Originally a hit in the arcades of the early ‘80s, NES classic Balloon Fight puts you in control of a heroic balloonist.

From the depths of Nintendo’s glorious past comes yet another fun 2 player game. Balloon Fight can be thought of as Nintendo’s take on the classic arcade game Joust. Rather than knights on flying ostriches you are a dude hanging from a balloon who has to battle with chickens hanging from balloons. Cute!

The goal of Balloon Fight is to flap your fighter into the sky and face off against some flying foes, attacking and popping their balloons before they can do the same to yours. Once you've knocked an enemy out of the air, he'll drift slowly to the ground below with a parachute – administering a second attack during his descent will eliminate him for good. The core combat of the game is fun and simple, and has that added touch of Nintendo accessibility that Joust could not have claimed – and here on the Virtual Console, where Joust is not yet available as an alternative, Balloon Fight stands out as more unique than it otherwise would be. A welcome feature is Fight's support for two players simultaneously, as with other Nintendo co-op games of the same age you can choose to work together with your friend, or ruthlessly assault them and try to claim the high score yourself.

An extra mode called Balloon Trip is also available, and changes the focus from fight to flight – you're presented with a forced-scrolling screen full of electrified obstacles, and tasked to survive as long as possible while ducking, dodging and never descending. There's no land to land on down below, just an endless ocean that's home to hungry, human-eating fish. The Trip's a true challenge – it'll take practice, patience and skill on the flap trigger to wing your way through any significant portion of the course.

Compared to the longevity of many other NES games it is hard to say if this is good value or not. It’s certainly a fun game but probably won’t hold your attention for that long. Tracking down a copy of Animal Crossing on the Gamecube might be the best bet, it’s a much cheaper way to play this and many other NES classics.