Bumper Balloons

Summary
Bumper Balloons ( バンパーバルーン) was a game released for arcades in 1982. Developed by Ocean Games (海洋ゲーム) and published by Taito (タイト) this game was the first game released by the then newly-formed game developer. This game released to arcades exclusively in Japan.

Development
The development of Bumper Balloons began with a man named Aiko Nakamura. Aiko was a newly hired code monkey for the team, one of the first people employed by the new business. The company then put the task of developing a new game for arcades onto the team. The higher-ups at the company wished for the team to develop a 2-player puzzle game. None of the people on the team had any idea what direction the game should and would take. Besides Aiko Nakamura. Aiko was an avid fan of logic puzzles and wanted to implement that into a game someday. He thought to himself, "What better chance would there be?" So, he took over the project.

The project went through development with no problems, with the higher-ups supporting most of the devs outlandish ideas. The game was finally finished and ready for release on February 16th, 1982. The game eventually released on March 21st, 1982.

Release
The game released to a generally good response. The biggest complaint most people had with the game was the games innumerable amount of bugs. The game did fairly well. However, it didn't do well enough to warrant a sequel.

Gameplay
Bumper Balloons would be a fairly easy puzzle game. The object of the game would be to match 3 balloons of the same color when they fall from the top of the screen. When you match 3-in-a-row, you'll get 300 points. If you match 3 balloons in a row twice, your score multiplier would go up to times 2.

The gameplay would be about the same during multiplayer, with the only difference being that there would be an extra game board on the screen signifying the second player's game.

Controls
The game's controls would only be controlled with one joystick. You'd be able to move the balloons left, right, and downward. You wouldn't be able to move the balloons left and right after they'd already landed on other balloons or the bottom of the screen.

The controls for multiplayer would be the same as singleplayer, besides the fact that there would be another game board going on next to the first person's board on the screen.

Graphics
The graphics for Bumper Balloons would look fairly good for the time.

Arcade Machine
The aesthetic of the arcade machine itself would look fun and bubbly, with pictures of balloons in the middle, while everything else encircled it.

Merchandise
There are only two pieces of merchandise that exist for Bumper Balloons. A one-shot manga and a mini-arcade machine released more recently.

Manga
The manga was introduced as backstory for the game. As you may imagine, the manga didn't do too amazingly.

Mini-Arcade Machine
The mini-arcade machine was created to be exactly like the original besides the size. The mini-arcade machine sold fairly well.