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.

Flying around poppin' some pointy nosed devil's balloon while preventing your own two balloons from getting popped can be fun. Although the levels can be tricky as the controls for the Balloon Fighter are flighty, so it feels like my movements aren't precise enough.
This was the first arcade style game I played where they don't give you an extra life no matter how many points you get, which is a shocker to me.
I like that there is an alternate game mode with "Balloon Trip", providing Balloon Fight with a bit more replayability.
This game was good way to pass two hours for me. My top score for Game A was 90900, while for Game C it was 47370.

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

Pros: Two really fun game modes, one where you're on a single screen arenas where you can be joined by a friend in co-op/competitive gameplay to try and take down each enemy, the other mode, Balloon Trip, is a single player challenging gauntlet of scrolling through fields of lightning sparks trying to collect every single balloon, while also avoiding a giant fish waiting for its chance to eat you below... It's all really fun! And I think it's aged pretty well too!

Cons: It's a rather small and simple arcadey style game, once you've got your fill, that'll be mostly it. The controls and physics, while well made, do take some getting used to, and you'll find yourself careening into obstacles quite a lot.

What it means to me: As someone with a lot of siblings, old NES games with simultaneous multiplayer got a lot of play time from us, and this one was some great fun. Had a lot of fun playing it in Animal Crossing on the Gamecube of all places, and it just added to the joy of that title, and the memories of that time.

Eu achei Baloon Fight incrivelmente bem desenhado e bem executado. Como títulos de arcade costumam ser bem simples, ele abusa da mecânica bem implementada pra oferecer 2 modos de jogo bem robustos.

Survival contra passarinhos que tentam te derrubar, com 3 vidas, survival em um vôo livre desviando de choques elétricos.

Imagino que em 1985 esse era um dos jogos mais divertidos de se jogar com alguém na sala e ainda interessante de jogar contra a IA. Os controles são muito responsivos, e o game feel em cada colisão com outros elementos do cenário são igualmente prazerosos.

Highscore pra todo lado, como era de se esperar, mas um dos títulos de arcade mais divertidos que já joguei no NES.

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

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