Balloon Pop (Wii)

Balloon Pop
Also known as: Pop! (EU), Rainbow Pop (JP) Developer: Dreams Publishers: UFO Interactive (US), 505 Games (EU), Interchannel (JP) Platform: Wii Released in JP: September 4, 2008 Released in US: October 23, 2007 Released in EU: February 29, 2008 This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has regional differences.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

One of the first strategy puzzle games that was oddly the result of a cancelled Pop’N Pop port, Balloon Pop involves matching three or more balloons with your Wii Remote to pop them, all the way to December.

Unused Audio

Present in bg02.brstm. Purpose unknown.

Regional Differences

• The publisher’s screen is changed on boot depending on the region.
• The international versions have a Licensed by Nintendo screen before the publisher’s logo
• Some text changed in the story cutscene between versions (e.g. "Floating deep in space" instead of "In a distant galaxy far far away" in the first line):

US	Europe

• The Japanese version uses a mix of the English font (SnowDream) for English text, and a different rounded font for Japanese characters. The American version uses SnowDream all the way, and the European version uses a more generic rounded font for almost all UI elements (obviously for other European languages besides English) with the Licensed by Nintendo screen being untouched.
• The "Press A Button" text is no longer all-caps in the European version, while the Japanese version extended the text between two images, removing the blinking effect.

US	Europe	Japan

• Waiting on the title screen in the Japanese version will soon take you to an image detailing how to play the game before restarting the intro cutscene. Other versions go to the Licensed by Nintendo screen instead.
• "Hi-Score" is referred to as "High Score" in the European version.
• After beating the game, the "Congratulation!" screen has a slightly different animation in the Japanese version.
• The credits are changed respective to the regional changes (except that the Japanese version keeps English credits).
  • The above change reveals that the Balloon Bandit is renamed to the Balloon King in Japanese, assuming you don’t understand Japanese or skipped the intro cutscene.
• When getting a new high score, the text above the mushroom says "Goody" in international releases.

Oddities

• The cover art of the Japanese version references an online function via Nintendo WFC, but no known online functions are in the game.
• Despite being a 4:3-only Wii game, the HOME Menu and Wii Remote safety screen at the beginning are in widescreen.