When dealing in low-budget games that originated in the mobile space there’s always a bit of a challenge reviewing them fairly on Switch. Whether the issue is limited gameplay, poorly mapped controls, or just if conceptually it’s a good fit for a dedicated gaming platform competing for eyeballs, there are quite a number of obstacles to overcome. Balloony, just to complicate matters a bit, is essentially a platformer as well, ratcheting up the expectations further given the competition out there in the eShop. While it has some charm on its side, it still ultimately struggles for a variety of reasons.

Starting with the positives there’s no doubt that the game has a very family-friendly look and feel to it. Your character is cute, the stages you’ll move through generally have a fun atmosphere, and the play is approachable as a whole. Your capabilities are relatively limited, mostly focused on jumping, inflating yourself when necessary, and a turbo dash. Throw in the fact that you can enjoy the game together cooperatively and you have an experience that may be well-suited to parents playing with their younger gamers.

That said, there’s also no doubt that the game’s simplicity on multiple levels also tends to make the experience tough to get excited about. While I don’t tend to be a graphics snob, I will say that the very web-based Flash game look isn’t one of my favorites. On the whole I’d also say the stage design tends to feel generic overall and even repetitive, making gameplay feel stale pretty quickly. There are also just some elements that never fully made sense to me, or just felt off somehow, like it being hard to tell if your turbo is active or working and how you can clip into and get stuck on objects at times.

Taking it all into account, Baloony falls into that tough-to-score space where in the context of the Switch library the experience is underwhelming, but at the same time its intended audience may find it appealing. The elements that more seasoned gamers may balk at could actually be a plus in some cases, depending on your perspective. Regardless, among its peers there’s no question that Baloony is simply a less ambitious offering than most and the results, while pleasant, don’t make a great case for your attention.