When Balan Wonderworld was first unveiled last July, we – and a lot of Nintendo Life communities, judging by these comments – were pretty intrigued to see how correct it was. The premise of a fresh 3D platformer from Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima, the creators Sonic the Hedgehog, it was something I couldn’t not be careful and the hopes were high.
Unfortunately, things have gone downhill since then. Doubt began to enter our minds as the game’s demo hit digital stores, with the development team quickly declaring its intention to address all of the negative feedback from players it generated in a single day. Then we received the final copy in our hands and all our fears about the quality of the title – or, unfortunately, the lack – turned out to be true.
With very poor reviews around, it may not be surprising to see that the game has sold poorly worldwide. Last week’s Japanese charts revealed that the physical copy of the game failed to enter the top 30 in the opening week (it it’s said sold less than 2,100 copies) and is a similar story elsewhere.
As PlayStation Lifestyle reported, the game failed to reach the top 30 in the Nintendo eShop charts in both Japan and North America, and this week’s charts in the UK show that the game failed to enter the top 40, being sold in abundance of titles that are in the charts for over 100 weeks.
It’s a huge shame, especially since Yuji Naka previously explained that this might be his only chance to create a successful 3D platformer at Square Enix, but it looks like even those suspicious, overly positive fan reviews won’t be able to return. this sinking ship.
Thanks to Joe for the tip!