Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

I love the cutscenes in Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. They're dramatic and don't undercut their own seriousness with humor. When something bad happens, you aren't constantly reminded that you are actually in happy-fun-time-world where Bowser hid all 120 stars, and you just gotta find em for world to heal. The scars in Klonoa are permanent.

It is a game that acknowledges real loss in a way that mascot platformers of the 90s simply were not doing. It is a fundamental emotional shift for the player of a game, when that game adds real stakes. Players weren't expecting that kind of altered mindset in Phantomile. Maybe it was the major reason Klonoa sales were poor in the West. I don't believe it was the gameplay, as it plays similarly to other linear platformers of the time.

It was successful in Japan, where JRPGs were more popular, so audiences may have been more used to the combination of colorful aesthetic and serious narrative.

I have only played a bit of the sequel, which people here seem to love. I plan on returning to it, but I felt it lacked the "goofy ps1 mascot platformer" aesthetic in favor of a more serious/muted one, which causes it to lose a little charm.

Se destaca ao ser confortável na mesma medida que é estranho. O gameplay e música relaxantes contrastam com ambientes psicodélicos e um design de personagem… peculiar.

O fim melancólico vem do nada, também. Ainda que não tenha nada mind-blowing, é essa constante surpresa que faz de Klonoa especial e um dos melhores plataformas do PS1.

In the world of cute platformers, Klonoa is the snob's alternative to Kirby, with its lower profile and melancholy tone. Much like Kirby it has the pace of a leisurely stroll, and the 3D environments allow for a degree of atmospheric exploration within a strictly 2D plane. Still, there's collectibles and a fun central mechanic and a number of boss fights and even a post-game challenge gauntlet, so it's not like you'll sleepwalk through it. More than being a solid platformer, Klonoa sticks in my mind for its surprising wistfulness, as it follows a protagonist who never seems to find his way home, and visits worlds where grief and sadness are far more common than you'd think at first.

Klonoa is a black rabbit-like creature who is in possession of a ring which a blue blob-like spirit called Huepoe seems to reside in. Klonoa can jump and partially glide using his floppy ears in order to traverse the terrain. He can attack using his ring which picks up enemies that he then can use to throw, or enable him to double jump. Throwing enemies can be used to attack other enemies, or be used to interact with foreground/background objects such as switches or items.

The game is a remake of a PlayStation classic; Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and features enhanced visuals. The story is based on the evil Ghadius and his minion Joker who aims to turn Phantomile into a world of nightmares, and it is up to Klonoa to stop him. The voice acting is good but very childish, but given the games presentation, story and difficulty; it is very suited to the target audience.

The game is a 2D platforming game but uses 3D to create twisting paths which make the levels more interesting. On some levels it is possible to feel a bit lost due to the branching paths but it never takes too long to work out where to go.

Overall, the levels are very easy and straightforward and are far too basic to enjoy until the latter part of the game where it starts to feature a few switch puzzles, have harder enemies, and trickier jumps. It is over pretty quick given that it only has 15 levels and although a decent game, it doesn't give you much motivation to play the game again; even on the unlocked 'mirror mode' with a new costume.

Klonoa is a pretty nostalgic game for me, its a game I had as a kid on PS1, and remember playing it when I was around 6 or 7 years old. The funny thing is this game series was never super popular, and its odd that my parents got this game for me, I'm guessing they say it on the shelf of a game store around the time it came out and thought it would be a nice kid friendly game based on the innocent looking cat creature on the cover. The weird thing is I played this a ton as a kid, probably almost as much as Crash Bandicoot, Gex Enter the Gecko, and Croc. But this was probably, at least at the time, my least favorite, I guess the game might have been overly simple, maybe I didn't like the style, or maybe it just felt a bit too odd for me, but then years later I played the game again after a PSN sale, and well its a pretty fun game still. I was pretty hard on this game as a kid, its a simple platformer that feels a bit like Playstation's version of Kirby. You pick up enemies and throw them at things, and you can use them to bounce yourself higher and that's about the extent of the game's controls. The story isn't too complex, you're trying to figure out the mystery behind a crash that happens at the bell tower in your local village and then that leads you to discover and mysterious villain who you then travel around trying to find out more about what is going on. The levels are pretty simple and easy, but fun at the same time, there are hidden objects you can collect and each World is designed different enough than the past World with its own unique enemies and gimmicks. There are only 2 levels in each World and each end with a boss, and the game itself is pretty short, I think the game can be beaten in roughly 5 hours and that includes all the collectibles. There are only 6 Worlds, 7 if you include the final boss, speaking of which the bosses are probably the best part of this game, they are fun and actually present a challenge when most of the game is relatively easy.

I mean yeah Klonoa isn't a great game, it is pretty easy, the design is really basic, it doesn't have much replay and the story itself isn't anything stellar, but its a fun little game that has a unique style and everything in this game just looks like you want to hug it to death, plus there is some oddness as the Japanese influence tends to creep out, and the ending is sort of heartbreaking. Plus the soundtrack is pretty memorable and I can still remember many songs from the game years later. Not to mention the secret World you unlock for collecting all the guys is pretty fun, even if the level isn't very long, but it has a kind of funny bonus end. I was a bit hard on Klonoa as a kid and its way better than Gex or Croc, but I'll admit, its one of those games you only play every so years.