Balloon Fight

Infobox VG
title=Balloon Fight


caption=
developer=Nintendo R&D1 [Calderon, Anthony. [http://www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=482 The Nintendo Development Structure] N-Sider Retrieved on 2008-03-13]
publisher=Nintendo
designer=
composer = Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka
released=vgy|1984 (arcade)
platforms=Arcade Game, MSX, NES, PC-88, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, Virtual Console, Zaurus
genre=Platform game
modes=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
input=8-way Joystick, 2 Buttons

nihongo|"Balloon Fight"|バルーンファイト|Barūn Faito is a vgy|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 vgy|1985. The gameplay is similar to the arcade game "Joust" by Williams Electronics.

Gameplay

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 one of your balloons is popped, your flotation is decreased, making it harder to rise. You lose a life if both of your balloons are popped by enemy Balloon Fighters, if you fall in the water, get eaten by the large fish near the surface of the water, or if you get 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

Defeat all of the enemies on screen to clear the stage. You can play alone, or co-operatively with a second player. Each player starts with three extra lives, and once these are lost the game ends.

Enemy Balloon Fighters float around on the screen. Hit their balloons to pop them. The enemy will try to float back to safe ground on a parachute, inflate a new balloon and fly away again. Hit the enemy a second time before they inflate a new balloon 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, although you do not get points for defeating enemies in this way. 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 you progress through the stages, the number of enemies and platforms increases. A spinning obstacle called the Flipper (Propellor in the game's North American instruction manual) appears on later stages.

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. Hit all twenty balloons for an extra bonus score. If you only have one balloon when you reach the bonus stage, your second balloon will be replenished.

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 screen scrolls from right to left, and you only have one life.

Aside from the starting platform, there is no ground in this mode. You can find both stationary and moving lightning sparks. If you collect twenty balloons without missing one, you will get bonus points for every balloon you collect thereafter. Hit bubbles to temporarily stop the stage from scrolling.

Ports, sequels, and references

The game was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Japan-only NEC PC-8801, the Sharp Zaurus, 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 also released a Game & Watch version of the same name, it is based on the NES version's Balloon Trip mode. The protagonist of it is a Balloon Fighter, "Balloon Man" (according to [http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/replacementdocs/Balloon_Fight_(Crystal_Screen)_-_Manual_-_GNW.pdf the manual] ). Unlike Balloon Fighters, Balloon Man uses a rocket suit instead of flapping his 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, [cite web | title=Balloon Kid | publisher=nindb.classicgaming.gamespy.com | url=http://nindb.classicgaming.gamespy.com/dmg-bt.shtml | accessdate=2006-05-28] 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" (developed 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 multicart 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"Fact|date=September 2008, but the Ice Climbers 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. [cite web | title=Balloon Fight Cameos | publisher=nindb.classicgaming.gamespy.com | url=http://nindb.classicgaming.gamespy.com/fran-balloonfight.shtml#cameos | accessdate=2008-01-09] 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. [cite web |title=Super Smash Bros. Brawl stage: The Summit | publisher=smashbros.com | url=http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/stages/stage16.html | accessdate=2007-10-31] In addition, the game's main theme, titled "Balloon Trip" is available for the Summit stage as well.

In the "WarioWare, Inc." series, some of 9-Volt's games are based on "Balloon Fight". In "", there is also a minigame functioning as a three-dimensional version of Balloon Trip; player use the Wiimote only for the microgame version, and also use 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. [cite web | title=GameSpy Tetris DS Preview | publisher=gamespy.com | url=http://gba.gamespy.com/nintendo-ds/tetris/690722p1.html | accessdate=2006-03-04]

"Tingle's Balloon Fight DS", Club Nintendo's exclusive game featuring the "Zelda" character Tingle was released in April 2007.

On June 8 2007, Balloon Fight was released in Europe on the Wii Virtual Console available for 500 Wii Points. It was later released in North America on July 16 2007, and Japan on November 12 2007.

List of "Balloon Fight" games, ports and sequels

ee also

*List of NES games
*List of Famicom games

References

External links

;Guides
*StrategyWiki
*GameFAQs|type=/coinop/arcade|num=569142|name="Vs. Balloon Fight"

;Coverage
* [http://gameboy.ign.com/objects/676/676646.html IGN's coverage of Balloon Fight (Famicom Mini Series)]
*Moby game|id=/balloon-fight|name="Balloon Fight"
*imdb title|id=0185904|title=Balloon Fight

;Reviews
* [http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/521/521097p1.html IGN]
* [http://www.nescentral.com/posts/game-addiction:-balloon-fight.html NES Central]
* [http://www.nintendojo.com/reviews/NES/view_item.php?1058900702 Nintendojo]