- Creator Killer: This was Yuji Naka's first and only major project at Square Enix. Nearly a month after the game was released, he left the company, taking down his studio Balan Company with him.
He also said that he wouldn't be good at making JRPGs (Square Enix's bread and butter) and chose to instead create small indie titles for smartphones, but then in the following year, he was arrested twice for insider trading charges regarding Dragon Quest Tact and then Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, and eventually found guilty and given a suspended 2.5 years prison sentence which was later commuted to four years probation, sealing his fate for good. - Creator's Oddball: From a publishing standpoint. Square Enix, best known for their RPG games like Final Fantasy, have never published a 3D platformer before. Based on Naka's statements following release, Square Enix is not keen on venturing into this genre ever again, at least not with Balan.
- Dummied Out: This video showcases leftover content from earlier builds, including more drop and Tim colors, more multiplayer options, a bigger Tower of Tims, and tutorial dialogue.
- Follow the Leader: Part of the reason why Square Enix agreed to greenlight the title was because of the resurgent popularity of retro-style platforming and action games.
- Hostility on the Set: Not much is known, but if Yuji Naka's comments are anything to go by, his working relationship with Naoto Ohshima really went sour, with Naka claiming that Ohshima was among those who wanted him off the project... And a later statement shows Ohshima wasn't alone in that, as by the end, "the producer, the sound producer, the head of marketing, and the human resources department" all wanted him gone, leading to him being removed as director six months before the game's release.
- His first statement since his arrest for insider trading also saw him accuse former Dragon Quest producer Yu Miyake of lying in court and falsifying evidence and called for him to be removed from Square-Enix entirely, which, at the very least, indicates that Naka didn't have a good relationship with Miyake, either.
- Keep Circulating the Tapes: A month after the game's retail release, the demo was pulled from all platforms. Since the demo didn't do the game justice (and only consisted of the first world and boss fight) and the exclusive costume is now obtainable in the full game, it's not a huge loss.
- Magnum Opus Dissonance: Yuji Naka believed in this game so much that he named his development studio "Balan Company" for it. Not only would this game get middling reviews at best, but no version of the game would make it to the sales charts anywhere in the world, with the Switch version selling under 2,100 copies in Japan in its first week. Not helping this was the game releasing on the same day as the highly anticipated Monster Hunter: Rise (a franchise which is extremely already popular in that same country) and It Takes Two (2021), both games scoring and selling well across the board, and just a couple weeks after the Nintendo Switch port of the both better polished and cheaper Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. Additionally, the most acclaimed part of the game ended up being the prerendered cutscenes, which Naka was against including in the first place and which weren't handled by his company, instead being done by the people who rendered the gorgeous CGI movies in Final Fantasy XIV.
- Not Screened for Critics: Review codes weren't sent out before release and most reviews weren't published until nearly a week after release. They were not kind to the game despite this hiccup, to say the least. Regardless, the long delisted demo for BWW proved to be an effective warning against the game in place of the critics, and it shows in the sales numbers.
- Screwed by the Network: According to Yuji Naka, he was removed from the Director role six months before the game's release, locked out of any further work on the game, which he ended up suing Square Enix over. He claims this is because Square wanted to rush the game out the door while he pushed for the game to be given more time to develop; however, even his own recollection of events says that multiple team members, including "the producer, the sound producer, the head of marketing, and the human resources department", wanted him gone, suggesting more could be at play than just arguments with executivesnote . Regardless of who's at fault, losing the game's director during the critical last months of development undeniably did the game harm, and contributed heavily to how unpolished and unfocused the final game ended up being.
- Stillborn Franchise: Shortly after the game's announcement, Yuji Naka stated that Balan Wonderworld was his only chance of making a 3D platformer series for Square Enix, and whether it continued on would be entirely based on its reception. Sadly, it became a one-time show for Balan and friends after the game's critical and commercial failure, which led to Naka leaving the company on April 30th, 2021, only a month after Wonderworld's release.
- What Could Have Been:
- Soushi Kawasaki, the writer of the game's script and novel adaptation, was asked to create thirty to forty scenarios. Naoto Ohshima chose twelve of them, picking the ones that were the least dark in tone.
- Square Enix's designers in Visual Works petitioned for the chance to work on the game, which Naka was against because he wanted all cutscenes to be made using the in-game engine. He finally relented, and the prerendered cutscenes by Visual Works proved to be the least controversial part of the game.
- Tutorials explaining some of the functions in the hub world can be found in the game's code, portrayed as Balan talking. While these were cut, a vestige of this can be seen when Balan stops you from confronting the final boss before beating the other stages.
- The Crystal tears you find to feed the Tim's initially looked like smooth golden tear drops. While probably intended to look like small novelty golden good luck charms popular in Japan, it's also possible they were changed due to looking slightly like Solid Gold Poop. In the same shot as these, it appeared Tims had not only dark colors like browns and dark greens, but more defined features, like long tails ending in puff balls and bigger cat ears.
- Balan used to be more phantasm, according to a screenshot of a Balan Bout pose where he is transparent.
- Some designs of Balan were a lot lankier than the finished version, including a design that leaned into a more thin "cat in the hat" style with a longer top hat.
- Early on, there were more clear design nods to Studio Ghiblis iconic style in an unused cat character and some eggshelled birds that ultimately made it in. The tims also looked more like caterpiller-like puffballs
- Working Title: The game is internally named "Happiness".
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