Potatopasty's Balloon Flight
Balloon Fight is a classic action game developed and published by Nintendo, first released in arcades in 1984 and later adapted for the Nintendo Famicom and Entertainment System (NES) in 1985 in Japan, 1986 in North America, and 1987 in Europe.
This is one of the relatively few Nintendo games I played as a kid. I didn’t have an NES, but my friend did. I remember he had several "black box NES games," back then simply known as "games." I recall Ice Climber, Popeye, Excitebike, Tennis, and... Balloon Fight. While Ice Climber could have been a fantastic game with better jump mechanics, Balloon Fight was perfect as it was. It was just so much fun, and it still is! You can even get it for Nintendo Switch, along with many other classic NES titles. What a time to be alive. 🙏
Balloon Fight's gameplay concept and core mechanics are notably similar to the 1982 arcade title Joust, programmed by Satoru Iwata. And guess what: he was also behind Balloon Fight. In both games, you control a character navigating a confined aerial environment, defeating enemies by gaining a height advantage and colliding from above. While Joust featured medieval knights on flying ostriches, Balloon Fight replaced them with cartoon-style balloonists suspended by balloons, engaging in gravity-defying duels over shimmering waters and dangerous obstacles.
The objective in the main Balloon Fight mode is to pop enemies’ balloons before they can pop yours. This leads to frantic, skill-based aerial battles that test reaction time and finesse as you maneuver with careful taps of the A button to flap your arms. Skilled players must master subtle airborne movement and timing to outmaneuver enemies, burst their balloons, and finish them off before they recover.
Beyond its single-screen arcade action, Balloon Fight also included a distinct gameplay mode known as Balloon Trip. This mode tasks players with guiding their balloonist through a horizontally scrolling gauntlet of sparks (or lightning orbs—I’m not entirely sure), collecting balloons and bubbles for points and survival. Over time, Balloon Trip became particularly beloved for its challenging precision gameplay and memorable musical theme. It’s also my favorite game mode.
In my Balloon Flight game, I took both shortcuts and artistic liberties. This is not a clone; it’s my version of one game mode. I know Nintendo is not the most permissive when it comes to their intellectual property, but should I care? No. For me, this is like a cover song in music. While you can’t record and sell anything you like, we are all allowed to sing and play songs—even post them on YouTube. Go and listen to Elle Cordova and Toni Lindgren they are amazing!
Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes! This is my cover song of Balloon Fight’s game mode "C: Balloon Trip." The game is written with Pico-8. And because Pico-8 has a smaller 128x128 resolution, I had to shrink and redraw most of the sprites. I made all the sound effects, but I’m still looking for a musician to create a nice soundtrack. Or I might do it myself—that would be something new! The game version on this site will update, and there is a date somewhere.
One more thing: there’s no fish in the sea.
Play the current version of the "Balloon Flight" here! Created 8.12.2024