its a real shame that most of the costumes have identical functions with only minor differences, usually being more "upgraded" or something. that renders the previous costumes obsolete. like for example, the cat costume lets you walk on the air for a limited time. there is another costume that does the exact same thing which is the frost fairy, and the only difference is that you slowly go up while walking in the air. and this is why quantity over quality doesn't equal variety, unless you REALLY try.
Yuji Naka did say that he wanted 40 costumes and we did get about that many unique skills. He wasn't wrong about getting burned out with trying to come up with 80.
Think of it this way. A friend at school offers you 3 pens, one with the appearance of red, one blue and one green but says that all of them have the same color ink so you shouldn't really care what color you get. You could even just grab one with your eyes closed. However you picked the blue one on purpose. Why tho? There's nothing special about it and has the same ink as the others. You chose that pen because blue is your favorite color. Air Cat, Frost Fairy and Air unicorn have the same function but different designs. Basically having variety in appearance for the power, somewhat this game's way of "customizing your character" I guess and it works. Air unicorn should be the most important one since it's span of how long it can walk on air is longer than the others. You could even grind for the Balan costume which makes all three seem useless. But despite all of that I kept going with frost fairy. Why? Because it looks cool :)
whats a jumper to an airwalker? whats an airwalker to an ice walker? whats an Ice walker to a double jumper? whats a double jumper to a triple jumper? whats any of these to BALAN (10 incredibly high jumps+gliding)?
Before I mention the things I do not like... I will say this game's design, the world, everything is beautiful to me. I LOVE the character and monster designs, the costume designs are creative and adorable. The world and theme is fairly breath taking, and the graphics style I actually like alot. The boss designs are AMAZING for alot of them, the cutscenes a VERY well done and, I admit, the tims are cute. But my god the game-play aspect is lacking much too terribly. While I love all these costumes, the fact that from all the 80+ costumes you're really only gaming 6 unique abilities through out the game. Running Fast, Floating/hanging in the air alittle longer, Jumping higher, Elemental-based movement (Going throguh water/walking on fire/etc), environmental interaction (Pushing, ladder, gear turning, etc) and Attacking-based. So while there's LOTS of costume, roughly 6 to 8 costumes is doing the exact same thing, with different animation. And ALOT of these outfits only has like a one-time use or very limited situation. Also its limited to 1 ACTION PER OUTFIT. Meaning certain outfits you CANNOT jump (Unless you walk off a platform, you can press a button to suddenly do a single jump rather than to attack/etc). And while some would say "Well its unique outfit for each stage!"... Did you know you can actually "Stock" the outfits through out the game? When you get more outfits, you're last outfit in your list will get "Stocked", which you can then change into via hte costume Change at teh check points (If you stand still for 5 seconds). Meaning having unique outfits is kinda pointless when you can grind and bring better outfits from other stages to the older ones. The Animation also is lacking SO MUCH for what he game looks. How the character walks and moves is much too basic. Also you see NPC's on the field, but how they disappear when you get close is so...odd...And They're there just...dancing around you, doing nothing, not interaction, nothing. This makes the world feel so empty needlessly, and some of the "platforming" and "secrets" is hardly much of a platforming at all. And also, very linear...And the Strange jarring Musical after each boss fight is much too random also...I mean its nice? But it really came out of nowhere... All in all it LOOKS and SOUNDS beautiful...But as a GAME, it is literally a Poor-Mans Super Mario Odyssey, where you're playing a VERY crippled down Mario who can only do is walk and jump, and if you want to do his old wall jump, long jump, roll, spin drop, punches, hat throw and whatnot...You can only do them if you pick up an outfit...And even then each outfit only lets you do ONE of these things, and most likely remove your jumping ability.
Happy to see someone appreciate the art and music of this game. This entire franchise has so much potential, but the gameplay and weird resolution choice (somehow the ps4 and switch vers look like 3ds) may have just killed it.
@@sleepe9629 It was rumored that it was originally planned as a Mobile-Game release or something? Which kind of explains a few things like the one-action costume design n whatnot. But yes, I love the art and music so much, the characters stand out tremendously for me, including Balan and even the 2 main characters you play with. Simply as a "Game that you spend $60 USD", it is definitely lacking in the gaming and enjoyment aspect terribly where it's questioning to sell it even at full price.
@@happyhealsgaming7614 "Did you know you can actually "Stock" the outfits through out the game?" Yes, this is a key mechanic of the game, and many people who played Balan WW didn't bother to figure that out. Obviously, the game is frustrating if you run out of costumes, so players who understand what the game is going for stock up on at least 5 of each. Makes the game super fun! In all honesty, Naka and his team needed to provide a few more instructions about the costumes, and about how to access the level-opening train with statues. Younger gamers who aren't used to figuring out game mechanics without instructions could get frustrated early because of things like that. "It was rumored that it was originally planned as a Mobile-Game release or something?" This is a rumor stoked up by antis online, who feel like it's really cool to say that every game they don't like is a mobile game. (It's those same people who comment on every new Switch game with "Hey look, Switch has another mobile game!") Yuji Naka was hired by Square Enix in early 2018 to create various kinds of games. He thought about doing mobile games at first, probably due to how popular they are in Japan -- but then before he started collecting a team of devs to work on a game he decided to start developing classic-styled games primarily for consoles, and Balan WW was the first project he came up with. It was always intended as a moderate-budget AA console release.
“Okay, this is my theory on this game. It started off as an actual video game, then they realized they wouldn’t have enough time to actually make it good, so the developers started trolling each other and putting in these shitty power-ups, and then it just became a contest on who could make the shittiest power-up imaginable.” -Video Game Dunkey
Frankly, I LOVE the game. Artistically, musically, character-wise and even story/message (the story is kinda hard to grasp tho). Gameplay wise could have some improvements, but all costumes were of a creative design and despite some being more upgraded versions of others I am STILL in love with Balan Wodnerworld.
The speedy cheetah reminds me of time dilation: The faster you move through space, the slower time will pass for you, relative to an observer standing still.
Thanks for making this helpful guide. A few of the costumes are found way out of the way. As an aside, you accidentally marked Pounding Duck as being found in Act 2 instead of Act 1.
They really should have gotten some of the people who worked of the Kirby series (minus Sakurai) to help with this game. With their help they could flesh out the costume abilities more as well as cut out some of the useless ones. Again looks at Kirby. While Kirby has a mountain o copy abilities from a plethora of games (minus Mass Attack and Epic Yarn), they know what abilities to add and which ones to remove. Half of the costumes here are just copies of the other costumes.
@@mortalkombatworld9707 Sure, I love it! I really enjoy wandering through the levels, trying different costume-combinations, enjoying the levels and the music at my own pace. I love the dancing costume-characters that fade in and out of view, letting you know what new costumes are useful around there. Between levels, I go sit around watching the tims be silly for 10 minutes in the hub world. Just so much joy in the game for me. Only some of us like weird, second-tier platformers like they used to make in the 90's evidently. That's the kind of game this is. I'm not alone either ... there are some positive reviews hidden among all the negative ones. But clearly a lot of people wanted to play a different kind of game.
Balan Wonderworld is just a great game. Sad that people forgot what quality games are today. They will only enjoy if it gets milked to death like Among Us, Fortnite, Minecraft, Ghost of Tsuhima or GTA Online
Sorry to tell you this but this game is straight up not good I honestly believe this game was originally a mobile game and that says alot about it But if you like it that's great hope you have fun Just that most people won't agree with you
Totally agree with you, Street Fighter (though I do like Ghost of Tsushima, LOL!). The masses today (even a lot of older gamers) don't understand what good quality videogames used to be, and they certainly don't understand the variety of things that a platformer can be. Those of us who understand and appreciate the possibilities of the genre will always be there to enjoy it --- but its heyday is certainly in the past now, replaced as you say by Among Us, Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, GTA Online, various shooty games, cinematic games, and other borefests. Besides PS5 Ratchet which looks amazing, I've got my eye on Clive 'n' Wrench as the next under-the-radar retro-styled 3D platformer that has the potential to be really special like Balan WW. Was supposed to come out on 2020, but is now looking like later in 2021.
@@scooblet2539 If you think "it doesn't even work a lot of the time," you're not playing the game correctly. It's not even that difficult a game -- if you practice, all the costumes do what you want them to. There are many different things you can do with the various costumes on each level.
It kind of makes you wonder why they even bothered adding the keys when, most of the time, their just right next to the costume you need. Why not do something interesting with it? Like having the player solve a puzzle to get the key? What's even worse is that the key mouse costume makes them even more worthless since it acts like a key. So why even bother with this?
Because this game was developed by Arzest, and they have no talent with level design as evident by their past failure games e.g. Yoshi's New Island, etc.
This game is so weird and I don’t think it actually fits the whole whimsical trope. It’s just a literal one button gameplay and the only thing about the game is the designs and the characters (especially balan, he’s a silly lil guy in my eyes). This game could use a remake, it has so many issues and bugs/glitches.
man alpharad was too harsh on this game just for shits and giggles, but its actually a solid kids first game I can totally see myself get invested into this world if I was a lil 10 yo boy, Its like sonic but for the next generation of kids...even though thats a loaded statement
I don’t know how you find joy playing this game it so I now know why I had a low rate img because it a crap game and bill shit boss battle of a kids game
This is probably the worst power-up system I've ever seen in a video game. This is like how US superhero comics come up with "useless" powers yet almost never try to expand on them.
![Balan Wonderworld - All Bosses + Ending [Hitless]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KWixB-VPdvY/mqdefault.jpg)
its a real shame that most of the costumes have identical functions with only minor differences, usually being more "upgraded" or something. that renders the previous costumes obsolete. like for example, the cat costume lets you walk on the air for a limited time. there is another costume that does the exact same thing which is the frost fairy, and the only difference is that you slowly go up while walking in the air. and this is why quantity over quality doesn't equal variety, unless you REALLY try.
Yuji Naka did say that he wanted 40 costumes and we did get about that many unique skills. He wasn't wrong about getting burned out with trying to come up with 80.
@@ZerotheBlade he should of just sticked with 40. if they were going to add 80, they should of delayed the game
Think of it this way. A friend at school offers you 3 pens, one with the appearance of red, one blue and one green but says that all of them have the same color ink so you shouldn't really care what color you get. You could even just grab one with your eyes closed. However you picked the blue one on purpose. Why tho? There's nothing special about it and has the same ink as the others. You chose that pen because blue is your favorite color.
Air Cat, Frost Fairy and Air unicorn have the same function but different designs. Basically having variety in appearance for the power, somewhat this game's way of "customizing your character" I guess and it works. Air unicorn should be the most important one since it's span of how long it can walk on air is longer than the others. You could even grind for the Balan costume which makes all three seem useless. But despite all of that I kept going with frost fairy. Why? Because it looks cool :)
whats a jumper to an airwalker?
whats an airwalker to an ice walker?
whats an Ice walker to a double jumper?
whats a double jumper to a triple jumper?
whats any of these to BALAN (10 incredibly high jumps+gliding)?
Its for hyper long gaps situations
Before I mention the things I do not like...
I will say this game's design, the world, everything is beautiful to me. I LOVE the character and monster designs, the costume designs are creative and adorable. The world and theme is fairly breath taking, and the graphics style I actually like alot. The boss designs are AMAZING for alot of them, the cutscenes a VERY well done and, I admit, the tims are cute.
But my god the game-play aspect is lacking much too terribly.
While I love all these costumes, the fact that from all the 80+ costumes you're really only gaming 6 unique abilities through out the game. Running Fast, Floating/hanging in the air alittle longer, Jumping higher, Elemental-based movement (Going throguh water/walking on fire/etc), environmental interaction (Pushing, ladder, gear turning, etc) and Attacking-based. So while there's LOTS of costume, roughly 6 to 8 costumes is doing the exact same thing, with different animation. And ALOT of these outfits only has like a one-time use or very limited situation.
Also its limited to 1 ACTION PER OUTFIT. Meaning certain outfits you CANNOT jump (Unless you walk off a platform, you can press a button to suddenly do a single jump rather than to attack/etc).
And while some would say "Well its unique outfit for each stage!"...
Did you know you can actually "Stock" the outfits through out the game? When you get more outfits, you're last outfit in your list will get "Stocked", which you can then change into via hte costume Change at teh check points (If you stand still for 5 seconds). Meaning having unique outfits is kinda pointless when you can grind and bring better outfits from other stages to the older ones.
The Animation also is lacking SO MUCH for what he game looks. How the character walks and moves is much too basic.
Also you see NPC's on the field, but how they disappear when you get close is so...odd...And They're there just...dancing around you, doing nothing, not interaction, nothing. This makes the world feel so empty needlessly, and some of the "platforming" and "secrets" is hardly much of a platforming at all. And also, very linear...And the Strange jarring Musical after each boss fight is much too random also...I mean its nice? But it really came out of nowhere...
All in all it LOOKS and SOUNDS beautiful...But as a GAME, it is literally a Poor-Mans Super Mario Odyssey, where you're playing a VERY crippled down Mario who can only do is walk and jump, and if you want to do his old wall jump, long jump, roll, spin drop, punches, hat throw and whatnot...You can only do them if you pick up an outfit...And even then each outfit only lets you do ONE of these things, and most likely remove your jumping ability.
Happy to see someone appreciate the art and music of this game. This entire franchise has so much potential, but the gameplay and weird resolution choice (somehow the ps4 and switch vers look like 3ds) may have just killed it.
@@sleepe9629 It was rumored that it was originally planned as a Mobile-Game release or something? Which kind of explains a few things like the one-action costume design n whatnot.
But yes, I love the art and music so much, the characters stand out tremendously for me, including Balan and even the 2 main characters you play with.
Simply as a "Game that you spend $60 USD", it is definitely lacking in the gaming and enjoyment aspect terribly where it's questioning to sell it even at full price.
@@happyhealsgaming7614 "Did you know you can actually "Stock" the outfits through out the game?" Yes, this is a key mechanic of the game, and many people who played Balan WW didn't bother to figure that out. Obviously, the game is frustrating if you run out of costumes, so players who understand what the game is going for stock up on at least 5 of each. Makes the game super fun! In all honesty, Naka and his team needed to provide a few more instructions about the costumes, and about how to access the level-opening train with statues. Younger gamers who aren't used to figuring out game mechanics without instructions could get frustrated early because of things like that.
"It was rumored that it was originally planned as a Mobile-Game release or something?" This is a rumor stoked up by antis online, who feel like it's really cool to say that every game they don't like is a mobile game. (It's those same people who comment on every new Switch game with "Hey look, Switch has another mobile game!") Yuji Naka was hired by Square Enix in early 2018 to create various kinds of games. He thought about doing mobile games at first, probably due to how popular they are in Japan -- but then before he started collecting a team of devs to work on a game he decided to start developing classic-styled games primarily for consoles, and Balan WW was the first project he came up with. It was always intended as a moderate-budget AA console release.
Great breakdown of the game, I’m having so much fun playing but the musical part after the boss fights really threw me off 😂
“Okay, this is my theory on this game. It started off as an actual video game, then they realized they wouldn’t have enough time to actually make it good, so the developers started trolling each other and putting in these shitty power-ups, and then it just became a contest on who could make the shittiest power-up imaginable.”
-Video Game Dunkey
Frankly, I LOVE the game. Artistically, musically, character-wise and even story/message (the story is kinda hard to grasp tho). Gameplay wise could have some improvements, but all costumes were of a creative design and despite some being more upgraded versions of others I am STILL in love with Balan Wodnerworld.
What story is there?!
The speedy cheetah reminds me of time dilation:
The faster you move through space, the slower time will pass for you, relative to an observer standing still.
Thanks for making this helpful guide. A few of the costumes are found way out of the way. As an aside, you accidentally marked Pounding Duck as being found in Act 2 instead of Act 1.
The costume it amazing from Balan Wonderworld
How would kirby be in balan wonderworld?
@@lucianaalice4755 yes I wonder Kirby use a costume from Balan wonderworld
I 💕 the video....so Amazing
Imagine how much having separate action buttons would have saved this game.
Gear king: father
Gear prince: son
Gear queen: mother
Gear princess: daughter
that's like a GOOD idea!👍
@@anniebanzon1471 they both have royalty titles and family titles and of course gears
@@arganlumens7117 maybe the sequel could make Gear Queen & Gear Princess!😊
Balan wonderworld sequel should have a complete gear royal family set
Is there going a balan wonderworld sequel
Longplay: Balan Wonderworld
Probably not gonna happen
@@jastrongames790 longplay
16:53 MY FAVE!! SO CUTE!! 💖💖💖💖
They really should have gotten some of the people who worked of the Kirby series (minus Sakurai) to help with this game. With their help they could flesh out the costume abilities more as well as cut out some of the useless ones. Again looks at Kirby. While Kirby has a mountain o copy abilities from a plethora of games (minus Mass Attack and Epic Yarn), they know what abilities to add and which ones to remove. Half of the costumes here are just copies of the other costumes.
Frost fairy is my favorite costume 23:43
agreed its so beautiful
Yes, I agree. Frost Fairy is my favorite costume too, because it's a resemblance to the lovely and beautiful Iben Bia. 😍
It's also Absolutely Cracked If You Can Mash Fast.
Mine's Dainty Dragon
1:08
34:34 HOT SOUP! (Rise of the Teenage mutant ninja turtles) fans will get it
Dear Lord, the amount that exists. And yet, a lot of them does the same thing with a twist or no point in to it. Sometimes, less is more.
I suppose you also think there should only be 18 Pokemon, one of each type, right? Who needs variety, fun, and whimsical game design anyway?
@@sonicmania9993 I’m sure everyone does. I can’t really say this game excels in that, I’m afraid.
@@sonicmania9993 are a real human being? Where on earth do you see whimsical game design on this game
Just like the TT Lego games
@@mortalkombatworld9707 Sure, I love it! I really enjoy wandering through the levels, trying different costume-combinations, enjoying the levels and the music at my own pace. I love the dancing costume-characters that fade in and out of view, letting you know what new costumes are useful around there. Between levels, I go sit around watching the tims be silly for 10 minutes in the hub world. Just so much joy in the game for me.
Only some of us like weird, second-tier platformers like they used to make in the 90's evidently. That's the kind of game this is. I'm not alone either ... there are some positive reviews hidden among all the negative ones. But clearly a lot of people wanted to play a different kind of game.
i appreciate the dedication, that game is hell
My favorite game in years.
@@sonicmania9993 no
@@2-_ Not for you maybe. Is your taste exactly the same as every gamer? Some of us really love Balan WW.
I have one question, did you get any really bad hate comments?
on the game or me?
@@WishingTikal this game, since there is quote unquote "game purist" in this world
@@WishingTikal also, will you do gameplay on evil genius?
well it seems 50/50, a lot of people say they hate the game, but a lot also think it's good and being bashed unfairly
@@jastrongames790 I don't know it doesn't really seem like my type lol
Balan Wonderworld is just a great game. Sad that people forgot what quality games are today. They will only enjoy if it gets milked to death like Among Us, Fortnite, Minecraft, Ghost of Tsuhima or GTA Online
no balan wonderworld is an actual shit game it doesnt even work like, allot of the times.
Sorry to tell you this but this game is straight up not good
I honestly believe this game was originally a mobile game and that says alot about it
But if you like it that's great hope you have fun
Just that most people won't agree with you
Totally agree with you, Street Fighter (though I do like Ghost of Tsushima, LOL!). The masses today (even a lot of older gamers) don't understand what good quality videogames used to be, and they certainly don't understand the variety of things that a platformer can be. Those of us who understand and appreciate the possibilities of the genre will always be there to enjoy it --- but its heyday is certainly in the past now, replaced as you say by Among Us, Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, GTA Online, various shooty games, cinematic games, and other borefests.
Besides PS5 Ratchet which looks amazing, I've got my eye on Clive 'n' Wrench as the next under-the-radar retro-styled 3D platformer that has the potential to be really special like Balan WW. Was supposed to come out on 2020, but is now looking like later in 2021.
@@scooblet2539 If you think "it doesn't even work a lot of the time," you're not playing the game correctly. It's not even that difficult a game -- if you practice, all the costumes do what you want them to. There are many different things you can do with the various costumes on each level.
@@sonicmania9993 no i mean the bugs and glitches
Amazing transformation
Everyone, I think we get the point, artstyle is good, gameplay is bad. And that's okay with me, I still got used to the controls and it's gameplay
17:40 19:17 ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ (Sonic the hedgehog)
good video
Anyone have the Full Wardrobe Trophy not unlock on PS4 version?
So many that it had to be its own video totaling over 40 minutes just that itself including review try me.
the fixer is in the act 1 near to the end
Box Fox, activate yo box mode
It kind of makes you wonder why they even bothered adding the keys when, most of the time, their just right next to the costume you need. Why not do something interesting with it? Like having the player solve a puzzle to get the key? What's even worse is that the key mouse costume makes them even more worthless since it acts like a key. So why even bother with this?
Because this game was developed by Arzest, and they have no talent with level design as evident by their past failure games e.g. Yoshi's New Island, etc.
Epic
So Ms. WT, which one is your favorite?
air unicorn lol was useful
@@WishingTikal
My favorite was frost fairy because shes such a cutie
This game is so weird and I don’t think it actually fits the whole whimsical trope. It’s just a literal one button gameplay and the only thing about the game is the designs and the characters (especially balan, he’s a silly lil guy in my eyes). This game could use a remake, it has so many issues and bugs/glitches.
man alpharad was too harsh on this game just for shits and giggles, but its actually a solid kids first game I can totally see myself get invested into this world if I was a lil 10 yo boy, Its like sonic but for the next generation of kids...even though thats a loaded statement
19:52
Watch your profanity
I don't think that's profanity. I think it's just Japanese.
I don’t know how you find joy playing this game it so I now know why I had a low rate img because it a crap game and bill shit boss battle of a kids game
This looks like a Roblox game. In fact, it’s worse than a roblox game, because in roblox, they don’t map EVERY SINGLE BUTTON to one action.
This is probably the worst power-up system I've ever seen in a video game. This is like how US superhero comics come up with "useless" powers yet almost never try to expand on them.
oh god Balan, im sorry god cursed you with a horrible game