Some stages end in boss fights which take place in circular 3D arenas or head-on against a 2D plane. The stages are laced with obstacles that must be traversed by using a combination of these techniques. Enemies can be thrown into the foreground or background as well as along the 2D plane. After grabbing an enemy, they are inflated in a similar manner to a balloon and the player can either throw them as a projectile weapon at other enemies, or use them as a springboard to perform a larger jump. Klonoa can grab enemies using a large ring inhabited by his spirit friend Huepow. Paths visible in the background may be traversed later in the stage. The path may often curve, overlap itself, or branch into different directions.
The player moves the protagonist Klonoa along this path he can run left and right, jump, and hover for a short period of time. It is presented from a 2.5D perspective the environments are rendered in 3D but the gameplay takes place on a 2D plane. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is a side-scrolling platform game. It spawned a series of sequels, including Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (2001) for the PlayStation 2, and a 2008 remake for the Wii. In retrospect, it is considered one of the best 2.5D platformers and greatest PlayStation games of all time. Some critics thought it lacked in certain gameplay innovations and was excessive in its Japanese cuteness. Door to Phantomile received positive reviews, being praised for its clever platforming, impressive graphics, and cutscenes. The Klonoa character was designed early on and the environments and other characters were designed around him. The game was directed by Hideo Yoshizawa, who conceptualized the setting as a dream world that could appeal to children and adults. Klonoa can grab enemies and throw them as projectiles, or use them as a jump boost to navigate through the stages. The player controls Klonoa through a 2.5D perspective the stages are rendered in three dimensions but the player moves along a 2D path. The story follows Klonoa and his friend Huepow in their efforts to save the dream world of Phantomile from an evil spirit intent on turning it into a world of nightmares. We'll be focussing on the Playstation original and/or Wii remake in this thread, but if you've played any of the others (mentioned here, or other's I've skipped), let us know what platforms you've played them on, and what you think.Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is a platform game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation in 1997. Then the team switched to the Gameboy Advance, and released "Klonoa: Empire of Dreams" appeared in 2001, and its sequel "Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament" landed in 2002. "Kaze no Klonoa: Moonlight Museum" appeared on the short-lived Bandai Wonderswan in 1999.
These series also saw a number of handheld titles in parallel as an all-2D pixel art series. "Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil" was released in 2002 for Playstation 2. Sequels came along later on, and managed to keep the momentum of the first title with equally good reviews. The game was originally released on the original Playstation, but had a remake for the Nintendo Wii in 2008 with near-identical gameplay and updated graphics. And while the mechanics were nothing new, the game stood out at the time with good reviews and great sales, noted for it's good quality classic feel. Sharing mechanics similar to the US "Super Mario Brothers 2" (or it's Japanese counterpart "Doki Doki Panic"), "Yoshi's Island", "Ristar" or "Mischief Makers", you control the rabbit-like main title character Klonoa, travelling through the game grabbing enemies and throwing them about to progress through the maps. Playing less like the newer 32bit all-3D Mario, Sonic Adventure or Crash Bandicoot games and returning to side-scrolling 2D (using 3D effects more for visuals than anything), Klonoa was a throwback to games more like the previous 16 bit generation, only not terrible. Then an odd title showed up in the shape of Klonoa for the original Playstation. We had our Marios and Sonics, and from there everything just got very samey, with a million clone characters that all just failed to do anything original, and just tried to out-sass each other with faux gritty 90's attitude who only served to irritate gamers. Written and published by Namco (now Namco Bandai) in 1997.Ĭlick here if you want to know what this is and why we're doing it.Īfter the 16 bit era, the world grew pretty tired of Mascot Platformers. Retro Let's Play Late August 2017: "Klonoa: Door to Phantomile"