Time Warped 1980 - Crazy Balloon

Blog - General Entry

Time Warped 1980 - Crazy Balloon

On 02/17/2018 at 09:41 AM by KnightDriver

In which the Warp Hive breaks and I have to stay in boring old 2018. Thankfully I have a PS2 and Taito Legends 2 to play with.

Crazy Balloon is found on Taito Legends 2. It is a very simple game. You control a balloon that sways back and forth as you try and move it through a maze of spikes. If you take too long, a face appears and blows wind to make you crash into the walls. Apparently the spikes start moving in higher levels, but I didn't make it past the first one. The game gives you only just enough room in the maze to get by. Sometimes you have to use the swing of the balloon to get past even narrower gaps. It's darn hard not to touch anything with either the balloon or the attached basket.

My question is. What's up with balloons? This is the third Japanese arcade game featuring balloons I've played from the 80s. I've seen none of them in the wild.

Comments

Cary Woodham

02/17/2018 at 12:43 PM

I've never seen Crazy Balloon in arcades ever either. The game kind of reminds me of a PSOne game also based on a Japanese game show called Irritating Stick. Have you seen the arcade flyer for Crazy Balloon? It's, well, crazy!

KnightDriver

02/17/2018 at 06:56 PM

Ha! I've heard about Irritating Stick. What a funny name. That flyer is pretty wacky too.

SanAndreas

02/17/2018 at 10:15 PM

You have been playing a lot of balloon games. My favorite balloon game is Balloon Fight, but that didn't come out until 1985. The arcade version is slated for release on the Switch, though,

Too bad Square Enix doesn't release more Taito games as arcade classics.

SanAndreas

02/17/2018 at 10:16 PM

You have been playing a lot of balloon games. My favorite balloon game is Balloon Fight, but that didn't come out until 1985. The arcade version is slated for release on the Switch, though, This game looks a lot like the Balloon Trip mode in the NES version. I guess it probably inspired it.

Too bad Square Enix doesn't release more Taito games as arcade classics.

KnightDriver

02/18/2018 at 07:33 PM

Balloon Fight, that was the one I was trying to remember. I have it on a collection and will revisit it when I get to '85. I remember liking it more than these balloon games.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/18/2018 at 12:02 AM

Goddamn Warp Hive!!! That's what you get when you go with cheap time travel!

KnightDriver

02/18/2018 at 07:28 PM

Well, it's meant for a swarm and I'm just one time traveler. I snatched it from a group of alien bees.

goaztecs

02/18/2018 at 08:18 PM

Oh this game would drive me nuts, maybe its a good thing I've never played it.

KnightDriver

02/18/2018 at 09:21 PM

I totally didn't have the patience for it.

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/19/2018 at 02:11 PM

That looks awfully precise and slow for an arcade game.

KnightDriver

02/19/2018 at 02:41 PM

Yea, it's kind of odd in that way. Not much to it either. If they had different gameplay after a screen or two I might have stuck with it a little longer.