Balloon World
This article is about a game update that has just been released on February 21, 2018. Major changes should be made by a contributor who has a reliable source.
This notice should be removed after a month has passed since the game update was first released.
Balloon World[1] is a minigame that appears as part of an update for Super Mario Odyssey, released on February 21, 2018.[2] The minigame can be played by completing the main story and finding Luigi near the Odyssey in any of the kingdoms besides the Cloud Kingdom, Ruined Kingdom, Dark Side and Darker Side, and talking to him.
This minigame features two different modes: "Hide It" mode and "Find It" mode. In "Hide It" mode, the player has thirty seconds to hide a balloon somewhere in the kingdom. The player can choose to place the balloon before the time runs out or they can restart to try and find a different hiding spot. However, players cannot place a balloon high in midair or above pits and instead the balloon will be placed as close as possible to where the player tried to hide it. In "Find It" mode, the player has a set amount of time (up to 40 seconds) to find a balloon hidden in a kingdom. To help the player, there is an arrow pointing to the direction of where the balloon is located as well as a meter counter that will decrease or increase depending on how close or far the player is from the balloon. However, the arrow will disappear after a few seconds and the player can make it reappear by standing still. Collecting three Coins while either hiding or finding balloons will increase the timer by one second, collecting Coin Stacks can sometimes increase the time by two seconds instead of one. The player cannot enter into different areas that require warping in either modes and will return to the main area with Cappy saying they can't because they're in the middle of a game.
Balloon World also features a ranking system, which shows the statistics of the player, such as how many Coins they received and how many balloons they found in a row. The player's rank is represented by stars, which are awarded for each objective that is completed. Each time the player ranks up, they receive a huge sum of Coins; the higher rank they become, the more Coins are awarded, the harder it will be for the player to find balloons, as more difficult are more likely to appear for higher ranked players. For every 10 stars collected, Luigi will gain new balloons for his case. At first, he only has a red balloon, but at 10 stars, he gains a blue balloon. At 20, he gains a yellow balloon, at 30, he gains a green balloon, and at 40, he gains a purple balloon. If all 50 stars are earned, Luigi's balloons become golden and begin to sparkle, similar to how the Odyssey's sail turns gold and shiny after collecting all 880 Power Moons.
The player earns stars in five sections. In Find It, there is a section for the number of coins collected, the number of balloons popped, and balloons popped in a row. In Hide It, there is a section for coins collected and the number of tries other players take to find the player's balloons.
If online, a notification appears if other players try to find the player's balloons (green border), if one of the player's balloons is popped (red border), or when more coins can be earned than usual in a certain kingdom (black border). These notifications can be switched off in the Options menu. If an attempt is made while online and not in Balloon World, the player will automatically receive their coin reward, along with a notification displaying the user who made the attempt, and whether the balloon was popped or not.
The balloons used in this minigame have images of the player's Nintendo Switch profile icons. Additionally, the time of day and weather in some kingdoms change when playing this minigame, such as the Cascade Kingdom taking place at night and the Metro Kingdom taking place during a rainstorm.
Locations
| Kingdom | Starting point | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Cap Kingdom | Top-Hat Tower | Same as before |
| Cascade Kingdom | Fossil Falls, top | Nighttime |
| Sand Kingdom | Tostarena Ruins Round Tower | Sunset |
| Wooded Kingdom | Observation Deck, rooftop | Nighttime |
| Lake Kingdom | Inside Water Plaza in front of the Crazy Cap store | Nighttime |
| Lost Kingdom | Rocky Mountain Summit's eastern base | Daytime |
| Metro Kingdom | New Donk City Hall Plaza | Rainstorm |
| Snow Kingdom | Northeast islet | Blizzard |
| Seaside Kingdom | Glass Tower base | Daytime |
| Luncheon Kingdom | At the entrance to Peronza Plaza | Clear |
| Bowser's Kingdom | Inner Wall | Cloudy |
| Moon Kingdom | Ringing-Bells Plateau | Same as before |
| Mushroom Kingdom | In front of the entrance to Peach's Castle | Midday |
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | バルーンファインド[3] Barūn Faindo |
Balloon Find | |
| Chinese | 发现气球 (Simplified) 發現氣球 (Traditional)[?] Fāxiàn qìqiú |
Find the Balloon | |
| Dutch | Ballonnenjacht[?] | Balloon Hunt | |
| German | Ballonjagd[?] | Balloon Hunt | |
| Italian | Caccia ai palloncini[?] | Balloon Hunt | |
| Russian | Мир Шариков[?] Mir Sharikov |
Balloon World | |
| Spanish | Mundoglobo[4][5] | Balloon World |
References
- ^ GameXplain. (January 11, 2018). Super Mario Odyssey - Luigi's Balloon World Free DLC Update! (Nintendo Direct). YouTube. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
- ^ Official Nintendo of America Twitter
- ^ Nintendo. (January 23, 2018). Nintendo Direct mini 2018.1.11. YouTube. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
- ^ https://twitter.com/31HorasMex/status/966549606623571969
- ^ http://www.nintenderos.com/2018/02/super-mario-odyssey-recibe-el-modo-mundoglobo-de-luigi/
- ^ https://youtu.be/nyD5BjHXJ88?t=387
