Globlins!

Globlins! is an action platformer for Game Boy Advance set in the post-apocalyptic American southwest, taking inspiration from platformers including Cave Story and Mega Man Zero, as well as immersive sims such as BioShock. A virus is transforming all life on earth into hostile beings called Globlins, and it's up to a bee-shaped robot known as the Automated Retrieval Unit (A.R.U.) to reassemble a machine that can deliver the cure. Throughout the game, ARU recovers powerful Ultra-Matter from the Globlins, which they can use to either upgrade their abilities, or donate to the cure. The more they donate, the better the game's ending will be; however, in order to achieve the best ending, ARU will have to forgo many valuable upgrades, making the journey much more difficult.

This game was initially conceived as a project for the 2024 GBA Jam. However, as development continued and our ideas grew in scope, it became clear we would only be able to put together an early prototype in time for the game jam. You can play the prototype right now in the above web player, or by downloading it below! 

Web player controls:

A button : X

B button: Z

L button: A 

R button: S

D-pad: Arrow keys

Credits:

• Jeremy Elkayam - Programming
• Pollyannawog - Concept, story, character art
• Arcobaleno97 - Level/object art
• Dot Maetrix - Music

Sound effects from Soniss GDC bundle (contributors:  gamemaster audio, 3maze, bluezone corp, SoundMorph. Sound Spark LLC, MatiasMacSD)

Web version is running in a modified version of GBA.ninja (https://gba.ninja/) by Simon Paris which is based on VBA-M (https://vba-m.com/) by Forgotten and the VBA/VBA-M development teams.

Downloads:

globlins_demo.gba - A demo for the final game, including updates made after the initial game jam build.

globlins_proto_jam.gba - The original prototype build as submitted for the 2024 GBA jam.