Timber's Balloon Pop

Diddy Kong Racing DS -- Timber's Balloon Pop was an online -powered advergame released by Nintendo to promote Diddy Kong Racing DS. It was listed along with other Nintendo-related web advergames in the Nintendo Arcade section of Nintendo's official website.

The player takes control of Timber, with Diddy Kong himself only making a cameo in the introductory screen. A mugshot of Wizpig is used as the game's icon in the Nintendo Arcade, though he is not present in the game.

Gameplay
The main character has to pilot a plane between an endless series of bubbles moving across the screen. The player can move the plane around using the mouse. There is a score which increases regularly with 10 points as the player advances. Along the way, Timber can collect a variety of items, the most common being red balloons that add 200 points to the score upon being collected. Blue balloons, numbered from 1 to 4, also appear frequently; popping four in this order grants Timber a burst of invincibility, allowing him to pass bubbles without getting harmed. There is no penalty for collecting blue balloons in the wrong order, though they are not worth any points. Less common items are keys, which turn all bubbles on-screen into red balloons, and Silver Coins, which make bubbles disappear.

Bubbles differ slightly in size and gradually come in larger numbers, making the game increasingly difficult. Touching a bubble results in a loss and will redirect the player to a screen which shows both the score of the current game and the highest score achieved. On the same screen, the player can select to replay the game.

The music that plays throughout the game is the theme of Hot Top Volcano from Diddy Kong Racing DS.

External link

 * Gameplay video on YouTube