Balloon Fight

The gameplay is just NOT fun, or at least it is not for the main game mode. In that mode, you try to pop everyone else's balloons before they pop yours while you fly with extremely floaty controls and experience auditory torture. It's fine at first but after a while it gets really stale and no amount of bonus stages to pop actual balloons with the best music track of the game playing in the background will alleviate that. I honestly get more enjoyment out of the side mode Balloon Trip, an endless runner mode where you use the flight mechanics to dodge until you die, with the aim to go as far as possible. It's not that much more fun though I do not really enjoy how slippery the controls feel even if it's clear that it's designed to be that way. Overall, quite disappointing considering this was apparently one of the better early NES games according to the consensus.

Balloon Fight is Nintendo at its peak when it comes to a mindless, fun arcade like game. A simple take on Joust but with more lively sprites, the game sees you as a balloon man floating his way through the sky attempting to pop the balloons of rival flightless birds (cruel flex btw) while attempting to avoid both their beaks as well as various hazards that pose a threat to your balloons. The game certainly gets the floaty part of balloon sky combat right, (as wacky and unrealistic as that sounds) with your character feeling very buoyant, which can definitely add to the tricky nature of controlling him as you float towards the center of the screen and into oncoming danger. Certainly an addicting game that still holds its charm.

I’ve never enjoyed the any aspect of this game the 1-Player mode gets stale fast; the 2-Player is frustrating and there’s just better couch games to be playing; and balloon flight is the best of the 3 modes but still nothing special.

What is special is the sprite work and music, I seriously love just flying around And watching the environment and the way your guy and the enemies walk around and pump up there balloons, this and has a bit of charm which always make me wish I loved the game play more.

Its a couch experience foremost, but it can also be played as single player. You get a single screen arena, and most defeat all other enemies on screen. Both you and your enemies have ballons tied to your character that allow you to fly, but unfortunatly they can be blown up by collisions with someone higher than you. This is a very simple concept, and the game works pretty well in this regard. Unfortunatly, the mechanics are so simple that i find it hard to get interested by it after 5 minutes, it gets boring that quick. It is the sort of game that is at its best when playing for a short amount of time and with friends.