Hey all,

I'm interested to see what people think about adding some more categories for Balloon Trip mode. Last night I completed a couple of 100,000 Points runs, and I plan to do more, because I find the category very engaging and surprisingly dynamic.

This category does benefit greatly from a very fast Rank 1 start, because the earlier you get the 10K "got all balloons" bonuses, the more giant chunks of time you can save by reaching points milestones before balloon-free survival segments. It's a friendly category for anyone who just wants to finish as safely as possible while enjoying some extended Balloon Trip. To get the best times possible, there's the additional challenge of getting -every single balloon- for an extended period of time, along with seeing good spawning luck. All the while, you have to be very nimble in avoiding the death sparks. I found it to be a very cool midpoint category for potential runners.

The higher extreme would be 999,999/1 Mil Points - which, I assume, is a maxout. Points accumulate quickly enough that this would likely occur in less than 30 minutes, but that's quite a challenge for maintaining focus and ability, and I'm curious about the speedrunning aspect of it! I haven't given this a serious attempt yet, but I hope to soon.

I'm curious what you all make of this, or if you have other ideas for intuitive Balloon Trip speedrun categories that haven't occurred to me.

Improved my 100K time significantly! And I kept that run going - 999,999 points looks quite reasonable, and speedrun times could vary IMMENSELY based on luck, and how aggressively people play...could be interesting!!!

(I talk about my uncertainty regarding the Rank 1 category rules in this VoD, and there is 0% aggressive intent here - I will defer to what the community deems best. I'm working to improve my Rank 1 PB anyway)

New balloon trip categories? You have my vote! 🎈🎈🎈

Привет, идея создать дополнительную категорию для режима BALLOON TRIP интересная, данная категория которая уже есть хорошая но она короткая, но слижком длиную тоже как мне кажеться не стоит делать, а в целом главное что бы был интерес у людей играть в новую категорию, так что я за данную идею. Посмотрим что думают другие игроки.

Hello, the idea to create an additional category for the BALLOON TRIP mode is interesting, this category that already exists is good, but it is short, but it seems to me that it should not be too long, but in general, the main thing is that people would be interested in playing a new category, so I am for this idea. Let's see what other players think.

Firstly, about rules for top 1 rank they will stay for reasons mentioned in this thread: https://www.speedrun.com/balloonfight/thread/6sk8b . I'll repeat here in clear way: reset before next attempt is required for most NES games, showing this reset on video as well especially, when there are doubts about run being legit. Main reason is to not manipulate RNG via save states, which should be disallowed in any way, since it's not possible to do so on original console with original cart. That's why without seeing reset, we are not sure if someone e.g. didn't start from save state after doing few attempts, since he discovered that more favorable RNG is present in that manner. As long as he do soft reset at least, top score resets and with it requirement for top 1. As for categories, Top 1 rank will stay as main category of balloon trip mode, since it's natural goal set by the game (and it works that way in some other NES game to get the initial top score), not any aribitrary goal set by runners like 100k or any other. That doesn't mean, that adding 1 or 2 additional score categories for balloon trip is bad idea, just not too many of them to not overwhelm board with random categories. 100k category seems initially like good idea, so it may be added as secondary category to balloon trip mode under miscellaneous. Also, I encourage you and any other runner of balloon trip mode to reset before next attempt or at least have a proof (in case of no reset between attempts), that there was reset, which led to submitted run after some attempts and there was no save state used anywhere for reasons mentioned earlier.

This may have been not clear to new runners I agree so I added new point to rules explaining this: "This category is about getting Top 1 Rank, NOT 25k points, so reset is required between attempts to reset Top score, as reset is generally required for NES speedruns"

And of course there is no need to reset before EVERY run, only if your Top score above 25000 🎈 BTW great run Seirea!

There is no need, but it is encouraged to do so. It's not big effort at all and makes it much easier to spot, that run is fully legit.

I'm glad there is interest for additional Balloon Trip categories, if only 100K for now. Thanks for all the quick responses.

It's a relief to hear that resetting after every run isn't -required- outright, for Balloon Trip specifically. If game resets after every run were required, most of the runs under 55s would be invalidated, because the RNG is very very similar after a game reset, and it's almost impossible to achieve a time less than 55s unless you keep trying again after deaths.

I'm aware of the general NES speedrunning rules, and understand the need for provable legitimacy. I would be willing to highlight two videos for my Balloon Trip PBs - one video which is the PB by itself, and another that shows the last game reset, so it can be proven that there were no save states used in between.

It's ok, since you are streaming and it's easy to see your full attempt session anytime, if needed. It's mostly required to show , when there is e.g. great run out of nowhere without earlier history from unknown speedruner, who never run anything before.