Ninja Kiwi and the Bloons TD Series: Which One Should You Play?
Published · 2 min read
Ninja Kiwi is a game studio from Auckland, New Zealand, started by brothers Chris and Stephen Harris. Their early Flash games went out under the Kaiparasoft name, and the one that made them was a tiny game about a monkey throwing darts at balloons.
Bloons (2007)
The first Bloons is not tower defense at all. A monkey stands at the side of the screen with a few darts; you aim with the mouse, hold to set the power, and try to pop enough balloons to clear the level. It has 50 levels and a handful of special balloons, and it is still on this site as Bloons.
Bloons TD (2007)
The same year, Ninja Kiwi turned the idea around: the balloons move along a track and the monkeys become towers. Bloons TD has one map, five towers — Dart Monkey, Tack Shooter, Ice Tower, Bomb Tower and Super Monkey — two upgrades each, and 50 rounds. It is the simplest game in the series and the best place to learn how it thinks.
Bloons TD 2 (2008)
The sequel added more tracks to choose from and more towers, and kept the look and the mouse-only controls of the first. If Bloons TD felt too short, Bloons TD 2 is the natural next step.
Bloons TD 3 (2008)
Bloons TD 3 widened the tower list again and made the rounds harder, with more tracks and tougher bloon mixes. Many players remember it as the one where the series found its difficulty. Play Bloons TD 3.
Bloons TD 4 (2009) and the Expansion
Bloons TD 4 is the one that introduced the MOAB — the Massive Ornary Air Blimp, a huge blimp that releases more bloons when it pops. The graphics were redrawn and the towers got deeper upgrades. The version on this site is an HTML5 port of the Flash game, so it runs without Ruffle. The BTD4 Expansion added new tracks on top.
Bloons TD 5 and 6
Bloons TD 5 (2011) brought monkey upgrade paths and special agents, and Bloons TD 6 (2018) moved the series to 3D and to paid apps on phones, PC and consoles. Both are sold by Ninja Kiwi and are not on this site.
Which one first?
Start with the original Bloons TD on the home page: one map, five towers, and a game you can finish in a lesson. Then move to BTD2 for more maps, BTD3 for a harder game, and BTD4 when you want the MOAB. If you just want to pop balloons for five minutes, the old Bloons dart game is still the quickest fun in the series.
Ninja Kiwi owns all of these games. This is an independent fan site and is not affiliated with Ninja Kiwi.
More from the blog
- Bloons TD Tips: Every Tower, Every Bloon, and Where to Put Them
What each of the five towers in the original Bloons TD actually does, which bloons ignore which attacks, and a placement plan that gets you past the yellow rounds.
