+-------------------+ * 00 | Balloon Fight-e | * o\< +-------------------+ ~~~~^~~~~~~~~ A FAQ/Walkthrough for the classic NES game now on the Game Boy Advance e-Reader Written by: Iguanoman (Version 1.0 10/5/02) Game Copyright 1981-2000 Nintendo CONTENTS: 1. Legal Stuff 2. Version History 3. What is Balloon Fight-e? 4. What is the e-Reader? 5. Controls 6. Obstacles 7. Game A Walkthrough 8. Game B Info 9. FAQ 10. Closing ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Legal Stuff ------------------------------------------------------------ This FAQ for Balloon Fight-e was written by the person under the persona of Iguanoman, whose e-mail address is iguanoman003@yahoo.com. Send all questions, comments, ideas, corrections, and other things related to this FAQ to above e-mail address. Please do not use it for any other purpose. Also, do not distribute this fact without warning the author. I would like to keep track of where my work goes. Do not sell this fact without permission (and without giving a large percent of profits to owner). This document is protected by international Copyright law. Violators will be prosecuted (or suffer worse fates). Special Thanks to: Nintendo: For making the game Snow Dragon: Author of a great NES Balloon Fight FAQ Spenninipede: Author or another great NES Balloon Fight FAQ Gamefaqs.com, IGN.com, Gamespot.com, and Nintendo.com: For Information Everybody on the e-Reader boards: For ideas Everybody who made a review: For ideas ------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Version History ------------------------------------------------------------ Version 1.0: The original submission (10/5/02) ------------------------------------------------------------ 3. What is Balloon Fight-e? ------------------------------------------------------------ Balloon Fight was one of the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games. It came out in 1985 in Japan and America the year after. Reasonably popular for it's time, but overshadowed by bigger games like Super Mario Brothers. This now classic is currently found in use for that nifty new device, the e-Reader. By plugging the e-Reader into a Game Boy Advance and swiping the pack of Balloon Fight-e cards (5 cards, 9 dot-code bars), you can play the game on your Game Boy. In Balloon Fight, "you" are a little guy with two big balloons attached to him. Somehow he is neutrally buoyant, and can float around by flapping his arms. His goal is to knock similarly equipped bad guys out of the air while avoiding ball lightning and a really big fish. In most respects, it is a rip-off of Joust, another classic game, but not made by Nintendo. Still, it's a fun game. Although the concept is as simple as the graphics, and not up to today's standards at all, it is still a great game. And hey, it's only five bucks. ------------------------------------------------------------ 4. What is the e-Reader? ------------------------------------------------------------ The e-Reader is a device that attaches to a Gameboy Advance that allows you to play games up to the complexity of old NES games by simply swiping cards through it. Sometimes it is considered a whole new system, and sometimes it's not. It can be best explained by something I said in the Gamefaq's e-reader board: The e-reader allows you to scan cards to play games and get other media. It costs about 40 bucks and hooks into your Game Boy Advance, and uses the GBA screen to display. There are little dot codes on the sides of the cards, and in the case of Pokemon cards, the bottom. Old NES games come in a pack of five cards, and you scan all five twice to play a single NES game. They cost about 5 bucks. Other cards include the new series of Pokemon TCG cards, which have info and mini-games, and an upcoming series of Animal Crossing trading cards, which allow you to use the cards to get items and stuff in the game via the Gameboy to Gamecube cable. To use it, you plug it into the Gameboy Advance like a normal game, turn the Gameboy on, and the title screen shows. Press A and choose scan. Scan a card, and if you need to scan more dot codes, press A to scan another side/card. Once you scanned enough, you can play (it takes a while for NES games, but still faster then a Playstation 2, which isn't saying much). You can save an NES game to memory so that you can turn it off and play again latter without scanning again. You can play a smaller game (like a Game and Watch game) without erasing the memory. Also for NES games, you can take the e-reader out and still play. The e-Reader sells at places like Walmart for 39.99. It comes with an old NES game (Pinball or DK Jr., your choice), Manhole (an old Game & Watch game), an Animal Crossing demo card, and three Pokemon cards (Machop, Machoke, and Machamp, which combined play a minigame). You can buy the NES games (Pinball, DK Jr., Exitebike, Tennis, and Balloon Fight) for 4.95 a game from the Gameboy case. Personally I think it's a great deal. You get about 10 bucks worth of stuff so the e-reader is only about 30 bucks. Five dollars for an NES game is a good deal to. There is more coming, including series 2 of NES games in mid-November. Animal Crossing includes a ton of NES games, but the game kind of forces you to buy the e-reader anyways due to the future trading cards. The e-reader is a great invention, and a lot of fun. Buy it, play it, enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Controls ------------------------------------------------------------ Now, on to the meat of the FAQ! First off: the controls. To figure out how to control the game: LOOK ON CARD #1! Well, I'll still elaborate on them for a bit. A Button: press once for a little "flap", which boosts you up. Repeatedly tap it to fly up. The faster you tap the faster you move. If you are in the air, you fall, and you can slowly tap A to slow your descent if you want to go down instead of up. B Button: essentially a rapid-fire A button. Hold to go up at full speed. Tap it at various speeds to fly at various speeds. Your preference on using A or B depends on rather you want to tap or hold. B is usually easier. D-Pad: up and down are not used. That's what the gravity and the A and B buttons are for. Left and right are used to move, well, left and right. You can walk around on platforms, or flutter in different directions in the air. The more you push the faster your go. Push in opposite direction to slow, cancel, or reverse your velocity, depending on how much you push backwards. A combination of the D-Pad, the A and B buttons, and gravity allows you to buzz around all over the place. Select: on the title screen, you have to use the select button to select Game A or Game B. A is the single player mode, in which you try to defeat other balloon fighters. B is the Balloon Trip, in which you move the LEFT on am infinitely long level filled with ball lightning. Start: pressing it on the title screen sends you to the game you are highlighting with that little red balloon. Pressing it in the game stops time, but makes the sprites (you, enemy, ect.) disappear. Good for taking breaks on long runs. L and R: pressing both at the same time pauses the game and brings you to a menu with two choices: Continue and Reset NES. Continue un-pauses the game, Reset does the same as pressing the non-existent reset button. ------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Obstacles ------------------------------------------------------------ You are floating around with balloons strapped to you, and it's not a safe experience. There are many things around to pop your fun. Beware of these as you fly the unfriendly skies. Rival Balloon Fighters: You are not the only ballooner out there. These jerks want to burst your balloons and send you falling into the water bellow. If any part of their body (not their balloon) touches one of your balloons, then you loose a balloon. Loose both, and your fall to your doom. It's your job to knock them out before they do the same to you. To do so, fly above them and land on their single balloon, and they will start to parachute down. Knock out the parachute the same way, and goodbye Mr. Enemy. If you don't knock the parachute out, they will land and start to fill up another balloon. Land on them, or land beside them to run over and kick them, or they will come back at a higher "skill level". There are three skill levels: Pink ones are easiest, Blue ones are harder, and yellow ones are the hardest. You get points as follows: Flying Grounded Parachuting Pink Guys: 500 750 1000 Blue Guys: 750 1000 1500 Yellow Guys: 1000 1500 2000 When they land in the water, a little bubble floats up. Pop it for 500 pts. If you pop the enemies' balloons, let them land and come back, and pop again, you can get a lot of points. However, it is a lot safer just top pop them all as fast as possible. A good way to lower your odds is to knock them off at the beginning. They have to pump up their balloons at the beginning of the stage, you don't. Use this to your advantage. Fly up at the start, float to the nearest guy, and kick him in the head. Knock off as many as possible before they get airborne. After that, remember to be as high as possible, and if you are stuck fighting them at the top, drop down to make them drop down so you can get above. If you float to the edge of the screen, you'll pop out the other side. They are reluctant to do that. Getting stuck between two seems like a bad thing, but can be used as an advantage where you pop them all in quick succession. Speed is generally the key, because there are other obstacles. The faster the better, but keep in mind not to float recklessly. Big Fish: The bottom of the screen generally has a platform and a lake. In this lake is a fish, a really big fish. Stray to close, and the big guy will burst out of the water and swallow you whole. Best to stay as high as possible and not to get near that pond. The fish eats enemies to, which is a good thing because their dead, and a bad thing because you don't get points because of it. You can float in close and climb up to annoy the fish, but it is not recommended because no matter how many balloons you have, he'll take you down to the depths with him. Ball Lightning: There are generally one to two clouds in the area, and after a little ways into the level, they start to shoot lightning. A bolt pops out the bottom and forms a little ball of electrical energy. It floats around, bounces everywhere, and seems to be going after you! If it hits the water, it desipates, but there is more where that came from. This is why you should beat the level before the lightning starts: one... hit... kills. The lightning touches you, any part of you, and ZAP. You die, time for your next life. Avoid and try to win the level before the storm gets too bad. Flipper: You may recognize this from Super Smash Bro. Melee. This game is where that game gets the flipper from. Hit the flipper, and it starts spinning. Hit it again, and you bounce off in the random direction. Not a safe idea. However, they are good for making a barrier to stop the advance of the enemy. They start out horizontal or vertical and easily avoided, but while spinning nothing gets through. They stop spinning after a while. All in all not to dangerous, but could make for an embarrassing death. Platforms: Not really an obstacle, but they do get in your way. You can not go through the magically floating hunks of ground. In fact, if you try, you'll just bounce off. Making a miscalculation and knocking into the dirt won't hurt you directly, but could screw up your flight plan. Even more annoying are the stalactite variation, which are large carrot like things that hang out below the platforms. Try to avoid, and running around on top of them is only smart if you're trying to get somebody else off. ------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Game A Walkthrough ------------------------------------------------------------ By selecting Game A, you go through the 1-Player Mode. In this mode, you go through level after level trying to get the best score you can get. Each level consists of one screen, filled with platforms, obstacles, and enemy balloon fighters. Your job is to knock off all the enemy ballooners. When the last one is doomed, you go on to the next level. You play through three "phases", and then a bonus level. The bonus level consists of pipes that spit out balloons. Pop them for points, and try to pop all 20 for a "perfect score", which gives you a big point bonus. After that, you go more phases, and after every three another bonus level. There are 12 phases in all, each one harder then the last with harder obstacles and higher level enemies. After beating all that, you start back in level four, and end up in an endless loop. You have 3 lives, and you keep going until you loose them all. You have two balloons, and if one pops due to an enemy, you only have one, which is tougher to control. If you make it to a bonus level, you somehow get the second one back. If instead your lone balloon pops, you fall to your doom. Getting struck by lighting or eaten by the fish kills you instantly. Your goal is to keep going as long as possible, and to get the highest score you can while doing so. Anyways, on to the levels! KEY - = Platform || = Stalactite ~ = Water oo = Horizontal flipper o o = Vertical flipper @ = Enemy start position % = Your Start Position A. Phase 1 ____________________ @ @ @ ------------ % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ The first, and simplest of the levels. Only three enemies on one platform. Simply fly up and above and drop down for the kill. Only one cloud to worry about, but the level ends so quickly you actually don't have to worry. B. Phase 2 ____________________ @ @ ----- ----- @ @ @ ------------ % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ Two more platforms, two more enemies, and now you have two clouds. Still, not so tough. Fly up to take out an enemy before he pumps up, and then fly high to take out the ones that start out up there before the others come up to great you. The two on top are blue, their first (but by no means last) appearance. C. Phase 3 ____________________ @ @ - @ -- @ -- || -- || || @ --- % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ Fly up, knock the guy above you out, and then go to the right to knock to more guys out. The last two can be got by simply hanging out at the top D. Bonus Level 1 _________________ Per Balloon: 300 pts. Perfect Score: 10,000 pts. Balloon Color: green Simplest of bonus levels with 4 pipes spitting out slowly rising balloons. Knock out all 20 for big points. Remember that if you go to one edge of the screen, you pop out the other edge. So if you're on one side and a balloon is on the other, simply go through the loophole. E. Phase 4* ____________________ @ -- @ @ -- @ -- -- @ -- % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ For this level, fly up to the platform above you, knock the guy off, and then run forward down the "steps" to knock out two more. Get the stragglers and you're done. You go back to this phase after beating bonus level 4 (after phase 12). F. Phase 5 ____________________ @ -- @ @ @ || || || @ @ -- -- % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ Probably best to take out the two lower ones first, and then wait for a gap to form before heading to the top for bopping and popping. G. Phase 6 ____________________ @ @ --- --- @ @ || || @ ------ % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ Either take out the guy in the lower center, or the one above you. There really is no safe haven here, unfortunately. Also, you have to deal with yellow balloon guys. H. Bonus Level 2 _________________ Per Balloon: 500 pts. Perfect Score: 15,000 pts. Balloon Color: red Now you have to deal with red balloons, which rise faster. Best strategy is to go in one direction, looping to the other side by going off screen, and staying somewhat near the top. I. Phase 7 ______________________ @ @ - @ - @ - @ o - @ - o - - % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ______________________ Now you have flippers to worry about. Not much of a factor in this phase, though. Simply get to the top quickly, and the enemies will simply run into your feet. J. Phase 8 ____________________ @ @ --- o --- @ o @ --- --- @ @ || || % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ The flipper will get in your way this time. Best strategy I can think of is to fly up to the top (knocking one or two guys off on the way), and hang out there. They guys on the other side of the flipper will just knock into it, allowing you to bop the trickle that gets through. K. Phase 9 ____________________ o o @ o o -- @ -- @ @ -- -- @ -- % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ Like phase four, you can hop on the platform above you and run down the steps, knocking ballooners off before they can even take flight. Get the stragglers afterward, but watch out for the two flippers. L. Bonus Level 3 _________________ Per Balloon: 700 pts. Perfect Score: 20,000 pts. Balloon Color: red About the same as the last bonus level, but you get more points. M. Phase 10 ____________________ @ @ oo oo @ @ oo oo @ -- -- % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ Yes, there are enemies standing on flippers. No, you cannot stop them from pumping up their balloons by hitting the flipper. Not much strategy, just knock off as much as you can before they pump up and stay at the top to get the stragglers. O. Phase 11 _____________________ o o @ @ @ - - @ @ - - @ - - % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~~---- _____________________ Fly to the LEFT, which brings you to the right side of the screen. Fly up the "steps" and try to knock out three of em'. Then just hang out while the rest comes through the flipper. P. Phase 12 ____________________ @ @ --- --- @ @ || || @ ------ % ----~~~~~~~~~~~~---- ____________________ You may notice that it looks just like Phase 6. Like phase 6, it has not good strategy. Knock out the guy on the stalactite above you, try to get the one above that, and the rest is just good fighting skill. Q. Bonus Stage 4 __________________ Per Balloon: 700 pts. Perfect Score: 25,000 pts. Balloon Color: red Just like the other ones. You get a lot of points for making it this far, though. After this, the screen will say Phase 13, but you really have just been warped back to Phase 4. Just go through the levels again, and try to get as far in this infinite world as possible. ------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Game B Info ------------------------------------------------------------ Another mode in the game is the Balloon Trip. You start out on a small platform, and then the screen starts moving, forcing you to fly to the left. You keep going left avoiding all the ball lightning along the way, forever and ever. It starts out as easily avoided patterns, then the lightning starts to move up and down randomly, and after a while you get to a point where it moves diagonally to. You start out at Rank 50, and as you earn points your rank goes up. You get points not only from balloons (300 pts a pop), but also for simply surviving. Your goal is to be #1, but even if you do, you still keep going. High score is, as usual, the goal of the game. If you ever touch a lightning ball along the way, on any part of your body or balloon, you get electrocuted, your balloons pop, you fall, and to add insult to injury, the fish usually eats you. Strategy wise, it's best to get moving at the start, and try to go the same speed as the screen goes. Once you get the correct momentum, just pretend the D-Pad doesn't exist, and just use the B button to control you're up and down movement. An arbitrary guess is that 99% of all lightning balls can be avoided by simply going up or down. Still, you can use that D-Pad, but only if you really have to. Just keep going, squeeze through as many bolts as you can, and try to remember at all times just how big your guy is. This whole thing takes place over water, so going to low is not smart, due to the fish. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to swoops near there to avoid something. Occasionally a bubble will float out of the ocean. Pop it for points and to stop the scrolling for a while. Although it seems like a good thing, it usually just screws you up. Constant danger, constant skill use, and an infinite trip that tests your stamina. Balloon trip is fun, and practically a whole other game then the other mode. ------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Frequently Asked Questions ------------------------------------------------------------ Q. Is there any way to earn more lives? A. Nope. You start with three, and that's all you get. Q. Is there a two-player mode in Balloon Fight-e? A. As far as I know, no. Two-player in Balloon Fight can be fun, but you have to have a different version to do that. Q. How to I get Balloon Fight? A. For Balloon Fight-e, just check any local store that sells video games. The bigger and more specialized the better. If you live in a highly populated area, you should have no trouble. If you live in a very rural area with nothing around, then you might have to order it off the Internet from Amazon.com or something. For the original NES version, you can try Funcoland (if your area has one), or get if off the Internet from places like Half.com or Gamestop.com. Ironically you can usually get old NES games for around 5 bucks. If you have Animal Crossing, Balloon Fight is hidden in there. You can get it by trading in your tickets at the end of the month (and get very lucky, like I did my first try), jump ahead to Christmas, or trade off of the AC trading board at GameFaqs.com. Q. Will you trade me your Balloon Fight in Animal Crossing. A. Sure, if I ever rent the thing again. The word to watch for is if. Still, send any item you want (especially NES games) to: Town: _Test (1 space before) Name: _Paul (1 space before) Email: Iguanoman003@yahoo.com Don't expect anything in return, though. Q. What are those bird things that keep attacking you in the game? A. They are not birds, they are goofy clown-like people with what looks like horns and a big nose. What Nintendo was thinking when they designed them I don't know. Q. Is Balloon Fight-e the best e-Reader game? A. Of the original 5 NES games, I personally think it is the best. Still, they all are good. For 5 dollars a game, you might as well get Balloon Fight-e. Q. I have NES games on Animal Crossing. Is there a point to buy the e-Reader? A. If you have AC, you're going to have to buy the e-reader eventually anyways, due to the trading cards for it. Besides, the e-Reader is portable, the Gamecube is not. Q. Balloon Fight RULES! A. That is not a question. Q. Are high scores saved? A. Nope. Q. What is your high score? A. Forgot to write it down. ------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Closing ------------------------------------------------------------ This FAQ was written while playing the e-Reader version of Balloon Fight. Although I played it on Animal Crossing before, this FAQ was only designed for the Balloon Fight-e. Thereby, there is no multiplayer strategy. However, the FAQ should still be compatible for the single player modes. The strategy and maps for them are the same in all versions. There was very little changed in the conversion, and so this should be a compatible single player FAQ. Send any reasonable questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, additions, or corrections to iguanoman003@yahoo.com. If I don't respond, don't worry, I have a habit of not responding. Please do not send me e-mail for any purpose other than my FAQs and webpages. Using my e-mail address for purposes other than direct communication e-mailing is strictly prohibited. Once again, do not copy this FAQ and stick it someplace else without telling me. You can sell it, but only if I say you can and you give me an agreed upon junk of the profits. Balloon Fight is a great game made even better on the e-Reader. If you get an e-Reader, I recommend getting this game too. It is fun and enjoyable for a longer period of time then you realize. Although simple by today's standards in every category, that does not make it less fun. Sure, the graphics are pathetic, the sound is not so good, and there is no gripping story, but it is still great for passing the time in a fun matter. This is my first ever FAQ, and I decided to do my first FAQ on this particular game because it needed to be done, it was kind of easy, and it is my favorite e-Reader game. Buy it, play it, and it might be your favorite to. Well, at least until the next series of NES games come out. ------------------------------------------------------------- Original FAQ posted 10/5/02 Written by Iguanoman Iguanoman003@yahoo.com