Balloon Kid
Originally released in 1990 for the Game Boy, Balloon Kid is a sequel to the NES classic Balloon Fight. The player controls a girl named Alice whose goal is to rescue her little brother, who floated away after attaching too many balloons to himself. With two balloons of her own to represent her Hit Points, Alice floats through several stages that scroll from right to left, collecting balloons and avoiding spikes, birds and other enemies.
Tropes used in Balloon Kid include:
- Bittersweet Ending: After overcoming all sorts of deadly hazards, Alice is finally reunited with her brother. Together, they fly back home as the credits roll and the beautiful ending theme plays... and then a sneaky enemy bumps into Alice, which makes her drop Jim into the sea!
- Eternal Engine: The eighth and final stage takes place in a factory.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: Birds, bats, crabs, campfires, walking flames, bears, alligators, penguins, crabs, walruses and more. They want Alice dead for some reason.
- Lost Woods: The second level takes place inside a forest.
- Mini Game: Every so often, Alice can enter one, where balloons rise from four pipes.
- Nintendo Hard: Watch this Let's Play of the Famicom port, if you want to see Hello Kitty make a grown man cry.
- Palmtree Panic: The third stage takes place on a beach. Just watch out for the crabs.
- Press X to Die: Pressing B in midair releases your balloons. If done wrong, you'll crash into the water.
- Ribcage Stomach: The fourth stage takes place inside a whale.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The sixth level takes place on a frozen island, full of water, ice and evil walruses.
- Spikes of Doom: Touching these instantly defeats Alice, regardless of health.
- Super Drowning Skills: Falling into the water costs you a life. If a fish (or frog) catches you, it drags you into the water, also costing you a life.
- Tin Can Robot: The final boss.
- Underground Level: The seventh level.
- X-Ray Sparks: When Alice gets hit by lightning sparks.