Balloon Fight (NES)/Hacks

There have been a number of ROM hacks of Balloon Fight, varying from changing graphics, characters, stages, or other things. However, none of them are made with Nintendo's approval, and in some instances can be found on pirated Famicom multicarts and even built in to some "Famiclones" or "NES-on-a-chip" systems.
== Air Umbrella/Zero Gravity ==
This hack is relatively simple, only replacing graphics, characters, and the title screen. In this hack, the Balloon Fighter now appears to be a young boy with a transparent umbrella, and Balloon Birds are now humans, or possibly aliens, who fly using propellers on their heads. Balloons are replaced with bubbles. Clouds are now UFOs, and Platforms and the ground now look more metallic and artificial. The logo on the title screen now says "Air Umbrella" and is pink, and the copyright date for Nintendo is now completely missing. Other minor changes include the score counter and phase number being blue, and the water looks slightly different.
Source: ROMhacking.net
=== Zero Gravity ===
A sub-hack of this hack is known as "Zero Gravity", featuring a more unique title screen, and Balloon Trip is now called "Sea Driftage". Each level after a Bonus Stage now begins a jingle.
There's even a sub-sub-hack, where it's "Zero Gravity", but 2-player and Balloon Trip mode are blanked out, which is present on the Retroplay Plug N Play 200.
== Balloon Mario ==
This hack changes the Balloon Fighters to look like Mario and Luigi, and the background to blue. The sprites use the heads of the character sprites from Super Mario Bros., pasted onto the body of the Balloon Fighter. Due to the now blue background, yellow Balloon Birds now have gray faces and red overalls. There appears to be two versions of the hack, one with a green title and one with the standard orange.
Created by Rinkaku in 1999
Source: ROMhacking.net
== Board Fight ==
This is a slightly more advanced hack, where all of the level designs are new, and there are now a total of 16 phases. The phases now loop back to phase 1 instead of 4, and later levels feature palettes and graphics which are completely new, with some levels taking graphics from The Legend of Zelda II: Adventure of Link. Players also begin with 20 lives, and do not get Balloons back at the Bonus Stage. The title screen now has the words "A bunch of folks present Board Fight", as well as the two Balloon Fighters standing below the title. The title screen retains the 1984 copyright from Nintendo, but adds a new line with copyright 2015 "A Bunch of Folks".
Source: ROMhacking.net
==== Alternate Versions ====
* 4 Player Hack
* 3 Lives
* Butterfly Flight
* Clovermon: Balloofang Fight
* Super Mario Balloon
== Cosmic Balloon Assault ==
This is another hack similar to Board Fight, even made by the same person. There are only 12 phases, but all of them are new, with some graphics from Hello Kitty World and Super Mario Bros. 3, and the phase loop goes back to phase 1. The players start with 6 lives.
This is the first published hack of Balloon Fight to change the level layout, and was released alongside documentation on how to hack the game and change level layouts.
Source: ROMhacking.net
==== Alternate Versions ====
* 4 Player Hack
* No Bonus Phases
* 3 Lives
* Butterfly Flight
* Clovermon: Balloofang Fight
* Super Mario Balloon
== Fishwar ==
A somewhat advanced hack which replaces the music and graphics. All characters are some kind of fish, all background elements are sea-themed, such as being coral, seaweed, etc., and Clouds are squids. The music plays through the whole game, even through pauses and the title screen. The music only stops temporarily at a game over, and sometimes during the title screen demo. The title screen is completely unique, with a custom "Fishwar" logo. Balloon Trip mode is absent, and the Nintendo copyright is gone, replaced "BBG".
There is an alternate version which has different music and Balloon Trip mode, although it isn't marked, replaced by the words "Push Start". 
Another version exists without two-player mode or Balloon Trip, which is on the Retroplay Plug N Play 200. 
== Joust More ==
Many characters and graphics have been replaced with Joust-themed sprites. The water has also become lava. The title screen uses the original Balloon Fight font, but now with the title "Joust More". The Nintendo copyright has been replaced with "Hack 1998 Grimlick", and Balloon Trip is now "Joust Flight".
The hack was made because of the similarity between the gameplay of Balloon Fight and Joust, and the title might be interpreted as meaning that you should play Joust more often, or that Balloon Fight is essentially an extension of Joust.
Source: ROMhacking.net
== Satoru Iwata Edition ==
After Satoru Iwata had passed away, a fan hacked Balloon Fight in memory of him, making him the main character. The title screen is purple, Balloons now have faces like Kirby, and the game modes have become "1-SatoruIwata", "2-SatoruIwata", and "IwataSan Trip".
The hack was featured in a magazine called Nintendo Force, and there are even reproduction cartridges of the game.
There appears to be multiple versions of the hack, with a later version featuring art of Iwata with Balloons on the title screen.
== Super Mario Balloon ==
The Balloon Fighters have been replaced with Mario and Luigi, and Balloon Birds are now Koopa Troopas, using sprites similar to Super Mario Bros. 3. Stage palettes have been redone to fit Mario level themes, and the background noise of the Balloon Birds tweeting has been altered. The title screen now has a more Mario 3 style font, and adds a 2014 copyright for Magnus Nilsson, along with a line dedicating the game to someone named Mymis, while still keeping the Nintendo copyright.
Source: ROMHacking.net
== Clovermon: Balloofang Fight ==
A spin-off of a Pokemon FireRed ROM hack, Pokemon Clover, which was created by 4chan members. The player plays as the fakemon Piicee, and the balloons have been made to look like the fakemon Baloofang, as have the bubbles (though colored blue with wings and a halo). The enemies are now the fakemon Spookster, though also recolored to be blue and green. The clouds have been changed to look like the fakemon Felimbus. The fish has been changed to the fakemon Monstrap. In additional to the major sprite replacements, much of the terrain tileset and UI elements have been replaced with custom art. Balloon Trip has been renamed "Hardcore Mode".
Created by Poclo and Le Ruse Bird on May 4th, 2017.
Source: ROMhacking.net
== Killer Kitty ==
== Airborne Hound ==
Created as part of the "64-in-1 Classic Player" multicart. The Balloon Fighter has been replaced with an orange dog wearing a top hat, which bears resemblance to Sanrio style characters, particularly Cinammonroll and Pompompurin. The Balloon Birds have been turned into pink birds. The background has been changed to dark blue, and the terrain tiles have been recolored. The title screen has been modified with a new logo and white background. Balloon Trip has been removed from the game. 
Created in April 2022 by forgotusername
Source: ROMhacking.net
== 42 Balloons: The Balloon Fight Collection ==
This hack combines nearly every other Balloon Fight hack and translation (created before 2020) into a single multicart ROM. Several of these versions are combinations of multiple hacks, such as a version of Cosmic Balloon Assault and Board Fight that can be played with 4 players, or use graphics from other hacks. The hack uses a custom title menu to let the player select which version to launch. Since it combines so many games, the ROM after patching is over 2 megabytes, over 80 times larger than the original. 
Due to the technology used to create the ROM, it may not work in all emulators, and hasn't been tested on real hardware.
Created by Quick Curly on September 1, 2020. An updated Version 1.1 was released on November 7th.
Source: ROMhacking.net
== Minor Modifications ==
These hacks only provide minor changes to the game, such as simple graphics or rules changes, and aren't notable enough for a whole section. Some have been combined with other more notable hacks.
* No Birds Sound - Removes the sound effect that the Balloon Birds make when flapping, which some people find annoying. Created in 2021 by LiQuiDz
* Shadows Edition - Character sprites are replaced with solid red and blue silhouettes, and the background tiles have been simplified and recolored, stars have been removed. Created by davycrocket in 2018
* Fish is Missing! - The fish has been removed
* No Bonus Phases - Removes the bonus phase between levels
* Double Speed - makes the game run twice as fast. Created by nensondubois
* Double Trip Speed - makes balloon trip run faster. Created by nensondubois
* Balloon Fight X2 - Palette for all characters and tiles has been altered, and the player has infinite lives
* Hard Mode - replaces all Balloon Birds with the hardest one. Created by Quick Curly
* Backwards Balloon Fight - level layouts and starting positions have been flipped horizontally. Created by Quick Curly
== Translations ==
* Norwegian - created by SSJAndy in 2003
* Hungarian - created by Szemigi in 2017
* Indonesian - created by Pi-Man in 2018
* Spanish - created by Wave in 2019
* Arabic - created by Diariko in 2019
Category:Console Games
Category:Games
Category:Unofficial Games