Hello Kitty World is a Japan-exclusive reskin and remake of the Game Boy game Balloon Kid that was developed for the Famicom in 1992. The game was co-published by Character Soft and Mario Co., a short-lived joint venture between Nintendo and the Japanese advertising agency Dentsu, and developed by Pax Softnica, the co-developers of the original game. Although the plot is different and some visual elements are changed, the game's mechanics, music and levels vary from being similar to nearly identical to Balloon Kid. The original game would go unreleased in Japan until the upgraded Game Boy Color port Balloon Fight GB was released in 2000.

The theme from Balloon Kid that plays when the final boss is defeated was later reused in the Game Boy Camera as additional background music. The composer of Balloon Kid's soundtrack, Hirokazu Tanaka, was also one of the composers for the Game Boy Camera's soundtrack.

Alice from Balloon Kid, while not Nintendo's first female main video game protagonist (being predated by Bubbles from Clu Clu Land and Samus from Metroid), was the first to be unambiguously female in all regions in which her game was released, as opposed to having her gender be a surprise reveal, or having an androgynous design and being assigned as female in a Western localization.

Balloon Kid has an unused graphic for the Eggplant Man from Wrecking Crew as an enemy.