King & Balloon (c) 1980 Namco.
The player controls 2 green men (likely soldiers in the king's army) with an orange cannon that fires at squads of descending balloons. You must protect the king and prevent him from being captured and carried away by one of the balloons. Unlike most shooter games, the player's cannon can be hit and destroyed any number of times; it is the king that must be protected. The game ends when the king is carried away 3 times.

>>> TECHNICAL DETAILS
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Main CPU : Z80 (@ 3.072 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Z80 (@ 2.5 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Tone generator, discrete circuits, and a DAC for speechs
Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 224 x 256 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.61 Hz
Palette colors : 16
Players : 2
Control : 2-way joystick
Buttons : 1 (FIRE)

>>> TRIVIA
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Released in June 1980.
King & Balloon is the first game from Namco to feature voices.
Kevin Olkowski holds the official record for this game with 48,900 points.

>>> GAME UPDATES
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The voices differed between Japanese and U.S. versions. In the Japanese version, the abducted king yelled 'Help! Help!', but with heavy Japanese pronunciation, sounding more like 'Herupuu!'. In the U.S. version, the voice was redone as a more English-sounding 'Help!'.
- SCORING -
On single balloons, first score is in formation, second score diving or rising, third score is rising with King in tow.
Red Balloons : 50, 100, 150
Orange Balloons : 40, 80, 120
Yellow Balloons : 30, 60, 90
White balloons : 20, 40, 60
On combination balloons, first score is first hit, second score is second hit, third score is third hit. First color is balloon color, second color is line/gondola color
Red/White : 500, 1,000, 1,500
Orange/Yellow : 400, 600, 1,000
Yellow/Orange : 300, 500, 700
White/Red : 200, 300, 500

>>> GAME PORTS TO OTHER SYSTEMS
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* Consoles :
Sony PlayStation (1998, 'Namco Museum Encore') : Japanese release only
Sony PSP (2005, 'Namco Museum Battle Collection')
* Computers :
MSX

>>> OTHER GAME RESOURCES
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Game's rom.
Machine's picture.