PrinceWatercress plays Balloon Kid - Part 1 of 9

It's like Balloon Fight...for Game Boy! But you have a story! You are Alice, and your brother has flown away on a bunch of balloons! Now you'll need to fly after him and get him back.

Next | End

Left and Right on the Control Pad let you move around. Pressing A lets you jump and flap your arms to gain altitude. Press B to ditch your balloons and fall to the ground. When you have no or only one balloon, you can keep pressing Down on the Control Pad quickly to pump some balloons up and get back in the air.

Be careful when moving around. Moving a little too fast can cause your momentum to take you farther in one direction than you would like. If you run into an enemy, you'll lose one of your balloons, and if you're hit with no balloons, you lose a life. Some enemies and hazards, such as spikes, fire and walking fireballs, will kill you no matter what.

After a brief cutscene of your brother flying away, you can press Start to begin the game.

Stage 1

Believe it or not, this stage takes place in Pencilvania, where Alice and her brother live, according to the instruction manual. This explains the pencil- and match-shaped buildings.

You start flying to the left, picking up balloons and avoiding things such as spikes.

When you collect 20 balloons, the balloons will become pairs of balloons, allowing you to collect two at a time. If you miss a pair of balloons, they go back to being single balloons until you collect 20 in a row again. If you can collect all the balloons in a stage, you'll get a "Perfect!" bonus of an extra life.

The Game Boy takes you to a bonus stage where balloons come out of pipes and you'll need to collect them all. If just one of them flies to the top, it's all over. 

The P Balloon lets you advance through the stage more quickly and also grants you temporary invincibility.

You'll eventually need to ditch the balloons to get through a narrow pathway underneath two buildings. Once you're on the other side, quickly tap Down on the Control Pad to re-inflate your balloons back into existence as fast as possible. It won't be long until you reach the exit.