Lost In Translation/King & Balloon

About The Game
King & Balloon is an arcade video game.

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.

Trivia
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.

Updates
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

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * Sony PlayStation (1998, "Namco Museum Encore") (Japanese release only)
 * Sony PSP (2005, "Namco Museum Battle Collection")


 * Computers :
 * MSX