Bloons Tower Defense
Bloons Tower Defense is a series of tower defense games under the Bloons series created and produced by Ninja Kiwi. The game was initially developed as a browser game, built upon the Adobe Flash platform and released in mid 2007. Later games in the series expanded to support various mobile platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DSi, Windows, Linux and MacOS. Games in the Bloons series older than Bloons TD 6 are available through the Ninja Kiwi Archive on Steam.
In the game, players attempt to prevent "Bloons" from reaching the end of a set course by placing towers or road items along it that can pop the bloons in a variety of ways, typically by using the power of monkeys, magic, or technology. A handful of towers can stall the bloons and give the other towers more time to pop them by freezing and gluing the bloons. Money is gained by popping bloons, completing rounds, and collecting bananas from existing banana farms which can be spent on new towers, upgrades for existing ones, or temporary items such as exploding pineapples and road spikes. They also need to make sure that they do not lose all of their lives.
Gameplay
The main objective of Bloons TD is to prevent Bloons from reaching the end of a defined track on a map that consists of one or more entrances and exits for the bloons. The game is a tower defense game and thus the player can choose various types of towers and traps to place around the track in order to defend against the bloons, gaining 1 in-game dollar for every layer of bloon popped. If a balloon reaches the end of a path, the player loses lives ; once these are all depleted, the game ends. The bloons always follow the map's set path on the track until they either reach the exit, are popped, or are moved to an earlier part of the track by a tower's ability.There are three classes of bloons in the game: regular, MOAB-class and Boss-class. As of Bloons TD 6, the regular bloons consist of: red, blue, green, yellow, pink, black, white, lead, zebra, rainbow, purple, and ceramic bloons. MOAB-class bloons are in the shape of a blimp and consist of: the MOAB, the BFB, the DDT, the ZOMG, and the BAD. Tougher variants of most bloon types contain a number of specified weaker ones. In later versions of the game, regular bloons possess sometimes special characteristics such as camo, regrowth, and fortified, that resist certain tower types. With each level, the intensity of bloon waves proportionately increases. There are also boss levels, with tough bosses such as Blastapopulous, Bloonarius, Dreadbloon, Lych, Phayze, and Vortex. These bosses usually appear after 39 rounds. Bosses have very high health in normal boss mode, and have unique abilities. Some bosses have their own strengths and specials. Some installments have challenges, where you have special things.
Towers
Towers, most of which are monkeys, are the main defensive utility in the Bloons TD series. Each tower has its own unique purpose, power, and use, with some being powerful against specific bloons but unable to target others effectively. Every tower can be upgraded to increase power and other capabilities by spending the in-game currency, known simply as 'money', which is earned by popping bloons and at the end of each round. In Bloons TD 4 onwards, certain towers such as banana farms can be placed to produce additional money during a round.
In later games, there are multiple difficulty levels; for instance, in BTD5, there are four difficulty levels and in Bloons Monkey City there are six. The higher the difficulty the player plays on, the fewer lives they have and the more each tower and upgrade costs. There are also different types of maps rated by difficulty; in general, there are more types of maps in newer games.
Main entries
There are currently six released numbered games in the Bloons TD series apart from various add-on packs and spin-offs such as Bloons TD 4 Expansion and Bloons Monkey City. The newest release, Bloons TD 6, was released on June 14, 2018. The series was retitled from Bloons Tower Defense to Bloons TD in 2009 due to infringement on the Tower Defense: Lost Earth trademark owned by Com2uS.There are currently six mainline games, and many spin-off games based primarily on the Bloons Tower Defense series.
''Bloons Tower Defense''
Bloons Tower Defense is the first game in the BTD series, released on August 16, 2007, as a free flash browser game. In this first entry, players must defend against waves of different bloons with a small roster of towers which the player can position around the map. Bloons have a varying amount of layers, with each layer being pierced revealing the layer underneath until the bloon has been completely popped. If all 40 lives are lost, the game is over. If all 50 waves are passed, the player will win the game.The game has 5 towers, the Dart Tower, Tack Tower, Ice Tower, Bomb Tower, and Super Monkey, which all appear in future Bloons Tower Defense games with minor name changes.
''Bloons Tower Defense 2''
Bloons Tower Defense 2 was released soon after in October 2007, adding new towers, multiple map options, new bloons, and an option for the game's difficulty.''Bloons TD 3''
Bloons TD 3 was released on September 5, 2008, months after the release of Bloons Tower Defense 2, named differently due to a trademark dispute with Com2uS. As with the second game, new towers, bloons such as the M.O.A.B, and maps were added.A version based on this game was released for iOS titled Bloons TD; made available on October 3, 2009, from the iOS App Store. This version had extra maps styled in snow and beach themes, and included OpenFeint achievements.
The game included five map packs, containing a total of 15 different levels to play, with packs unlocked by completing the previous levels. This version of the game was also released for the PlayStation Portable in 2010.
Another version of the game, simply titled Bloons TD, was released for DSiWare in 2011, containing 50 rounds to complete.
''Bloons TD 4''
Bloons TD 4 was released on October 26, 2009, as an online freemium game with a proprietary iOS version released on December 7, 2010, developed in conjunction with Digital Goldfish. A sandbox mode allows experimentation with weapons and enemies, a new bloon called the B.F.B, and an apopalypse mode makes the gameplay continuous without pausing between levels.The gameplay underwent changes including a graphical update, the ability to save the current game, and the introduction of an unlock-based leveling system. The tower upgrading system received various changes including increasing the number of upgrades per tower, and new maps and game modes were added. With the introduction of these new maps, water tiles were available, a mechanic which allows you to place the new Monkey Buccaneer.
iPhone and iPad versions of this title have been purchased over one million times. A version of the game was also released as a DSiWare game in 2012.
On July 8, 2010, Bloons TD 4 received a standalone "expansion pack" called Bloons TD 4 Expansion which added the Dartling Gun and Spike Factory towers, both of which would remain in future games, 4 new tracks, a new game mode called "Deflation", and a new "Tower Specialties" game mechanic. The latter allows the player to specialize in a certain tower type.
''Bloons TD 5''
The original Bloons TD 5 was released on December 13, 2011. The proprietary version of BTD5 was released on iOS worldwide on November 15, 2012, for iPhones and iPods with improved graphics and additional upgrades, tracks, towers, and bloon types. On November 19, 2014, it was released on Steam.Bloons TD 5 Deluxe was released on January 27, 2012, for US$19.99 during the promotional pre-order period. This offline Flash version of the game added 2 new towers, 6 new tracks, 4 ported tracks from Bloons TD 4, a "moving tower platform" mechanic, three new "Special Agent" towers and four additional "Special Missions". All of the game's premium features, which were paid for with the "NinjaKiwi Coin" digital currency in BTD5, were also made into free unlockable options that could be unlocked with the in-game earnable currency. This version of the game also has high-resolution graphics. An update for the mobile version of BTD5 added a new tower called the "Monkey Sub". The submarine was later added to the online version on July 22, 2015. Bloons TD 5 Deluxe was discontinued and made no longer available for purchase in November 2014 in favor of the newer Steam port, which all owners of Deluxe received for free through e-mail.
As with previous games of the series, the player has to protect the exit against enemy Bloons by using various monkeys and monkey-operated machines placed in strategic locations to fight them off effectively. Compared to earlier versions of the series, there is a wider variety of different towers and their upgrades.
This game also has an unlimited round free play mode, which can have bloons with increasing strengths until the Z.O.M.G type M.O.A.B-class bloon. Speed and health ramping also buff the blimp hp throughout the rounds. The Steam/Mobile version has two special mode bosses, the Dreadbloon and Blastapopoulos. The iOS, Android, and Steam versions have 15 languages: English, Arabic, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. On March 3, 2017, it was released for Microsoft's Xbox One, later releasing for PlayStation 4 on May 9, 2017, and Nintendo Switch on June 13, 2018, all of which cost US$14.99.
This game also has daily challenges. There are 2347 daily challenges on web. The first challenge was released on January 27, 2012, and 'The Final Daily Challenge' was released on June 30, 2018.