King and Balloon/Walkthrough

The start of the round
Each round will start, with a formation of exactly forty-two balloons: twelve red ones in the first row, twelve orange ones in the second row, ten yellow ones in the third row, and eight white ones in the fourth row. In order to proceed to the next round, you have to destroy every one of them with your cannon - which can be hit and destroyed any number of times, but will always be resurrected a second later. Try to use this to your advantage as much as possible, especially in the later rounds where more balloons will break away to attack your cannon at a time.

When balloons attack
After a short while, the balloons will start to break away from the formation and descend upon your cannon while firing a hail of bullets down at it. It is necessary to eliminate them with your fire, because if one manages to land under the castle battlements where the King is randomly walking back and forth, it will pick him up and try to carry him away. If it succeeds, it will cost him a life when he reappears - and because he only gains one extra life in the game (at 10,000 points by default), you should try not to let this happen by any means possible.

Save the King (if you can...)
The only way you can stop the King from being carried away by the offending balloon is by shooting it down - and if you succeed, the King's umbrella will open as he descends down to his position underneath the battlements. All the remaining balloons will then stop attacking momentarily and give you a clear shot at the whole formation, so you should try to pick off as many of them as possible before they resume their assault on both your cannon and the King. It is also possible to destroy all the remaining balloons while they have stopped attacking.

The danger of giant balloons
Once per round, three of the balloons (each one a different color) will meld together in order to create a giant balloon that takes three hits to destroy. Hitting it once makes it become a medium-sized balloon, and hitting it a second time reverts it back to being a normal balloon. However, if you haven't destroyed it by the time it lands under the castle battlements, it will split back up into its original form of three normal balloons (or two, if you've only hit it once). If you've hit it twice, the resulting normal balloon will land under the battlements and pick up the King in their usual way - however, you will still have to shoot it down as it is carrying him away, because if it succeeds, it will cost him a life (or the game, if that life was his last life).