 2 (ジェリーボーイ2) was in production, but was never actually released.
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The player controls a young boy named Jerry, who was a prince and ruler of a kingdom. Jerry has been transformed into a blob by a mysterious wizard at the behest of his jealous brother, Tom, who has a crush on the young princess Emi. In that incarnation, the player plays as a little jelly bean with eyes, traveling across a photorealistic grassy landscape. The game has graphics and terrain that are characterized as cartoony and cute, which attracts younger players.
The player is able to defend Jerry or attack enemies by controlling certain physical characteristics of Jerry, such as flattening or stretching his body in order to hit enemies, or by finding objects, such as balls, to throw the enemies. The player can also run by pressing the Y button on the controller. Jerry has the ability to stick to walls and ceilings by holding down the Y button as you jump towards them, adding an advantage over Jerry's enemies. The player advances through each level along a filmstrip map, and can revisit previously-completed levels by "rewinding" the filmstrip. Each level is a romp up and down hills, jumping between platforms, and squeezing through pipes. Scattered around each level are a number of plants that open up to reveal balls, power-ups, 1ups, seeds, and jumping enhancers. Similar to Donkey Kong Country, the player must collect letters that spell JERRY in each level. Collecting them all will give the player two extra lives.
Sony removed the entire storyline from the game, as well as all the towns in levels, in the North American version. However, the English Translation patch of the Japanese version with scenes is playable on an Emulator.
Sony Music Entertainment Japan planned to release the sequel in 1994, however it was canceled. The developer was Game Freak: Satoshi Tajiri was the supervisor, Ken Sugimori the character designer, and Yoshinori Sunahara the music composer.
The game was to be released about three years later and was slated for a Japan-only release, but it was cancelled at the last minute. Sony may have been responsible for the cancelation. The company were to help publish the game as well as having helped publish the original, but due to a strain between Nintendo and Sony around the time of the game's release and Sony moving on to their own system at the time, the PlayStation, the game was cancelled as a result.
In Jelly Boy 2, the player get to play with a large cast of characters for a game of this kind, each with a special ability unique to them. The actual game engine has been polished, and it is possible to make more tricks and fight more interesting foes. The colors are vibrant and stylized to an extent.