Klonoa

[Drisaac]

"Don't you think it's kind of strange?

How sometimes, when you wake up, you know you had a dream, but you can't remember it. Where do you suppose those dreams go?

But there's one dream I remember very clearly, as if it were happening right now."

 

1. Who is Klonoa ?

Klonoa is a video game series created by Bandai Namco, as well as the name of the main protagonist.

Klonoa is a an anthropomorphic animal who has different features from different animals, but he's especially known for his long ears and his symbolic blue hat, which has craved Namco's mascot Pacman on it.

But more importantly, Klonoa is better known as "the dream traveler", He is in fact fated to travel through different worlds where the state of the dreams is in danger, he is a good-hearted kid who wishes to become a hero and to bring justice wherever he goes, no matter the odds.

This is where his Journey begins.

2. The Door to Phantomile

                                                                                                         

Our journey begins in the late 1997, when Klonoa's first adventure was released: Door to Phantomile.

The game is set in Phantomile, a land fueled by dreams people have at night, One night, Klonoa dreams of a mysterious ship crashing into a nearby hill, and the very next day, it actually happens. With his trusty Wind Ring and friend forever Huepow (the spirit that dwells inside it), they set out on an adventure through Phantomile to stop the evil Ghadius from unleashing nightmares unto the world.

Klonoa: Door to phantomile was received incredible well, it was deemed as Namco's first notable 3D platformer and a bid for creating a gaming mascot.

One of the strongest points of the game is indeed the aesthetic, and more specifically the beautiful blend between 2D elements put in a 3D environment.

No image in the world can do justice to how beautiful this game is, you gotta see it for yourself

Not only that, but the game is also known to have a majestic soundtrack, which truly makes you feel you are within a dream

 

With it's amazing look, it's dream-like soundtrack and a satisfying platformer gameplay Klonoa earned it's way into many people's heart, and remains an incredible solid game even up to this day.

 

2. Lunatea's Veil

                                                                                                      

Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, is the second game mainline game in the series and Klonoa's jump to the PlayStation 2.

In this new adventure, Klonoa meets two new friends, Lolo and Popka, after being rescued from nearly drowning in the ocean during a storm. It seems he is in the world of Lunatea, where harmony is maintained through bell towers in each kingdom. However, a fifth bell is threatening to disrupt peace unless Klonoa and co. can collect the power from each of the four kingdoms bell towers. This is the first game to be presented with full 3D graphics. 

The gameplay remains mostly the same action platformer from before but with all new hoverboarding stages that show the action from new perspectives as you race down waterways and snowy mountains.

But the part in which the game shines the most is definitely the presentation, the soundtrack is simply perfect, Its music only could already transport you to such abstract, bizarre and diverse places. If you want more proof of this, just search for tracks like the ark, Volkies song or going to lunatea and... honestly, there's way too many tracks that needs to mentioned, almost all of the soundtrack is memorable.

And the story also has taken a step deeper than its predecessor, behind the colorful world of Lunatea lies a deeper plot, centered around emotions and sorrow, every cutscene is placed at the right moment at the right spot, and it makes for a story you won't forget anytime soon.

Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil is considered by many the best klonoa game, from both critics and players and is still considered one of the best platformers that has ever graced the Playstation 2.

 

3. Spin-offs

     

 

Klonoa also has it's good chunk of spin-offs across different portables, the games more or less follow the same base 2D gameplay of the mainline titles but with a bigger emphasis on puzzles, and they also deserve to be played, for different reasons depending for each game.

 

4. Why should i play Klonoa ?

Klonoa games are a beauty to play both for the eyes and the ears, their atmosphere and presentation will be able to transport you in amazing worlds that truly live up to their "dream worlds" name, and by the time you finish one adventure you will soon find yourself craving for more. Klonoa games are short, but use all the time they are given to make a lasting impression and are not afraid of telling deeper stories than one would not expect from a mascot platformer.

Whether it was by mistake or by design, Klonoa never settled for being a simple mascot franchise, but instead, it strived to be something more, something greater.

5. Where should i start ?

I'm glad you asked.

As some of you have probably guessed, Door to Phantomile should be your first destination, eventually making your way through Lunatea and eventually arriving at the spin-offs, but if you happen to get lost in the way, do not be afraid of checking out this guide.

In conclusion, i hope that with this thread i managed to at least sparkle some interest in this series that deserved way more than the small success that it received during its time, in the hope that the future Klonoa Encore could bring a new life to this franchise.

 

Thank you so much for reading !

[Sean]

Door to Phantomile is one of the best PS1 games ever made. Lunatea's Veil was good too but felt like a step-down particularly through forcing you to replay palette-swapped levels. The two GBA platformers are alright. Klonoa Heroes is terrible.

His original design's the best one. Love the yellow cat eyes:

I want a port of the original PS1 game so bad.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Klonoa 2 is a fantastic platformer, and one I have a lot of nostalgia for. I had a demo disc that had the water slide level and one of the storm platforming levels, and I loved playing it over and over again. These OSTs are practically ingrained in my brain:

 

[MetalSkulkBane]

2 hours ago, Sean said:

His original design's the best one. Love the yellow cat eyes:

Can't agree more. This is one thing I never understood.

 

"Sir, we made cutest kitty/puppy thing ever. He's got yellow eyes and collar that is a little to big for him. What do you think?"
"How about we make him less cute, more a vague teen, causal shirt and normal eyes?"
"....That would make him 4x more generic."
"Fine, turn his hat backwards. Kids still do that, right?"

[Sean]

I definitely don't dislike any of the newer designs outright, but I think the art style in some of the games (Dream Champ Tournament and Beach Volleyball) got painfully generic and lame.

It always felt to me like Bamco wanted to make him a more spunky Sonic-like mascot despite his in-game personality being as sweet as a kitten (Klonoa Heroes notwithstanding; it's actually a continuity reboot and makes Klonoa's personality to be more rebellious and sarcastic, which is a small part of why I disliked that game, actually). Thankfully the main games don't ever try to tamper with his personality, part of the games' charm is how adorable Klonoa is and the gibberish dialogue elevates him past a lot of other cutesy mascot characters imo. It has much more life to it than something like, say, Banjo-speak:

Back to Klonoa designs, I actually do like some of his later ones even if DoP is my favorite. In fact I think the Moonlight Museum artwork is quite nice:

and despite some of my irks with the Wiimake, it used the Moonlight Museum design as the basis for Klonoa's look so it definitely has that going for it.

Just... the less said about that shitty scrapped design Bamco tried to force on western players, the better.

[Drisaac]

Heh, i honestly find myself to disagree with the design choice.

My favorite one is hands down the Lunatea one, it gives him that "modern sonic" type of look which i absolutely adore, so i guess you could say i prefer cool over cute.

To each their own i guess.

[Tornado]

5 hours ago, Sean said:

I definitely don't dislike any of the newer designs outright

 

"WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!?" - Sean

[BlueSpeedster]

9 hours ago, Tornado said:

We could've gotten this instead of the one we have nowadays.

Overall, the series is good, now to wait and see if Bamco would actually care more about the Cabbit himself if that PAC-MAN 40th Anniversary Calendar and the trademark stuff is anything to go by.

[Drisaac]

On 4/30/2020 at 1:25 PM, BlueSpeedsterYT said:

Overall, the series is good, now to wait and see if Bamco would actually care more about the Cabbit himself if that PAC-MAN 40th Anniversary Calendar and the trademark stuff is anything to go by.

Well, Mr.Driller also had a trademark titled Mr.Driller encore which was registered on the same day of Klonoa Encore, and Mr.Driller eventually got revealed at the nintendo mini direct, so there's a high chance that Klonoa might follow the same pattern, we'll just have to wait.

[Yeetori]

Pretty cool game. only played the first game however. Do plan to maybe play the second game sometime when I have time.

Oddly enough, there was one time I had a dream about playing a game similar to Klonoa, or rather played exactly the same except it was a new game. Maybe one day there will be someone who can make this happen.

[Drisaac]

If there's something that i can't stress enough about klonoa that must be the soundtrack itself.

No seriously, there are literally no words that can i can use to describe the majesty of it, you HAVE TO to listen it yourself.

Although i have a lot of respect for the first title, i simply don't think it manages to reach the same heights the second title did.

The Ark is, without a doubt, one of the best tracks of the entire game. Pure beauty

 

[RadicalLaRuby]

On 4/29/2020 at 10:23 AM, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Klonoa 2 is a fantastic platformer, and one I have a lot of nostalgia for. I had a demo disc that had the water slide level and one of the storm platforming levels, and I loved playing it over and over again. These OSTs are practically ingrained in my brain:

 

I remember that demo. That was my first exposure to Klonoa, played it so many times over as well.

 

Klonoa is one of those weird series that I've always wanted to give a shot, but found no time. I found one of the GBA games way back, and even picked up the PS1 classic of Klonoa.

 

Only other thing I remember is that in Tales of Hearts for DS (another niche Namco series I love), you can call him out to assist you with a wind attack, lots of Namco/Tales cameos in that game, which they usually do to some degree. 

 

Dammit now y'all about to give me my new obsession of the month.

[Blue Blood]

On 4/30/2020 at 12:25 PM, BlueSpeedster said:

We could've gotten this instead of the one we have nowadays.

I know this post is like a month old at this point, but what design do we have nowadays? Klonoa Wii was released 12 years ago this month, and hasn't had anything but tiny cameos since. The dude is dead. The franchise never really took off in a big way, and seems to have been laid to rest after the Wii remake failed to make a splash. It's the only game in the series I played. Good fun, although disappointingly short and easy. I'd had like to have seen more or it.

[BlueSpeedster]

20 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

I know this post is like a month old at this point, but what design do we have nowadays? Klonoa Wii was released 12 years ago this month, and hasn't had anything but tiny cameos since. The dude is dead. The franchise never really took off in a big way, and seems to have been laid to rest after the Wii remake failed to make a splash. It's the only game in the series I played. Good fun, although disappointingly short and easy. I'd had like to have seen more or it.

First off, thanks for noticing a month old post.

Second off, I agree with the character being pretty much dead outside of a Tekken 7 cameo among other things. Really, if the series would return, it would be via the "Encore" trademarks, who knows, maybe they are secretly working on the game from their homes.

[Tracker_TD]

Klonoa did actually show up again this year on a calendar for Pac-Man employees; the artstyle of the piece is based on Namco's old arcade style with a lot of angular lines, but for Klonoa it's pretty obvious they used his Moonlight Museum art as the basis. 

As for new game stuff; I imagine it's only a matter of time until Klonoa Encore shows up. Mr Driller Encore's already on the way and that came from the same trademark batch, after all. 

[Drisaac]

22 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

It's the only game in the series I played. Good fun, although disappointingly short and easy. I'd had like to have seen more or it.

If you feel like wanting to play another Klonoa game, the next natural step after 1 would be 2 AKA Lunatea's Veil

LV still has the same problem of the first game in the sense that it's not much longer, but it's absolutely worth playing, it's considered by many the best game in the series, and for good reasons too.

1 hour ago, Tracker_TD said:

As for new game stuff; I imagine it's only a matter of time until Klonoa Encore shows up. Mr Driller Encore's already on the way and that came from the same trademark batch, after all. 

Pretty much.

Hopefully it's only a matter of time until new trademarks get registered in europe for Klonoa, in the same way it happened to Mr Driller.

I know for a fact that it's not going to be Bandai Namco themselves to develop Klonoa Encore, since they seem to be too busy with their anime games, so there's a chance it could get developed by the same people who did Katamari Damachi.

[Wildcat]

I have the Wiimake and Part 2. Both very enjoyable. Would love another one. He’d be perfect for a Sonic crossover.

I also have one of the Klonoa plushies. I imported it years ago. Has his tag too.

[Drisaac]

There is actually plenty of evidence to prove that Klonoa could be making a comeback very soon, especially when you combine those 2 pieces of evidence right here

 

The first one being that in September 16th 2019 a Klonoa Encore trademark was filled, along with other likes Mr Driller Encore, which eventually ended up revealing it self as Mr Driller drill land.

The second piece is the following:

 

In April 2nd the game Mojipittan puzzle encore was officially released, along with it came an official Bandai Namco Online Survey about the game.

The last question of this survey (Question 36) asks the customer what game other than "Katamari" and "Mojitan" "Mr. Driller" would he want to see getting the encore treatment.

 

Now the klonoa encore trademark was registered before the release of this game, and now Bamco is asking ask which other game we want getting an encore title.

 

You put 2 and 2 together and... well, you get the idea.

 

Assuming enough people took this survey and replied by saying they want Klonoa encore then there's definitely a chance that Bamco could finally give us the Klonoa Encore we all want. If it's going to happen, it could be right after Mr Driller drilland is done with, AKA after June 25th.

 

[Drisaac]

On 5/31/2020 at 4:32 PM, Tracker_TD said:

As for new game stuff; I imagine it's only a matter of time until Klonoa Encore shows up. Mr Driller Encore's already on the way and that came from the same trademark batch, after all. 

on the topic of the trademark, it seems that it has finally reached it's final state, and it's ready for a live product

so perhaps 2021 is the year where everything finally comes together and we finally get the return of klonoa we have been waiting for almost 13 years now, any moment now.

[Graystripe2000]

Hopefully. Worth pointing out, Klonoa 2’s 20th anniversary is this year. 

[Drisaac]

37 minutes ago, Graystripe2000 said:

Hopefully. Worth pointing out, Klonoa 2’s 20th anniversary is this year. 

We shall see i guess

Also, i'm terribly sorry for "necro-posting" this thread again, since it's been awhile this thread wasn't updated, but i felt like this news needed to be shared

In a way i kinda feeling guilty for bumping this thread, the reason why i created it in the first place was so that i could hopefully get more people interested in the series while waiting for Klonoa Encore to drop, but because we still don't know if Klonoa Encore is going to happen i kinda feel guilty for hyping people up for a product that might not even exist, or if it does, it hasn't been announced yet.

But the thing is, the fight to get Klonoa some recognition is a fight i can't just give up that easily, especially since it seems like we are finally getting a new game after so many years of hiatus.

It's since i played Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil that i knew that i had to get more people into Klonoa.

I used to have a belief that your favorite games of all time are usually the ones you played in your childhood, and therefore any game that comes after childhood would hardly manage to get into your top 10 because they don't have the nostalgia factor.

Klonoa 2 managed to prove me wrong, as i played the game back in 2019, so i didn't have any nostalgia goggles towards the game, and it still managed to the enter the top 10 of my favorite games of all time, it's THAT good of a game and i can't stress enough how people need to play it.

So again, sorry for bringing this thread up again after so long.

[Guest]

Klonoa is a series I never played but would definitely want to- seems right up my alley!

[SaturnWolf]

Got Door to Phantomile on PSN some years back, easily my favorite PS1 game ever, I adore the style and aesthetic

Just a shame that physical copies for basically...everything that isn't the Wiimake are ridiculously expensive

[Graystripe2000]

5 hours ago, SaturnWolf said:

Got Door to Phantomile on PSN some years back, easily my favorite PS1 game ever, I adore the style and aesthetic

Just a shame that physical copies for basically...everything that isn't the Wiimake are ridiculously expensive

Uhhhhh.. the Wii remake is already there. 

https://www.amazon.com/Klonoa-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B001PBDBNQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5QEIYEFNFBLM&dchild=1&keywords=klonoa+wii&qid=1611623422&s=videogames&sprefix=Klonoa%2Cvideogames%2C315&sr=1-1

[SaturnWolf]

Just now, Graystripe2000 said:

Uhhhhh.. the Wii remake is already there. 

https://www.amazon.com/Klonoa-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B001PBDBNQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5QEIYEFNFBLM&dchild=1&keywords=klonoa+wii&qid=1611623422&s=videogames&sprefix=Klonoa%2Cvideogames%2C315&sr=1-1

Oh it is? I hadn't checked on those prices for a few years, I didn't think it changed that much

Well, I guess that's what Dolphin is for