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Time Warped 1980 - Crazy Balloon
Published on February 17, 2018 1:41 PM
2 minute read
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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.

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Posted on February 17, 2018 4:43 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!

Posted on February 17, 2018 10:56 PM

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

Posted on February 18, 2018 2:15 AM

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.

Posted on February 18, 2018 2:16 AM

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.

Posted on February 18, 2018 11:33 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. 

Posted on February 18, 2018 4:02 AM

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

Posted on February 18, 2018 11:28 PM

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

Posted on February 19, 2018 12:18 AM

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

Posted on February 19, 2018 1:21 AM

I totally didn't have the patience for it. 

Posted on February 19, 2018 6:11 PM

That looks awfully precise and slow for an arcade game. 

Posted on February 19, 2018 6:41 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.