Those two characters may have temporarily fallen out of favor, but both had no trouble making a comeback because their designs are just that memorable. This is especially evident when you consider the rather triumphant return of “Crash Bandicoot” and “Spyro the Dragon,” two franchises that struggled for years before returning to their roots and subsequently selling boatloads of games and merch. It was also competing with some truly iconic characters who haven’t left the limelight for decades.
“Balan Wonderworld” wasn’t just competing to be a game worth peoples’ time.
Sonic is particularly ubiquitous, gracing T-shirts in every Target and Walmart across the country. The existing mascots are so iconic, they practically make more money off merchandise than games. The sad fact is 20 years after the mascot platformer subgenre stopped being an oversaturated mess – looking at you, “Bubsy” and “Gex” – there’s still no room for competition. More recent attempts to grab a share of that market include “Super Lucky’s Tale,” “Yooka-Laylee” and, yes, “Balan Wonderworld.” The former examples didn’t tank like “Balan Wonderworld,” but they weren’t breakaway success stories, either. “Super Mario,” “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Crash Bandicoot” are the best-known of the bunch, and there was a time when dozens upon dozens of imitators attempted to capitalize upon the phenomenon. All that’s needed is a memorable and quirky main character with an affinity for jumping around on obstacles. If you’ve played any video games at all, you’ve likely played a so-called mascot platformer whether you knew it or not. I foresee huge price cuts in the game’s near future, but there was a time when “Balan Wonderworld” might’ve enjoyed more success – specifically in the late 1990s or early ’00s when information didn’t travel quite so quickly and mascot platformers were still all the rage. Couple that with a $60 price tag, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster. I should’ve known – historically, public demos have hurt sales even for good games. Based on its sloppy and archaic gameplay, I knew it wouldn’t attain high review scores.īut I figured its marketing push was enough to sell a good number of units before the public caught on. While I penned a critical review of its public demo in February, I never anticipated “Balan Wonderworld” would flop so dramatically. If these stats seemed cherry picked, the sad reality is they’re not: “Balan Wonderworld” oozes Japanese appeal enjoyed extensive coverage on Famitsu, the most widely read video game magazine in Japan and many similarly whimsical games sell best on the Nintendo Switch. It’s also not in the top 30 in the Nintendo eShop in Japan or North America. In its first week, it sold fewer than 2,100 copies in Japan, missing the top 30. “Balan Wonderworld” hit store shelves on March 26, the sales figures are in, and they’re even worse than expected.
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