Balan Wonderworld is a SCAM! 

I think dunkey summed it up best when he said "it started out as an actual video game, then they realized they wouldn't have enough time to actually make it good, so the devs started trolling each other and putting in these shitty power-ups, and then it just became contest of who can make the shittiest power-up imaginable."

You know what's the worst part of this game? Yuji Naka specifically made the game a 1-button control scheme "because kids would get confused with multiple buttons". That's how little Balan thinks of its player.

I like how “box fox” is literally just the default cube in unreal engine with a little hat on top

Who in their right mind thought it would be a good idea to create a power up where you can just randomly lose control of your character and fall off a cliff and die?

you know it's tragic when people BEGGED the higher-ups to delay the game so it could be better

It sucks that AAA devs will say "oh well Balan Wonderland sold poorly I guess puzzle platformers are bad again let's cancel our planned one"

This game and Cyberpunk 2077 are prime reasons why you shouldn't assume a game's quality based solely on who's developing it.

A mobile game that somehow passed as a console game, without changing the mobile imposed control schemes.

I lost it at “this girl gets into a fight with her dolphin and they break up...you know... because that happens to all of us.”

My kid brother was smart, he played the demo and hated it. Said the graphics were terrible, the player character moved too slow and that he hated how every button was jump. Glad he learned to dodged a $60 bullet.

he turned himself into a box, funniest shit I've ever seen.

To quote Angry Joe: “Better games have been canned and never released.”

For anyone who has a Nintendo Switch and wants to play this game in _some_ capacity... _JUST PLAY THE FREE DEMO_

thank god there was a demo for this so I knew not to buy it

“Mom, can we get A Hat In Time?” “No, we have A Hat In Time at home.” A Hat In Time at home:

Putting out a demo was both the best and worst possible thing for this game. Edit: Now the demos being pulled for some mysterious reason.

This game makes Mighty No. 9 look like a worthy successor to MegaMan.

This makes you realize how good decision it was for Metroid developers to restart the entire Metroid Prime 4 project from scratch because they feel like it wasn't up to their standards

it feels like the entire game’s budget went to the art/cutscene/modeling teams and the gameplay/programming side of the game was given $5 and one week to make a full game

Fun fact: The team that helped make this game is also responsible for Yoshi's New Island. Suddenly, it makes more sense that this game is an absolute train wreck.

That fox box wizard is hilarious and a good sign that the devs thought this would end up becoming a bad game halfway through and so they started meming.

When you buy A Hat In Time on the Deep Web:

“This one girl like gets ina fight with her dolphin and they break up????” LMAO WHAT

Some kid got this game over breath of the wild for his/her bday. R.i.p

"This other girl... gets in a fight with her... dolphin? And they break up... which, y'know happens to the best of us."

This is one of those rare games I wouldn’t mind calling bad without even playing it.

And this game is why i live by the phrase "Your hard work is apreciated but if it's shit it's shit"

"Naka was given the go-ahead for the project by Square Enix due to his experience with platforming and action titles, but was told it was his *"one chance" with the genre with them"* Guys I think he fucked up big time.

Because of the way how it looks and it's controls, I strongly believe it was meant to be a mobile game but they decided they could totally just make it into a full release.

That Box Wizard *actually* gives you a reason to blame the game and not yourself because you had ZERO controll over your fate

"Box Fox: A fox magician that randomly turns himself into box"... I'm actually angry that something like that exists in a game for $60. What the hell were they thinking?

Why, WHY, WHY DOES THIS LOOK LIKE AN ALPHA?! The cinematics, the trailers, the previews looked so damn promising. Wth?!

Omg the difference between the cute scene and the actual gameplay. OH MY GOD.

It disappointed me because I really like some of the character designs.

It is so sad that this game is so trashy, because Balan looks really great as a character and the idea behind this game is also cute. I would totally play it, if it would be better...this game could have been really fantastic.

I feel like the only person who looked at all the promotional materials and the only thing I walked away with afterward was thinking it was called "Balan Wonderland".

if you didn't know, the final boss of this game used to cause seizures. it has been patched something after the incident. so, basically before they fixed the issue, whenever the boss did an attack (which was that one attack where it removes part of the floor if i remember correctly) the screen would start flashing pretty quickly for a short time. there is a video out there that was recorded before it was patched, but i would avoid watching it if you suffer from epilepsy.

Apparently they put the story, you know the most important part of most video games in a separate book that people also have to buy. Which is one of the dumbest business decisions that I have seen for a new game.

Haven't played it, never would of. I'd assume it would be a game for kids based on how it looks. Based on the video, the disappearing characters when you get close to them looks so annoying to me.

“You’re probably gonna get a few masochist sales” is such a good line

‘Mom can we get Mario?’ ‘We have Mario at home’ *mario at home*

i'm pretty sure the $60 is for them to pay the animators that worked for the trailer

So sad to see Yuji Naka falling so hard, the dude is pretty creative but something went terribly wrong here

Worst part is they removed the T-poses.

Balan Wonderworld may have been a bad game, but it was at least Yuji Naka's punishment for leaving Sega and Sonic Team back in 2006

I can’t speak for the balan sections or the level design, but I have a few ideas on how to fix the costumes: 1. Two buttons- one jump and one attack AT THE LEAST 2. Relegate mobility to hats and attacks to costumes; this would allow the abilities to stay simple but create depth in a mix-and-match system 3. Don’t tie abilities to hp: once you have it, you have it. Or: go the LEGO star wars approach and have a free play mode where, once you beat a stage, you can replay it with whatever costumes you want instead of just what’s in the level proper

Judging from the cutscenes and the actual game play, they must’ve spend all the budget on the cutscenes.

I hate how the annoying fox thing could have a clear visual cue that notified you it's about to act up and be a fun handicap on a level, but instead is just.. "I receive your time and effort, you receive random box powerup".

Okay, but the suddenly turning into an uncontrollable box is hilarious. Like a final fy from the devs.

Judging by the one-button scheme and the slow as fuck movement, I'm pretty sure Balan Wonderworld was meant for smartphones lol and scope changed halfway through developments

"People worked really hard on it." I can guarantee you that those people got paid and don't give a fuck about the product after it's been released. I've worked in the industry. I did my job, got paid, the game was released, then I got moved onto the next project and I forgot all about the previous one.

"I shit you not,he turns himself into a box. Funniest shit I've ever seen."

Yuji Naka hasn’t been the same since he left Sonic Team. It’s unfortunate how the mighty has fallen...

This should have been an open word game mixed with puzzles all around the town where you would have to help others with their dreams by traveling to different towns and completing quests

I've never been annoyed by a game by just watching a review.

This is not just a case of quantity over quality, its a case of looks over gameplay. Visually the games art design and aesthetics look appealing, but gameplay wise it just does a piss poor job.

On Balan Wonderworld, what I think happened here is actually pretty simple. It's what I used to call the Spielberg effect: When Spielberg made a good movie, studios release their controls on him thinking he learned the lesson. Spielberg then makes a bad movie, and Studios tighten controls gain, resulting in a good movie. To bring that back to Balan, the last time Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima collaborated was Sonic Adventure in 1998. So take a moment and look back at the problems that that game had - the clunky controls, camera-boss, the one-trick characters, the poor storytelling (The only computer that's powerful enough to crack this is in the President's Limo!)... yeah. A big part of how Sonic Adventure got so big back then despite all of these flaws was because it was a new thing, those were problems common to the 3D adventure platformer genre back then. But nowadays most devs know better. But these two went back on what they know from the last time they worked together, and went for that same standard. Normally when a game is going as off the rails as this one did, one of two things happens: either the publisher steps in and say "no, this isn't going to fly", or one of the underlings does - The first one didn't happen because of how Square Enix does business when working with "legendary" directors and designers, they basically give them a budget and keys to the animation studio and say "have at" - this usually works out well for them. No underling stepped up because of Japanese business culture - you don't challenge your boss, especially if they are "legendary". I believe Yuji Naka is in the same boat as Spielburg - he has a fantastic vision and a lot of ideas, but can't tell the good ideas from the bad ones and needs a team that can filter for him, and in this case he had too much control, and no producer oversight. We see the same thing elsewhere, when we have people or products where "every other one is good" - see Microsoft and Windows, Woody Allen movies, etc.

this is what happens when square enix produces a game on a schedule and then meet that deadline

I wish the levels had personality. Li kg w the underwater level being claustrophobic with coral hands trying to grab you to show the fear the water girl had. Or that her final boss wasn't a basic evil fish. Either it's the dolphin trying to drown us or her in the hospital bed lashing out.

The game may be bad, but the “balan” guy looks really cool.

I can't wait for Matt's inevitable "Wha Happun?" video on this. I need to know what happened with this. The whole one button thing and the balan sections make this feel like a bad Chinese knock off mobile game version of whatever the real game is.

Oh boy, I remember when people shat all over Yooka-Laylee for having far fewer problems than this. I mean, at least in Yooka-Laylee, you could see the devs were actually trying, whereas in this, it's just... godawful. I played the demo, and while I can definitely see more redeeming qualities than you did, I still agree that it is absolutely a mess. And not the good kind of mess.

Ok so hers my idea for the story of this game, not might be the best, but I like it more: So basically, same idea of you going around, fixing others problems, but you have some of your own. Instead of being a small child you are a teenage girl, and you have to take care of your brother after you parents died or something. You tend to push things too far, doing everything for him and not doing much for yourself, and always feel like you are not enough. So.. this whole "Balans Wonderworld" thing seems like a breath of fresh air. You quickly get back into the scheme of helping out others as Balan orders, but you don't really mind. The world's are pretty, and it's a ok. As the game goes along, the levels get more challenging and warped, as represented by your mental fatigue, and Balan gets more crude and pushy. Still, you do what you are ask. Little cutscenes through the story reveal more and more about your own story, and your clients that you help,, their struggles begin to mirror your own as it goes along,, with each one getting harder to surmount.. Eventually, at the "last" level Balan asks you to do something you just can't, and as you confront him you realize he is your own personal demon you must confront, and he becomes the final battle. Said battle would be multitudes more difficult than the rest if the battles,, but possible to overcome if you used tactics introduced in every other stage that was unique to that stage.. Afterwards you leave, hang out with your brother, and treat yourself a little better. Or something like that isk

I don’t get parents and grandparents always accidentally buying shitty games, growing up whenever it was birthdays or Christmas and I was going to get a fame as a present, my mum would always make me make a list of all the game’s I liked the look of so they could pick from them

The fox box makes the Spring Mushroom look fun and innovative. It might even be worse than the Star Ball levels with motion controls. Edit: Still better than the bubble though....God I hate that bubble

Ngl when he explained how to worlds work I said to myself "So basically Persona series?"

"Some kid is gonna get this game as a gift." *Because Mario 3D All-Stars was delisted!*

Mario, Sonic, Crash, Sly Cooper, and Spyro the Dragon are looking at this game and laughing. Someone make a meme of this please.

this game turned out like the presentation I gotta do for homework but I need to finish it during the bus ride to school since I havent even started yet...

Give it ten years... The Angry Video Game Nerd will rip it to shreds when it gets that old.

Im at a loss for words at the Fox Box power up. This game was not made by some starter indie dev...it was made a veteran,the people who made sonic no less. Why did they thought a power up like that would even be fun!? Even a child could tell that a "power up" that makes you lose control of your character at random was a bad idea.

Balan Wonderland May suck as a game. But Balan himself looks absolutely amazing by his design.

Okay. I have an explanation for the absence of your jump while wearing costumes. The devs came to the point where they saw that you could easily break the game with the costume powers AND the jump . And instead of fixing the game and changing the world they just said "fuck it" and disabled your jump.

I’m just kinda sad that so much potential goes down the drain after the first cutscene It looks like the “great idea, bad execution” bug bit Yuji Naka

How dare you insult a masterpiece like this! This game will be shared by generations as the greatest achievement in human history!

Man that’s sad it actually looked promising

The Wha Happun of this game is gonna be fun

5:52 I felt every ounce of the pain he felt here.

Liking and commentating for the algorithm so that parents / grandparents can see this video and get their kids a better game.

Fans after the demo: DELAY THE GAME! DELAY THE GAME! Square: What’s that? Release the game? Well, let’s do it! We gotta release it while the hype is up!

I feel like no one is talking about the animation in this game. Like, look at 1:19, what the shit is that running animation? And when you get new costumes, It looks like a default Unreal engine dance

A game who makes Sonic Forces look good. I never though I would see the day.

The 60 dollar price tag is still ridiculous even if it was decent.

If you’re going to spend $60 on a platformer, just get hollow knight instead for you and three of your buddies.

It's not a scam. Its ARZEST. They have literally never made a game that could keep a humans attention for more than 30seconds.

I remember people saying this game was going to change gaming. This game should had been $15-20 dollars max for a indle title. This is the biggest scam since Kill La Kill IF when it came out at full price of $60, and that game could had actually been good.

Lets be honest, this game will be used in game design classes as a prime example of everything you shouldn't do when making a game.

Fox Box sounds like it should have been a joke reward you get for 100%ing the game so you can replay it from the beginning with an extra challenge. What puzzles can that even solve?

How hard is it to just use two buttons? This is a platformer. There is no excuse to replace your jump command with a single gimmick when you can just assign the most basic skill of any game in the genre, jumping, to a different, constant button.

I hope Balan doesn’t become a tumblr sexyman or some kinnie heartthrob because I can see it happening and it’s terrifying.

that box fox had me dying lmao

Inb4 fans start praising this game 10 years from now.

If a legend from Japan makes a comeback, whether if it's a person or a group of people, you better hold your excitement a bit.

this game just worked to slander yuji naka's reputation.

Between this game and Yooka Laylee, the 3D platformer genre takes another hit.

As I figured when we saw the demo go up months ago, Yuji Naka has added himself to the Icarus Fall list. A list brimming with the people who MADE our childhoods, who helped build who we are as gamers, swaggering into the indie scene and immediately slipping on their own casually tossed banana peel. What a sad, dark timeline.

**ChiGuy upload notification appears** WHAT DID THEY DO TO UPSET MY BOY NOW?!

I think the thing that makes me most angry at Balan Wonderland is that while playing the demo, despite constantly thinking “wow this game is really terrible”, it pokes this one spot in my brain that wants to play more and complete it. I don’t understand. I might actually give in to the madness if it wasn’t, as you said, a full fucking $60 game, that should be considered a war crime.

Those people saying "they worked really hard on it!", yeah that's why they CHARGE 60$ for it! They're not underselling their work but they also FAIL to deliver and that's where things become an issue.

the only fun thing about this game was grabbing the little puff birds and throwing them off of the island and the box fox