Nyan Balloon is an animated pixel NFT collection by the creator of the iconic Nyan Cat video, one of the internet's most beloved memes.
Artist Chris Torres launched the collection based on his 2011 video, 8-bit Balloon Kitty, featuring a pixelated cat rising into the sky with a balloon. This concept acts as a prequel to the Nyan Cat meme, where the same cat flies through space to Japanese pop music with a Pop-Tart body, leaving a rainbow trail behind.
Before the official minting, Christopher revamped the 8-bit Balloon Kitty, changing the orange balloon to a red one from the rainbow palette to better connect with the classic Nyan Cat. He crafted the other unique animations in the Nyan Balloon series by hand using Macromedia Fireworks, a vector and raster graphics editor he's been using for over 20 years.
To launch the collection, Torres used the renowned NFT platform Manifold. In seven hours of minting, he managed to sell 21,191 NFTs (featuring the cat with the red balloon) with a limit of "no more than three per wallet." The minting cost was 0.0077 ETH ($15 at the time). The unique feature of Nyan Balloon is the ability to burn initial NFTs to receive new, more exclusive designs.
Torres kicked off a 5-day event where NFT holders could exchange their red balloon tokens for different colors at no extra cost. Each color (orange, yellow, blue, green, and purple) was available for one day only. On the sixth day, he introduced an entirely new design, which could be minted by burning three standard Nyan Balloon NFTs. This created a quasi-deflationary digital series (at least until the red balloon tokens run out), as new exchangeable designs are still being introduced.
Additionally, users can utilize their Nyan Balloon NFTs as characters in two popular decentralized games: Nifty Island and Pixels Online. In Nifty Island, players can interact with each other, build personal islands, and battle, while in Pixels Online, they can create farms, join guilds, complete quests, and more. Overall, it remains a classic collectible NFT series.
Christopher was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the collection gained attention. People began using it as avatars on social media and creating derivative art, such as Joe Palfreeman's work. He also appreciated other NFT projects adopting his burning mechanism to create rarer tokens.
Before the official minting, Christopher revamped the 8-bit Balloon Kitty, changing the orange balloon to a red one from the rainbow palette to better connect with the classic Nyan Cat. He crafted the other unique animations in the Nyan Balloon series by hand using Macromedia Fireworks, a vector and raster graphics editor he's been using for over 20 years.
To launch the collection, Torres used the renowned NFT platform Manifold. In seven hours of minting, he managed to sell 21,191 NFTs (featuring the cat with the red balloon) with a limit of "no more than three per wallet." The minting cost was 0.0077 ETH ($15 at the time). The unique feature of Nyan Balloon is the ability to burn initial NFTs to receive new, more exclusive designs.
Torres kicked off a 5-day event where NFT holders could exchange their red balloon tokens for different colors at no extra cost. Each color (orange, yellow, blue, green, and purple) was available for one day only. On the sixth day, he introduced an entirely new design, which could be minted by burning three standard Nyan Balloon NFTs. This created a quasi-deflationary digital series (at least until the red balloon tokens run out), as new exchangeable designs are still being introduced.
Nyan Balloon Collection. Source: Official OpenSea website.
As a result, Christopher’s NFT collection gradually decreases in number, becoming rarer since obtaining a new design typically requires burning three standard (red balloon) NFTs. At the time of writing, approximately 13,400 NFTs remain, featuring 26 unique designs: balloons of various colors, different cats, or almost entirely new images. The floor price depends on the rarity of the visual design, but the standard NFT design (with 3,679 pieces left) is available for just 0.0078 ETH ($30), with a creator royalty of 4.2%.
Additionally, users can utilize their Nyan Balloon NFTs as characters in two popular decentralized games: Nifty Island and Pixels Online. In Nifty Island, players can interact with each other, build personal islands, and battle, while in Pixels Online, they can create farms, join guilds, complete quests, and more. Overall, it remains a classic collectible NFT series.
Christopher was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the collection gained attention. People began using it as avatars on social media and creating derivative art, such as Joe Palfreeman's work. He also appreciated other NFT projects adopting his burning mechanism to create rarer tokens.
