Balloon World

Balloon World (often acronymized as LBW) is a game mode introduced to Super Mario Odyssey on Version 1.2.0. It features Luigi as the host.

Gameplay

The game is played very similar to Koopa Freerunning, being timer-based and in a different scenario from the usual post-game one. Additionally, the Odyssey is removed, and the Kingdoms in which it is played in are the same as well. It also cannot be played with Assist Mode on.

The game has two modes, Hide It and Find It. Hide It gives Mario 30 seconds to move freely around the Kingdom's overworld until either the time is over or the player presses the ⯇ input. The balloon will be uploaded, the place where Mario was last standing being where the balloon will be placed. The hide time for the balloon is thirty subtracted by the lowest amount of time left on the timer when hiding the balloon. Meanwhile, Find It allows the player to try finding and hitting, with Mario or Cappy, uploaded balloons, with a slightly higher given time than the hide time. Balloons can be accessed by either finding them in a Kingdom's Find It menu or pressing + at the menu to type in a Mario-Maker-2-esque Kingdom-specific Balloon Code.

A very important feature of the game's gameplay is that every three coins gives an extra available second to hide or find a balloon. Balloon placements that exploit this rule are typically called "coin routes".

This chart by Ceave Gaming shows conversions between hide times and find times. Because of random find time increases by two for hide time increases by one, some hide times are more desirable than others.

Balloons cost Coins to find, but give over three times the amount of Coins they cost. Due to this, Balloon World is one of the most efficient coin grinding methods. One Kingdom where the game is playable will always have a "special bonus" where players can spend and earn more Coins. The special Kingdom is dynamic, random, and changes every few hours.

It is still unknown what makes a balloon fully disappear. Some suggest a balloon has to be popped in the same time it was hidden or less, others suggest a balloon needs to be popped at least three times by the same person, and others suggest the balloon has to be uploaded for three months.

On the first time playing the game, Luigi will give a tutorial on the general game, Hide It, and Find It's rules.

Ranking system

Balloon World has a ranking system of its own, with which players can fill stars in a checklist to get an incrementally higher rank. There are a total of fifty fillable stars and five objectives, ten stars for each objective. The objectives are Coins Earned, Number Found, Number Found in a Row, Coins Earned, and Others' Tries. A higher rank makes the cost of finding a balloon more, but also increases its reward. Once the highest rank of 50 is reached, the balloons Luigi wears will turn gilded.

Trivia

• Some examples of Balloon World pioneers include xMELOSx and Checkerchamp.
• Concurrent professional players include Andrew Math and Pro gamer 9.
• The large coin stack at Captain Toad's area in Lost Kingdom is typically reduced when playing the game to avoid easily being able to get anywhere in the map in a small amount of time; however, the coin stack can still be accessed if it was not used before in a save file. Once the coin stack is used, the player will no longer have the ability to use it in the game on that save file. This has led to some people making a zero-second balloon on a faraway spot, which has led others to believe they are hacking.
• Contrary to popular belief, Nintendo Switch Online is not required to play the game; as a matter of fact, only a linked Nintendo account is needed.

Further reading

• Balloon World on MarioWiki