Playable Vectrex game
About Spike's Water Balloons (Analog)
Catch and return falling balloons in John Dondzila’s analog-controller revision of Spike’s Water Balloons.
- Collection
- Games
- Classification
- Independent / homebrew
- Catalog year
- 2001
- Programmed by
- John Dondzila
- Designed by
- John Dondzila
- Publisher
- Classic Game Creations
- Genre
- Action, Catching game
- Players
- 1 player
- Research confidence
- verified
- ROM editions
- 1
- Browser controls
- Keyboard, joystick, or gamepad
Development and history
Spike’s Water Balloons began as part of John Dondzila’s 1996 All Good Things compilation, inspired by catching games such as Kaboom!. The analog revision later appeared in Vectopia and related releases.
The new input mode was designed around the Vectrex analog controller, giving movement more continuous positioning than digital left/right steps. It also kept Spike active as a recurring homebrew character.
This page uses one stable canonical URL for the title and loads its embedded ROM directly into the emulator after the Vectrex BIOS is ready.
Gameplay and background
Move Spike horizontally to catch or strike falling balloons before they reach the ground. Analog input provides finer positioning; a modern gamepad stick is the closest browser equivalent.
How to play in Vectrexia
- Move with the Arrow keys or WASD. Compatible controllers can use the left analog stick or D-pad.
- Vectrex buttons 1–4 map to Z, X, C, and V, and to the standard face buttons on most gamepads.
- Press a controller button after connecting it so the browser can expose the gamepad to the page.
Audio may begin after the first click, key press, or controller input because browsers can restrict autoplay.
Research sources
Available editions
Alternate dumps and revisions share this canonical page to avoid duplicate search pages. Choose a specific edition from the in-app Library.