Balloon (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Balloons are an item from the  series that appear in some Dream Events in the Mario & Sonic series. In the Sonic the Hedgehog series and some Mario & Sonic games, Balloons function similarly to airborne Item Boxes and allow the player to collect items when hit, though in other games Balloons serve different purposes.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Balloons appear in the Nintendo DS version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, where they appear in Dream Basketball and Dream Shooting. In Dream Basketball, when collected, Balloons cause all of the player's baskets to be lined up to perform combo shots. When Balloons are obtained in Dream Shooting, the power of the player's shots are increased for a short amount of time and deal double damage to tarets.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
In the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Balloons appear instead of Item Boxes in the Individual and Team versions of Dream Ski Jumping and the Individual and Team versions of Dream Gliding.