Balloon Fight
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2008) |
| Balloon Fight | |
|---|---|
 NES cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Nintendo R&D1[1] |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Yoshio Sakamoto[1] |
| Composer(s) | Hirokazu Tanaka[2] |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Various |
| Release date(s) | Arcade
Game Boy Advance
3DS Virtual Console Ambassador version
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| 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 1984 video game developed by Nintendo. The arcade version (Nintendo Vs. System) was released in 1984 and the Nintendo Entertainment System version was released in 1986. The gameplay is similar to the arcade game Joust by Williams Electronics.
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Gameplay [edit]
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (June 2008) |
The player controls the unnamed Balloon Fighter with two balloons attached to his back. Repeatedly pressing the A or B buttons 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 fish 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. Balloon Trip is not available in the arcade version.
1-player/2-player game [edit]
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.
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 [edit]
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 [edit]
The game was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Japan-only NEC PC-8801, the Sharp X1, the Game Boy Advance as Balloon Fight-e for the e-Reader and part of the Famicom Mini Series in Japan. 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,[3] 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 only released in Japan.
Caltron Ind Inc. released a 6-in-1 multi-cart featuring a conspicuous game titled Adam and Eve with game play suspiciously similar to Balloon Fight, essentially a generic version of Balloon Fight.
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.[4] The original background music for the Balloon Trip in Balloon Fight can be heard in Melee's Icicle Mountain stage as alternate music.[5] 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.[6] 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 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.[7]
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 included the original "Balloon Fight" mode, and also an additional mode titled "Balloon Trip", where Tingle attempts to cross the ocean in a balloon. A gallery that contained concept art was also included, where each piece could be unlocked by completing specific in-game tasks.[8]
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.
The Piranha Plant boss in Mario Party DS used the same gameplay principal as Balloon Fight except that Mario drops bomb seeds instead of popping enemies balloons and then kicking them.
In the Manga series Hellsing By Kouta Hirano, almost every chapter title is a video game reference. Chapter 44 (Vol 6 Ch 7 in the Graphic Novel) was titled "Balloon Fight".
In the RPG series Earthbound, the two games Mother and Earthbound have a place called Magicant that represents the mind of a person, the main character in each game may meet the flyingmen who look like the enemies in Balloon Fight, but they will fight alongside you instead of against you.
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.[9] Balloon Fight became the first Wii U Virtual Console title that 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 [edit]
| Name | Released in Japan | Released in USA | Released in Europe | Genre | System |
| Vs. Balloon Fight | 1984 | 1984 | Action | Arcade | |
| Balloon Fight | January 22, 1985 | June 1986 | December 15, 1986 | Action | NES/Famicom |
| Balloon Fight | 1985 | Action | PC-88 | ||
| Balloon Fight (Playchoice-10) | 1985 | Action | Arcade | ||
| Balloon Fight | 1986 | 1986 | Action | G&W | |
| Balloon Kid | October 5, 1990 | January 31, 1991 | Action/platformer | GB | |
| Balloon Fight GB | July 31, 2000 | Action/platformer | GBC/NP | ||
| Balloon Fight | October 19, 2001 | Action | Sharp X1 | ||
| Balloon Fight-e | September 16, 2002 | Action | GBA (e-Reader) | ||
| Famicom Mini Balloon Fight | May 21, 2004 | Action | GBA | ||
| Tingle's Balloon Fight | April 2007 | Action | DS | ||
| Balloon Fight | November 13, 2007 | July 16, 2007 | June 8, 2007 | Action | Wii Virtual Console |
| Balloon Fight | August 31, 2011 | August 31, 2011 | August 31, 2011 | Action | 3DS Virtual Console |
| Balloon Fight | January 23, 2013 | January 23, 2013 | January 23, 2013 | Action | Wii U Virtual Console |
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ a b "バルーンファイトＧＢ／開発者インタビュー". ニンテンドウオンラインマガジン（No.24）. Nintendo. August 2000. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
- ^ Famicom 20th Anniversary Original Sound Tracks Vol. 1 (Album notes). Scitron Digital Contents. 2004. http://vgmdb.net/album/404.
- ^ "'Balloon Kid'". NinDB. Retrieved May 28, 2006.
- ^ http://wii.ign.com/articles/847/847708p1.html
- ^ "'Balloon Fight Series'". NinDB. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2008.
- ^ "Super Smash Bros. Brawl stage: The Summit". smashbros.com. Archived from the original on November 02 2007. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
- ^ "GameSpy Tetris DS Preview". GameSpy. Archived from the original on March 05 2006. Retrieved March 4, 2006.
- ^ "Zelda in my Pocket's Tingle's Balloon Fight Page". Retrieved January 6, 2010. "A gallery of concept art was also included in the game. As specific events are completed, greater levels are reached, and the top scores grow higher, more of the gallery images will be unlocked."
- ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (2013-01-23). "Wii U Virtual Console, OS Upgrades Announced". IGN. Retrieved 2013-01-23.
External links [edit]
- Balloon Fight guide at StrategyWiki
- Vs. Balloon Fight at GameFAQs
- 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
