Jamboy, a Jelly-cious Hero

Green
3 days ago
5 min read

Jelly Mayhem Platformer!

Explore the sticky, colorful chaos of Jamboy! Jump in, get squashed, and find out if it’s worth it!

About This Game

Storyline

You play as Jamboy, a literal jam hero who, alongside his mischievous friend Billy, steals some sweets and ends up being chased by the police. Things quickly spiral out of control when the duo is accidentally eaten by a giant named Damien. Trapped inside his stomach, Jamboy must find a way out, battling food-based creatures and exploring this strange, squishy world.

It’s a wonderfully absurd setup that doesn’t take itself seriously and that’s part of its charm. The game fully embraces its bizarre humor, with a tone reminiscent of old cartoon shows. It’s silly, self-aware, and surprisingly endearing.

Gameplay Mechanics

Jamboy: A Jelly-cious Hero is a 2D action-platformer built around short, selectable stages. Jamboy can jump, slide, wall jump, and attack using his candy weapon. The core gameplay loop is simple and accessible, making it easy for anyone to jump in.

Movement can feel a little sluggish at times, and hit detection occasionally behaves oddly, especially around walls or enemies. Still, once you adjust to its rhythm, the game offers a fun, lighthearted platforming experience with plenty of personality.

Enemies act more as environmental obstacles than true threats, which keeps the focus on movement and level flow rather than combat difficulty. However, there’s a strong knockback effect whenever Jamboy takes damage, which can easily send you into hazards or pits. It adds tension, but it can also be frustrating, especially since deaths are often instant when you mistime a jump or get pushed off a ledge.

Collectibles are hidden across each stage, and it’s nice that the game shows which ones you’re missing. However, if you die, you lose them and must collect them all again. That can feel discouraging, particularly since many sections require precise timing. One wrong move, and you fall to your death, restarting the whole process. It would be great to keep the collectibles after dying to reduce repetition and make exploration more rewarding.

Weapons can also be swapped throughout the game, but you don’t collect them permanently. Instead, you can only exchange your current weapon for a new one when you find it during a stage. Once the stage is over, you carry over the new weapon and lose the previous one entirely, there’s no inventory or selection screen to switch between them later. You can replay earlier stages to pick up previously found weapons again if you want to change back. The only one that’s gone for good is your initial starter weapon, which is particularly unfortunate because one of the achievements requires beating the bosses using that weapon. If you want to earn that achievement, you must start the game over and avoid picking up any new weapons until you reach the bosses.

All weapons share the same movement and attack patterns, though they differ slightly in stats. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t explain these differences clearly, it only shows a simple up or down arrow to indicate whether the new weapon is better or worse. A stats menu or comparison screen would make this feature more meaningful, and an album to track all discovered weapons would add nice replay value.

The first world is a bit limited and feels somewhat crammed, with tighter spaces and less room for exploration. The second world, on the other hand, is where the game starts to shine, it implements more story elements, introduces new mechanics, and gives the experience a much better sense of flow and creativity.

After finishing the main campaign, you unlock the Lost Levels, five extra stages meant to provide tougher challenges. Unfortunately, they lean heavily on the game’s weaker mechanics. They’re not genuinely hard; they’re frustrating in how they exploit the game’s pitfalls. For example, enemies become invincible while preparing attacks, and their dashing hits can easily knock you off tiny platforms to instant death. Some stages also place you in cramped spaces lined with spikes on both sides, or combine these hazards with moving platforms that you can’t even see from off-screen. Got there at the wrong moment? Dead. These moments feel unfair, not because of difficulty, but because of design that punishes rather than challenges.

Despite these flaws, there’s still fun to be had. The short stage-based format works well for quick sessions, and the second world and bonus content show that the developers have great creative ideas at play.

Visuals & Audio

This is where Jamboy really shines. The hand-drawn art is vibrant and full of character, bringing the bizarre world to life with expressive animation and a distinctive style. It’s colorful, humorous, and unmistakably unique.

Voice acting is another highlight: lively, funny, and perfectly fitting the game’s tone. The sound design complements the visuals well, though the eerie background music feels slightly mismatched and tends to loop too often. A more playful soundtrack would better match the game’s energy.

Pros

Fun and creative premise with great humor.
Distinctive hand-drawn art style.
Lively and entertaining voice acting.
Collectibles and weapon variety add replay value.
Accessible gameplay and clear structure.

Cons

Movement and hit detection feel inconsistent at times.
Harsh knockback when taking damage.
Music doesn’t fit the setting perfectly.
Quite short (two worlds plus 5 Lost Levels).

To Be Improved

Add an album for weapons and show their stat differences when collected.
Allow checking which collectibles are obtained from the level select screen.
Keep collected items even after dying.
Introduce more varied attack options.
Reduce knockback strength for smoother combat.
Add a map or collectible tracker for completionists.

Bugs

When a big enemy is preparing an attack, it becomes invulnerable.
Sometimes you revive with items and weapons, but other times you don’t.
While taking damage, your attacks won’t register, you must move away to attack again.
“10 lives in a single game” achievement is bugged.
The starter weapon can’t be reacquired after swapping, making certain achievements impossible.
“Find all 1UPs” achievement is bugged and doesn’t unlock even when all are collected
(including Lost Levels).

Optimization Review

While Jamboy: A Jelly-cious Hero generally runs smoothly, it could benefit from better optimization. I played it on Steam Deck, and although performance was great, the system got noticeably hot and drained the battery faster than expected for such a simple 2D game. It’s not a deal-breaker, but a small optimization pass would make it run cooler and more efficiently on portable hardware.

Conclusion

Jamboy: A Jelly-cious Hero is a fun, creative, and delightfully weird platformer. It’s full of personality, from its absurd premise to its colorful art and playful humor. While its controls and collision can be messy, and some late-game levels test your patience more than your skill, the overall experience remains enjoyable and charming.

It’s the kind of short adventure that feels like a passion project full of ideas, humor, and personality. With a bit more polish and refinement, Jamboy could easily become a standout in the indie platforming scene.