Balloon Kid is one of those games that is perfectly serviceable. There’s nothing really wrong with it but it also doesn’t have enough actual good elements to really get it going. So what you end up with is a rather forgettable experience. A modern remake of the game could really end up being a whole lot of fun as it would at least be a bit longer. This game is under an hour long with no real replay value in terms of a post game or anything like that. So that puts it behind the action right from the jump.

The game starts with a little boy being carried off into the winds on his balloons. His sister must now rescue him by using her own mastery of balloons in order to follow him. Alas, this will not be very easy. There are a lot of monsters running around and different natural obstacles. The world itself appears as an enemy and balloons are rather unpredictable. Can she destroy all of the monsters and save her brother in time? She will have to really push her own abilities to their very limit.

The game doesn’t really have many cutscenes or anything like that so for the most part you’re just going through the levels until you clear the game. The controls themselves are rather simple. You want to hold onto the balloons and use them to go above and under objects. At times you will need to discard the balloons entirely so that you can pass a tight space. Then you will put them on once again. You do this by digging into the ground. Or at least that’s what it looks like, technically you are probably pressing air into the balloons.

I didn’t actually realize this at first so I died a few times until I realized what was going on. The game has some reasonable difficulty as a result of this because you have to be reacting quickly. If you are slow to react then you will really be in danger here. So keep your guard up at all times because if you don’t, then you’re gonna be in a jam.

I did appreciate that we had real boss fights here. For a little while there I was not expecting any so that was a welcome treat. The boss battles feel a bit like a Mario or Sonic fight as you have to jump on the enemy and then use your momentum to dodge their counter attacks. That’s why if the game had just been longer then this could have probably reached the next level as a 7.

The graphics are okay at best but not really my style. It’s all due to the color though as you don’t get to see all of the fun colors the way that a GBC title would have been able to unleash. The soundtrack is also more on the forgettable side. So you’re really here for the gameplay 100%. The rest of the areas will just have to suffice in the end.

If you have the Nintendo Switch Online then you should check the game out since it’s free with the service anyway. That said, if you are looking to pick this game up, then I wouldn’t really recommend that. You are just not going to have enough content to really justify it in the end. You’d have to be a really incredible game to be worth it even at lasting less than an hour. In a way it just goes to show how high the expectations are. Most people wouldn’t bat an eye to spend $10 on a quick lunch that will only last 15 minutes as opposed to a 60 minute game that you can replay as much as you want in the future. It’s just different expectations there.

Overall, I had a good time with Balloon Kid but it was definitely a brief time. I can see the vision of how this kind of gameplay would be fun for a whole title though. Just look at Flappy Bird. In a lot of ways this game is super similar because you are trying to go above and below the obstacles. If you bump into something or go too low then you lose. It’s a really creative style and you can’t 100% cheese it the way that you can for some Kirby games. I’ll definitely be ready if we get any more Balloon titles.

Overall 6/10