Overview
- Number of Players
- 2
- Genre
- Release Date
Nintendo Switch
26th Mar 2021
26th Mar 2021
- Also Available On
- Official Site
- nintendo.com
Reviews
Review Balan Wonderworld (Switch) - A Charmless, Confusing Fossil From The Creators Of Sonic
A relic of another age
Balan Wonderworld is a strange game. Mascot platformers were all the rage around the turn of the century, but that fad has long since died off. Yet here comes a brand-new seemingly high budget entry in the genre that feels straight out of 2001 (not in a good way) and it’s produced by Square Enix no less. Unfortunately, Balan...
Screenshots 22
Accessibility Features 10
- Assists
- Controls
- Visual
- Audio
- More Details
Accessibility data by Family Gaming Database
Balan Wonderworld News
News Sonic Co-Creator Yuji Naka Could Face Over Two Years In Prison
Veteran developer admitted to insider trading
Former Sega and Square Enix developer Yuji Naka could face a prison term of two years and six months in relation to the insider trading trial held in Tokyo, Japan, as reported by denfaminicogamer (thanks, Time Extension). In addition, Naka may be fined 2.5 million JPY along with a surcharge
News Yuji Naka Appears To Admit Guilt Over Insider Trading Case
Trial now in session at Tokyo District Court
Yuki Naka, the former head of Sonic Team, is now standing trial at the Tokyo District Court over charges of insider trading after an investigation at Square Enix. The creator had allegedly invested in development companies based on information gained prior to it being made publically available, thus...
News Yuji Naka Has Now Been Formally Indicted Over Insider Trading Offenses
Developer was previously arrested twice
Update [Wed 28th Dec, 2022 12:15 GMT]: Following on from the arrests of Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka and former Square Enix employee Taisuke Sazaki, the two have now been formally indicted over alleged insider trading offenses. As reported by NHK (thanks, VGC), the two were charged for conducting insider...
News Square Enix Declines To Comment On Yuji Naka's Balan Wonderworld Lawsuit
Update: Square Enix's response
Update #2 [Fri 13th May, 2022 11:45 BST] As part of Square Enix's earnings briefings today, the company has confirmed it had a lawsuit case with Yuji Naka, but has declined to comment further. The only response the prominent Japanese developer gave was to say that Balan Wonderworld "is a game that we recommend with...
Soapbox In Defence Of Balan Wonderworld, 'The Worst Game Of 2021'
And after all, you're my Wonderworrrld
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on hot topics or random stuff they've been thinking about. Today, Stuart discusses his love and admiration of a game dubbed 'the worst' of the past year... Hello, my name is Stuart Gipp, and I think Balan Wonderworld is quite good...
News Balan Wonderworld Is Officially The Worst Switch Game Of 2021, According To Metacritic
The GTA Trilogy for Switch also made the top 10
We're at the tail-end of 2021, and that means awards are being handed out for the best (and worst) video games of the year. We've seen plenty of winners, but what about the games that didn't go down so well this year? If you're wondering what exactly were the worst games of the year, Metacritic has...
News Sonic And Balan Wonderworld Creator Yuji Naka Is Now Making Smartphone Games
Retirement can wait
One of the most underwhelming releases in 2021 has been Balan Wonderworld - by Sonic the Hedgehog creator, Yuji Naka. This title reportedly had the potential to trigger epileptic seizures, was accused of featuring a
News Yuji Naka Parted Ways With Square Enix Following Balan Wonderworld's Release
Update: Is now considering retirement
Update: Following the widespread response to the news he left Square Enix, Yuki Naka posted a tweet with a short update, below. We've also included a translation shared by Gematsu, which broadly aligns with machine translations of the text. I resigned from Square Enix at the end of April,” Naka said in a...
News The Balan Wonderworld Demo Is Being Taken Down Today
Gone for good
The demo for Balan Wonderworld will be removed from the Switch eShop and digital stores across all consoles today, it's been confirmed. The news comes from the official Balan Wonderworld Twitter account, which notes that the demo will be discontinued at 23:59 JST on 14th April; the Steam version will also be taken down a couple of...
News Global Sales Data Suggests Balan Wonderworld Has Massively Flopped
The platformer fails to chart worldwide
When Balan Wonderworld was first revealed last July, we – and plenty of the Nintendo Life community, judging by these comments – were pretty intrigued to see how it would fair. The premise of a fresh 3D platformer from Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima, creators of Sonic the Hedgehog, was something we couldn't
About The Game
Welcome to a wonderous all-action show, the likes of which has never been seen before!
BALAN WONDERWORLD is a wondrous action platformer game themed around the Balan Theatre. Led by the enigmatic maestro named Balan, the stars of the show Emma and Leo will use special abilities from a multitude of characterful costumes as they adventure in the bizarre and imaginary land of Wonderworld. Here memories and vistas from the real world mix with the things that people hold dear.
Twelve different tales await our stars in the Wonderworld, each with their own unique quirks. They will explore all corners of these labyrinthine stages, filled with a myriad of tricks and traps, to get to the heart of each story.
Wonderworld exists in people's hearts and imagination
The setting for this tale is the fantastic, bizarre land of Wonderworld; a place where people's happy and positive memories mix with their restless worries and negativity.
Leo and Emma are led into Wonderworld by the mysterious clown Balan and set off on a journey to find what is important to them.
Before they can return to the real world, they must first restore the lost balance in their hearts...
Over 80 different costumes open up all the action you could want!
The stars of the show can use powers from the inhabitants of Wonderworld by wearing their colourful costumes, with over 80 different ones to try on!
Bash your enemies, walk in the air, freeze time or manipulate all kinds of objects... the possibilities are endless when you pick up a new costume.
Two Legendary Creators Reunite!
Come one, come all and enjoy the pinnacle of Square Enix storytelling in an all-action world of wonder created by the legendary Naka Yuji.
For the first time in 20 years Naka Yuji and Oshima Naoto join forces forming the BALAN COMPANY team; founded around, bringing together action game development, video and music production professionals from both inside and outside of the company.
Comments 4
Everyone complained about the character being stiff and not jumping far, if you give it just five minutes you find a rabbit... that can JUMP FAR!
Don’t expect a Mario game here! It’s not my kind of game but it’s not bad. People who like Banjo Kazooie would probably like it...
@stevep I get the feeling people would probably play Yooka-Laylee instead
This game is an absolute mess, like wow
The movement in this game feels unintuitive and just bad. The most important part of a platformer instantly doesn't work. Pathetic.
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