Balloon Fight

Balloon Fight
NES cover art
Developer(s)	Nintendo Research & Development 1[1]
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Yoshio Sakamoto[1]
Programmer(s)	Satoru Iwata[2]
Composer(s)	Hirokazu Tanaka[3]
Platform(s)	Arcade, NES, PC-8801, X1, Sharp Zaurus, Game Boy Advance, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U
Release date(s)	Arcade NA 1984 NES/Famicom JP January 22, 1985 NA August 1986[4] PAL March 12, 1987 NEC PC-8801 JP October 1985[5] Sharp X1 JP November 1985[5] Sharp Zaurus JP September 2001[6] Game Boy Advance JP May 21, 2004[5] e-Reader NA September 16, 2002[5] Virtual Console Wii JP November 13, 2007 NA July 16, 2007 PAL June 8, 2007 Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program WW August 31, 2011 Full version JP August 22, 2012 NA May 2, 2013 EU May 2, 2013 Wii U WW January 23, 2013
Genre(s)	Platform game
Mode(s)	Single-player, up to 2 players
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	Nintendo PlayChoice-10 hardware
CPU	Z80, N2A03
Sound	Nintendo, DAC
Display	Raster, 256 x 480 pixels, 320 colors

Balloon Fight (バルーンファイト, Barūn Faito) is a 1985 video game developed by Nintendo. The Arcade (Nintendo VS. System), Vs. Balloon Fight, was originally released in 1984 and its Nintendo Entertainment System counterpart was Internationally released in 1986. The gameplay is similar to the arcade game Joust by Williams Electronics. The home Nintendo Entertainment System version was ported to the NEC PC-8801 in October 1985, the Sharp X1 in November 1985, the Game Boy Advance as Balloon Fight-e for the e-Reader in the United States on September 16, 2002, and as part of the Famicom Mini Series in Japan on May 21, 2004.

Gameplay

The player controls the unnamed Balloon Fighter with two balloons attached to his helmet. Repeatedly pressing the A button or holding down the B button causes the Balloon Fighter to flap his arms and rise into the air. If a balloon is popped, the player's flotation is decreased, making it harder to rise. A life is lost if both balloons are popped by enemy Balloon Fighters, if the player falls in the water, gets eaten by the large piranha near the surface of the water, or is hit by lightning.

There are two modes of play: the 1-player/2-player game where the goal is to clear the screen of enemies, and Balloon Trip where the goal is to avoid obstacles in a side-scrolling stage. The original Arcade game does not include Balloon Trip, but all the level layouts are completely different so as to take advantage of vertical scrolling in addition to some minor gameplay differences.

1-player/2-player game

Defeat all of the enemies on screen to clear the stage. This mode can be played alone or co-operatively with a second player. Each player starts with three extra lives. The 3DS Balloon Fight port comes with the Download Play option, that allows you to play along with a friend that has another 3DS system.

Enemy Balloon Fighters float around the screen and the player must hit their balloons to defeat them. The enemy can also fall into the water or be eaten by the fish while flying close to the water's surface. If an enemy is defeated or falls into the water, a bubble will rise up the screen which can be hit for extra points. As play progresses through the stages, the number of enemies and platforms increases.

Every three stages is a bonus stage, where the goal is to burst all of the balloons that float up the screen from the chimneys at the bottom.

Balloon Trip

A single-player game where the goal is to avoid the lightning sparks and collect the balloons, aiming to move up the ranks and compete for the high score. The player starts with one life.

Ports, sequels, and references

The home Nintendo Entertainment System version was ported to the NEC PC-8801 in October 1985, the Sharp X1 in November 1985, the Game Boy Advance as Balloon Fight-e for the e-Reader in the United States on September 16, 2002, and as part of the Famicom Mini Series in Japan on May 21, 2004.^[5] It can also be played in Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube.

Nintendo released a Game & Watch version of the same name, based on the NES version's Balloon Trip mode. The protagonist is "a Balloon Man" (according to the manual). Unlike Balloon Fighters, Balloon Men use rocket suits instead of flapping their hands to elevate while holding balloons.

A sequel to Balloon Fight called Balloon Kid was released on October 1990 in North America and on January 31, 1991 in Europe for the Game Boy,^[7] which expands from the game's roots and revamped it into a full platforming adventure. This title was not released in Japan on the Game Boy, but colorized versions titled as Hello Kitty World (published by Character Soft) for the Famicom and Balloon Fight GB for the Game Boy Color were later released only in Japan.

In September 2001, the game was ported to the Sharp Zaurus series of PDAs.^[6]

Balloon Fighter and Flipper trophies are obtainable in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and the Flipper is also a usable item, replacing the Bumper from the previous game. The Balloon Fighter was considered for a playable role during the development of Super Smash Bros. Melee, but the Ice Climbers were chosen instead.^[8] The original background music for the Balloon Trip in Balloon Fight can be heard in Melee's Icicle Mountain stage as alternate music.^[9] The giant fish makes a cameo appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It appears on the Ice Climber-based stage, the Summit, in which it tries to attack the players from the sea.^[10] In addition, a remixed version of the main theme, titled "Balloon Trip" is available for the Summit stage as well. Stickers of the Balloon Fighter and the Balloon Fight Enemy can be collected in Brawl. In addition, the Villager from the Animal Crossing series uses the Balloon Fighter's helmet as one of his special moves in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. In the 3DS version of the same game, a stage based on Balloon Fight appears with the original 8-bit graphics.

In the WarioWare, Inc. series, some of 9-Volt's games are based on Balloon Fight. In WarioWare: Smooth Moves, there is also a minigame functioning as a three-dimensional version of Balloon Trip; players use the Wii Remote only for the microgame version, and also use the Nunchuk in the complete 3D Balloon Trip.

The original tech demo for Yoshi Touch & Go was called Yoshi's Balloon Trip. Balloon Fight is the theme for Touch Mode in Tetris DS, although the mode itself has almost nothing to do with the game other than the music and decorative graphics.^[11]

On April 12, 2007, Club Nintendo released Tingle's Balloon Fight for the Nintendo DS, an exclusive game featuring Tingle, a Nintendo character who originated from The Legend of Zelda series. The game is a remake of the home version, featuring the "Balloon Fight" and "Balloon Trip" modes. The levels are expanded slightly to utilize both screens, similar to the Arcade game except based entirely around the NES levels. A gallery that contained concept art was also included, where each piece could be unlocked by completing specific in-game tasks.^[12]

Balloon Fight has been re-released as part of Nintendo's Virtual Console. On June 8, 2007, Balloon Fight was released in Europe, followed by a release in North America on July 16, 2007, and Japan on November 12, 2007. The game was released on Virtual Console for Nintendo 3DS as part of that system's Ambassador Program in September 2011.

In Nintendo Land, there is an attraction called Balloon Trip Breeze, that is very similar to Balloon Trip from the original Balloon Fight.

The game was also released on the Wii U Virtual Console service on January 23, 2013 for $0.30 in North America until February 23, 2013 as part of a promotion celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of the original Nintendo Famicom.^[13] Balloon Fight became the first Wii U Virtual Console title to be released. The game then will cost $1.00 for those who purchased it on the Wii Shop Channel and transferred the game from to the Wii to the Wii U and the regular price of $4.99 for those who have never previously downloaded the title after the full Virtual Console service was lanuched on April 26, 2013.

List of Balloon Fight games, ports and sequels

References

External links

• Balloon Fight at Classic Nintendo Wiki
• Tingle's Balloon Fight at Zelda in my Pocket

Coverage

• IGN's coverage of Balloon Fight (Famicom Mini Series)
• Balloon Fight at MobyGames
• Balloon Fight at NinDB
• Balloon Fight at the Internet Movie Database

Reviews

• IGN
• NES Central
• Nintendojo