Released: 7 July 2022
Originally Released: 22 March 2001
Developer: Monkey Craft
Original Developer: Namco
Also Available For: PlayStation 2 (Original Release); Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S (Phantasy Reverie Series)

The Background:
After Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991) put anthropomorphic mascots on the map with its incredible success, bizarre characters like Sparkster, Earthworm Jim, and even a sentient period paved the way for later 3D platforming icons. When it came time for Namco Bandai to toss their hat into the market, videogame director Hideo Yoshizawa originally envisioned a ceramic fighting robot named Amenti before Yoshihiko Arai pitched the strange, rabbit-like Klonoa to appeal to kids and adults. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (Namco, 1997) impressed critics with its simple controls and cute visuals, and development of a sequel began soon after. Initially planned for the PlayStation, Klonoa 2 transitioned to the more powerful PlayStation 2 in order to expand the 3D space and give players more control and freedom. Klonoa’s design was tweaked to make him easier to animate and more mature, which was reflected in the more emotionally nuanced story. Like its predecessor, Klonoa 2 was met with universal praise for its addictive gameplay, impressive visuals, and near-perfect controls. However, Klonoa 2 was also criticised for its short length and, despite largely positive reviews, its sales were lacking and a planned Wii remake was allegedly cancelled. After decades of being stuck as an expensive PlayStation 2 exclusive, Klonoa 2 was finally re-released and remastered in this well received, modern overhaul for new generations.

The Plot:
When Klonoa is fished from the waters of Lunatea by Lolo, a priestess-in-training, and her friend, Popka, he joins them to stop sky pirates from spreading hopelessness.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Surprisingly, given most 2D and 2.5D franchises made the jump to 3D back in the day, Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil is a 2.5D action platformer that looks and plays exactly like its predecessor. I was fully expecting that Klonoa would’ve transitioned to something more akin to the Spyro videogames (Various, 1998 to 2018) as even Earthworm Jim got a clunky, third-person 3D adventure back in the day. Instead, Klonoa 2 sticks to its roots so closely that it barely changes anything from the first game, though some of this may be because this version of the game is based upon the game engine of the short-lived Wii revival. This means that players once again travel through various colourful stages (known as “Visions”), though they’re much larger and each area has anywhere from two to seemingly five levels. Klonoa 2 still allows a second player to jump in and give Klonoa a boost with Y and the controls remain unchanged from before. By default, you’ll jump with A or Y, holding the button to flutter Klonoa’s ears to help cross gaps, and pressing B or X to fire “Wind Bullets” from his magical ring. You again use these to grab nearby enemies and throw them at other baddies, to the background or foreground to activate switches or smash Nagapoko Eggs for goodies, or to activate switches. When an enemy is in your grasp, pressing the jump button twice launches them beneath you to destroy whatever’s under you and boost you higher, and I was happy to see that there are far less sections where you must desperately string double jumps together to hit switches in a certain order. Enemies usually always respawn to give you plenty of “ammo”, though no new features have been added to Klonoa’s arsenal beyond you now pressing the Left or Right Bumper to pull off a taunt or a useless twirl. You can disable the onscreen timer and tutorials from the game’s settings and (to start with) pick between “Easy” (which grants infinite lives and more health) and “Normal” (which limits your lives and reduces your maximum health) difficulties. While bottomless pits and flaming hazards still spell instant death for Klonoa, you can partially or fully restore his health with Small or Large Hearts, hit Memory Clocks to activate checkpoints, collect one of the many 1 Up Coins for extra lives, or earn even more for every 100 Dream Stone collected.

Mirror Spirits still appear to temporarily double the value of Dream Stones, Klonoa will often need keys to open doors in Visions (usually backtracking to use them and then activate something to progress further), and he can now collect six stars in each Vision rather than rescuing Phantomiles. Though they function the same (held within bubbles in Visions), these earn you “Mommett Dolls” to deliver to the Mommett House to unlock extra game modes. Though you’re more likely to hit switches to open paths, timed switches still appear, as do disappearing platforms, which get smaller and more precarious as the game progresses. Gondolas and moving platforms also appear, as do springs to rocket you high into the air, and you’ll also hit switches to spawn (or despawn) blocks. You’re more likely to be working out how to toss Boomies at just the right time so they explode to activate these switches from afar, or nabbing Likuries to absorb enemies and change their colour to then break matching coloured crystals. These can be surprisingly taxing puzzles as you must work out how to clamber to higher ground before the Likurie returns to you, requiring you to snag coloured bulbs to get higher (or carry you across endless pits). You’ll also be tossing enemies to gigantic Ow-Gows so they’re distracted from eating you, grabbing Erbils to rocket higher and smash through crates above you, tapping A while holding a Kiton to fly around for a short time, or blasting away using a Jetimo. Klonoa also gains a gnarly hoverboard that he uses to surf over water, sand, and surfaces alike. These effectively replace the water slide sections from the first game and appear quite often, either from a 2.5D or 3D perspective, and see you hopping gaps, making tight, precise movements to stay on narrow or crumbling paths, and using your double jump to reach higher ground. Twice you’ll cut through the sky on either a bird or a plane, tossing enemies to break obstacles in your way. You must often press B to ring magical bells to progress the story, and you’ll be constantly backtracking to Baguji’s Island from the larger world map to get more information and unlock new areas.

While Klonoa 2’s worlds are noticeably bigger than before, the basic gameplay loop remains unchanged, and a lot of the same gimmicks return. You’ll be clearing gaps, using swinging, moving, and stationary platforms, activating lifts, and battling against conveyer belts in your quest. Klonoa 2’s “big” new gimmick are the many cannons dotted all over, which blast you across stages, up higher, or to and from the foreground. Often, you must toss enemies or Boomies to the background and then quickly rocket over to use them to blow up rocks to snag keys; othertimes, they simply lead to alternate paths and goodies. However, there are some new mechanics at work here, mainly in Mira-Mira’s “Maze of Memories” which includes twisted geometry, a maze of doors, and a feature when you rotate the screen to make the floor the ceiling. When in the endgame, you’ll revisit previous areas, now made more dangerous, and must stick close to Goddess statues to avoid choking to death on poisonous gas, toss Boomies into three engines and flee to safety before they explode, and get carried across a disturbing void. While it seems daunting dodging Spikers, flame bursts, and hopping to platforms or other handholds, you can just cling to whatever’s carrying you and take a hit without being knocked off, which makes it much easier. La-Lakoosha features a pendulum you must toss enemies at the destroy pillars to progress, the Mobile Tank Biskarsh chases you with a laser through the war-ravaged streets of Volk City, giant enemies also chase you in Mira-Mira, and players must grab Flolo to light up dark areas when traversing the nightmarish Dark Sea of Tears. Often, big springs blast you high up and you must direct Klonoa to land on other springs or platforms to progress, enemies sometimes chase you towards or away from the camera to add a little spice, spike pits threaten to end your run, and the funfair-like Joliant has you dodging rollercoasters, tossing enemies at a Nagapoko Egg shooting range, and smacking a pirate ship so it swings you to higher ground.

Presentation:
As mentioned, I was surprised to find Klonoa 2 barely deviates from the last game, recycling many of the same enemies and hazards and retaining the rigid 2.5D presentation. It does open out a little bit, though, offering more third-person sections through its hoverboard gimmick but, for the most part, everything looks, feels, and sounds as good as it did before. While much of the game’s colourful aesthetic still recalls NiGHTS into Dreams (Sonic Team, 1996), Klonoa 2 features a fantasy land being invaded by nightmares and doubts rather than taking place in a dream world. Though nothing’s changed about his abilities, Klonoa has had a bit of a visual downgrade, now wearing a hoodie rather than his cool buckle outfit and strangely having taunts mapped to the shoulder buttons. He’s still a fun character, though, and seems a touch more mature this time around, and still speaks in  gibberish and sound bites. Dialogue is thus related through speech bubbles and there are a few more happening here as Klonoa chases down the mischievous Tat, offers council to Lolo, and gets the lowdown on besmirched sky pirate Leorina from Baguji. Klonoa and his enemies still have large hit boxes that can make platforming tricky, but this time I noticed some odd distortion in the music at times, as though the hardware were struggling to keep the game running. Lunatea is a pretty varied world whose map opens up as you progress the story and has you backtracking to Baguji and even in some Visions to move things along. While Klonoa 2 only recalls the bizarre visuals of the first game at the end, each area has a lot to see in the backgrounds and many of them are mismatched and remixed for the endgame, where the King of Sorrow throws the land into chaos and makes previously simplistic areas more taxing with tougher enemies, trickier puzzles, and so many pits.

Players begin in the Sea of Tears, a stormy, rainswept port where lightning flashes and waves crash against the rocks in the background. This area leads you through an ethereal coral cave and features a large priestess statue near the end. This brings you to La-Lakoosha, a town situated near a large waterfall where wind currents carry you between platforms, and Klonoa explores a mushroom cave and travels a spiral path to the Claire Moa Temple. While Joliant impresses with its carnival lights, sounds, rides, and fireworks, it’s also home to a funky haunted house that includes a haunted library, scary trees, a graveyard, and a spook working a giant cauldron. You’ll also board through a jungle-themed water slide stage and then drop into the rancid sewers beneath Volk City, which is on fire and under heavy bombardment that sees buildings crumble and flaming debris litter the streets. After avoiding insta kill sewage and molten metal in the city’s distinctly steampunk underground factory, you must activate and explore the ancient Ishras Ark. The vessel sits near towering mountains whose windmills and gears must be activated and their frigid peaks boarding past (and into) a gigantic dragon’s skeleton and down past a snowy village. All these areas are remixed by the King of Sorrow, often having you work backwards through previous areas or go from the left to the right, encountering more Ow-Gows and puzzles involving Boomies and Likuries. These more nightmarish, topsy-turvy levels can be daunting with their desolate, patchwork backgrounds and ominous music, and things only get more troublesome with how many pits, temporary platforms, and changes have been made. Previously stationary platforms will now swing, more insta-kill fire appears, tranquil caves will be full of toxic gas, and the very sea will have dried up, revealing only sand, floating islands, and an exposed coral palace whose statues try to crush you. Things get very surreal when you battle the corrupted Leorina and the maniacal King of Sorrow, with cosmic voids and swirling vortexes replacing the previously whimsical and cartoonish backgrounds, and the game again ends on an emotional note as Lolo learns to overcome her doubts thanks to Klonoa’s support.

Enemies and Bosses:
As far as I could see, almost every enemy encountered in the first game returns in Klonoa 2, completely unchanged in every way. Klonoa must grab and toss these constantly respawning enemies to defeat others or activate switches, or to reach higher ground, with all but the large ones and those wearing helmets dying in one hit. The various coloured Moos are still your most persistent enemy, with Red Moos patrolling back and forth, bird-like Green Moves hovering overhead, and Black, Gold, and Silver Moos hiding behind shields and/or carrying spears. Moos also jump on snowboards to chase you, Zippoes still run full tilt at you, some enemies toss spiked balls from the background and floating Spikers are a constant headache before you, and Slazzas still toss boomerangs (though appear far less frequently). Glibz return, still armed with twin cannons, Spindles must still be defeated by double jumping over them, and Boomies have a much expanded role as you toss them at switches or into engines. There are some new enemies here too, such as hornets that attack with their stingers, shark-like Digons who dive from the background, and Ow-Gows, who must be fed to keep them from munching on Klonoa. Just as Leorina acts as a dark opposite of Klonoa, wielding a makeshift magical ring, so too does her companion, Tat, act as a counterpart to Popka. You’ll chase Tat through Joliant’s fun park, tagging her either on foot or while boarding along, and even fight her in two mini boss battles. The first sees her (in a spooky disguise) rolling cannonballs along the floor in Joliant’s haunted house, where you must propeller fly up to pop the balloons. In the second, giant mechanical Tat’s pop from pipes in Volk City’s underground factory, again rolling cannonballs. This time, you must grab Moos and toss them at her constructs as they spiral around, kind of like a game of Whac-A-Mole. There are also six bosses to fight, each with two phases and two health bars, though this time the game at least mixes things up and sometimes has you boarding along instead of just running on a circular or stationary platform.

The “Armored Beast” Folgaran spins in the centre of a circular path, exposing its weak spot (its butt) as it rotates but spinning faster and extending its claw-like arms as the fight progresses. While this is extremely easy, Leptio can be trickier as you must throw Moos at him while avoiding his duplicates, hit him as he rolls around the ring, and knock over his drill-like enclosure, dodging his flailing robotic limbs. As he rolls in this mech, you must time a throw from across the stage to put him down. The Mobile Tank Biskarsh can also be difficult as you must grab a Green Moo and spring high up, dropping your projectile into the vent on the tank’s roof and avoiding its leap. It then jumps further and faster and drives at you from the background, meaning it can be difficult timing your shots. Polonte is fought as you snowboard down a mountain. You must jump over spike balls and ice formations, passing through gates to speed up and ram him. In the second phase, these are far harder to avoid and you must snag and toss snowboarding Moos (best done while jumping). When you finally face off with Leorina, she transforms into an insectile beast and stomps around a stage, only being vulnerable when you Erbils-jump into her underbelly. When she hides beneath the platform and you must blast away her orb and smash an enemy into the ground to damage her, finally finishing her off with another Erbils-jump as she charges her big attack. Finally, there’s the King of Sorrow, a much easier final fight than Nahatomb’s. First, you board through a swirling vortex, passing between spiked trails and tossing Nemo Moos at him. Though he’s a difficult target and bops you with his staff up close, he’s pretty easy to beat in this phase. In the second, he hides behind an energy shield, blasting flames and trying to hit you with the mechanical tips of his tentacles. You must snag these and toss them at the orbs on his shield a few times, easily ending his threat after a couple of rotations.

Additional Features:
This version of Klonoa 2 has ten Achievements up for grabs, with players earning one each time they defeat a boss and gaining an additional one if they get every Achievement in both games. You get another Achievement for finding all the Mommett Dolls, which also unlocks a couple of additional Visions to play. If you find all 150 Dream Stones in every Vision, you’ll also unlock a Picture Viewer at the Mommett House, where you can battle the bosses again (though you can also do this by revisiting the boss Visions). Completing the game on either difficulty unlocks “Hard” mode and the movie viewer, and this version also offers an awful pixel filter if you feel like making the game look like an early PlayStation title.

The Summary:
I was slightly hesitant about Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil as I was sure that it would’ve evolved the original game’s fun, if simplistic, 2.5D gameplay into something more akin to a 3D collectathon. Instead, the game is almost indistinguishable from the first, with no additional power-ups or abilities for its funky (but adorable) title character beyond a snowboard. This isn’t a bad thing as the game’s still fun to look at and play, it’s just surprising that the developers didn’t expand upon or change the formula for the jump to the PlayStation 2. I was glad to see that the janky double and triple jump sections were largely gone and I did enjoy the hoverboard sections, though the game still didn’t do as much as it could with its main throwing gimmick. I liked the expanded role given to Boomies and how the Likurie puzzles make you rethink your actions, though the reliance on cannons took a lot of control away from me and constantly returning to Baguji got annoying. Still, I liked that the Visions were much bigger, the bosses had more phases and strategy to them, and that the game was as colourful and quirky as before. I can’t say there’s anything in Klonoa 2 to make it any better or worse than the original as the differences are extremely minor. I ultimately had just as much fun with it as I did the first game, so it’s only fair to give it the same score, but it might’ve scored higher had those nightmarish remixes been giving more prominence and if the developers had expanded Klonoa’s abilities a bit more.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil? What did you think to the changes made for the Phantasy Reverie Series version? Were you surprised to see the game virtually unchanged from the first entry? What did you think to the boarding sections and new puzzles? Do you agree that Klonoa’s design isn’t as strong this time around? Did you find the bosses too easy, despite their additional phases? Which Klonoa game is your favourite and do you think the franchise needs a new entry? Tell me your thoughts on Klonoa in the comments and go support me on Ko-Fi for more reviews like this.

Released: 7 July 2022
Originally Released: 11 December 1997
Developer: Monkey Craft
Original Developer: Namco
Also Available For: PlayStation (Original Release); Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S (Phantasy Reverie Series)

The Background:
The massive success of Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991) helped make anthropomorphic mascots hugely popular in the videogame industry, resulting in memorable characters like a gun-toting jackrabbit, an acrobatic bat, a superpowered earthworm, an intergalactic adventurer, a sword singing possum with a rocket pack, and a bear-and-bird duo. Interestingly, however, director Hideo Yoshizawa originally envisioned Klonoa as a ceramic fighting robot named Amenti before Yoshihiko Arai designed the strange, rabbit-like creature who would lead the game. Yoshizawa sought to make Klonoa an action game that was appealing to kids and adults, while lead designer Tsuyoshi Kobayashi refined the fast-paced gameplay to be limited to two buttons. First revealed at the 1997 E3 trade fair as Namco’s first bid to create a marketable 3D mascot, Klonoa was widely praised for its simple controls, colourful environments, and cutesy visuals, though some criticised its short length and lack of innovation. Although Klonoa spawned a few sequels, the original game’s price skyrocketed and the series lay dormant for nearly fifteen years before Bandai Namco teamed with Monkey Craft for an unexpected remaster of the first two games. Based upon the oft-forgotten Wii revival, this remaster of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was largely celebrated for its colourful overhaul and for breathing new life into the franchise.

The Plot:
After his dream about an airship crashing comes true, Klonoa and his friend, Huepow, journeys to keep the dark spirit Ghadius from turning Phantomile into a world of nightmares.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is a 2.5D action platformer in which players control the cute little rabbit-thing Klonoa and explore six worlds (known as “Visions”), each with two levels apiece. While the game is geared towards solo play, a second player can jump in to have Huepow launch Klonoa into the air with Y, though you can disable this at any time. The game offers two control types and the ability to customise the controls, but they’re so simple I don’t see why you’d need to do this or need anything other than the default settings. These see Klonoa jumping with A or Y, fluttering his wings for some extra airtime if you hold the button, and shooting “Wind Bullets” from his magical ring with B or X. These latch onto nearby enemies so you can throw them, either at other enemies or to the background or foreground to activate switches, take out enemies, or smash Nagapoko Eggs for extra goodies. When holding an enemy, you can press the jump button twice for a double jump (which also destroys crates or enemies beneath you) and you must chain grabs and double jumps together in the game’s later Visions to reach higher areas. This can be extremely tricky as Klonoa and his enemies have large hit boxes, enemies constantly respawn so you never run out of “ammo”, and the timing required to execute these double and triple jumps can be aggravating. The game’s options offer numerous settings for you to play with, including disabling the onscreen timer and tutorials, and you can initially pick from two difficulty settings, with “Easy” offering infinite lives and more health while “Normal” limits your lives and reduces your maximum health. Klonoa’s quite durable unless he falls down a pit or into lava but can partially or fully restore his health with Small or Large Hearts, respectively. Memory Clocks act as checkpoints, Klonoa Coins grant extra lives, and you’ll also score extra tries for every 100 Dream Stones you collect.

You can briefly double the value of Dream Stones if you spot a Mirror Spirit, toss enemies at Mysterious Seals to create new paths, and activate switches with your throws to open doors or new areas. Some of these are timed, while others must be hit in the correct order, which gets very irritating in Vision 6-2 thanks to the jump/grab requirements. Occasionally, Klonoa must obtain keys to open doors and these may be guarded by enemies, gifted by non-playable characters (NPCs), or hidden in crates and Nagapoko Eggs. Technically, your main goal (beyond reaching the exit) is rescuing the six Phantomiles hidden in each stage. These are held in bubbles that you must pop with your Wind Bullets or thrown enemies and they can be tricky to find as areas sport multiple paths, often leading to more Dream Stones and goodies alongside a Phantomile. You don’t need to rescue all the Phantomiles to progress, however, and can replay any Vision to find those you’ve lost. Each Vision also hides picture pieces to find, though this simply counts towards 100% completion rather than any tangible reward, and Klonoa can eventually ride Kara the fish, though only in cutscenes, so you’ll have to settle for sliding down water and sand slides and blasting across areas on water sprouts. While there are no additional power-ups, pick-ups, or upgrades to Klonoa’s repertoire, they’re not really needed as his basic abilities serve him well throughout. It might’ve been nice to have a 2.5D autoscrolling chase section where you ride Kara, however, or to perhaps extend or alter the nature of Klonoa’s Wind Bullets. Klonoa can use fans, wind currents, and springs to reach higher areas, though. These often test your flutter and double jump skills, which are further tested in brief sections where you ride moving platforms past enemies or flame bursts. Vision 3-1 also has you ride a log on a vine track as it speeds away from the camera, dodging spiked hazards and collecting Dream Stones.

For the most part, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is a simple, whimsical adventure that asks little of you. You can backtrack to previous screens to explore alternative paths and most collectibles are out in the open. You’re faced with simple platforming challenges such as hopping over gaps, riding platforms over pits or electrified floors, dodging projectiles, and leaping to tilting, moving, or temporary platforms (which reappear very quickly). Klonoa’s main gimmick is throwing enemies, but this rarely tests your puzzle solving skills as it’s hard to miss the big targets in the background or right in front of you. The difficulty does slowly ramp up, however, with areas becoming larger, sporting more alternative paths, and even being looping mazes. You must activate gondolas to progress in Vision 3-1, watch your step in Vision 4-2’s slippery ice cavern, avoid burning alive in Vision 5-1’s steampunk factory, and tackle a door maze in Vision 6-1’s ethereal castle. Here, you must track down and smash coloured crystals to clear doorways, though it can be tricky remembering which way to go. Similarly, Vision 5-1 has you exploring multiple paths to track down coloured orbs, avoiding flames and molten steel, and dealing with the “Eclipse” effect in Vision 5-2. This sees day turn to night and enemies become incapable of being grabbed, though extra platforms do appear to help you progress. Sadly, this mechanic only appears in this stage; it would’ve been cool to implement it throughout or have it featured in the unlockable “Hard” mode. You’ll briefly ride mine carts in Vision 1-2, simply jumping to grab Dream Stones as it falls apart, clamber up a cliff face in Vision 2-1, and activate gears and moving platforms in the mechanical tree factory explored in Vision 3-2. Platforming also gets progressively difficult by the end, with pits in abundance and small, often disappearing platforms being commonplace, sometimes with enemies chase you across them.

Presentation:
I’d long been curious about Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. I’ve always been a fan of 3D and 2.5D platformers and this looked like a cute, whimsical adventure sadly locked behind an expensive price tag. Thankfully, the game didn’t disappoint in terms of its visuals and Klonoa is a joy to behold. The game incorporates a cutsey, anime-like aesthetic to its polygonal characters, who pop with a cel-shaded, cartoony flavour as a result. Klonoa is like an anime character come to life, sporting oversized shoes, a Pac-Man logo on his beret, fun flappy ears, and big, expressive eyes that give him a lot of character. While he (and all the characters) speak in gibberish sound bite, his dialogue is fully readable in speech bubbles and he lets out some fun little sounds as you play, even twirling his magical ring when left idle. While Klonoa and his enemies have big hit boxes, it’s not usually a problem if you get the timing of your jumps down and he battles some bizarre enemies and encounters some surreal NPCs along the way. Each Vision houses different natives, such as tree spirits and talking fish, who will help or must be freed from their corruption. The story (and overall aesthetic design) reminded me a lot of NiGHTS into Dreams (Sonic Team, 1996), with Klonoa exploring a dream-like fantasy land at risk from the distinctly Khonsu-like Ghadius, though Klonoa plays a hell of a lot better than that game and is far easier on the eyes. The game also sports a jaunty soundtrack, with fun little tunes accompanying each area, and features quite an intricate story. I was stunned when Klonoa’s beloved grandpa was killed protecting the necklace from Ghadius’s jester-like henchman, Joka, and the ending (which sees Klonoa tearfully depart the dream world after learning his memories of Huepow were fabricated) was much more shocking than I expected from what seemed to be a simple, colourful platformer.

Each of Klonoa’s Visions is presented via a storybook-like world map, allowing you to freely select them between sessions or when reloading your save file. Klonoa’s seaside town of Breezegale sees you literally venturing from his house past giant windmills and cute, medieval-style houses, crossing bridges and heading up a spiral path before exploring Breezegale’s mine, where precious jewels glitter in the backgrounds and mine carts are scattered about. Vision 2-1 sees you traversing a dying forest full of abandoned tree houses, hollowed out tree trunks, and giant mushrooms. The second part places you in the fantastical Jugpot palace, made from a giant seashell, and features backwards-flowing waterfalls, marble platforms, and dank caves. Vision 3-1’s forest is thriving, with twisted vines all over and thick logs acting as your main path into a clockwork-like mechanical tree that you must activate to get its gears moving. Vision 4-1 sees you exploring the ruined Wind Kingdom, hopping to dropping stone platforms, passing a spooky graveyard, and slipping about in the ice cavern, where you smash rocks to progress. The visuals really pick up in the distinctly steampunk Temple of the Sun, where you traverse giant pipes and ride a platform across a track, collecting coloured orbs to venture within. The interior is made hazardous by the Eclipse gimmick, constant flame bursts, and you having to hit multiple switches to progress. Cress is mostly comprised of its beautiful, crystalline castle that’s full of mosaics, electrified floors, tricky platforming, and statues that need melting. It opens out into a gigantic, ornate cathedral with multiple doors, the void of the night sky in the background, and gives way to a swirling, nightmare void where players must battle the surprise final boss, Nahatomb. There’s a fair amount happening in each area, with each Vision showcasing different aspects of their environments. It’s quite fun taking a track or path one way and seeing the alternative paths stretch behind you, enticing you to try a different path and see what rewards and obstacles it yields.

Enemies and Bosses:
Klonoa must pick up and toss various strange enemies in his adventure, nearly all off which constantly respawn so you always have something to toss off (wait…). The most common enemy you’ll encounter are the spherical Moos and their variants: Red Moos simply walk back and forth and are easy cannon fodder, Green Moves flap their wings to fly and resemble birds, and Black, Gold, and Silver Moos hide behind shields. These can also have lances and charge you, or ride pogo sticks, forcing you to get behind them to snag and throw them. You’ll also encounter Monkey Moos, who swing from vines to knock you down pits, and helmeted Moos who must have their head gear knocked off before they can be nabbed. Knight-like Algores swing chain-whips with maces for a long-range attack, Pink Boins bounce up and down erratically, and cat (or maybe rabbit?)-like Mew-Mews do the same but release spiked balls as they land, and explosive, mouse-like Boomies must be tossed to destroy objects (while avoiding their blast radius). The will-o’-the-wisp-like Burnies are protected by a ring of flames that you must hop between to grab them and spider-like Dabbys spit spiked projectiles from their butts. Fish-like Fifis leap from water or up waterfalls to interrupt your platforming, but the indestructible Spikers are the worst for this, with you having to gingerly dash under or jump over them. Glibz hide behind their shells, giving you a small window to grab them before they unload with their twin cannons; spooky Plowms relentlessly chase you and appear out of thin air; and Slazzas toss boomerang-like projectiles. Smorks fly from the background of Vision 5-2 and can be difficult to grab thanks to the perspective, Zippoes charge at you, and Tetons will fly you higher if you grab onto them. Gigantic variants of many of these enemies also crop up, with them being stunned and inflated with your Wind Bullets to give your jumps a boost and only being destroyed when you toss enemies at them.

Each Vision ends with a boss battle fought on a circular path. Rongo Lango is the easiest, challenge as it jumps about producing shockwaves and slashing with its tail. Simply run under it, snag a Moo, and attack from behind to move on. I found the corrupted King Seadoph and his fish cohort, Pamela, trickier as the path is littered with spike balls and Pamela leaps from the water, occasionally raining bubbles that can be tricky to avoid. You must snag King Seadoph as he rides a ball and toss him at Pamela when she attacks, which can be tough with so much to deal with. Gelg Bolm was easier, but a touch tedious as you use springs to get above it and launch an enemy into its exposed core with the double jump, avoiding its giant seeds and slam attack. Baladium puts you on a swinging platform, which makes it difficult to snag enemies to throw at the coloured sections of its body. You must also avoid the explosive spheres, pillars, missiles, and Zagards Baladium spawns. When you finally confront Joka, he deflects your Moo projectiles with his twirling fists and becomes a thrashing, squid-like beast when the Eclipse hits until you turn floor blocks yellow, which can drag out the fight. Fighting Ghadius is all about speed and timing as you must avoid the teleporters (which reset the arena and see you dodging shockwaves) to toss Death Moos at him. These rain down, ricochet about, and are hidden inside a triangular energy field you must dodge and dispel by attacking a corner. By far the toughest and most tedious fight is the surprise final boss, Nahatomb. Nahatomb creates three rainbow shockwaves and ejects armoured Moos, which must be tossed to Phantomile’s leaders, who then blast Nahatomb with cannons. This isn’t too bad in the first phase (if you avoid his long, sticky tongue), but is compounded in the third by the leaders rotating beneath you and Nahatomb temporarily destroying your crystalline platforms. The second stage sees Nahatomb’s disembodied form firing eye lasers as you’re on a slanting platform, which you must avoid to toss Moos at flaming crystals in the background.

Additional Features:
There are fourteen Achievements to earn in this remastered version of Klonoa, with one gifted each time you defeat a boss and six more for finding and rescuing every Phantomile hidden in each Vision. This also unlocks the “Extra Vision” stage, which sees you scaling Balue’s tower and taking on the game’s most difficult platforming challenges, though there’s no new boss to face. You’ll also get an extra Achievement if you get every Achievement in this game and its sequel, and finishing Klonoa on either difficulty unlocks “Hard” mode, a time attack mode, and the movie viewer. This version of the game also gives you the option to turn on a pixel filter so it resembles the PlayStation original, but I wouldn’t recommend it as it’s very hard on the eyes compared to the slick, colourful glow up. While there are no Achievements or extras for finishing the game on the harder difficulties, you can unlock extra costumes, a character viewer, the option to play the game backwards, and a music test if you clear the Extra Vision.

The Summary:
I was really excited when Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was finally remastered for modern consoles. Both it and its sequel had been on my wish list for a while, but I couldn’t justify the cost, so it was a no-brainer for an avid platformer fan like me to pick the Phantasy Reverie Series up and finally give them a whirl. This version of Klonoa is absolutely stunning, with colourful visuals, eye-popping environments, and a main character so cute you’ll be close to tears. Klonoa is such a unique character, exuding an anime-excess while being adorable, and his world (while visually and thematically similar to NiGHTS into Dreams) is incredibly imaginative. The game felt very “Japanese”, if that makes any sense, with some bizarre enemies and concepts that had been tweaked just enough to appeal to Western gamers. The gameplay is simple but enjoyable, with the basic jumping, grabbing, and platforming being very satisfying. Things get much trickier as platforms become smaller, pits become deeper and wider, and your double jump prowess is tested, which can be frustrating. However, it’s fun searching across these deceptively large areas looking for collectibles and locals to rescue, though it’s a shame there weren’t any bonus stages or extra content to mix up the gameplay. The game is also disappointingly short, easily beaten in a few hours, but I didn’t mind that as it was a lot of fun to look at and a nice, cosy experience despite some aggravating sections and confusing boss battles. Ultimately, there’s a lot to like here, with a few unlockables to aim for and extra paths to explore. Fans of Klonoa should enjoy the stunning visual makeover and fans of 2.5D platformers should appreciate the visuals, tight controls, and memorable characters.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Are you a fan of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile? If you’ve played the original version, what did you think to the Phantasy Reverie Series glow up and enhancements? Did you also struggle with the double and triple jump sections? Which of the game’s large, bizarre bosses was your favourite? Did you ever rescue all the lost locals? Which Klonoa game is your favourite and would you like to see the franchise make a comeback Whatever your thoughts on Klonoa, please leave them below and drop a donation on Ko-Fi to see more reviews like this.