もっと詳しく

Released a year ago on different platforms, Balan Wonderworld has been sacred since”worst game of 2021 on Nintendo Switch” according to test scores compiled by Metacritic. However, the game had everything to please, on paper at least. Developped by Yuji Naka, the dad of Sonic, for Square-Enix, Balan Wonderworld seemed to reconnect with the spirit of nightsone of the cult games of Yuji Naka, with his colorful universe worthy of the productions of the 90s and its Harlequin character reminiscent of the heroes of The Mask and of beetle juice. Unfortunately, the game, despite beautiful ideas and pretty sequences, will end up not only full of bugs but also and above all many defects. In our test (read here) we were also surprised that such an “ambitious” title produced by Square-Enix can come out as is. For us it was clear: something had not worked and, obviously, trade-offs had not been made…

If at the time of fateie of the game, Yuji Naka made a good figure, he has just come out of his reserve in a scathing Twitter feed in which he explains that Square-Enix fired him six months before the game was released and from then on, he could only be a spectator of the decisions made by Square Enix and Arzest (who was co-developing the game.) He tried several times to intervene, in particular by asking to postpone the release of the demo (which clearly acts as a foil) or to take into account various corrections, but it has never been listened to by Arzest ,and Square-Enix never wanted to review the game’s release schedule. For all this, Yuji Naka filed a lawsuit against Square Enix, believing that we could not prevent a creator from working on his game. Yuji Nakauntil the last moment it is possible to improve a game. This is what he did with Sonic, and what makes that even today, players around the world have fun with the game. But that’s what he couldn’t do with Balan Wonderworld… Obviously, he still retains great bitterness today, to the point of asserting that “Square Enix and Arzest are companies that don’t care about games and game fans.“

If for now Square-Enix and Arzest did not react and that they will probably have another vision of things, this story perfectly illustrates the gap that can sometimes exist between the vision of an artist and that of a producer. It is very paradoxical because on the one hand Square-Enix wanted to use the prestigious name of Yuji Naka, on the other hand, he has (it seems) not given him the opportunity to fully express himself. As a result, the game does not live up to expectations or even the reputation of Yuji Naka (even of Square-Enix) and everyone loses.

To go further, find the Yuji Naka’s Twitter feed HERE and the English translation published by an LA fan. You can also (re)read our test of Balan Wonderworld (HERE) who could well take advantage of this controversy to recover some players… To your good heart, ladies and gentlemen !

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The post Yuji Naka, Sonic’s dad, explains the Balan Wonderworld flop and attacks Square Enix which according to him “doesn’t care about the games and the fans” – Nintendo Switch appeared first on Gamingsym.