Documenting this here on Backloggd™ as I'm sure this will cease to be a memory within a few hours:

I just awoke from a nightmare that took place an unspecified amount of time into the future in which the desolate remains of Earth are lorded over by a Nintendo helmed regime and all of the world's conflicts are resolved through massive scale real-life BALLOON FIGHTS. Every balloon pop may as well have been a cannon blast and they always tended to be accompanied by the fading visceral screams of once afloat humans spiraling into a bottomless void, a red mist spewing into the air shortly after their disappearance.

As an NES launch title, Balloon Fight is serviceable in my opinion. I enjoyed what it's worth, just flying around and popping the enemies' balloons can be fun for a little while, but after Phase 12, the stage variants start to feel repetitive and I've seen what most of this game has to offer. The game controls fine, but it ain't the best in my opinion

Outside of the original balloon fight mode, there is the Balloon Trip mode. It's another single-player mode where instead of fighting Balloon Fishes, you fly around avoiding lightning sparks and collecting balloons to increase your rank and achieve a high score. Honestly my favorite thing to come of out this game. It's maybe because I played Balloon Trip Breeze in Nintendo Land as a kid, but just flying around with the iconic theme song playing in the background just makes the 30 minutes you spent on it worth it

Balloon Fight is a decent game for the NES and can be fun in short bursts, but there really isn't much to it after experiencing the game modes

Honestly for a title released in early 1985 pre-mario it's pretty darn solid. It essentially is Nintendo/Iwata's take on Joust, instead using more cartoony and readable characters. While I certainly like Joust, I def remember being a bit confused when first playing it mostly due to how the hitboxes were handled by a tiny sword on your bird guy. With this game, the core gameplay of manipulating momentum by air flapping remains the same, with the giant balloons on both your character and the enemies serving as a large understandable target to aim for/defend. Add the fact that this game being a console game rather than an arcade game means it can be a bit more forgiving with a 2 balloon health bar and an overall less inherently oppressive atmosphere and slower pace than Jousts swarms of death, and you have something that's still pretty comfy and timeless to play even today (something that a lot of other early famicom/NES black box titles can miss the mark on). Oh, it's also one of the few early famicom games with simultaneous 2-player gameplay which keeps it fresh, and the balloon trip mode is arguably more memorable than the proper main game with its tricky obstacle courses and catchy tunes.

I honestly have played this on-and-off for the better part of like at least 15 years by now ever since I first played this by unlocking it in animal crossing. I never knew there were only 12 levels in this version before it just loops so I finally got around to playing through all 12. This game certainly is in the upper echelon of early famicom releases, probably up there with lode runner and xevious as the best bang for your buck in the pre-mario days. It's no wonder why Nintendo got Iwata to work with them for other titles like pinball, golf, and F-1 race, starting a relationship that would kickstart his legendary career.

Iwata's big balloon break

It's no 5 star title, not to burst anyone's bubbles, but there is still some quality on offer.

The many levels of Game A are dynamic in the challenges they offer, your head start on your opponents can also lead to feeling really smart if you know how to stop your foes before they can take off. Rapid popping also feels satisfying, but in turn it can also happen to you if you're not careful. I'd say the thunder bolts can feel cheap as is any interactions with the edges of the screen and how things loop, and bumpers offer little more than annoyance.

Game B is also great since it's a static obstacle course you can only get better and better at with time. Not as much to say but if you wanna master the controls this is the way to go. I do wish multiple courses were on offer though as just the one gets old fast.

The only other real issue I can think of is just that that's all there is to the game, but what is there is pretty solid.

NES Week: Day #6

So far nothing has really filled in the hole that has been empty this NES week: a decent multiplayer game. Now I wasn’t really expecting much when it came to this game. I was just expecting a simple joust like game that would be done quickly and I would have barely any problems with it. I’m glad that in all fairness: balloon fight is actually pretty damn good. Nothing absolutely brilliant but it’s definitely one of those great time waster games that I can’t help but enjoy. Yeah this is probably one of my favourites of this entire week.

You play as a guy with a few balloons as you traverse different stages defeating all the enemies. You do this by landing on their balloons to make them fall to the ground and then finish them off by landing on them. Pretty simple huh? Well they can do the same to you which adds an extra layer of worry. But as long as you’re pretty decent at the game and it’s principle you should be just fine! You can also play alongside a friend (if you have any unlike me ;-; (joking)). The bonus stage is pretty good too, all you do is pop some balloons in order which is pretty fun.

Great time waster, excellent ideas, decent characters, that weird fish looking thing lmao

Of course it's Joust with balloons, but almost every arcade game from the era was riffing on some year-old idea. However, here we have a greater reliance on proper physics-based momentum, a notable feat for the time.

Sure, it's not something you could play for more than fifteen minutes per sitting, but similarly to all the greatest arcade games, Balloon Fight manages to squeeze tons of tiny moments of tension alongside satisfying small victories. Just within a single round there's plenty to both laugh about and agonize over.

This game is really fun for how simple it is. The controls are really instictive since one of the button can be hold for flying normally and the other needs to be press multiple times to ajust your flight.

This game is also fun in two players where you try to beat all the levels in coop. Even if it's coop, you still wants to get more points than your friends (especially in the bonus rounds)

The last mode is really enjoyable and challenging since you want to reach the furthest as possible since lasting longer will give you points, but getting all the baloons will give you the most points.

A classic for NES and you should play it at least once

Game #14 of my challenge