Game objectives
- Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.2.2
- Takes Damage to Save Time
Crazy Balloon is a home brew game from AtariAge based off of the arcade game of the same name:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Balloon. you control a balloon that sways back and forth, the goal is to get to the end of the level without touching anything 2 times. The swaying of the balloon makes this game rather difficult to play.
What makes this home brew interesting is how accurate hit detection is in this game. Most Atari games would have pretty wonky hit detection, where here it's the best I've ever seen it.
The game has 20 levels in total, with some repeats of other levels with some variations, like moving platforms, magnets that make you move towards it, the whole stage shifting up and down, and a big head blowing you away.
you get one free hit at the beginning of each stage, this allows some quick corner cutting to save time. Some areas I do not take damage on that I normally would in a similar stage due to the changes or which direction the balloon is facing. the blowing head helps in some areas as it speeds up the balloon.
Hitboxes of the ballon is the actual balloon, and at the end of the string. Getting the last hit on the string can make the balloon float to the top until it hits a wall, making you start over. Having the actual balloon take the last hit will just start you over right away, though neither one really saves any time.
Overall, a very interesting game as it pushes the atari to amazing capabilities. AtariAge really knows how to make some incredible stuff with a limited system.
Noxxa: It's a good movie of a good game for its hardware, but ultimately the repetitive, mildly annoying sound effects and relative lack of variety in level layouts hurt the movie in the long run. Viewer response has generally noted it down as Vault material. The game appears notable enough as a homebrew to be eligible for that tier, so that will be where it goes. Accepting for the Vault.
