Yuji Naka's Balan Wonderworld

Yeah, Yuji Naka has more justification to be considered one of the main creators of Sonic than Inafune has to be considered the "father" of Mega Man.

Edited by M84 on Apr 20th 2021 at 12:18:55 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised

He co-created Sonic and since he was a programmer, he's the reason behind the physics of the classic games.

YO. Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie.

In hindsight he probably wasn't the best suited to making a more traditional 3-d platformer. None of the games he is well known for, including Ni GHTS, was a traditional 3-d platformer.

And it's not like he could have asked around Squeenix for more advice on this regard, since Squeenix isn't known for 3-d platformers either.

Edited by M84 on Apr 20th 2021 at 12:23:51 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised

Huh? He produced both Sonic Adventure games and Billy Hatcher.

Mega Man fanatic extraordinaire

Neither of which have aged too well, even if they got their charms.

I didn't follow the development of this game too closely so I guess I was holding out hope this would be pretty good or at least charming. Sucks to hear it came out pretty shit. But actually reading up on things, it makes sense. And I'm not happy about it.

Edited by AyyItsMidnight on Apr 19th 2021 at 9:34:28 AM

Self-serious autistic metalhead who goes by any pronouns. (avvie template source)

Note the words "is well known for".

Going back to this game, one thing even detractors seem to like is the title character Balan himself. It's kind of sad that he's only playable in a QTE minigame — and not even a particularly fun or creative QTE minigame.

Too bad he couldn't have been a playable character in his own right like Ni GHTS was in their games.

Edited by M84 on Apr 20th 2021 at 12:36:59 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised

You'd think he'd stick to 2D games, especially since he supported Sonic Mania.

I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.

Yasuhara I reckon is more of a bigger contributor, and there's a reason he antagonizes him a lot. Also Oshima is his partner in crime, and guess who is the guy heading Arzest

Death is a companion. We should cherish Death as we cherish Life.

You know, considering their previous works were on handheld systems like the 3DS and Mobile phones. I don’t exactly think Arzest was equipped to do a game like Balan Wonderworld.

Check out Rogues Gallery Transplant: The Game

Funny enough, some theories went around that Balan Wonderworld was originally conceived as a mobile game. The control scheme is simple enough, most of the animations being heavily recycled and unrefined, the strange case of introducing keys close to costumes (scrapped microtransaction purchase?), etc. Not sure if it really was the case but funny thing to think about.

He was the level designer.

YO. Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie.

Yeah he designed the game levels, and somehow Naka shat on him and even called his contribution worthless lol

Death is a companion. We should cherish Death as we cherish Life.

Ah, in-office politics.

Disgusted, but not surprised

What exactly were the office politics?

I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.

Was checking out the website and found the chapter listings have posters in the top-right corner. Really makes me feel like this should've been a cartoon or something.

Also, does anyone know why the farmer from chapter 1 is frequently nicknamed Farmer Ted? I see that a lot.

Edited by lalalei2001 on Apr 20th 2021 at 2:44:49 PM

The Protomen enhanced my life.

The artwork for the costume creatures or whatever they're suppose to be looks pretty nice. Definitely some Sonic Adventure/ Billy Hatcher vibes with a slight hint of Pokemon.

Something about not wanting to share credit space with Yasuhara. Go look it up.

Edited by Ookamikun on Apr 20th 2021 at 8:48:42 PM

Death is a companion. We should cherish Death as we cherish Life.

SnapCube called him that while playing the demo and I believe it caught on.

Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢

There's a valuable lesson to be learned here: If you're going to appeal to the widest audience possible, maybe don't juxtapose single-button controls, simplistic levels, and no dialogue with Guide Dang It! moments, needing a novel to understand the story, advertising solely on name cred, and removing tutorial dialogue.

The Protomen enhanced my life.

God damn, the powerups, one literally just turns you into a cube

Dang. I knew this game had problems, but I didn't think it was for squares.

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

The Box Fox? Not only does it turn you into a box that has a tendency to slide off to your doom, you can't even control the transformation.

It happens at random. In a platformer.

Sure, the tanuki costume in Mario 3 was kind of silly, but at least you could control the statue transformation!

Disgusted, but not surprised

What in the world...

Death is a companion. We should cherish Death as we cherish Life.

Jeez, it's like watching a spider trapped in a toilet bowl trying to climb out, and then someone hits the flusher...

That reminds me, there's a spider costume in the game too.

It also sucks, if not as bad as Box Fox.

Disgusted, but not surprised