Balloon Fight was one of my favourites, and it has earned that title among many others.
Why do I still play it? Because of the gameplay. It's new, it's fun, it's easy to handle, and it has some turns and twists to keep you interested. I mean really, what isn't fun about piloting a man with balloons over his head and smashing into things? Tense situations within flight, risky maneuvers, all of it was a blast. Although it wasn't easy to conquer, it was certainly worth the effort.
Onto the music. The main theme from the balloon trip mode, which I'll get into more later, is so popular that it made it's way to the super Smash series as one of the pieces of music in sound test mode, and in custom stage design. Balloon fight still remains in musical spirit to this very day. Heck, I've made several brawl stages that have the balloon fight theme going. It's a lively, bouncy piece that has a bit of an exotic feel to it at the beginning. I give it a thumbs up in this area as well.
Now, replay value. This is where the balloon trip comes in. This sucker is impressively hard to beat, but again, gives you something extra and is worth the time. To my friends at the time, it was certainly something I could show off. Nowadays it seems a little odd to say it out loud, but it's still fun to accomplish. Not only that, but the game was so fun for me, that I just kept playing the main game over and over again. I still do. Replay value for this game is one of the best replay values of the NES era.
Now, onto my final note. This game wasn't great on the virtual console, but it was put into Animal Crossing, it was put into the Smash series, and it's was boldly put on the GBA as a classic remake. I've even heard people say they should put it on the DS. Despite what some people call an odd little game, I thought, and still do think, that this game was one of the most successful games that NES was graced with. An instant classic, a solid creation, an immersive experience, one description doesn't even begin to fit this masterpiece.