Balloon Fight (universe)

The Balloon Fight universe refers to the Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, items, stages, and properties that hail from Nintendo's one time game, Balloon Fight on the NES. The Balloon Fight series has only had one official game in the series, although it has been referenced in many nintendo games, appeared in Animal Crossing, and was even one of the 12 attractions in Nintendo Land. It was programmed by Satoru Iwata, the President and CEO, Nintendo Co., Ltd., CEO of Nintendo of America, released as an arcade cabinet in 1984, and in 1986 on NES.

Sakurai likes to reference obscure and retro things in Smash Bros. and a one time game in Nintendo's history seems to fit perfectly in both of those titles. This might have also been why the Ice Climbers were added as playable characters, and the ExciteBiker was planned to be playable.

Franchise Description
Balloon Fight is a 1/2 player game on the NES, in which you take out your enemies by popping their balloons by ramming into them, and when your enemy has landed on the ground, you have to ram into them to eliminate them and finish the stage. There also occasional special stages in which you pop balloons coming out of pipes for points. There is also A 3RD game mode named Balloon Fight, in which you try to pop as many balloons as possible until you lose both of yours.

Balloon fight also appeared as one out of the 12 attractions in Nintendo Land, in which your Mii takes the helm of the Balloon Fight Kid. The gameplay is based off the 3rd game mode in the original Balloon Fight.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Ballon Fight, there is a stage hazard named the flipper, that the player can hit, which will launch enemies in other directions. This appears in Melee. The Flipper, which replaced the Bumper from the original Smash Bros., except the flipper keeps the player in the air while simultaneously damaging them. There is also a trophy of the Balloon Fight Kid, the main protagonist of Balloon Fight.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The Flipper was replaced by the bumper in Brawl, however the Fish, a stage hazard in Balloon Fight, appears as a stage hazard in Summit.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
There is a Balloon Fight stage in the 3DS version.