I love Balloon Kid.

If you’re anything like me and ever played Balloon Fight for the NES, you probably spent more time in Balloon Trip mode than Balloon Fight proper. That’s not to say that modes A and B were not great experiences in their own right (especially so in multi-player), but there is something about the panicked navigation between those tiny electrodes, hurtling through that labyrinthine maze of violent death while flapping to your arms like a mad man in the hope of exceeding your high score that left a lasting impression.

Balloon Kid seems to be the only true attempt by Nintendo to expand upon the foundation laid by its oft-recreated predecessor. It plays a bit like a compromise between the two modes present in Balloon Fight. The screen unceasingly auto-scrolls to the left and you’ll find yourself having to dodge electrodes and other death traps (especially in the later levels); capitalizing on the Balloon Trip’s changes to the original formula. The game also includes elements from modes A and B of the original Balloon Fight; there are now actual stretches of land and platforms which give you precious time to feverishly inflate your balloons before the edge of the screen threatens to push you into a burning fire or the mouth of the infamous monster fish; who no doubt scarred many young children for life in the original Balloon Fight. Even the beaked enemies from Balloon Fight make appearances later in the game.

It returns.

The result is a game that takes the best parts (there’s even a Balloon Trip mode for the purists) of the original game’s disparate modes and mixes them together to create something that far exceeds the first. This is the essence of a great sequel, able to build and expand upon what made the original great while adding some new elements to the mix. These new elements borrow from the more structured experience provided by games that followed after Super Mario Bros hit it big, featuring distinct environments for each level, boss battles at the end of each world and a finite ending to the adventure to strive for. Additonally, you are also able to detach the balloons at any time with a press of the B button, which allows you to avoid oncoming danger, fit through narrow passageways and drop your weight on the game’s 4 bosses.

The simplicity of the mechanics belies the title’s challenge, which ramps up considerably as stricter and stricter timing punishes the player. The mantra of “easy to play, difficult to master” echoes throughout Balloon Kid. The later levels of the game are difficult and like many early NES and Gameboy games, you only have a finite amount of lives in which to complete the entire game. However, considering how enjoyable the game is and it’s modest length, I found myself happily replaying the stages until I sharpened my skill enough to finally take down that damnable trash can at the end and see one of the strangest endings you’re liable to find in a Nintendo title. Seriously, what the Hell.

As the title attests to, Balloon Kid doesn’t just differentiate itself from Balloon Fight through it’s mechanics. The presentation of the game is completely revamped and now features a simple story about a girl named Alice who mounts a one-man rescue of her brother Jim, who is carried away on balloons in the introduction. This doesn’t really explain why one stage takes place entirely in the stomach of a whale or why the final boss is an evil robotic trash can, but after playing so many games you just accept (and enjoy) these things.

Likewise, Ballon Kid also offers a visual and musical revamp to Ballon Fight. The first level, with its grade-school lunchbox aesthetic (complete with pencil and eraser skyscrapers in the distance), creates the sort of atmosphere which induces a soft and fuzzy nostalgia even for those who never had the joy of experiencing this game in their childhood. This experience is in no small part due to the hauntingly catchy, perhaps even a bit sad, background audio. The premise is silly, but the audio creates a grand impression of a young child being swept away unto a grand journey.

Balloon Kid – Stage 1 Music

I wasn’t too young when I first discovered Balloon Kid, which was actually in the form of the Japanese-only Famicom release Hello Kitty World. My brother and I were stunned to find ourselves so absorbed in a game we basically had downloaded for our little sister. I later learned exactly why what by all accounts should have been yet another trash licensed game was so surprisingly fun. Balloon Kid (and Hello Kitty World by extension) was actually developed by Nintendo’s brilliant R&D1 studio (with assistance from a somewhat unknown company known as Pax Softnica), run by the late Gunpei Yokoi, the visionary father of the Game Boy. The director of the project was Yoshio Sakamoto, probably best known as director of many an excellent Metroid title. It’s little wonder that the resulting game, despite the graphical makeover, would remain a shining example of quality workmanship. I found out later that this excellent game had actually been commercially available in the West for sometime, but in a different form.

Balloon Kid certainly has an odd release history. The original Game Boy version, despite it’s Japanese origins, was released only in North America in October 1990. For whatever reason, the Japanese would not receive the game in it’s original form, but were instead treated to the aforementioned March 1992 Famicom port in the form of Hello Kitty World. A full 8 years later, riding on the great success of the Game Boy Color, Nintendo released a Japanese-only version of Balloon Kid (retitled Balloon Fight GB) for the GBC in 2000. This version featured color graphics, a save system and a world map among it’s cosmetic tweaks. You can view a screenshot comparison in the addendum.

NA Game Boy 1990

So which of these is the best version? The game has so little Japanese text that even those not familiar with the language should have no trouble with any version of the game. The grays, whites and blacks of Balloon Kid are as the title was originally envisioned (as far as we know), so I recommend that route for purists. It is also the easiest to obtain for those wanting to play on the actual hardware (also works on the Super Game Boy of course).

Hello Kitty World features a very pleasing and soft graphical style (not to mention color) and more of the environment is visible on-screen; which makes the world seem somewhat more vast. Hirokazu Tanaka’s classic soundtrack is also arguably best enjoyed through the Famicom’s sound chip. However, some of the nods to Balloon Kid’s pedigree were obfuscated in the porting process; you no longer enter the bonus stages through a large Game Boy and tunes from Balloon Fight are replaced with original riffs. You will also need some way to play Famicom games if you want to enjoy it on actual hardware. The game itself is also currently a tad pricey on the usual sites.

JP Famicom 1992

Balloon Fight GB has some interesting new features, but nothing which substantially improves the package. The save feature makes the game easier, but considering how short the original title was, it doesn’t really add much. Seeing the original game filtered through the GBC’s more robust color palette is interesting, but the colorization job lacks the soft hues and bold black outlines that make the Hello Kitty World version look so warm and inviting. The colors seem more rich and detailed, which some may prefer, so it largely boils down to personal preference. Nonetheless, it’s a great novelty to own if you’re a fan of the original GB Balloon Kid, and it has the upside of not, y’know… having a Hello Kitty license. The world map is also useful if one wishes to replay a particular stage without beginning the game anew. Naturally, it’s comparatively more difficult to find than its North American counterpart.

JP Game Boy Color 2000

Regardless of what version you choose to play, you will experience one of the most under-rated Nintendo games ever created. While the original Balloon Fight has reappeared in different forms numerous times throughout Nintendo’s history, Balloon Kid seems to have been mostly ignored. Just about the only place I can think of is in the “Chronicle” mode of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is basically duty-bound to list every game Nintendo has ever published anyway. Indeed, there’s not even a sticker! Still, despite its status in Nintendo’s pantheon of memorable franchises, Balloon Kid will never stop being a fantastic game, and that’s all it really needs to be a game I <3.

For more media and information about the game, please read the addendum to this article.

Addendum:

• Here’s an unscientific comparison of the three versions of Balloon Kid (click on it if seems to be cut off on your display):

Perhaps in the future I’ll do a more thorough analysis. There may be many more differences between the versions than I mention in the article; I’ve played substantial portions of each version, but only Balloon Kid in its entirety. A few are mentioned in the interview linked below. The screen captures also suffer a bit from YouTube compression. It’s also unlikely that Hello Kitty World would be played on a screen smaller than Balloon Kid or Balloon Fight GB would, so adjust the size of the rightmost screenshot in your mind accordingly.

• There’s not much in the way of Balloon Fight fan productions, but I did find this rock remix of the Stage 1 theme by a band named “Sprite Slowdown“.  You may want to adjust your volume as the track has a drastic increase in volume near the start:
  Sprite Slowdown – Balloon Kid
  
• Nintendo of Japan has a webpage for Balloon Fight GB. There’s some nifty artwork of the monsters and a better shot of the art on the game’s box (which may have been created specifically for the re-release?).
• An interview about Balloon Fight GB from the aforementioned webpage. Translated by Anthony Calderon of N-Sider.
• Someone inexplicably did a vector of the game’s logo.
• If anyone has access to manuals (whether physical or digital) for either of the three games, I would love to see some artwork or read the story/character/enemy descriptions. I’d be happy to share them on the site as well if anyone would be willing to scan or transcribe the good bits.
• There may be more information/artwork in contemporary issues of Nintendo Power or Japanese video game publications. If you can find any, do let me know!

But perhaps a more abstract and popular example of this sort of “deconstruction of fun” is ICO for the PS2. I’ve run across numerous articles that aim to describe in as much detail as possible why it is such a special game. The mechanic of escorting Yorda through the labyrinthine structure of the castle creates a bond between the player and their dependent, ethereal partner. The way the camera swivels on a pivot to keep an eerily human gaze on Ico at all times, failing to keep centered when he quickly falls down a great height. The way Ico’s awkward jumps and swings grant him a sense of weakness that heightens the tension and sense of weakness in critical moments. It’s nearly-nonexistent user interface, etc.

Really though, when I first played through the game those years ago, I was struck by the game’s simple beauty and was compelled to explore. It was only after I had read others attempts to describe the game and chose to give a presentation on what ICO did differently from other games as a college project (which necessitated description and exposition) that I sat down and thought about what, maybe, were the elements that came together to produce that experience. A “good game” can be good in an almost undefinable way. It resonates on a level deeper than that of exact descriptive language. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons why “good” directors can end up making bad games. Fun isn’t a science.

Conversely, when a game is bad (or rather, disliked), my experience has been that people are able to articulate these emotions with an almost resounding clarity. Something about the hits and impacts in Street Fighter III just feels right to me, but I know that Guilty Gear X is simply too stiffly animated and the characters too outlandishly designed for me to really enjoy on the same level.

Sometimes, man, you just gotta feel it.

A brief outline of my team:

1. Lugia – Level 60 (caught, but not really raised in any significant way)
2. Typhlosion – Level 53 (my starter, named “StarmanDLX” in honor of EarthBound and my Bulbasaur in Pokemon Blue)
3. Suicune – Level 51
4. Gengar – Level 50
5. Farfetch’d – Level 44 (seemingly useless in battle, training him to learn False Swipe)
6. Voltorb – Level 18 (just to use Flash)

I think I flipped a wig when I saw that the final boss’ first Pokemon was a LEVEL  EIGHTY-FLIPPIN’-ONE Pikachu, my highest level Pokemon being at 60 and 53 following that, I knew things weren’t going to be easy.

So I squeak by the boss’ Pikachu, Blastoise and Espeon and then he suddenly decides to send out the bane of my existence: SNORLAX. This level 75 powerhouse forces me into a depressing battle of attrition, wherein I nearly exhaust my entire supply of potions and revives. The Snorlax uses Amnesia to boost his Special Defense up to obscene levels so none of my elemental attacks do any damage beyond a pixel or so of health (my Lugia’s Hydropump became worthless WITH Rain Dance). Every time I make a slight dent into Snorlax’s massive armor he uses Rest to spite me. His Body Slam move, considering the differences in levels between Pokemon, was absolutely devastating. After around 30 or so  minutes of trying unsuccessfully to whittle away this monstrosity’s HP and having my best Pokemon faint and revive multiple times, Snorlax seemingly uses all the PP for Body Slam. At this point, he begins using Snore to KILL MY POKEMON WHILE HE SLEEPS AND REGENERATES HIS HEALTH

So I don’t know what to do, Snore is a weak move but my Pokemon are paltry in level and their attacks do barely any damage. I can just see myself blacking out and waking up at the last Pokemon Center, my head hanging in shame as I realize how ineffectual of a Pokemon Master I really am. I’m like Ash in the Pokemon Movie when he turns into a rock, only I don’t have a Pikachu in my party to revive me with its tears. Instead I shall remain as a pitiful statue lying amidst the rubble spread about the feet of the final boss for an eternity, reminding untold generations to come of my failure. They will write songs about my failure, like Guy Fawkes.

So I get desperate, none of the Pokemon I’m using are doing any good. I figure anything is worth a shot at this point, so I send out my weakling level 44 Farfetch’d to confront this level 75 colossus. I think I heard Snorlax laughing through the speakers of my TV. I didn’t even know the game could do that, but whatever. Every time this beast uses Snore, Farfetch’d enters critically dangerous HP territory. I’m talking red color, beeping noises, the works. I use Hyper Potions like shock therapy to snap the poor bird back into consciousness after every near-death experience. I can practically hear PETA knocking on my door.

It works.

With every lapse in attack, Snorlax uses Rest to regain his health. I use this moment to have Farfetch’d perform Swords Dance, greatly raising his attack power (or so the pixelated text informs me). This goes on for at least 12 turns, eventually I am unable raise my attack power any further. Next time Snorlax uses Rest, it’s time to put this theory to the test.

I use Slash. His HP crawls beyond the half-way point, well into the yellow “caution” area. Swords Dance has infused Farfetch’d with Super Saiyan levels of strength. He has ascended to the next level of consciousness, mere mortals dare not provoke his mighty duck-billed wrath. The single stalk of leek he carries with him transforms into a cane of divine jurisprudence. With it he dispenses justices against the cowards and sinners who dare cast Snore in the midst of Pokebattle.

Another Slash. He’s dead.

From this point on, nothing can stand in my way. Venusaur? Charizard? Just who the hell do you think I am?! They are nothing to me. I crush them with the fists of a million burning north stars. As the battle ends, the trainer stands before me in utter shock. The customary post-battle formalities are through, the only words that escape his mouth are “…”. That’s right, just don’t say anything. It’ll be easier that way.

I am a Pokemon Master.

Or your money back!

Should I falter in this endeavor, feel free to pinch me or something.

But not too hard.

Actually, let’s just forget this whole pinching business.

But now as I think about it, it amazes me that games like Majora’s Mask, Pokemon G/S/C, are in this category along with Twilight Princess and Diamond/Pearl. Call of Duty and Modern Warfare 2. etc.

It’s kinda amazing thinking back but at the same time mildly depressing, as it always is when feeling nostalgic.

I may say that many of my favorite games are on the SNES, but in reality, I was a 2000′s kid.
The following are the games I associate most with this era.
They are in Chronological order, to the best of my memory, that is.
My Top 25 games of the 2000′s; I would not hesitate to replay these. Some of them I still do/am.

Kirby and the Crystal Shards
Paper Mario
Pokemon Gold
Majora’s Mask
Hey You Pikachu
SSBM
Luigi’s Mansion
WindWaker
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Super Mario Advance
A Link to the Past/Four Swords
Battlefield 1942
Call of Duty
Advance Wars 2
Halo (System Link)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Mario Party 4
007 Nightfire
Wario Ware Touched
Phoenix Wright
Civilization 4
Animal Crossing
Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga
MGS 3

After a certain point games just didn’t impact me as they once did. The last game on the list I would consider the cutoff as to when this occurred. Mother 3 is an exception but I felt it to recent to add to this list.
I will miss thee, 200X

The Nintendo Community Fangame Convention (NCFC) is an online amateur game convention. Game creators from various websites gather in a temporary community to share their games, discuss game design, and interface with other game making communities.

Kind of like SAGE, but Nintendo themed! I decided to work on Mario’s Time Machine DX and submit it but school and work and friends prevented me from working on it at all.
Booths linked off-site from NCFC, So I redid the FanGames pages a bit and added a new demo for SMRPG LotFP, as well as a video showing off Mario’s Time Machine DX. Enjoy!

Trumpets and horns; orchestrated music, along with a completely different Opening theme. When I first saw it in Mexico the music was foreign to me. Fast forward to today. The DBZ Season Boxsets come with the original japanese audio, original english audio, and then the original english audio with the Japanese music. As much as I hate to admit it, I tended to be one of those purists who has to hear it in it’s original form. But girly sounding Goku does not appeal to my friends who remember a manly sounding Goku from childhood, so I now listen to English VA preferably with the Japanese OST. There too lies a problem with my friends: The show loses it’s epic-ness that it had when they watched it. One friend I recall calling it DBZ mixed with Scooby-Doo.

Vegeta Vs Goku (JAP)

The American episode that contains what I hope is the American Substitute.

And my personal favorite comparison, Goku killing Buu.

The American Version lacks the feeling of ultimate triumph IMO. (6:18)

My Opinion: My purist mindset makes me prefer the Japanese OST, simply because It gives more emotion into the scenes. Situations can feel hopeless with depressing or eerie music, where as victory scenes can feel more triumphant and joyful. American DBZ, on the other hand feels more like an emotionless fast paced display of violence. Sure it felt epic back in the day, and the word “epic” suits it I guess. I mean, weren’t the ancient ‘epic heroes’ emotionless and cold?

Ever since I stumbled upon his 1989 film, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, on television many years ago, Hayao Miyazaki has been a favorite director of mine. At the time I didn’t really understand what it was or where it came from, but I did recognize that what I was seeing was something truly extraordinary. Gorgeous animation with a peaceful, charming setting whose thoughtful serenity poised itself as a stark contrast to anything I had ever seen in an animated movie before. Now Disney has brought over Miyazaki’s latest film, “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” (or just “Ponyo”), for Western audiences to enjoy.

The titular character of Ponyo is a curiously human-headed goldfish, whom after straying from her seemingly human father’s undersea hideout meets a small boy named Sosuke who places her in a bucket of water and slowly wins her friendship while introducing her to life on the surface. Without giving away too much, a series of events causes Ponyo to begin to yearn to be human and sets in motion some funky disturbances that could upset the delicate balance of nature. Along the way we meet Sosuke’s mother, Lisa, whose independent spirit seems to provide the film with it’s requisite strong-headed female Miyazaki character. Her strained relationship with Sosuke’s oft-absent father seems to be a conscious reflection of Miyazaki’s own family life (Sosuke being based on Miyazaki’s own son) in which he would would often not be home while he worked night-and-day on his films.

The most striking aspect of Ponyo is that it is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. For a studio so well known for the richness of it’s animation, it’s amazing to see that even now the wonderful imagery produced by Studio Ghibli still has the capacity to captivate and mesmerize. Even days after the viewing, scenes of Ponyo running atop ever-swelling waves (and I say that literally) of fish or sprouting frog-like appendages remain etched into my mind.

This visual splendor seems to be enhanced, somewhat unexpectedly, by a simplification of the art in comparison to what one usually expects from Miyazaki’s animation. The extremely detailed backgrounds have been replaced by a more impressionistic style, more closely invoking child-like crayon drawings. This doesn’t reduce the breath-taking effect of the film’s backgrounds, and indeed, my favorite scenery in the film was of Ponyo’s father’s claustrophobic hideout with an assortment of magical potions and gadgets strewn about. The character animation itself has also been given an overhaul, with a reduced emphasis on shading and broader outlines, adding to the effect. The overall look has a warmth to it which the more detailed of Miyazaki’s films lack.

These visuals provide the beginning of the film with an amazing sense of discovery, as we are slowly introduced to the magical underwater world of Ponyo and to Sosuke’s life on the surface. Simply seeing the world unfold before my eyes and trying to put it together in my head while these amazing things were happening on screen made this the most enjoyable portion of the movie to me. Ponyo certainly begins with a bang. The pace slows down somewhat later in the film when Sosuke and Ponyo set out on an adventure of their own. While this portion of the movie is meant to be more laid-back and contemplative, I missed the more exciting pace of the former part of the film. I thought the ending itself is infused with a sense of deus ex machina, though not quite as jarring as in “Howl’s Moving Castle”.

For it’s theatrical release, Disney is presenting Ponyo with an English dub. While I usually find myself preferring the original language for whatever movie I see, I was really impressed with the voicework on display for “Ponyo”. While nuances are inevitably lost in translation, it was good to see a large studio like Disney embracing the origins of the film by preserving Japanese honorifics in the dub. One of my pet peeves in animation is when obviously adult voice actors are hired to do voices for children, so I was also happy to see actual child actors utilized for the parts of Sosuke and Ponyo. Most importantly, however, Liam Neeson is awesome as Fujimoto. It was a shame not to see him on-screen more often, as his strange mannerisms made him my favorite character in the whole film and Neeson’s commanding voice made him all the more enjoyable to observe.

Though it lags somewhat towards the end, there is enough charm, splendor and beauty in Ponyo to more than justify a viewing and I recommend it wholeheartedly. It is a great film for children, families and people who just love wonderful animation.