I'd call myself a mild BALLOON FIGHT fan, so this game's existence feels like something of a gift. "Balloon Trip" mode, but a full game? With enemies and bosses and platforming and worlds and everything? And it actually works pretty well? Wow!
The Game Boy being the chosen platform for this is both fitting and a bit of an albatross. The entire game, just by its nature, is an autoscroller, and that means it's gonna need to be something engaged with in small chunks (to keep from going insane). Perfect for a short, punchy GB game. But in turn, this means small playfield and lower resolution, both of which greatly impact the obstacle design and your ability to navigate. Not to mention the physics of the floating - not able to be nearly as tight as on NES, it seems, and that's kind of the whole deal of the game, so.
But none of these drawbacks are fatal. It's designed well enough to mostly overlook and/or deal with them, and that's made even easier with a big dose of Nintendo R&D1 charm and an outstanding soundtrack by Tha God Hip Tanaka that's all spun off from the original NES game's main song.
Difficulty gets a little intense in the back half and requires some mild trial-and-error/leaps of faith/memorization to get through, but it's doable. It's some overlooked classic-era Nintendo! If you liked BALLOON FIGHT, it's worth a spin.
The Game Boy being the chosen platform for this is both fitting and a bit of an albatross. The entire game, just by its nature, is an autoscroller, and that means it's gonna need to be something engaged with in small chunks (to keep from going insane). Perfect for a short, punchy GB game. But in turn, this means small playfield and lower resolution, both of which greatly impact the obstacle design and your ability to navigate. Not to mention the physics of the floating - not able to be nearly as tight as on NES, it seems, and that's kind of the whole deal of the game, so.
But none of these drawbacks are fatal. It's designed well enough to mostly overlook and/or deal with them, and that's made even easier with a big dose of Nintendo R&D1 charm and an outstanding soundtrack by Tha God Hip Tanaka that's all spun off from the original NES game's main song.
Difficulty gets a little intense in the back half and requires some mild trial-and-error/leaps of faith/memorization to get through, but it's doable. It's some overlooked classic-era Nintendo! If you liked BALLOON FIGHT, it's worth a spin.