Balan Wonderworld Review

[@Darklordjadow1]

BREAKING NEWS: Yuji Naka is no longer employed at Square Enix! So like... ouch!

[@elin111]

A lot of Balan videos joked about that happening, but when it does happen it doesn't feel like a joke.

[@Pc_98_Fan]

So it's like the developer/lead designer of Marvel Avengers leaving his group, and that was Square Enix too

[@lightspeedmurphy7546]

It's so weird how 2 days prior came this review, then Matt Mcmuscles' let's play, and now this

[@Redjoekido]

Too bad. He sure fucked up with this game.

[@InternetFanboy]

DLJadow can you do a review of the deadpool video game.

[@KaoruMzk]

As someone said on Somecallmejohnny’s review: “do not fear the man that maps every action to one button, but the man that maps every button to one action”

[@Darklordjadow1]

Re-Uploaded to solve a teeny tiny little copyright claim problem. If you could re-comment, that'd be nice...

[@dexoverse4622]

That's understandable

[@InhumanFan98]

Another great vid :)

[@dakotaisgreat]

Commenting for algorithm

[@youtube-kit9450]

Probably was for a joke, but Balan either doesn't speak in japanese or such a garbled version of it that I don't understand. So japanese players will feel equally as lost lol.

[@noahbusch7542]

So, which game is next, jadow? Is my only question.

[@shnick1990]

The ending not having any subtitles is actually worse when you consider that the language spoken is not full on Japanese, but a made up language that supposedly uses elements of both English and Japanese

[@ForrestFox626]

That is random

[@GreenTomas2372]

It sounded like a mix of French in between

[@mttylerdurden9]

They did that same thing for the gravity rush games. It was a hybrid of japanese and french

[@kc_9970]

Here's what he said (it's from the novel, if you haven't read it): kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6W1cq1tjMuEbck

[@erainmartinez8175]

That's dark 19:45

[@NebLleb]

"Oh, it looks like Mysterio is behind this!" *YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE, MAKE YOUR TIME!!!*

[@NeiyonSpyder]

The costume problem could've been solved by just having like 20 suits that do multiple things and don't vanish with one hit. And also just unlocking a suit that does everything be the endgame. But what do I know, I'm not a game designer.

[@Keyfur91]

You’re not a game designer but you have more common sense than these developers did.

[@shcdemolisher]

Yeah even the makers of the main stream lego games know that.

[@tylern6420]

​@@Keyfur91puppeteer on the PS3 handled it much better and in that game they actually gave you permanent powers

[@magee_gameplay]

All you get for beating the game 100% is a cutscene of a golden balan trophy dancing 💀

[@Darklordjadow1]

Ah, cool; thanks. So not missing a damn thing.

[@elin111]

Even the dumbest of kids can figure out "A: Jump, B: Power-up", but Yuji Naka seems to think that because the Sonic games on the Genesis from 30 years ago only use 1 button that means EVERY game should only use 1 button too. I remember the early 3D Sonic games kept running into the problem of having too many actions mapped to a single button so you kept getting killed because the game registers the wrong action.

[@junglezone7323]

Yeah for some reason that problem kept appearing all the way into Sonic Colors.

[@ddjsoyenby]

yeah plus games were more simplistic back then out of neccesity they've changed.

[@DinoDave150]

I mean games back then were much simpler in terms of design and controllers didn't have that many buttons. But nowadays, where platformers can be simplistic but still retain a form of depth, AND controllers have at least 8 buttons on them, there is no excuse why a game this simplistic and this bland should exist. Let alone be sold for $60.

[@elin111]

You can play Mario Odyssey with only 2 buttons while still having a wide array of movement options and a skill ceiling for what you can do with that very simple moveset.

[@DinoDave150]

@@elin111 Not to mention in Mario games the power-ups are an extension of what Mario can do. They're not often required to beat a stage, just help you out. In Balan, the power-ups *are* what you can do, right down to jumping. Imagine if in Mario, you could only jump as regular Mario, but when you got the Fire Flower, all you can do is chuck fireballs, nothing else. It just completely shits on the pacing and fun you could have.

[@mlpfanboy1701]

20:03 here is the thing i dont think time magically rewinds. In the cutscene. What is actually happening is before she never looked back. When she did she learns her cat was not run over.

[@Darklordjadow1]

That makes sense... also another scathing indictment of how the team wasn't as good at storytelling without spoken dialogue as they thought they were!

[@InhumanFan98]

The novel expanded so much. Sad they didnt include anywhere in game

[@robertwoods3871]

Nah, the 80 costumes were way more important than telling a complete story

[@InhumanFan98]

@@robertwoods3871 including multiple copys of the same ability tbh 😂

[@ddjsoyenby]

i know this game is for kids, but even kids would be bored by this there's a difference between fun simplistic and feeling lazy simplistic.

[@Majokodomo]

Heck, Mario is for kids, yet it's fun for not just them, but older gamers as well. Balance fails at being fun for ANYONE (well, except maybe game journalists and people who only like easy games)! -_-

[@ddjsoyenby]

@@Majokodomo agreed it seems like the designers here failed to understand why those old school platformers still hold up.

[@farcry223]

I’ll watch this again since it was a great review and you’re one of my favorite KZbinrs

[@Darklordjadow1]

Thanks! I am honored!

[@MunkyDrag0n]

Getting everything in the third act changes the Balan model in the end of game dance sequence to the one with his hat off. That's it...

[@DinoDave150]

That sounds about as bad as getting a postcard for 100 percenting Super Mario Sunshine.

[@MunkyDrag0n]

@@DinoDave150 At least 100 percenting mario sunshine is fun, blue coin collection aside.

[@DinoDave150]

@@MunkyDrag0n The watermelon festival, pachinko, roller coaster, and lily pad missions say otherwise.

[@tylern6420]

@@MunkyDrag0n The NES Metroid has more ending "states" than this. And it came out 36 years ago! Thats nearly 40 years and we still havent learned.

[@johnbakasmoothhotchocolate]

I laughed at the fact that when I went shopping at Target the week before and came up to Balan Wonderworld in the electronics section, they had the nerve to want to sell this game for $49.99. It didn't help that they had a full stock of it in the store, too.

[@ScalyTomate]

You need to buy an e-book to get the full story of the game? Yeah, they really were snorting something while making it.

[@edgelordleon5859]

Why did I get reminded of how Elite Best Agents was a game about male/female dance mobs helping people fight aliens, find sunken treasure, and babysit Satan, but also had a mission where you helped a dead Dad reconnect with his wife and daughter when you brought up the "stories" of this game? ... Do... Do developers think that's how tone works?

[@shinigamainako8663]

From what I've heard the stories chosen for Balan Wonderworld were the 12 least dark stories that Naka was given after he asked someone else to make 40 potential stories for worlds. Maybe the same thing happened with Elite Beat Agents?

[@Mobysimo]

So many years later, and Yugi Naka still does not understand that controllers have more than one button

[@Darklordjadow1]

I mean, Sonic's nemesis Mario has been using at least two buttons since before Sonic was born!

[@tylern6420]

@@Darklordjadow1 and now its funny that mario now uses B to jump Yeah, the next time i play a platformer game, imma try jumping with B.

[@Darklordjadow1]

@@tylern6420 The Switch and some of the other platforms are tricky, because B is put in the bottom button slot where it's a lot more ideal for jumping.

[@tylern6420]

@@Darklordjadow1 also did you ever see a jojo stand barrage 22:25 when you mess up because youre tired of being screwed for 1 mistake is a jojo reference if you look back carefully

[@ladyaceina]

fun fact the girl has a different story than the boy hers is she is a lonely rich girl and the maids talk about her behind her back and it makes her ad turns out the maids where throwing a surprise party for her yes her maids spent there money and time to cheer up the rich girl

[@Pyraticalpunk]

Finally!! Someone compared balan to Mario odyssey

[@johnbakasmoothhotchocolate]

God, that thumbnail is the face of nightmares.

[@devonwilliams5738]

I'm surprised that the ending is the same for both genders when they recorded different variants of the intro for each combination of gender and skin tone.

[@dustinj918]

Between this and The Quiet Man, Square is starting to prove that any game they make that isn't Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts is doomed to fail.

[@Darklordjadow1]

I tweeted recently that I'm dubious about the Square Enix Guardians of the Galaxy game that just announced because of... well, all of the above; and a very furious Final Fantasy fan began screaming at me to delete it.

[@gabrielneri2820]

Dragon Quest is good too, and every once in a while they make a neat old School RPG style game (like octopath traveler) I guess they have some curse that they can only make RPG's...

[@dustinj918]

@@Darklordjadow1 Yeesh. Sorry to hear that. Though it does make me wonder why a Final Fantasy fan is upset when then game isn't Final Fantasy, unless their defensive of Square.

[@dustinj918]

@@gabrielneri2820 That makes sense.

[@MunkyDrag0n]

Don't forget Avengers.

[@youtube-kit9450]

This just sounds like they made Kameo: Elements of power 16 years later and 50 times worse. I last played it at my friends' said 15 years ago, so my memory is hazy, but there you had 10 "suits" (elemental monsters you could turn into) that you unlocked one after the other in levels, they all had movesets that let them jump and attack and do something special like climb, go underground, root itself, swim etc., you could gather fruit to unlock further powers and moves for them and get additional costumes if you did certain things. Iirc you kept the monsters you could turn into and had some quickselection or something, and even without powers Kameo could defend herself. Such a dumbass move of that guy to say "80 moves" but only "1 move per character" instead of like "10 characters with 8 distinct moves you always keep and 8 costumes per character you can unlock". Seriously, "spiritual successor" is becoming a huge red flag just like "multiplayer/online only", "looter shooter", "live service", "battle royale" or something like that. NightCry for Clock Tower, Mighty Number 9 for Rockman, Balam's Wonderland for that jester, Yooka-Laylee for Banjo Kazooie (heard the second one was better)... Bloodstained was awesome, though.

[@theuone8828]

Yup, even Kameo did this better.

[@shis1988]

Thing is Yooka-Laylee isn't "bad", just primitive. And yeah TIL is way better... but it's 2D.

[@GreenTomas2372]

Balan Wonderworld is kinda like Psychonauts in some way. The levels are built around roaming into people’s minds, the multiple controls are all for using the powers you get in the game, the collectibles you get are all stockpiled into upgrades and aren’t useless and the game isn’t made for stupid kids

[@youtube-kit9450]

@@GreenTomas2372 You just described everything that Balan Wonderworld isn't.

[@ShogunGin0]

But, Krystal wasn't made by a Japanese company. Rare created her for Dinosaur Planet, and they're British. Shame on you, Ken. Not knowing your waifu's ethnicity like that.

[@gabrielneri2820]

This game should be used in game design classes to teach people how to NOT make a video game

[@A88mph]

Along with other "classics" like Superman 64.

[@GreenTomas2372]

"How to NOT make a video game". Tell that to whoever made Hunt Down the Freeman or Ride to Hell Retribution

[@lightspeedmurphy7546]

I forgot that this still existed and the last time remembered it was when Matt Mcmuscles did a video on it until now. And the fact that one of the music tracks sounds way too identical to the Ghostbusters score. Edit: First day, this review comes up. Second day, Matt uploads a let's play of the delisted demo. Third day, Naka leaves Square Enix............

[@mlpfanboy1701]

3:17 that tenticle monster is named lance. He was the original master of wonderworld and created balan. Lance became so absorbed by peoples negative emotions he took that form.

[@BurningAzure]

He actually says his name is Lance and that's only apparent in the ebook.

[@Darklordjadow1]

The name is listed in the titles of the cutscenes if you go back to the main menu to browse them. The actual backstory of him and Balan though is relegated to the book.

[@BurningAzure]

@@Darklordjadow1 And you shouldn't have to rely on supplementary material to get the full story. At least something like Honkai Impact 3rd had the decency to allow people to get the supplementary material for free, and implement it into the main story over time.

[@elin111]

@@BurningAzure Even back in the NES days where games had their plot and lore written in the manual, at least the manual came bundled in the game for free you didn't have to spend $10 on the manual.

[@BurningAzure]

@@elin111 And again, Honkai Impact 3rd at least has its manga that explains a good chunk of the backstory for free on the website

[@fromvault801]

After watching the review it just seems like another undercooked vanity project put out by a major publisher... Same publisher as Quiet Man

[@lightspeedmurphy7546]

The Quiet Wonderworld

[@KaoruMzk]

Btw, Balan’s speech at the end isn’t Japanese, it’s gibberish. I studied Japanese in college and I can tell you, what he’s saying doesn’t sound like Japanese at all.

[@Darklordjadow1]

That is friggin' bizarre. So now the question is: what the hell language IS he speaking? Certain parts almost sound... French, I want to say?

[@fromvault801]

I was lucky enough to be here before the foreseen copyright strike

[@jamesevans1897]

Same

[@alex_-yz9to]

"But thats not explained" should be the actual title of this game. Which would fit well because they FORGOT TO INCLUDE THE TUTORIAL WORLD WHICH WAS ACTUALLY SHOWN OFF ON THE SHITTING WEBSITE OF THE GAME. Seriously who decides to make a game and a story "Without spokem dialogue" and then not even attempt at explaining stuff! Nights told its story silently but the game mechanics still got some sort of explaination both in the manual and in some places of the game

[@Takimeko]

That's hilarious that they didn't bother to subtitle that ending speech. They didn't do an English dub, and couldn't even commit to having something as simple as subtitles.

[@elin111]

The game uses some made up gibberish language so you'd think subtitles would be important.

[@youtube-kit9450]

It's not japanese either, it's some gibberish.

[@alex_-yz9to]

Thats because rhe game has an english dub... But its locked behind BEATING A BOSS more than once... For every single boss

[@Takimeko]

@@alex_-yz9to Wait, it does have a dub? Is this just, like, the Japanese VAs speaking Engrish or an actual separate dub cast? Wait, you mean to tell me they LOCKed AWAY THE ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HE'S SAYING DURING THAT SPEECH UNTIL YOU MEET SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS??? OH MY GOD IT'S THE QUIET MAN ALL OVER AGAIN.

[@aditanasa2518]

What are you gonna review next?

[@Darklordjadow1]

Spider-Man Miles Morales is next, most definitively.

[@KorenLesthe]

Hm, I didn’t got the notification and the video didn’t showed up in my subscribed list. I’m glad I found it !

[@Kwatcher100]

At this point I’m tempted to say Yugi Naka should go crawling back to Sega, but given how this game turned out, I’m not sure that would be to Sonic’s favor.

[@kikicallahan3662]

25:41-25:56 where did you get those subtitles?

[@Darklordjadow1]

I made them up.

[@kikicallahan3662]

@@Darklordjadow1 how did you make them up

[@Darklordjadow1]

@@kikicallahan3662 I used my video editing software to add captions over the video that I thought would be funny.

[@kikicallahan3662]

@@Darklordjadow1 What were the made up subtitles meaning?

[@matthewbraith0411]

This game has one of you fave things... homework... the story is in a book XD well in this case the script. Edit: you just mentioned it XD

[@natejoe9924]

I might be the only one but I think I played almost every single nights into dreams

[@BurningAzure]

I know Honkai Impact 3rd does put multiple important plot details in the manga, but a) the manga mostly consists of backstory and not current events, b) it's available on MiHoYo's website for free with an in game way to read it, and c) the story and characters are still good even without delving into it (Durandal being the lone exception)

[@tylern6420]

Ah yes, the game before shin impact

[@BurningAzure]

@@tylern6420 Also my bit about Durandal being the only character that needs supplementary material to be well developed has not aged well at all. Thanks Chapter 28 Act 2.

[@tylern6420]

@@BurningAzure chapter 28???

[@BurningAzure]

@@tylern6420 Yes. Act 2 is pretty much entirely focussed around Durandal and she even gets her Palatinus Equinox suit after her backstory is fully revealed. It, much like a lot of the current story connects her to the events of the Second Eruption manga.

[@GreenTomas2372]

19:21 a few months later after Balan Wonderworld; Psychonauts 2 got released and did this way better

[@Hailstorm273]

Got anything special planned for Episode 200? Asking because that's coming up.

[@Darklordjadow1]

I do have something special planned for Episode 200. The lead-in will probably give away what it is, but I'm excited to try it anyway

[@TheJ13579]

2:56-3:08: Heard the book's actually pretty good. Probably worth a buy.

[@MyLandmasterAlt2]

Hey Jadow, do you have a PS2? There's a mega load of awesome and crappy games on the system that you should review

[@Darklordjadow1]

I do not have a PS2. A friend offered to let me borrow his though

[@MyLandmasterAlt2]

@@Darklordjadow1 Wow boy did you really miss out. I highly recommend that you a PS2, one of the best consoles of all time. Trust me, you won't regret that decision

[@NakaharaKimiko5375]

Yeah, I could list off a ton of PS2 games to recommend, both good and bad.

[@GreenTomas2372]

26:24 What clip is this from?

[@Darklordjadow1]

It's from the movie 1408

[@dexoverse4622]

Ooh another review time to get the popcorn

[@NeiyonSpyder]

Any chance we could get a link to that Krystal art you have as your ps4 background?

[@Darklordjadow1]

Just google "Scifi Cat Krystal Tribute"

[@NeiyonSpyder]

@@Darklordjadow1 Awesome. Thanks man!

[@demonarcher1661]

Since i hated myself and got the game day 1 I 100% the game Sword and Shield made me hate it after 5 hours Balan did that and more in 5 minutes. If I had time to write a reveiw it would be me screaming for 20 minutes

[@marshall1093]

I would be crying for 20 minutes

[@TheJ13579]

26:24-26:27. Where did this clip came from?

[@Darklordjadow1]

The movie 1408. It's a horror movie about a guy in a haunted motel room and based on a story by Stephen King

[@GreenTomas2372]

Has Darklordjadow heard of Ubisoft’s Watchdogs?

[@KentaroMiyamoto21]

I wanted this game to be good. I really did.

[@monkaWGiga]

One of the weirdest parts to me is that the story is decent but it's only part of a separate novel you have to buy that I 90% of people don't even know exist.

[@LanternsLight]

22:22 Bye bye balan! 😂😂😂

[@Intothevoid-NIB]

This game does actually have some spoken dialogue It's only during the songs after a boss fight And you have to 100% both levels in that world to hear it in english And it's just the same cartoony power of friendship shit

[@Darklordjadow1]

But again: Naka didn't want the game to be confusing

[@mkayrose6070]

Such a shame this game flopped so hard cause I love the art style and it looked like it had promising potential to be a good game. By the way, technically Krystal is a British character since she was originally made by Rareware during the development for Dinosaur Planet the original game that got turned into Starfox Adventures.

[@Darklordjadow1]

Well that would explain why the subtitles are wrong. It works out- people who speak Japanese tell me that Balan isn't speaking Japanese anyway. They claim he's speaking a made-up gibberish language.

[@flair541]

@@Darklordjadow1 it's also on screens with text, a weird, sorta backwards looking language.

[@JoeCool7835]

Hey, Jadow! You've made plenty of remarks about Nights. Since you now have an Xbox 360, you can play the original Nights Remastered (Downloadable), or you can check out the Wii-exclusive sequel. Have you considered doing either?

[@aditanasa2518]

The game has no dialog of any language, the game uses its own invented spoken language.

[@alex_-yz9to]

Nah ita just the game's not explaining nonsense, if you beat a bossfight once more you GET ACTUAL VOICE ACTING AND SUBTITLES... I AM NOT SHITTING YOU

[@mttylerdurden9]

2:46 probably enough to kill Grant Morrison and Alan Moore twice over.🤣🤣🤣

[@lightbluesquid]

What's even worse is how the final boss had those flashing lights that could cause seizures. Granted, that got patched out and Square urged players to download it, but it's quite boggling how this slipped through the debugging phase of development, wondering why Naka and the devs didn't fix it before release. Oh, the Switch version runs slowly. Mostly because of how poorly optimized the game runs on the Switch's hardware. Game didn't even make it to the eShop charts on first week of digital sales.

[@tylern6420]

The costume system kinda feels like Puppeteer on PS3, except in that game a lot of them only interact with an object for sparks or maybe a special stage (also it actually has special powers like a dash cut or a shield) You still lose a head after a hit but in that game, you have a few seconds to get it back if it doesnt fall off

[@syrexio]

Well, now I realize why this got labeled as the worst game of 2021... It's not a game! It's a shallow program file trying to disguise itself as a game where the only thing you can do is jump or obliterate the disk.

[@Hailstorm273]

If you want to do a Metroid retrospective, you might want to wait a few months now. Metroid Dread was just announced.

[@RichardPlaysStuff]

Simplistic platformers exist that aren't simplified for dumb as rocks kids like New Super Lucky's Tale and Tearaway. I just don't know why this game patronises the people that play it, then just is cryptic for the sake of it in regards to getting the Balan suit. It's style over substance and that really is a shame. Should've been a Netflix original or something.

[@catboygremlin]

damn, he really said the Woo's sports games were better than a AAA title.

[@elin111]

They haven't made a Salamangreat Hedgehog yet but if they did it'd probably be more useful than the one in this game.

[@Darklordjadow1]

I was torn on whether to use the "fake subtitles" joke that I went with, or to do a different one where Balan's organizing a Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament. "If you run Dark Dragoon, I will waterboard you!" "With my piss!"

[@elin111]

@@Darklordjadow1 Half the participants would get waterboarded because Dragoon is so ridiculously easy to throw into decks it has no business being in.

[@Darklordjadow1]

@@elin111 Yes; god bless Red-Eyes Fusion. Everyone thought it was shit until Red-Eyes got an actual good monster

[@elin111]

@@Darklordjadow1 Then they make a Link Monster that lets you use any fusion spell directly from the deck, that for some stupid reason they made so generic that literally any deck that can put 2 monsters on field can make a Dark Dragoon if they feel like it. Red-Eyes gets a good monster, that every other deck in the game uses better than Red-Eyes does.

[@johnv7317]

Yuji Naka sucking at making video games since Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

[@Darklordjadow1]

Actually, Sonic '06 is when he left Sonic Team and took a massive chunk of the staff with him. Leaving the team shorthanded is one of the main reasons the game turned lut so bad- since Sega wouldn't hire on new staff or push the launch date back.

[@johnv7317]

@@Darklordjadow1 Thanks for the info.

[@kikicallahan3662]

28:21 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom Rehydrated is also a good game that you can play after getting tired of Balan Wonderworld after you beat the game.

[@aditanasa2518]

Have you intended on getting a PS2? With it, you can play both PS2 and PS1 games.

[@Darklordjadow1]

I've considered it. I made a different somewhat large purchase recently though. Plus my friend Dan said I could borrow his PS2 on condition I use it to review some anime games.

[@SeethingSimp]

Good video, it's admirable that you spend so much time putting together long videos when you have a full time job (unless you quit that to fester in Mom's basement - a life I don't recommend to anyone)

[@Darklordjadow1]

Thanks! And yes, I still have a full time job; and I have my own place so I'd be festering in my own basement. It's cold down rhere... haven't added carpet over the cement floors yet.

[@AxleMyths]

I have seen this game everywhere... Then i heard everybody hates it... So i decided not to buy it... Now i feel bad for yuji naka...

[@jaygooese4242]

Don't forget to mention I seen this like 10 times?

[@KitteauK]

In the library already? Dayamn! Oh well, I guess I gotta give Square Enix some credit for releasing that demo before we all threw money at this like Fry.

[@Darklordjadow1]

Yeah, I've heard the demo was a disaster, but by then all they could do was slightly increase the movement speed.

[@boxdryer6973]

This game feels like it was rush i know it's probably not but I can't help but feel like this was made at last second

[@anonluxor470]

I feel that way too

[@natejoe9924]

I just realized it's not Japanese what he was speaking it is another language that the game made up on its own

[@kikicallahan3662]

26:24 What movie is that from?

[@Darklordjadow1]

The movie is called 1408

[@kikicallahan3662]

@@Darklordjadow1 can you show me a link to the clip?

[@Darklordjadow1]

@@kikicallahan3662 I ripped it from Linkara's episode of Late Night Double Feature about the Shining and 1408.

[@kikicallahan3662]

Maybe you should review Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for the NES and use I WAS OUT from 1408 during the part where you find out you got the bad ending and must play it again to get the good ending? You could also review Countdown Vampires for the original PlayStation and use I WAS OUT when you take 9 hours to beat the game only to find out that the best ending takes 8 hours to beat.

[@kikicallahan3662]

@@Darklordjadow1 Also, that character in the clip you used is played by John Cusack, who is also the voice of Dimitri Sudayev.

[@BurningAzure]

24:26, Persona. 5. Seriously, this plot is pretty much how not to do a similar plot to that.

[@jknifgijdfui]

7:35 hey medic is good

[@almaelma11]

A lot of points you have are fair but you do miss some things about the game, that admittedly is not explained at all in game but is kinda like that secret thing you would have had to have red about in a magazine in the 90s/00s. I know your long done this game but in case you care to know: - If you lose the balan costume you can just give ultima tim more rainbow gems to take you back to get it - balan bouts were not going to be qte's and the ones we got semi work but have some inputs, like the one you showed, thats dickish to hit because balan spazes a bit before lining up. You also have to redo a level boss to fully reset it, so thats a big miss for how they at least handled there qte mini game. - Act 3 is actually really liked by a lot of people because it cuts the bouts, focuses fully exploration and trying out costumes, and can be pretty challenging...if you dont have the balan outfit. - Tims do stuff depending on the color they are. You can see what they do based on the statues beside the colored flower beds that are not yellow. Yellow just fattens them up for mating and tower fixing stuff. These powers include getting items, stunning enemys, and breaking insta kill spike balls! The king tim does all powers. - This game has a secret hard mode and 5 secret bosses you can only fight in hard mode. You continue to beat enemys in a stage without getting hit to activate it. Enemys turn red, are much more aggressive, spawn in way bigger numbers, and one hit brings you back to the normal mode. If you beat a level on hard you get a red stamp at the end and not an orange one. It does nothing to beat it all on hard sadly, unlike the tower and collecting 100% of the statues. - You were told this already but collecting the statues gives you a kinda not worth it video at the end, unless you beat all act 3 levels as well. You are given a final music video of the main theme. I liked it but I can see others not thinking its worth it. I honestly think games like this are important to have in this day and age of gaming. We needed a game like this but it's just sad that it came out the way it did :( Sadly Yuji kinda had this coming after what he did with Sonic Xtream and such...ugh

[@shcdemolisher]

Oh interesting! Such a shame the base gameplay sucks or this might’ve redeemed the game.

[@elin111]

Also there are plenty other games that do what Balan wants to do and do it miles better.

[@almaelma11]

@@elin111 I know im 5 months late to this but what games do that? I would love to know so I can check them out.

[@Jasonvoorhees57469]

1:10 I like that background

[@abbashaq6481]

Could you review the final fantasy 7 remake I just wanna hear your thoughts on a good game

[@KnightedSilverWolf]

WHY DID YOU SHORTEN YOUR NAME?

[@Darklordjadow1]

So I'd have a name I'd be less embarrassed to say out loud.

[@natejoe9924]

I might have missed one game of nights

[@DMSwordsmaster]

Oh boy, this game... Such a sordid history behind such a simple little game. I'm honestly glad you waited a tad to cover it for a more... Focused review compared to the Fast and Furious game. This one's got some absolute jank. Like using an AI to skimp out on creating balance and difficulty... If anyone hasn't seen it, I recommend Matt McMuscles' "What Happened" episode on this game, and Austin Eruption's review where he goes _very_ in depth. Even with the book.

[@natejoe9924]

I thought it was Japanese also but there's a lot of people saying it's not

[@kikicallahan3662]

I really hope Naka soon gets the opportunity to return to Sega to help out Sonic.

[@elin111]

Naka would be more likely to mess up Sonic more than to help it.

[@kikicallahan3662]

@@elin111 why?

[@kikicallahan3662]

@@elin111 actually, it wasn’t Naka’s fault, it was Square’s.

[@elin111]

@@kikicallahan3662 Naka staying for the last 6 months of Balan's development wouldn't have suddenly salvaged the game because 1) 6 months is very little in terms of game development and Balan's bad design choices that made the game utter crap were too inherent to the core game to be fixable in just 6 months 2) Said bad design choices that made Balan utter crap were Naka's ideas in the first place. Balan's failure still rests on Naka's bad outdated mindset regardless if he had been fired or not, if anything Naka was fired from Square for a reason. And given Naka's track record of mediocre at best crap since leaving Sega as well as the many times he deliberately boycotted Sega projects him returning wouldn't do any good.

[@kikicallahan3662]

@@elin111 He was also sent to prison

[@jaygooese4242]

I'm getting too old for this

[@A88mph]

So, once more, it is proven that these legends don't know how to make games anymore. Or, perhaps they actually need the constraints of the 8-bit and 16-bit eras to stay focused.

[@marshall1093]

This game makes me so sad and upset at the same time because there was SO MUCH POTENTIAL HERE! Balan looks gorgeous and I love his design, and every character here, along with every level was oozing with potential to be great or at least decent. Seeing how this game turned out made me so upset because this is horrible and I can't believe something that could have been so beautiful was executed so poorly that it's just going to be regarded as shit and it's too fundamentally flawed to change and it's far too late for Balan.

[@natejoe9924]

Yes I did play nights into dream I played it for the Sega Saturn I played the Xbox 360 version I think I played the Nintendo Wii version trust me I played a couple of them

[@michaelcassy9592]

Why was it re uploaded

[@edwardrobinson5470]

Copyrighted thing.

[@Darklordjadow1]

I used a few too many seconds of "The Drug Trip Song" and it got copyright claimed. Blocked in a few countries, but mainly I wanted this thing monetized and it was a simple fix.

[@Draggobuttboi]

@@Darklordjadow1 would garden of eden by I. Ron butterfly still have gotten claimed?

[@Darklordjadow1]

@@Draggobuttboi Not sure, but more than likely; any clip that's longer than 7 seconds

[@Darklordjadow1]

@@Draggobuttboi I tried looking up Garden of Eden by Iron Butterfly and it took me to In- A- Gadda- Da- Vida, which is the song I used and got claimed for. So I'm gonna say yes.

[@damianlegion8455]

8:40 Sonic? 🤔 27:35 So you don't get Lance? 🥺

[@UnrealNeoBat]

Try Icey from Nintendo switch?

[@dakotaisgreat]

Jadow, I have to wonder... As a guy who only plays video games that I really like, how much does wading through shit like this as a hobby make you appreciate actual good games? I can't fucking imagine playing this shit for ten hours

[@Darklordjadow1]

I guess it does make me appreciate the good games a little more. I just started Miles Morales (well, restarted it) and I pretty much got hooked right away on it. And this isn't near as bad as a lot of the garbage I've subjected myself to.

[@seenl6eight258]

This game is honestly just wasted potential. The costumes could just be like 15, and they easily could’ve fixed the controls.

[@elin111]

Yuji Naka's head was too big to figure that one out.

[@anonluxor470]

You should check out this game called vexx on the GameCube

[@noirlavender6409]

my theory is that juji naka never knew how to make shit or what fun was supposed to be, he did good things because he had other people sterring him up heavily, like, im sure that if we give hideo kojima absolute and complete freedom he'd make another baland wonderwold too, somehow. but with guns and sex so it'd be better

[@Darklordjadow1]

Kojima did have total creative freedom: he used it to make Death Stranding; a game I'm convinced ONLY has as good a reputation as it does because Kojima's name is attached to it.

[@thehellslayer300]

i also have a chao named onyx

[@ETG715]

I got some additional info for this game and I seen it so you don't have to and this game actually has 2 endings like the saw games and just like saw 2 flesh and blood you have to play with the female character to see the ending yeah when you beat the game as the female player character balan ends up taken off his hat and he looks like Lance without the hat on

[@biropgrules]

Like, if you go through the effort of making the title character a guy whose personality just screams from his design alone, and is instantly memorable, then why the hell isn't he your character for this game?

[@jessespringer7723]

Is there anyone who can remake balan in a fangame

[@Darklordjadow1]

Balan would need fans first.

[@jessespringer7723]

@@Darklordjadow1 oh ok then but I mean people who would want to make a good game out of this

[@elin111]

@@jessespringer7723 The most you could hope for would be a PC mod that adds a dedicated jump button. Wouldn't fix all the stupid decisions, but would at least fix the dumbass "I'm stuck with no suits that can jump in a section that requires jumping" problem.

[@jessespringer7723]

@@elin111 what other problems could be fixed with modding

[@elin111]

@@jessespringer7723 Very little, because the game's problems esteem for it having a fundamentally bad idea at its core, modding and patches cannot fix inherently bad design.

[@fatalhug5998]

Fun fact did u know you only need ten of the powerups to beat this games, making the other 90 useless

[@Darklordjadow1]

Fascinating. Fun Fact: did you know there are 80 suits in the game, so the math there is a little... eyebrow-raising