History VideoGame / BalanWonderworld

[[caption-width-right:350:Every Moment Is An Adventure.]]

* {{Bishonen}}: [[spoiler:Underneath their masks, both Balan and Lance are tall pretty-boy figures]].

* ObviousBeta: Several elements of the game are unfinished, with numerous pieces of unimplemented content, ''like the tutorial'', with the game getting minimal patches after release, and only due to a seizure warning. Creator/YujiNaka even revealed that Square Enix had him fired when he found out they were planning to release the unfinished version.

''Balan Wonderworld'' is a 3D platformer game directed by Creator/YujiNaka and developed by Creator/{{Arzest}} under the brand subsidiary Balan Company. Published by Creator/SquareEnix, the game is intended as a CreatorDrivenSuccessor to Naka's earlier work, ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams''. The game was released on March 26, 2021, and a free demo was released on January 28 of the same year. An official novel titled ''Balan Wonderworld: Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders'' was also released alongside the main game, containing the game's whole story. [[https://balanwonderworld.square-enix-games.com/en-us/main/ You can check out its official website here.]]

''Balan Wonderworld'' is a 3D platformer game directed by Creator/YujiNaka, developed by Balan Company and Arzest, and published by Creator/SquareEnix. The game is intended as a CreatorDrivenSuccessor to Naka's earlier work, ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams''. The game was released on March 26, 2021, and a free demo was released on January 28 of the same year. An official novel titled ''Balan Wonderworld: Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders'' was also released alongside the main game, containing the game's whole story. [[https://balanwonderworld.square-enix-games.com/en-us/main/ You can check out its official website here.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Every Moment Is an Adventure.]]

** Taken UpToEleven with minibosses, since while they also become red, they also have [[spoiler: a 25% chance to become a ''Lanced'' variation, which have elaborate branching protrusions and are way tougher.]]

''Balan Wonderworld'' is a 3D platformer game directed by Creator/YujiNaka, developed by Balan Company and Arzest, and published by Creator/SquareEnix. The game is intended as a SpiritualSuccessor to Naka's earlier work, ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams''. The game was released on March 26, 2021, and a free demo was released on January 28 of the same year. An official novel titled ''Balan Wonderworld: Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders'' was also released alongside the main game, containing the game's whole story. [[https://balanwonderworld.square-enix-games.com/en-us/main/ You can check out its official website here.]]

''Balan Wonderworld'' is a 3D platformer game directed by Creator/YujiNaka and developed by Creator/SquareEnix and Arzest. The game is intended as a SpiritualSuccessor to Naka's earlier work, ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams''. The game was released on March 26, 2021, and a free demo was released on January 28 of the same year. An official novel titled ''Balan Wonderworld: Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders'' was also released alongside the main game, containing the game's whole story. [[https://balanwonderworld.square-enix-games.com/en-us/main/ You can check out its official website here.]]

* CreateYourOwnHero: Literally. [[spoiler:The BigBad of the game Lance used to be Balan before his attachment to humanity [[TheCorruption turned him into Lance]]. Because a balance is needed, Lance created the current Balan, and believes that this cycle will repeat eventually no matter how much Balan wants to avoid it.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders'' has a much serious plot compared to the main game. While the game has a very lighthearted tone and skips to the exploration of the dream worlds, the novel treats the human victim's backstories seriously and with more heavy tones compared to the game. Even the dance segments are replaced with Leo and Emma having a conversation with the other humans. And while Balan is determined to prevent such a thing from ever happening, [[spoiler:Lance insists that Balan's attachment to humans has doomed him to become another Lance one day.]]

* ObviousBeta: Several elements of the game are unfinished, with numerous pieces of unimplemented content, ''like the tutorial'', with the game getting minimal patches after release, and only due to a seizure warning.
** Creator/YujiNaka even revealed that Arzest had him '''''fired''''' when he found out they were planning to release the unfinished version.

* ShowWithinAShow: The secondary theme to all the stages, as they are literally constructed dream worlds within a mystical Theatre. To the point that each one ends with a choreographed final dance number.
** An amusing easter egg in many stages are the small backstage nooks. An NPC will be taking a break there next to costumes, props, and a make-up mirror. They'll be shocked you found them if you get close enough and disappear.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The first, and most obvious example is to the ''Nights'' series, as they both have similar themes and characters. In another sense though, the game as a whole is a call to games of the Dreamcast's and especially Sega Saturn's generation of early 3D gaming:
** The story is very minimal and visually based unless you read accompanying detailed media tied to it, and lots of 2d illustrated final images for characters are found solely online. ''NIGHTS: Into Dreams...'' in particular utilized this, with only the visually focused opening cutscenes, manual, comics, and early internet being sources of information.
** Motion capture and FMV is very consistently used for cutscenes, illusions of characters, and dance numbers. Many games of [=SEGA's=] era on Saturn and Dreamcast -- such as ''Shenmue'' -- utilized these methods despite in-game visuals typically not living up to the preciseness.

** The Isle of Tims is a much more simplified HubLevel version of the pet raising sims SEGA was known to put into their Dreamcast Sonic titles, complete with hatching them from collected eggs, carrying the pets, and being able to toss them into the interactive parts of the hub.

* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday: The Balan Theatre can appear anywhere at any time to those in emotional distress. Except it isn't a shop, it's a playhouse that acts as a gateway between the real world and Wonderworld. Fiona mentions having encountered the Balan Theatre at a ''beach'' of all things.

* TornadoMove: The Tornado Wolf costume, the first costume unlocked in the game, grants this to the player when they jump, enabling them to break through certain blocks or deflect certain attacks. Guardian Bird, unlockable in the 5th world, also does this, except it fires mini-tornadoes while jumping instead.
* TurnsRed: Subverted. The bosses will naturally get upset when they're hit, and change their tactic. However doing so exposes a completely different weak point, and if they finish their attack or are hit, they'll go back to their normal pattern.

''But, of course - It's a piece of your heart!''\\

* TheGenerationGap: The victim of world 12 [[spoiler:suffers from this, as he's an old man who feels that he's getting left behind, which forms the basis of his world - a cyberspace inside an old ruin.]]

** Motion capture and FMV is very consistently used for cutscenes, illusions of characters, and dance numbers. Many games of [=SEGA's=] era on Saturn and Dreamcast - such as ''Shenmue'' - utilized these methods despite in-game visuals typically not living up to the preciseness.

* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: If you don't have any Tims with you at the end of a level, you can't exit the level (because the Tims sing a song that unlocks the exit). This normally isn't a problem, but Tims can be swallowed by flowers scattered throughout the levels - and they only do so BehindTheBlack, with your only cue being a gulping noise easily lost among the other sounds of a level. (Hitting the flower makes it spit the Tim back out.)

* CripplingOverspecialization: Each costume gives the player one specific ability which they can perform with the action button. Some costumes, such as the Dainty Dragon first found in World 1's second level, even specifically remove the player's ability to jump.

[[caption-width-right:350:Every Moment Is an Adventure]]

* AllOrNothing: Either you get a perfect score on the Balan's Bout and sports minigames or you get rewarded with ''absolutely nothing''. No in-betweens. One "Good" and you don't get a Balan statue, even if every other hit was "Excellent".

* GuideDangIt: The game has an InfinityPlusOneSword, [[spoiler:the Balan Costume, which allows you unlimited flight]], but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5aVrxV08NM obtaining it]] is ridiculously obtuse. [[spoiler:You must feed a large stone Tim statue rainbow gems until the gauge on it is maxed out. You must also feed red, blue, and pink gems to a small Tim until red, blue, and pink badges grow on its body, then repeat this process with a second Tim that grows into a big Tim. Then you must pick up the small badged Tim and throw it at the large badged Tim for [[LuckBasedMission a very low random chance]] to get a crowned Tim. You must then feed this crowned Tim, enter and leave a level to allow it to grow, then take the grown crowned Tim and throw it at the Tim statue. This causes the statue to transform into the Tim of Legend, which transports you to a small floating island in the sky where the Balan costume awaits.]] However since it can be used to grab the collectibles more easily for 100% it averts being a BraggingRightsReward

* GroundPound: The Pounding Pig costume gives players the ability to slam down in the middle of a jump, as seen in level 1-2.

* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday: The Balan Theatre can appear anywhere at any time to those in emotional distress. Except it isn't a shop, it's a playhouse that acts as a gateway between the real world and Wonderworld.