Yes, slime. The green goo. You've seen it on countless kids shows, game shows and films. Sure, it's survived its share of cultural and economic shifts, but it hasn't withstood the test of time as well as it might have. Why is this? Has the green, gelatinous, flourescant fluid achieved all it can? Are there no more worthy targets guest-starring in kids shows, smartly dressed and oblivious to the bucket hanging precariously above them? Do kids no longer crave that squelching feeling through their fingers, and patient hours of removing lint and hair from a petroleum-based ball of goo? I suppose so. Once marketed as a new-wave in toy technology, slime has been all but forgotten. But, do these games let it live on...?

#10: Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure (GEN)

Alright so it's not exactly about slime, but switch out the lights and hold a golf-ball sized blob of mucus in your hand. Can you really tell the difference? Boogerman represents all the things that you're supposed to "unlearn" after turning five: picking your nose (and flicking it!), burping, farting and being proud about it. He's the ultimate anti-hero - he promotes rudeness, crudeness and has a fixation with plungers. Yes, you'll spend your time among the slimy recesses of raw sewerage, or in umplumbed depths of a slimy cavern, but it sure beats the other typical platform-game clones of the time...

Trivia: Snotty Ragsdale (Boogerman), was created from over 1,800 hand drawn animated cels.

#9: Mister Slime (DS)

While not being quite the "unmatched experience" as claimed in the advertising blurb, this DS title has a certain charm - after all, the box-art of a grumpy little four-limbed slime-ball is an inspiring sight for slime-heads. A brightly coloured game, it is your goal to fling yourself through five discreet worlds in 2D action. Rather than ozzing along the ground, or bouncing along, your spidery limbs fling and attach to the environment with a flexability that would make Dhalsim cringe.

Trivia: The game was designed by Paul Cuisset, creator of the hit game Flashback.

#8: Todd's Adventures in Slime World (GEN)

What could be more captivating than a raging river of slime? In this action game, you play as Todd (obviously) who must make his way through six slime-ridden worlds. His mission? To collect slime gems! Full of dripping, bright-green disgusting chambers, this game puts the typical/cliched idea of slime on a silver platter. Don't get Todd too messy though, or you'll have to jump into a pool of clear, fresh water and watch him scrub the goo away. Although this game hardly broke any new ground, it's a fun enough and the tongue-in-cheek humour was (at the time) as refreshing as those pools of sparkling water.

Trivia: The game features a true and practical live-updating mini-map before Super Metroid did.

#7: A Boy and His Blob (NES)

You control a boy, who must be afflicted with some sort of palsy, for he cannot jump, run or attack. Quite sad! He does however (like all boys must of dreamed of!), have under his control a 'blob'. This bouncy and agreeable character is deformable and mutational - that is, he turns into twelve different forms to help this guy on his adventure. These metamorphoses are made by drugging the poor blob with suspicous pleasantly flavoured jelly-beans. Turns out that this game played pretty well too.

Trivia: A Game Boy Advance sequel titled A Boy and His Blob: Jelly's Cosmic Adventure was announced for 2002; it was cancelled.

#6: Die! Alien Slime (C64)

A futuristic top-view run-n-gun game, this title is a C64 gem. Rather than carefully studying and preserving the strange slimey fauna, you take up arms and systematically exterminate them. This is one of the few C64 titles that actually plays smoothly, (almost like a modern flash game). Add to this the fantastic sound effects and tidy, functional graphics, this slime-themed slaughter is more than just an awesome name for a game.

Trivia: Mastertronic (the budget software company responsible for Die! Alien Slime) was eventually bought out by SEGA in 1991.

#5: Blob (C64)

To quote the game manual: 'Imagine a universe of a different dimension - a dimension of height, of ground, of gravity and time.' Well call me crazy, but that sounds like our universe to a tee... Anyhow, this one's a progressive puzzle title for the Amiga. Blob sees you take control of a jelly-like blue lump of slime. Your mission is to find the exit on these tile-based levels by bouncing from lower levels to the goal. It's a simple but clever title that challenges players to think strategically about space.

#4: The Ooze (GEN)

What a concept! Play as a tepid pool of toxic slime. (I just love the way video games are boundless, and anything goes). Fortunately, this game was more than a novelty, as it played quite respectfully too. You were a scientist, but you've messed up and turned yourself into this shimmering (bright green) puddle. Collect more slime, and conjure up loogies to hurl at your (equally bizarre) enemies. Great sense of humour, and it's a nice idea to play as the thing you usually avoid in games.

Trivia: The Ooze was intended to be a pack-in with the Sega Nomad, the hand-held Genesis with its own viewing screen.

#3: Adventures of Lolo (NES)

Lolo needs to save Lala. How? Well, by solving a whole bunch of top-view maze-like puzzles. What kind of abilities does this round, blue blob have to assist him in his quest? Well, he can move and occasionally shoot. That's it. But what makes the game's reputation is the ingenious methods in how the puzzles are solved. Getting to that exit can be tricky, even though it may be a matter of pixels away. Lolo spawned a few sequels too, and each of these kept the notable strategy and quality of the original. An unlikely hero, but a hero nonetheless!

Trivia: Lolo and Lala, the games' protagonists, have appeared in the Kirby games under the names of Lololo and Lalala.

#2: Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (DS)

Carrying on the slimy legacy, and a fitting tribute and to all of those gooey games before it, this title is a another addition to the revered Dragon Quest series. Suitably enough, it features slime, front-and-centre. By controlling a quirky grinning blob of slime, you begin a rescue mission that takes you through Superstar Saga-like dungeons, and all the puzzle-solving that that entails. Of course, slime has its advantages, and you can bounce, stretch, float, and attack, all by flexing your malleable mass about the place. And neither are you the odd one out, your duty is freeing the all slimy enslaved citizens.

Trivia: The developer chose to keep humans absent in the game, thinking that if they had appeared, they would probably just run around killing all the Slimes.

#1: World of Goo (WII)

Build structures made out of blobules of "goo", as it were. Yes, that's about the size of it, but the challenge and unique cleverness takes this basic summary to astronomical heights, both idealogically and physically. Building and stretchiing these guys around is both relaxing and tricky, and the film-score like soundtrack makes an otherwise shallow idea feel more like a weird, avantgarde adventure. Praised for it's beautiful simplicity and winning gameplay, this title has questioned the relevance and quality of regular Wii releases on disc format, seeing as this "Wiiware" title beats the pants off most of the other shovelware at a fraction of the price!

Trivia: World of Goo became the first downloadable game for Nintendo's console via Amazon.com.

It's been an interesting ride, following the trail of slime through the gaming ages, but what will be next? With revolutionary titles such as "World of Goo" making a comeback for slime, are we now to be inundated with claggy clones, countless games featuring goo, gloop and goo? I think it's unlikely. There's something unattractive about playing as a pile of pulsating and putrid paste, and it's equally hard to mould interesting characters out of them. Lolo, Rocket and the other anonymous sludgy offenders hardly instil an inspiring image in a gamer's mind.

Or do they...?