|
 In 1982 the classic video game Joust was dropped on arcades
across the United
States. The game was a smash hit and continued
to be popular on home video game machines. Two years later Nintendo, desperate for
a hit game not featuring Donkey Kong or Mario, released their own rip-off
version called Balloon Fight. In 1986 this title got ported over to
the NES where it reigned supreme for a year until Joust was ported over to the NES. Of course when this happened, Balloon Fight insisted that Joust was the rip-off game. After much public debate it was
determined that no one cared and both games became known as solid arcade
games that not many people played on the NES.
In Balloon Fight you star as Balloon Man, a guy who floats
through the air by the aid of two balloons. On each screen you must dispatch of a
few bad guys who are floating under one balloon. To kill a baddie you must hit them when
you are above them (Hmm, awfully similar to Joust). This will then
pop their balloon and cause them to land on the ground, once they land on
the ground they will attempt to refill their balloon. If you hit them a second time before
they are able to refill their balloon then you have successfully (and one
can only assume justly) killed them. Once the screen is cleared of bad
guys you move on to the next screen.
If you get hit by a bad guy then you lose a balloon. Once you only have one balloon it is a
lot more difficult to control yourself and you have to avoid getting hit
again or you will perish. On the
bottom of the screen is a peaceful lake, but if you get to close to it a
giant fish will pop out and gobble you up. Of course you can use that to your
advantage to kill the bad guys.
You also have to beware of the clouds that will shoot lightning
bolts out at you, which is cause for instant death.
Every three levels there is a
bonus round where you just have to collect as many balloons as possible
before time runs out. At the end
of this screen you recover a balloon if you have lost one. The game consists of 12 different
phases at which point the game loops back to phase four with additional
bad guys. The game never  ends so it is all about the points.
There is also a second mode
called “Balloon Trip” where you have the chance to emulate a billionaire,
circling the globe in a balloon.
However, your trip is substantially more challenging as you must
float through the sky collecting balloons while avoiding the shooting
stars. You start at a rank of 50
and must live long enough to make it to a ranking of #1. This mode is also a lot of fun, which
basically means that Balloon Fight is
two pretty fun games in one.
In 1990 Balloon Fight was given a sequel on the Game Boy called Balloon Kid, which is a full
fledged platformer. This game was
never released on the NES but it was turned into the Famicom game Hello Kitty World, which is a much
coveted game by the giant Hello Kitty fanbase.
Positives:
This game has two fun modes
packed into one cartridge, which is always a positive. While the game is a rip-off of Joust, if you are going to rip-off
an old-school classic there are worse ones to copy. Plus Balloon Fight offers a few new options that Joust lacks. The two-player mode is extremely fun
competitively if both players are at similar levels while the
co-operative mode offers quite a bit of fun as well.
 Glaring Negatives:
Repetition is the name of the
game. This is a classic arcade
style game where you must complete stages that start to repeat rather
quickly. Any game that doesn’t have an ending always annoys us a
little. It must be said as well
that being a rip-off of Joust causes
the game to lose points in the originality department.
Graphics
and Sound: Solid
The graphics are fairly standard
for a 1986 NES game, nothing special but they get the job done. The sound is standard as well featuring
the obligatory beeps and blurps.
During some moments the sounds are quite similar to Kid Icarus.
Gameplay
and Controls: Solid, much tamer than Joust
Joust is known for the insane difficulty one
faces when controlling one’s
ostrich. Balloon Fight on the other hand is silky smooth. Pushing left or right makes the balloon
travel faster and can lead to out of control moments but generally
speaking the controls are identical to Joust without the insanity.
Features:
Decent
Yes the Balloon Trip is always
the same and yes there are only 13 different screens for the Balloon
Fight mode. However, there are
actually four games in this cartridge: 1 player Balloon Fight, 2 player
co-op Balloon Fight, 2 player competitive (possibly the most fun) Balloon
Fight, and Balloon Trip. How’s that for features?
Fun?:
Sure
For an occasional play with
someone else this game is quite fun.
However, we can foresee this game losing its charm somewhat
quickly and much more so with only 1 player.
Challenge:
A Bit
Not nearly as much as Joust. We were able to rack a lot of points
rather quickly and clear all 13 screens and proceed well beyond. However, Balloon Trip takes a bit more practice but 1st
place should be easily attainable.
Replay:
Some
As with all the arcade ports
there is limited  replay.
However, there are more possibilities for continued fun with 2
player mode (especially competitive mode).
2
Player: Yes
Balloon
Fight really shines in 2
player mode. The co-operative mode
is fun but playing against each other is really entertaining. Unlike Joust which is hard not to kill each other on accident, Balloon Fight is a tactical match
(some might call it a “chess
match” but Agent K detests
that metaphor). First, there are a
ton of baddies and the giant fish to avoid. Also, you can hide under ledges and you
have to get your opponent twice to actually kill him. Good times indeed.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
Yes
check Nintendo Age, they have a scan of every manual on the NES.
Bottom
Line: Solid old-school fun
If you like Joust you will probably like Balloon Fight. If you
hate Joust you still might like
Balloon Fight especially if the
controls are the issue or you are an animal rights activist who is
disgusted by dueling, flying ostriches (by the way, yes you are correct,
ostriches cannot fly). It’s a fun game to play every now and then
especially with a competitive friend.
|
