©1986 Nintendo
File size: 6417 KB (including save data)
Price: 30¢ for a limited time

# of players: 2
Genre: Action

Balloon Fight is the first Virtual Console title to be available on the Wii U eShop and the start of Famicoms’s 30th anniversary program where Balloon Fight and other select titles get a special 30¢ price tag. This is not a port of the previous emulated Balloon Fight from the Wii’s Virtual Console as it looks more native on the TV as well as featuring the latest Virtual Console Features.



Notice that the Balloon Fight’s title card from the Wii U Virtual Console is brighter than the Wii’s Virtual Console.



GamePlay

Similar to the original NES cartridge release, there are three modes to select.  1-Player Game is a balloon popping frenzy where you play as a 8-bit visionary attach with two red balloons who must destroy pesky birds that are also attach to a balloon. To ascend is by either tapping the A button or holding the B button and when not pressing any button will slowly descend. Pop a balloon by landing on top of them and make sure to finish the job before they huff another one. 2-Player Game is same mode except with an obvious addition. Just be careful, you might accidentally pop each other’s balloons. Balloon Trip is similar to the attraction from Nintendo Land except that the pesky birds are not included in this mode and that is really hard.

Presentation

The new features in the Wii U Virtual Console release are the Miiverse community when pressing the home button. In the community, you can post screenshots and share a hilarious 8-bit moment or your high score. Unfortunately, those personalize high scores might be rigged since the Restore Point is also feature on Wii U Virtual Console.



To activate the Virtual Console page, touch the screen on the Gamepad. Restore Point is one of the features in the Virtual Console page. The Wii U Gamepad is the default Player 1 controller. When you want to play 2-Player, or switching controller scheme in solo, the second player must use the Gamepad and select Player 2 on the upper right corner. The one feature I really love is the Controller Settings where you can configure every button on every controller being use to your preferable liking.

The Gamepad screen automatically displays Off-TV play.  Viewing the game on the Gamepad is as native as when viewing it on my LCD TV. Be sure to set the GamePad brightness settings to maximum since early NES titles are already dark enough as it is.

Conclustion

Balloon Fight is the first taste of playing classic titles on Wii U. The special discount price is the only motivation of recommending and be familiarizing with this first Virtual Console release. I would like Nintendo to find a way for Miiverse to detect whether screenshots from Virtual Console posted without previous attempts with Restore Points. I might also complaint about the default Gamepad scheme; however, there is no other way of accessing to the Virtual Console page. Balloon Fight itself is a small experience that exceeds the same joy as the attraction from Nintendo Land.

☆☆☆☆☆☆ 6/10 eShop points