is an action

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

and

HAL Laboratory formerly shortened as HALKEN (derived from its native name), is a Japanese video game developer founded on 21 February 1980. While independent, it has been closely tied with Nintendo throughout its history, and is often referred to as a secon ...

and published by Nintendo. The original arcade version was released for the

Nintendo VS. System The is an arcade system developed and produced by Nintendo from 1984 to 1990. It is based on most of the same hardware as the Family Computer (Famicom), later released as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Most of its games are conversio ...

internationally as ''Vs. Balloon Fight'', while its

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

counterpart was released in Japan in 1985 and internationally in 1986. The gameplay is similar to the 1982 game '' Joust'' from Williams Electronics. The home Nintendo Entertainment System version was ported to the

NEC PC-8801 The , commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan. The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the three major Japane ...

in October 1985, the

Sharp X1 The , sometimes called the Sharp X1 or CZ-800C, is a series of home computers released by Sharp Corporation from 1982 to 1988. It is based on a Zilog Z80 CPU. The RGB display monitor for the X1 had a television tuner, and a computer screen c ...

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. It was later rereleased through Nintendo's

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

and

NES Classic Edition NES Classic Edition is a dedicated home video game console by Nintendo, which emulates the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It launched on November 10, 2016 in Australia and Japan, and November 11, 2016 in North America and Europe. Aesthet ...

. It was released on

Nintendo Switch Online Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) is an online subscription service for the Nintendo Switch video game console. Nintendo Switch Online features include online multiplayer, cloud saving, voice chat via a smartphone app, access to a library of Ninten ...

in 2018.

Gameplay

The player controls an unnamed Balloon Fighter with two

balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light so ...

s 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 Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

, gets eaten by the large

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, ...

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

version was ported to the

in October 1985, the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

. 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". 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 ''Balloon Kid'' is a flying platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy on October 5, 1990, in North America and on January 31, 1991, in Europe. It is the sequel to ''Balloon Fight''. It was never released in Japan for th ...

'' was released in October 1990 in North America and on January 31, 1991, in Europe for the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

, 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 The Sharp Zaurus is the name of a series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) made by Sharp Corporation. The Zaurus was the most popular PDA during the 1990s in Japan and was based on a proprietary operating system. The first Sharp PDA to use t ...

series of PDAs. Balloon Fighter and Flipper trophies are obtainable in ''

Super Smash Bros. Melee ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' is a 2001 Fictional crossover, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second installment in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. I ...

'', 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 ''

'', but the

Ice Climbers Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opa ...

were chosen instead. The original background music for the Balloon Trip in ''Balloon Fight'' can be heard in ''Melee''s Icicle Mountain stage as alternate music. The giant fish makes a cameo appearance in '' Super Smash Bros. Brawl''. It appears on the ''Ice Climber''-based stage, the Summit, where it tries to attack the players from the sea. 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; the same stage returns in '' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', Balloon Fighter appears as a Spirit in said game. 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 ''Yoshi Touch & Go'', known in Japan as , is a video game that was developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It debuted in Japan on January 27, 2005, in North America on March 14, 2005, in Europe on May 6, 2005, and in Australia ...

'' 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. On April 12, 2007, Club Nintendo released ''Tingle's Balloon Fight'' for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

, an exclusive game featuring Tingle, a Nintendo character who originated from ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...

'' 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. The Balloon Fighter appears in '' Super Mario Maker'' as an unlockable Mystery Mushroom costume as part of an update. ''Balloon Fight'' has been re-released as part of Nintendo's

. 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 The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

as part of that system's Ambassador Program in September 2011. In ''

Nintendo Land is a party video game developed and published by Nintendo as a pack-in launch title for the Wii U home video game console in 2012. The game was first announced at E3 2012 during Nintendo's press conference. ''Nintendo Land'' features twelve mi ...

'', there is an attraction called Balloon Trip Breeze that is very similar to Balloon Trip from the original ''Balloon Fight''. The game was released on the Wii U Virtual Console service on January 23, 2013, in North America until February 23, 2013, as part of a promotion celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of the original Nintendo Famicom. ''Balloon Fight'' became the first

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

Virtual Console title to be released. On November 11, 2016, the game (alongside 29 other games) was included in the

(Nintendo Classic Mini in Europe). The NES version of ''Balloon Fight'' was re-released as one of the launch titles for

on September 18, 2018. The original arcade version, '' Vs. Balloon Fight'', was ported by

Hamster Corporation is a Japanese video game publisher, with office located in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. The game division of Toshiba-EMI Limited spun off Hamster Corporation in November 1999. On the Japanese PlayStation Store, more than 200 titles are distribut ...

and released on the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

Arcade Archives is a series of emulated arcade games from the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch, published by Hamster Corporation. A sub-series called is focused on rereleasing Neo Geo ...

on December 27, 2019.

List of ''Balloon Fight'' games, ports and sequels

Notes

References

External links

IGN's coverage of ''Balloon Fight'' (Famicom Mini Series)
* {{Authority control 1984 video games Action video games Arcade video games Game & Watch games Game Boy Color games Nintendo Entertainment System games MSX games NEC PC-8801 games Nintendo arcade games Nintendo games Nintendo Research & Development 1 games Nintendo Vs. Series games PlayChoice-10 games Sharp X1 games Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U Video game clones Video games scored by Hirokazu Tanaka Video games designed by Yoshio Sakamoto Video games developed in Japan Nintendo Switch Online NES games Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS Multiplayer and single-player video games Hamster Corporation games