Balan Wonderworld: The Complete Run

The full, miserable playthrough of Balan Wonderworld. What started as a bet, ended with losing years of my life. Subscribe!
#BalanWonderworld #Choctopus #SquareEnix
WHERE TO FIND ME!
► Merch bossbattles.gg
► Second Channel / choctopusclips
► Twitch / choctopus
► Twitter / choctopusyt
► Instagram / choctopus
► E-mail [e-mail]
► Discord / discord
Edited by @Catastrofy_
---
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[@Choctopus]

For the record, that 50K like goal isn’t happening even if we hit it so don’t get your hopes up lol More full playthroughs: kzbin.info/aero/PLbdSQOvtjIjEL8uj--sC69iSf73tJTU_6

[@beanz6151]

Give us a balan speedrun

[@whydoihave100subs]

hoi

[@octocederic0078]

@@beanz6151 speedy cheata

[@majororion2374]

You asked for what transformers the bulldozer ability reminded you of around 40:15 that was the Constructicons if I recall and the one with the Bull Dozer as an alt mode his name is Scrapper.

[@lauraplkjnhvg9258]

Balan wonder world speedrun glitchless is impossible

[@_zealos_8213]

This whole game seems like the bright ideas of an imaginative person lovingly trusted to a team *that has no idea how to make a game.*

[@hootle4641]

And just too big of ambitions.

[@extrapathos]

Exactly

[@dmdudes2]

Not even close lmaooooooo the head guy admitted he had no clue what he was doing

[@_zealos_8213]

@@dmdudes2 oof

[@gameswithpeachcord7498]

But they knew how to make OK cut scenes

[@vaehtay]

“What!?! He’s hot???!” Is still one of my favorite lines from this

[@kitkatiecat]

he always was fight me

[@vaehtay]

YOURE SO RIGHT

[@Pieslullaby]

He isnt lyin 😈

[@vaehtay]

@@Courteanna He isnt, and it makes it WAY worse

[@BedsideTechSupport]

Timestamp?

[@samboi123]

“They spent all the money on CGI cutscenes, and that’s it.” And these are some damn good CGI cutscenes.

[@snakewithahat1588]

They could've made a movie with those cutscenes, but they made a videogame instead

[@Birdyboys]

I believe a different studio did the cgi cutscenes

[@stephanos6128]

@@Birdyboys Square Enix did the CGi cutscenes in an attempt to give SOME context to the game's story, only the motion capture dance scenes were from Balan Studio. So basically these film tier cutscnes weren't even gonna be IN the game at first.

[@snakewithahat1588]

@@stephanos6128 Neat

[@Birdyboys]

@@stephanos6128 oh I’m well aware! Shame such talent was wasted on this game

[@malachitehawk6337]

So you’re telling me this game could essentially be played on an Atari joystick

[@BillyBob-xx5jr]

If you feel like being at the mercy of the game's auto camera movement, absolutely.

[@giojooj4429]

@@PrincessMatrix a true gamer use the damage system to chance costumes

[@clowneryAscended]

@@giojooj4429 A true true gamer uses the switch costume to become immortal

[@ryanwoon3534]

@@clowneryAscended them I-frames though

[@daboyz2374]

Choctopus: *does anything* The games stability: CHAOS CONTROL

[@SquallyCoin5664]

No control. Only chaos.

[@colehuiet4845]

@@SquallyCoin5664 ha nice 1

[@evangonzalez7732]

​@@colehuiet4845no nice. Only chaos.

[@this_dude3881]

​@@evangonzalez7732no Only. *chaos.*

[@TheVoicesOfTheBeyond]

Lance is trying out the Chaos Emeralds he swiped.

[@kyotanaka920]

Fun fact, they didn't spend the entire budget on the CGI cutscenes. Those were the last minute additions. Sort of like Sonic in Brawl

[@miserirken]

Funnier fact, Yuji Naka actually refused to add those cutscenes in game. Those were added after he was fired.

[@MoonlitGecko]

Ah yes, Choc’s full descent into madness

[@WoodlouseChucker]

*ST O C K H O L M*

[@bootstheone7143]

lol CHOC FULL OF MADNESS

[@AstralElebit]

What's really sad about this game is that Balan's costume makes the game kinda fun. Too bad it's locked behind rng and grinding.

[@ichamsakkar4249]

they couldn't just put it behind hard levels like other games, that's not painful enough

[@90percentzebra]

For those who didn't see twitter, it seems the creator of Balan was fired from SQ Enix with the fact that he changed his status on Twitter that he WORKED for the company. Despite the rushed scheduling and this gameplay, I heard and also agree that we feel bad for him for not having the one chance with Square Enix and the results. I hope things can go better for him in the future.

[@Mysticgamer]

Too bad, If square had used these designs in an rpg it would have been better.

[@kyotanaka920]

I don't feel bad. While its a shame his passion project got trashed the way it did... it was because of his misguided direction. They were debating on removing costumes to be able to reach the deadline, but for some reason they kept at it to add in all the planned costumes. Hell, outside of Balan and Lance's design, the best parts of this game were stuff he didn't have a hand in: those CGI cutscenes. That was done entirely by a different studio. Maybe he wanted to make the next Sonic game? Because those 2D games were amazing despite running on a single button. If Squsre ever decides to make Balan Wonderworld 2 without Yuji, it'd be for the better. He ruined his game because of this mindset of "children are fucking stupid" game studios are taking when making games aimed at children.

[@Mysticgamer]

@@kyotanaka920 If there's one thing I learned is that most of these brilliant game auters are better when they don't have free reign on a project. Minamoto is great at perfecting gameplay but, he shouldn't be allowed to change the paper mario series. Just because he doesn't like rpgs mechanics doesn't mean he can ruin other people's projects. And less said of Mighty #9 the better.

[@wetheepiphany]

The creator also made another tweet suggesting he might be considering retirement ):

[@BillyBob-xx5jr]

@@kyotanaka920 To be fair, it was kind of doomed from the start. He was asked to make a 3D platformer, a game genre neither he nor anyone at Square Enix had any experience with, he was asked to make a compelling story for the game, which he, once again, was completely unfamiliar with, and Square Enix said this was his only chance to make a platformer for them. I think he most likely put the game to unrealistic expectations and hopes, both because of just wanting to make something grand as his return to AAA game making, and because he wanted to have Square allow him to make more platformers. It's a classic tale of devs dreaming too big with conflicting goals that they were all too nervous to cut when it became clear they weren't feasible, at least in the way they wanted. This kind of thing has happened so many times throughout all media, not just video games. Some game or movie series comes out, it does stupid well, then studios just go "Hey, you are marked as being the 'parent,' or 'main lead,' of this, so you just do everything," forgetting that massive teams go into these, leading to the person having lofty ideas and being expected to handle things they have no experience handling, all with the studio and community hyping it up because "The person who created x great thing is the head, therefore this should be great too," which is just a recipe for failure.

[@jacobbarty6579]

3:38 "Balan Wonderworld is the kind of game to give out participation trophies" Probably because that's the only kind of trophy this game is ever gonna get.

[@Pieslullaby]

PLS

[@Lonewolf360gaming]

I'm convinced that balan is holding dis man hostage

[@TheKorenji]

This is lore accurate

[@snakewithahat1588]

He's playing and Balan is pointing a gun to his head irl

[@optillian4182]

"If my game you will not play, you will not live to see the next day." -Balan, probably

[@evagarcia865]

@@snakewithahat1588 2:13 He’s wearing this thing and pointing the cannon at his head

[@TheVoicesOfTheBeyond]

​@@optillian4182*wheeze*

[@snakewithahat1588]

He played Balan wonderworld so we don't have to. What a hero

[@easypete7920]

Or a masochist

[@snakewithahat1588]

@@easypete7920 He's a masochist hero

[@syrusgrove8682]

@@snakewithahat1588 you basically said Apharads video title for his video of him playing Balan Wonderworld.

[@snakewithahat1588]

@@syrusgrove8682 Have you considered that it could be a coincidence?

[@xz-activity9473]

It’s true, he secretly likes this game

[@bezmagica]

This poor man went through Hell, lived, and went back again because some voices told him too. Choctopus Character Development Arc

[@Spamkromite]

The Tims feed upon the tears of Balan. You see how many times Balan cried to produce that amount of drops? That's how actually sad he is.

[@TheVoicesOfTheBeyond]

Damn, didn't know a humanoid deity was relatable like that.

[@BezzyBee03]

This is secretly your fav game isn’t it, Choc

[@miab-p6874]

24:09, yes, just Balan would be great! The character's too cool to end like this, let's save the Balan character. (Seriously, I wonder if someone will end up buying the rights to create a reboot of some sorts that will be much better than the original and will focus more on Balan.)

[@treehousegames7903]

I'm at least glad that I'm not the only one who wants to save this game. I just need to, you know, learn how to make games.

[@WhoPutsThisStuffHere]

The more I learn about this game the more tragic it all feels and that it was quite clear the game was kinda doomed from the start: *Yuji's team being inexperienced with platformers but was designing something of this scope. *Yuji's research for storytelling was pretty to just read one book Most of the story he and another guy came up with isn't even in the game... *Yuji wanting little story actually told in the game despite storytelling being Square Enix's thing. *unnecessary determination to put 80 costumes in the game when they all knew they could cut it down and built around that. *The CGI Animation was a happy accident. Another team wanted to do them and then had to ask for them to get added into the game. Yuji could of said no... *There's an official book and it has the context, story, etc. to explain what the heck is going on with the game and everyone's motivations including telling you that Balan was created by Lance and the entire conflict stems from Lance not wanting to do his job because he didn't want to say goodbye to everyone. *The Infamous 'One button" gameplay. And that's just off the top of my head after seeing videos talk about the book and Matt's What Happen on this. It's quite something how so much went wrong.

[@somethingsuperbland8829]

Idk man. I’m pretty sure Square had something to do with this too

[@radioactivelight2189]

@@somethingsuperbland8829 yeah I think they hid the books or something. All I know is the book gave context and they didn't want that

[@somethingsuperbland8829]

@@radioactivelight2189 yeah bc it’s sabotage

[@umi_grumz]

And most recently, Yuji Naka getting kicked out 6 months before release

[@miserirken]

@@umi_grumz and then it was revealed Yuji Naka used his time at SE to commit corporative fraud. TWICE.

[@caidilady2397]

Chock: "Why don't you make a snowball costume or something?" *Gets a snowball costume* "This costume is so BoRiNg"

[@BashMSM]

Choc definitely likes this game to have made more than 1 video of it.

[@pseudo2060]

We call it Stockholm syndrome

[@joanaguadomedina3060]

@@pseudo2060 POV: You are Balan's hostage and you are enjoying it

[@jackmist]

@@joanaguadomedina3060 ooooh~ harder Balan! Cover me in your terrible frame rate~!

[@OrigamiAhsoka]

@@jackmist 😭😭😭

[@jackmist]

@@OrigamiAhsoka 😏

[@Hugelag]

I feel bad about Yuji Naka potentially retiring over this game's failure. Then again, *THEY MADE EVERY BUTTON JUMP.* I hope that they can at least do something else with the franchise. I'm hoping for an animated series or comic. The illustrations and designs look so good.

[@blackphoenix9000]

Highly unlikely. Square Enix only greenlit Balan Wonderworld under the strict rules that, if it failed, then it would be the first and last game of its’ kind. And clearly, it failed. So there will be no Balan Wonderworld 2. There will be no other games after this...

[@selfloathinggameing]

@@blackphoenix9000 it's almost as if a studio that mostly puts out turn based RPGs wouldn't bee good at making a 3d platformer😂😂

[@evangonzalez7732]

​@@selfloathinggameing 3d platformer RPG. HIRE ME, SQUARE, YOU COWARDS!

[@ARatherDapperFoxoBoi]

I feel that I probably shouldn't be enjoying this man's suffering as much as I do.

[@lucasgachalife0]

Balan and Lance's designs are so amazing! It's sad how they wasted such good designs with such a bad made game

[@darknesstheemowolf]

ikr.

[@crabgf4980]

Sequel/reboot?

[@miserirken]

i wish somebody takes this game and fixed it. All it needs is less costumes, actual action button, more story context, and some optimization. The potential is there, it just need someone to fix it.

[@Alex-hk9py]

I think the cutscenes were not even supposed to be in the game.

[@mlpfanboy1701]

They wernt. Best part of the game was a happy accident

[@snakewithahat1588]

They could make a movie outta those cutscenes, but they mad3 a videogame instead

[@13thKingMu]

They actually weren't,the cgi cutscenes were made by Square so yea if the punisher wasn't Square,there won't be any cgi cutscenes

[@dowbailey6033]

“He might have a good moveset in Smash” Are we experiencing another one of Choc’s predictions

[@TheKorenji]

This man is either in love with this game or has titanium willpower, he's got my respects nonetheless.

[@Spicy_Pacifist]

I will never be not upset that such a good designed character, Balan, will never be seen again and will be stuck only in this garbage heap

[@robxholicfoxyfan8552]

Aoyama only has control over his belly button laser when he is with his sparkle belt.

[@starfoxsmash7002]

Choctopus: "I feel like a Transformer. Weren't there, like, 5 of them?" Yeah, that would be the Contructocons.

[@misterpainwell7821]

At last....he gave up his soul to make a full run of this infernal disaster.

[@kyotanaka920]

The fu,l run ain't over until he reads the book

[@misterpainwell7821]

@@kyotanaka920 oh god....Hell isn't over yet....this was only limbo. Maybe the book might be descent? (I don't count on it tho)

[@Kasumidemon]

It's just so weird how mishandled this game was, like there are moments where it looks like it could be good (and most of that is due to the vibrant cutscenes) but the vast majority of it is just tedious and boring. Also, why did they think publishing the whole story as a book was a better idea than just conveying it in the game?

[@mr.playwatch8714]

It feels like my day is ruined if I dont see choc suffer and have a mental breakdown.

[@boopledoople]

I just realized that Balan Wonderworld reminds me of another game that actually made these concepts work. If you want a theater-styled platformer game with a unique style, creative levels/acts that focus on a central theme, abilities that act as lives (but make it work), some challenging gameplay, and jumping/powers being linked to separate buttons, then PLAY PUPPETEER. It's a side-scrolling platformer about a headless puppet who has to fight monsters on the moon using scissors. I'm overly simplifying cause I don't want to spoil any of it, but just know that it is absolutely amazing.

[@supertoad6425]

13:09 My reaction after beating this game.

[@GLSnifit]

I've been waiting for the complete collection. As painful as it was for choc, I have to confess no other video series has made me laugh so hard.

[@smudged4090]

There's something about watching gamers play bad games that just makes ya wanna laugh-

[@cjtheracer0113]

17:55 - 17:58 Made Me laugh so hard.

[@artstrange3230]

40:19 Freeze the ice, huh? Do you wanna burn the fire, too?

[@BlueEyes274]

Would be interesting to see Choc read through the book.

[@mlpfanboy1701]

The book is considered better then the game

[@evangonzalez7732]

​@@mlpfanboy1701THERE'S A BOOK????

[@Sigismund697]

@@evangonzalez7732 yeah it explains everything that happens in the game including why the Tims are important and why you're collecting heart pieces

[@TheVoicesOfTheBeyond]

​@@Sigismund697I'm gonna find this book, so help me God...

[@Mask0fFate]

You wanna know the sad thing for me? If the game ever gets a significant price drop (and it would have to be a VERY significant drop), I would probably want to play it. But ONLY out of morbid curiosity.

[@ZyroidX]

I believe I've seen at a GameStop for $12 though I'm sure you could find lower

[@eatatjoes6751]

I love this. I also found out the Balan Company closed after the game flopped and Yuji's retiring.

[@Tom_Katsu_pz]

Balan's Underworld: The Full Hell-xperience

[@angelrose503]

In my opinion I think Lance and Balan look the most unique and well ya know fun looking

[@blargenheim2032]

They do give off NiGHTS and Reala vibes though who had their own games forever ago now

[@nevercute]

The random freezes in the game usually have to do with RAM being purged, while also being used at the same time haha.

[@nevercute]

1:57 "We require more minals" LOL

[@tnnkinketsu548]

Dear Choctopus, I know you probably won’t read this as you’re surely recovering from this, experience of a game. But I’d like to inform you.. *There is a Balan Costume. Yes, a playable Balan Costume. How to get it?.. I-I don’t know, get rainbow tears or something-* Sincerely a random viewer

[@liamgreifmin5838]

The fact that this man compared Balan Wonderworld to the Wooded Kingdom in Odyssey

[@waltercomunello121]

I was wondering - what's the purpose of the train if the character ends up on the same floating island?

[@ythegameritaisthebest]

To pollute

[@acrohasatablespoon1408]

When I first played this game I couldn't tell whether I was having a seizure on the floor after doing LSD or actually playing a video game

[@selfloathinggameing]

I'm so disappointed they skipped the cutscene where the little girl's cat gets hit by a car

[@normaltyper5381]

1:22 This has probably aged well.

[@evagarcia865]

Ok but lance’s dragon form is genuinely pretty cool

[@zachariahm.kemper7406]

When you play sonic adventure get the fix that fixes the glitches that were added in the gamecube port and then every port after, its a mod for the pc version to make it less buggy like the original

[@LandonLikeStuff]

Sonic 06: Terrible Gameplay Beautifully animated cutscenes Balan Wonderland: Terrible Gameplay Beautifully animated cutscenes

[@TheLarkaanimation]

Makes you wonder which game has less problems.

[@beanz6151]

*Now we need a balan speedrun*

[@Galacticstarsofthegalaxy]

me:im gonna sleep choc:how about no? me: how About never?

[@jakefromaflac]

Balan’s final smash could be lagging the game to the point of making it unplayable. Ya know, just like the game he’s from

[@mightyfinn732]

1:03 I actually thought that my computer was glitchy and I rewinded the video to make sure, thankful that I rewinded the video

[@techno_otaku]

$65 has now become $40 i know there's no return on money towards those who paid full price on ira official release, but props to you on playing it all the way thru Choctopus ^

[@evangonzalez7732]

Honestly, i'd probably get a refund even if it was free.

[@putdogdirectlyonbed9268]

46:32 this is literally so funny with the costume bye

[@newjumpcityjosh9333]

At 3:15 when the game froze up for like the fifth time you just said “YO” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ZenoDLC]

Second level's a water level? That's Classic Sonic alright...

[@peachteachREAL]

new headcannon: balan is made out of felt

[@SpongeBoiYT]

0:01 YA GOT THAT RIGHT

[@Icepiq72]

Fun fact: Balan Wonderword is made by the same guy who made Sonic the Hedgehog 1991 to 2006. It was the last game he made before going to prison for insider trade scheming

[@abdelali9279]

I guess this is the closest to a snuff movie that we'll see on this site.

[@Ethans_galaxy]

Who else thinks that Balon look like it's a character from nights into dreams

[@RoxasXIIIkeys]

19:17 That's literally the Stu boss from Donkey Kong Country Returns! XD

[@dowbailey6033]

Now we just need Choc to either go crazy from this game or admit that he like this game

[@wispyfox7745]

Alternative title: ''Balan's wonderworld: The complete trash''

[@gh0stgamez424]

I never want the memory of this game to die it’s way to fkin funny to let this game be forgotten

[@kildaver]

Future game designers, learn from this game: reign in your scope.

[@fantasyknight5071]

Truly a revolutionary game

[@StormyStars64]

30:32 that looks like the Teardrop asset from BFDI

[@a_person172]

A FULL hour where Choctopus suffers?!?! A dream come true 😃

[@ajoesaint5858]

The best part of this playthrough was all of Choctopus’ references to other, much better, games.

[@Tonjit41]

Thank you for this in full!

[@r4z0rb3ard6]

This game had the potantial to be a good, even great indi platformer like a hat in time or even a Mario game, but man the lags are so bad, that no one plays throug world one without destroing their consonl/pc out of rage

[@Superellysan]

I was just binging these videos when you uploaded Amazing

[@azuredragon8388]

The only possible thing I can say to this is “Why would you possibly do this to yourself?”

[@Mask0fFate]

Morbid curiosity combined with self loathing?

[@gabrieljoseozanan6989]

That painter boss physically hurt my eyes!

[@killjoyomega5169]

this guy never got balan's custom that makes the whole game like 1000% easier

[@adamshafeeq8685]

45:12 ok ngl, that looked kinda cool. I can just imagine some cheesy bullsht dialogue like "I'm not afraid anymore" *transforms into a frickin mech suit*

[@da_here]

I think you were talking about transformer named Boulder from Transformers Rescue Bots in there :)

[@reven8683]

Happy 1st Anniversary Balan!

[@theminiyosshi2901]

I wonder what this would’ve been like if it was a Mario game I can see it now: Super Mario Wonderworld, where it’s like Sonic Adventure in that you can play as other characters for their individual stories

[@dukinukireal]

now read the book only way you're gonna be able to understand the plot anyways

[@TheLarkaanimation]

Everything the game should be, is in that book.

[@roosterchains]

Got excited this was new Balan Wonderworld content.

[@akihayakawa900]

Idk if someone said that already but this is the best game of all time.

[@gameboy3d943]

At least we have another game for "Awful Games Done Quick"

[@neok1yte494]

Choc the true MVP putting his life on the line for quality content

[@ericb3157]

oh, what you said about "X-Ray Ape" reminds me of what that video "everything wrong with Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2" said about the absurd names of the food creatures..

[@lancenocturna2743]

"We have too many Square characters, so it's unlikely." -Top 10 quotes that aged like milk

[@JackAttackgamingXD]

YOU ACTUALLY COMPLETED THIS CRAP

[@modernandvintagegamer1018]

"WHEN IT FEELS LIKE IT"👌👌👌

[@dtczyk8976]

Got to the 50k like part, checked the likes 3.3 k. Upsetting.

[@lyricalvarez7919]

Compilation shenanigans

[@passedthevibe-check141]

Looking back at the Co Op, the jump thing reminds me of the Knuckles glitch from Sonic Boom.

[@INikeAir]

I’m glad you went through this so I didn’t have to. Bless your heart

[@cantin8697]

Fun fact: Apparently only the designer was doing what he was good at. So yeah, legends worked on this game, but for some reason they decided to take the roles they were bad at for some reason? I mean, it's good to experiment and try new things of course though.