King & Balloon
Released by Namco in the summer of 1980, King & Balloon is a shoot em up in the vein of Galaxian, but trades the outer space theme for pseudo-medieval setting. In the game, the player controls two green men who carry a cannon, as they defend the king below them from getting abducted by the balloons above, which keep invading the lower part of the screen while also shooting projectiles. Once all the balloons are shot down, the game moves on to the next level. One thing that makes King & Balloon unique is that you don't lose a life when hit. Rather, you respawn and keep on playing. The only way to lose a life is letting the king get abducted. Another interesting mechanic of note is that the balloons stop attacking and descending when one grabs ahold of the king, and they will keep still until the king is back on the ground. This creates a risk versus reward mechanic and entices you to let the balloon carry the king high enough so you can take out more balloons, then rescuing the king just in time. King & Balloon was also one of the first games to have speech, and it still holds up better than most contemporary or even later examples. The king says "Help!" when abducted, "Thank You!" when rescued, and "Bye bye!" when he leaves the screen. There are actually different voices for the game in Japan and the US version, with the Japan version having a slight Japanese accent.
SCREENSHOTS
PHYSICAL
HISTORY
King & Balloon is a 1980 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. It was released in Japan in October 1980 and in North America by Game Plan in October 1981. It runs upon the Namco Galaxian hardware, based on the Zilog Z80 microprocessor, with an extra microprocessor to drive a DAC for speech; it was one of the first games to have speech synthesis. An MSX port was released in Japan in 1984.
Gameplay
The player controls two green men with an orange cannon, stationed on the parapet of a castle, that fires at a fleet of hot air balloons. Below the cannon, the King moves slowly back and forth as the balloons return fire and dive toward him. If a balloon reaches the ground, it will sit there until the King walks into it, at which time it lifts off with him. The player must then shoot the balloon to free the King, who will parachute safely to the ground. At times, two or more diving balloons can combine to form a single larger one, which awards extra points and splits apart when hit.
The cannon is destroyed by collision with balloons or their shots, but is replaced after a brief delay with no effect on the number of remaining lives. One life is lost when a balloon carries the King off the top of the screen; the game ends when all lives are lost. As in Galaxian, the round number stops increasing at round 48.
Voice
The King speaks when he is captured ("HELP!"), when he is rescued ("THANK YOU"), and when he is carried away ("BYE BYE!"). The balloons make the same droning sound as the aliens from Galaxian, released in the previous year, and the cannon's shots also make the same sound as those of the player's ship (the "Galaxip") from the same game.
In the original Japanese version of the game, the King speaks English with a heavy Japanese accent, saying "herupu" ("help!"), "sankyū" ("thank you"), and "baibai" ("bye bye!"), and the voices themselves were done by Kazunori Sawano and Atsuko Sugisaki. The U.S. version of the game features a different voice for the King without the Japanese accent.
Legacy
King & Balloon was later featured in Namco Museum Encore for the PlayStation, as an exclusive release for Japan. It made its North American console debut on Namco Museum Battle Collection for the PSP, in which the player could choose the King's voice (original Japanese or later U.S. version) after unlocking the manic settings. It also appeared in Namco Museum Virtual Arcade for the Xbox 360, as well as Namco Museum Megamix for the Wii. Hamster Corporation released the game as part of their Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in July 2023.
STORES
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SCORES
ACHIEVEMENTS 1 set
Tracked by RetroAchievements and earned in an emulator that reports to it. A game tracked on more than one machine gets a set for each, because they are different lists earned on different hardware.