Red Balloons

Victor about to burst a red balloon.

The collectibles from the various Grand Theft Auto games are represented in the form of red balloons in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. This is a reference to the 1984 hit song by Nena called "99 Luftballons" ("99 Red Balloons"), which was featured in the radio station, Wave 103 in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

There are 99 red balloons across Vice City, which the player has to search for and burst with a gun. The player has to use manual aim for most of the balloons and some can be placed so high up that the player is forced to use a Sniper Rifle to get a decent aim. Each tenth burst (except for the last set, which has only nine) rewards the player a new weapon delivered to the back of the safehouses. A new feature in Vice City Stories allows the player to keep a record of which red balloons have been burst.