My Played Video Games Review: Balloon Fight for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

Balloon Fight is a fun action video game developed by Nintendo in Japan. It was originally an arcade game then which got ported for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and was internationally released in 1986.

I had so much fun playing this game during the late 1980s till the early 1990s with friends. And making bets on who will fall/die first in the game.

The Story

No story for Balloon Fight. You will just have to score points and have fun when you burst enemy balloons and send them into the sea. But beware. These enemies can land safely, blow up another balloon and come back to burst your balloon too!

What's more, if you fly too low you will be eaten by sharks! Challenge enemies alone or team up with a friend. Either way, you'll have fun.

The Graphics and Sound

As one of the early NES games, the visuals are decent. The background is a black night sky with moving, twinkling stars. The levels are always little grass-covered ground platforms that float above the ground.

The enemies are weird bird creatures wearing vintage pilot goggles The player controls an unknown, little guy who is short and fat colored red and blue. The balloons on his back enable him to fly.

The music is nice but damn limited and most of the sound effects you get are bleeps. When your little character is walking along a ground, he makes a clicking noise with his shoes as footsteps. When you come into a level or you die, you have a little short tune playing.

The Gameplay

Like most NES games, the gameplay is very simple and addictive. You take off hovering and play the level by floating onto the enemies' balloons or heads. But beware! If you land on the wrong part of an enemy like sideways, then you'll lose one of your 2 valuable balloons, that makes you fly. Losing both balloons will make you fall to the sea where you drown or eaten by that fearsome shark.

You get more obstacles as you finish levels. You only got three lives so you gotta play with skill. The first 10 levels are a breeze, but the next ones after that are challenging.

There are 3 game modes - Single-player, Two-player, and Balloon trip. In two-player, you play co-operatively where it is fun to play till the last man standing; you try to hit the other player while fighting enemies. Balloon Trip is a side-scrolling adventure where you burst balloons and fly around electrical stars that can kill you while moving to the left. It may look simple, but it is one hell of a challenge.

My Verdict

Balloon Fight is one of the more fun games on the NES library that features a very enjoyable 2 player experience. A solid game that is well worth buying and adding to your gaming collection.

Go play it on the NES or on your favorite NES emulators. Play it with a friend to get the most fun out of it. You will not be disappointed.

Let's keep on gaming in the free world!