I find Balloon Fight to be a massively underrated game. I missed it during my childhood (the NES was my first console), but when it was released as an Ambassador game on 3DS I finally got to give it a spin. It pretty much clicked with me right away and helped influence my growing taste in high-score chasing games. Balloon Trip Breeze was a brilliant remake of the Balloon Trip mode, too. It would work very well as a tablet game!
I’m so sad I never truly appreciated Mr. Iwata until he was gone. I enjoy your Works series very much, Jeremy-I’m glad someone like you is out there trying to make sure the people who made these great (and even not-so-great) games get some kind of recognition.
Got a nes late, in 1988 (well sorta late) and Balloon fight is i believe the only black box series game i rented more than once. 3 or 4 times for sure. It was just fun to play with my brother.
Hands down my favourite NES game. Even in 2021 I still pick it up for a quick high-score attempt at least a couple times a week. When you really get the hang of its control, its movement is sublime.
It was fun watching Game Center CX with Iwata and Arino trying to get the balloons to change colors by collecting the balloons without any of them passing you in Balloon Fight. Tried it myself and it's honestly really hard but really enjoyable too.
I remember that. That's when he revealed the fish actually travels back ad forth behind the water background where you can't see it at the bottom of the screen and it will only grab you if you happen to pass by it as it scrolls.
Ive been waiting a long time for this episode. Balloon Fight,Excite Bike and obviously Super Mario Bros were my favourite black box games as a kid even now, as a adult, i still enjoy the occasional blast on Balloon Fight. Defiantly an all time classic.
My first ever experience with Balloon Fight was as a ROM in Animal Crossing on the GameCube, a good 25 years after it was first released. But man, what an amazing, fun game.
I enjoyed this video! It was great to hear the history behind this game. Nintendo is always free in my mind to make derivative games simply because they often set the quality bar really high. For instance, the way they took the modern open world game and created something magical with Breath of the Wild. I really miss Iwata...
Great episode! Really learned a lot, had no idea there was an Arcade version! I was hoping the great Nintendo Land version of Balloon Trip would get mentioned here, but no worries. :)
I've always loved Balloon Trip's soundtrack. But how does Balloon Trip actually end? I had found a youtube video sometime back that runs about 45 mins- but that player just ended his own game by hitting something-- so how far does the Trip ACTUALLY go? Infinitely? I think not.
If you reach the maximum score and choose to keep going, the score will overflow and go back to zero. That’s why they will intentionally end their game after awhile. As far as I know, there’s no ending.
I LOVE Balloon Trip. Still play it now and then. I'm actually playing Gumshoe for the first time and I can't believe how fun, innovative and HARD that game is. Great gem.
NES Classic my first exposure to this. I actually think it has the finest non-SMB black box sprites of the lot. Nice frantic yet subtle gameplay balance. The obstacle course option is quite addicting too.
Balloon Fight goes to show that not every game needs a story to work. It doesn't even have a single-screen story explanation like games such as Arkanoid do and I just reread the manual to confirm there isn't even one in there. Why are you balloon fighting? Because it's fun, no other reason.
Great stuff. Yeah, the balloon trip music is fantastic. I love all that reggae flavor from this to Wrecking Crew, etc... so which character was your wife in the video? Lol
Balloon Kid is still closer to my heart, having a proper adventure mode rather than being mere endless arcade fun. But I do acknowledge that this game has the superior controls and can be a blast in 2-player.
5:40 Why do you keep saying "CMOS"? The company was "MOS Technology". This review was a bit disappointing. Didn't really speak a lot about the dynamics of play. I know it's simple, but many of the other episodes delved into more detail about how it feels, and I played this just last week.
I get that, but I felt that the context wasn't well applied here compared to many of the other ones. It was focused too heavily on the technical side without really explaining the application aside from, "Better than Joust".
Yeah. I'm not in the business of making comprehensive, end-all/be-all coverage. My writing and editing process for every single episode involves making deliberate choices about what to focus on in the space of a 7-10 minute video. When a game's most noteworthy feature is its mechanical innovation, that's what I focus on. In this case, I deemed it more important to explore the Joust connection, and the history behind/influence of this game, rather than getting sidetracked by exhaustive detail about the minor differences between the two games.
Fair enough, I'm not trying to tear down your approach. My comment was just to say I didn't think it was as strong as your prior efforts and to provide some reasoning. The reason I came across this series was largely in the historical interest, I see you comment on Jimmy Maher's blog, so I get what your angle is. Also why most of my other comments on your videos have been about correction because I'm pretty entrenched in the historical examination myself.
The only reason this might be relevant is for its historical significance: MOS Technologies was a Pennsylvania-based company; CMOS is a general term referring to the method of organizing transistors inside ICs. A little Google-fu on a viewer's part, however, will set the record straight for those who are curious. Jeremy also references Nathan Altice's book, _I am Error_ , which has plenty of background technical detail. Something that few people mention, though, is that the former MOS Technologies location is an EPA Superfund site. So there's some fairly sad environmental history underlying the NES/Commodore. An errata/footnotes section might be appropriate for details like this one.
When Balloon Fight came out, I was still a child, and I remember that by my third or fourth play, I could make a game last forever -- which wasn't any fun. Balloon Fight is way too easy and so repetitive. (Joust, meanwhile, remains thrilling in 2017 -- and the levels are constantly changing as the enemy mix changes; the three types of enemy characters behave in different ways.) I wouldn't call this "one of the "good" knockoffs (like Arkanoid vs. Breakout, or Galaxian vs. Space Invaders, or Crazy Otto vs. Pac-Man). To be one of the good ones, you have to improve on the game you're stealing from, and Balloon Fight is worse than Joust by pretty much every measure.
Matt people can have different opinions then you, plus he said "arguably." Frankly, I prefer Balloon Fight. The levels are more varied, the gravity is better, the music is good, it's not as hard, but still challenging, and the extra "Balloon Trip" mode is a fun challenging game on it's own. (I doubt you could play Balloon Trip forever, and easily get Rank 1.) Also, I played "Joust" first, so "nostalgia" has nothing to do with my opinions.
I find Balloon Fight to be a massively underrated game. I missed it during my childhood (the NES was my first console), but when it was released as an Ambassador game on 3DS I finally got to give it a spin. It pretty much clicked with me right away and helped influence my growing taste in high-score chasing games.
Balloon Trip Breeze was a brilliant remake of the Balloon Trip mode, too. It would work very well as a tablet game!
Same for me. I grew up with an NES, but only got Balloon Fight as an Ambassador for the 3DS. I fell in love with it, it's a lot of fun
I just realised that the balloons in mario kart's battle mode are a riff on this
I’m so sad I never truly appreciated Mr. Iwata until he was gone. I enjoy your Works series very much, Jeremy-I’m glad someone like you is out there trying to make sure the people who made these great (and even not-so-great) games get some kind of recognition.
I feel the same. I never knew about his history as a programmer and game designer until he passed.
Got a nes late, in 1988 (well sorta late) and Balloon fight is i believe the only black box series game i rented more than once. 3 or 4 times for sure. It was just fun to play with my brother.
Hands down my favourite NES game. Even in 2021 I still pick it up for a quick high-score attempt at least a couple times a week. When you really get the hang of its control, its movement is sublime.
Thank you for not cutting it off before reaching Rank-01.
I died about 3 seconds after the clip ends :(
I always wished Balloon Fight spawned a larger franchise.
+Raven ehh, not really though. You'd best be off with Nintendo Land's Balloon Trip mini game.
Me too! Seems like it would have made for a great gamecube-era entry
"Balloon Kid" a great sequel for Gameboy kinda showed it had potential as a platformer.
It was fun watching Game Center CX with Iwata and Arino trying to get the balloons to change colors by collecting the balloons without any of them passing you in Balloon Fight. Tried it myself and it's honestly really hard but really enjoyable too.
I remember that. That's when he revealed the fish actually travels back ad forth behind the water background where you can't see it at the bottom of the screen and it will only grab you if you happen to pass by it as it scrolls.
Ive been waiting a long time for this episode. Balloon Fight,Excite Bike and obviously Super Mario Bros were my favourite black box games as a kid even now, as a adult, i still enjoy the occasional blast on Balloon Fight. Defiantly an all time classic.
My first ever experience with Balloon Fight was as a ROM in Animal Crossing on the GameCube, a good 25 years after it was first released. But man, what an amazing, fun game.
This could have been just a derivative joust clone but man did this game had charm. Probably one of my favorites from the early black box days.
I enjoyed this video! It was great to hear the history behind this game. Nintendo is always free in my mind to make derivative games simply because they often set the quality bar really high. For instance, the way they took the modern open world game and created something magical with Breath of the Wild.
I really miss Iwata...
Thank you, Satoru Iwata.
This game along with other gems that you have created will forever be cherished.
I always thought the red guy was Lode Runner's guy and I loved that "link" and that the music was similar to Wrecking Crew
Never did play Balloon Fight, and now I'm glad for it. I absolutely _suck_ at Joust.
Anyone else find themselves going to the music section of Zophar's Domain almost immediately after each Jeremy Parish video?
No, but only because I forgot Zophar's Domain existed until I saw this comment.
Great episode! Really learned a lot, had no idea there was an Arcade version! I was hoping the great Nintendo Land version of Balloon Trip would get mentioned here, but no worries. :)
I've always loved Balloon Trip's soundtrack.
But how does Balloon Trip actually end? I had found a youtube video sometime back that runs about 45 mins- but that player just ended his own game by hitting something-- so how far does the Trip ACTUALLY go? Infinitely? I think not.
If you reach the maximum score and choose to keep going, the score will overflow and go back to zero. That’s why they will intentionally end their game after awhile. As far as I know, there’s no ending.
@@unnamedtoaster wow!
I LOVE Balloon Trip. Still play it now and then.
I'm actually playing Gumshoe for the first time and I can't believe how fun, innovative and HARD that game is. Great gem.
I don't know which I'd rather have... a winning powerball ticket, or a nickel for each time I got punched by my friend while playing this
I play balloon fight all the time when I was a kid and it's still good and I still remember to this day.😀👍🎮
NES Classic my first exposure to this. I actually think it has the finest non-SMB black box sprites of the lot. Nice frantic yet subtle gameplay balance. The obstacle course option is quite addicting too.
I am shocked they never made a motion controlled Balloon Fight for the Wii
Balloon Fight goes to show that not every game needs a story to work. It doesn't even have a single-screen story explanation like games such as Arkanoid do and I just reread the manual to confirm there isn't even one in there. Why are you balloon fighting? Because it's fun, no other reason.
I LOVED this growing up in the 80s! But it was more fun trying to pop my siblings balloons in the game
i love this game
Great stuff. Yeah, the balloon trip music is fantastic. I love all that reggae flavor from this to Wrecking Crew, etc... so which character was your wife in the video? Lol
Balloon fight is one of my favorite NES games even though it's an obvious rip off of Joust, but both Joust and Balloon fight are fun in their own way
Balloon Kid is still closer to my heart, having a proper adventure mode rather than being mere endless arcade fun. But I do acknowledge that this game has the superior controls and can be a blast in 2-player.
I had a friend named Allen who had this game.
Thank you for the awesome video as usual. I didn't like Balloon Fight (as I didn't like Joust either), but it made me want to give it another go.
We NEED the Balloon Fight movie in 2025!
Playtest is Balloon Figth 99 mark my words
BALLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!
Good artists copy, great artists steal.
5:40 Why do you keep saying "CMOS"? The company was "MOS Technology".
This review was a bit disappointing. Didn't really speak a lot about the dynamics of play. I know it's simple, but many of the other episodes delved into more detail about how it feels, and I played this just last week.
These are not reviews, they're retrospectives, and I'm more concerned with circumstances and historic context than mechanical breakdowns.
I get that, but I felt that the context wasn't well applied here compared to many of the other ones. It was focused too heavily on the technical side without really explaining the application aside from, "Better than Joust".
Yeah. I'm not in the business of making comprehensive, end-all/be-all coverage. My writing and editing process for every single episode involves making deliberate choices about what to focus on in the space of a 7-10 minute video. When a game's most noteworthy feature is its mechanical innovation, that's what I focus on. In this case, I deemed it more important to explore the Joust connection, and the history behind/influence of this game, rather than getting sidetracked by exhaustive detail about the minor differences between the two games.
Fair enough, I'm not trying to tear down your approach. My comment was just to say I didn't think it was as strong as your prior efforts and to provide some reasoning.
The reason I came across this series was largely in the historical interest, I see you comment on Jimmy Maher's blog, so I get what your angle is. Also why most of my other comments on your videos have been about correction because I'm pretty entrenched in the historical examination myself.
The only reason this might be relevant is for its historical significance: MOS Technologies was a Pennsylvania-based company; CMOS is a general term referring to the method of organizing transistors inside ICs. A little Google-fu on a viewer's part, however, will set the record straight for those who are curious. Jeremy also references Nathan Altice's book, _I am Error_ , which has plenty of background technical detail. Something that few people mention, though, is that the former MOS Technologies location is an EPA Superfund site. So there's some fairly sad environmental history underlying the NES/Commodore. An errata/footnotes section might be appropriate for details like this one.
Not wotth 40 UK Pounds Sterling
When Balloon Fight came out, I was still a child, and I remember that by my third or fourth play, I could make a game last forever -- which wasn't any fun. Balloon Fight is way too easy and so repetitive. (Joust, meanwhile, remains thrilling in 2017 -- and the levels are constantly changing as the enemy mix changes; the three types of enemy characters behave in different ways.) I wouldn't call this "one of the "good" knockoffs (like Arkanoid vs. Breakout, or Galaxian vs. Space Invaders, or Crazy Otto vs. Pac-Man). To be one of the good ones, you have to improve on the game you're stealing from, and Balloon Fight is worse than Joust by pretty much every measure.
(The history in this video is fascinating, though -- especially the stuff about the relationship between Balloon Fight and SMB.)
"Arguably surpasses" Joust -- arrrgh! That's insane. It's like claiming that Fatal Fury "arguably surpasses" Street Fighter II.
Matt people can have different opinions then you, plus he said "arguably." Frankly, I prefer Balloon Fight. The levels are more varied, the gravity is better, the music is good, it's not as hard, but still challenging, and the extra "Balloon Trip" mode is a fun challenging game on it's own. (I doubt you could play Balloon Trip forever, and easily get Rank 1.)
Also, I played "Joust" first, so "nostalgia" has nothing to do with my opinions.