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"It's as cute as a kitten, but don't hold that against it."

Ah, simpler times. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is part of a dying breed, a side-scrolling platform game. The packaging for Klonoa claims that its “‘Guided 3-D’ construction gives players a vast 3-D world without the aimless and wandering feel of many other 3-D games.” It’s a valiant effort by Namco to make it seem like something else, but it’s pure 2D bliss, following in the footsteps of classic platformers such as Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, and Donkey Kong Country. I’ve said it before, and I’m going to say it again here; I wish more developers these days would remember that there are still great things can be done in 2D.

The game starts with a dream: Klonoa dreamt that a flying ship crashed into a hillside nearby, and a nightmarish shadow began covering the land. That wouldn’t be such a big deal except that one day Klonoa’s dream came true, and he, along with his friend (and Ring Spirit) Huepow, set out to investigate. The ensuing adventure will lead them across the various themed kingdoms of Phantomile. Like all good platformers before it, these different kingdoms provided the designers the means to create the prerequisite jungle, cave, water, and sky-bound boards, and they did a bang-up job.

The level design in Klonoa is impeccable. None of the boards is a simple trek from left to right, so you can’t just bludgeon your way through without stopping to get your bearings. There are lots of platforming puzzles to figure out, many of which are very cleverly put together. In order for Namco to claim this as being more than “just a 2D game,” the designers made excellent use of placing objects and enemies in foregrounds and backgrounds, so there is a semblance of 3D gaming here. You’d think that this could be rather confusing perspective-wise, but I honestly can’t recall any instances where it was difficult to tell what objects were in which plane.

There are a dozen main levels in Klonoa, labeled as Visions, in order to go along with the dreaming motif. Each is filled with gems (think of them as the coins in Super Mario Whatever), and 6 Phantomilians to be rescued. Rescuing them all is strictly optional, but if you’re any kind of gamer, you’ll make sure to get them all. There are hidden/invisible items on most boards, and the only way you’ll know they’re there is by paying attention to shadows on the ground. Every second board ends with a boss battle, and they’re genuinely fun for a change.

Klonoa actually doesn’t have a lot of moves, but the developers used what he’s got extremely well. Of course Klonoa can jump, but he can also hang in the air for an extra second or so because his ears (at least, I think those are his ears) will flap if you hold down the jump button, and that will often be the difference between making a jump correctly and falling to your doom. Klonoa’s main offensive weapon is the wind bullet, which will remind many gamers of Dig Dug, since it inflates enemies, rendering them harmless to our hero. Klonoa will pick up smaller enemies that are inflated automatically, and they can then be used as weapons by throwing them. The most important move to grasp in the game is the double jump, which is done by pressing jump in mid-air while carrying an enemy. The dubious physics behind this move is that Klonoa fires the enemy downward, forcing himself upward. However it works, it’s pretty cool, and it comes into play a lot.

I’ve been avoiding the subject since I don’t have a clear answer to the question, but what exactly is Klonoa? I simply assumed that he is some sort of cat-like creature, but he could also be a dog or some sort of rodent, too. I thought I saw some resemblance to PaRappa the Rapper, but that really doesn’t hold up when you put them next to each other. Those ears (wings?) keep him from being easily classified, so maybe it’s best to leave it be. Anyway, I think the character design in Klonoa is terrific. There’s a memorable cast of strange allies and villains. I really like Joka, a recurring villain who’s more bluster than anything else. (Is it just me, or did it seem like everyone was calling him “Jerk?”) The generic enemies are the Moos, who look suspiciously similar to Pikachu, which is all the more reason to show them no mercy.

Some are going to overlook Klonoa simply because the characters in the game are on the cutesy side, and that’s too bad. The game’s graphics are bright and colorful, and they all look fantastic. I simply did not see any graphical glitches in the game; the visuals are extremely polished. It surely helps that the perspectives are fixed, but the view of the action is always perfect for doing whatever it is that needs to be done. The CG cinemas are equally impressive, and they rank up there with some of the best that Namco has produced on the PSX.

The music in Klonoa will probably not appeal to everyone. In keeping with the rest of the game, it is mostly light and bouncy stuff, and some of it is very reminiscent of the early Super Mario music in its instrumentation. Personally, I really like Klonoa’s soundtrack. I also like the voice work in the game, even though most of it is done in cutesy, squeaky voices. All of the hours I’ve spent with the Bust-A-Move games have really ruined me, I’m afraid. Most characters are speaking Japanese, but some are using nonsense vocabularies (Huepow for sure; Ghadius I’m not absolutely sure). Since the game is nice enough to translate it via a text window below the action, you won’t be left scratching your head. The other sounds in the game are appropriate for the aforementioned light theme, including lots of bouncing noises for the inflated enemies. For some reason I really like the sound Klonoa makes when he’s being spun around by a fan.

If there is one major drawback in Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, it’s that the game isn’t terribly long, and experienced gamers will find it isn’t too difficult. That wouldn’t stop me from recommending it for everyone, though. The game is good enough to play over and over, and the later stages of the game can give you a workout. Since the game wasn’t produced in mass quantities or marketed heavily by Namco, it has gotten rather hard to come by. Buying it cheap will only get harder, so if you’ve got to watch your video game dollars, Klonoa might make a better rental than a purchase. I for one am glad to have it in my collection.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/21/01, Updated 01/21/01

"A 2D Holdout in a 3D World (retroview)"

Review: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

I initially passed up on Klonoa: Door to Phantomile when it was new, thinking it was “just another platformer.” The NES and SNES had taught gamers to go for only the best games in each genre or risk being overwhelmed by mediocrity or worse.

Little did we know that 2D platformers, long perceived as the ever-present rats in the ship of videogames, were soon to be driven to the brink of extinction. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was one of the last of its kind, and I have finally had the opportunity to play it, two console generations after its release. So, how does Klonoa withstand the test of time?

Before I start, I'd like to make note of the fact that I played this game on a 60GB PS3 using a Dual Shock 3 controller. Therefore, my perception of the game may be influenced by the fact that I played it on hardware other than what it was originally designed for.

First, let's look at presentation. Klonoa has a fairly solid graphics engine for its time. It doesn't look very impressive now, with lots of low-resolution textures, blocky polygons, and pixilated sprites, but the PS3's upscaling does a good job of making the game look playable and presentable. All of the backdrops and bosses are rendered in polygons, whereas the non-boss characters are rendered in quasi-3D sprites, not unlike those seen in Donkey Kong Country. While technologically limited, both the 3D and 2D aspects are lively and full of character. Thankfully, polygon flicker and clipping, two of my most-hated peeves from the PS1 generation, are non-existent.

The sound, likewise, has the same pros and cons as the visuals. The music and sound effects are catchy and appropriate, but everything sounds fuzzy, like the audio has a bad case of speaker hiss (likely caused by compression). The strongest point in Klonoa's audio presentation is the fictional language spoken by the characters during dialog scenes. It is neither Japanese nor English, yet it remarkably able to convey what is going on. By the time I completed the game, I had the sense that I could vaguely understand what the characters were saying, even without looking at the subtitles. The voice acting that goes along with this fictional language is solid, but heavily skewed toward the squeaky and cute. If you have a low tolerance for high-pitched voices, the dialog might be bothersome.

Since this is a PS1 title, it is also important to note the FMV segments. They are well animated and look sharp despite their age. They are also remarkably free of rendering artifacts. The only negative about the FMV sequences is that they look much cleaner and sharper than the graphics in the actual gameplay engine.

The story of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile has some remarkably weighty moments. I wish to avoid spoilers here, so I'll just leave it at that. The story overall isn't particularly innovative, as it consists of a Big Bad kidnapping a priestess in order to reshape the world in his own image. There is a recurring Bumbling Henchman as well, who adds some humor. The most unique aspect of the story is the relationship between the titular Klonoa and Huepow, the Ring Spirit. It gives the game a bit of a ‘buddy movie” vibe.

Of course, gamers rarely play platformers for the story, we play them for the gameplay. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile made a daring move in the age when every new platformer tried to ape Mario64 and have the player wander around large, ugly, empty 3D environments with an uncooperative camera. Klonoa kept the 2D gameplay of old, but with a twist: 2.5D. As mentioned in the presentation section, all of the backgrounds in the game are 3D. Yet Klonoa only moves on a 2D plain. He can run from side to side (only the D-pad is supported, not the analog stick), or jump up and down. That's all. The paths that Klonoa follows through the levels can wrap around 3D objects and even intersect with themselves. The result is that, by pressing the right D-pad button, Klonoa might run up a spiral or follow a loop and eventually be moving on a path that, moments ago, was in the foreground and background. 2.5D gameplay like this gives the immersiveness of 3D graphics without the difficulties of bad camera angles and awkward movement controls.

In addition to his traditional movement scheme, Klonoa has an interesting attack that covers most of the non-jumping gameplay and is even factored into the jumping gameplay in the later levels. This attack is Huepow, the Ring Spirit. Huepow is a little green… thing that lives on Klonoa's giant gold ring. By pressing the attack button, Klonoa launches Huepow in front of himself. If Huepow hits a small enemy, that enemy gets inflated like a balloon and dragged back to Klonoa, who picks it up and holds it overhead. Klonoa can use inflated enemies as projectiles or he can use them as launchpads for a limited double-jump. Larger enemies can't be grabbed, but the can be inflated into harmlessness and used as platforms.

Though the 2.5D foundation of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is solid, there are a couple gameplay aspects that are flawed. The first is Klonoa's jump. Unlike in every other platformer ever made, Klonoa jumps the same height no matter how long you press the jump button. Holding the jump button instead causes Klonoa to flail around in mid-air to get some hang time. Unfortunately, this flailing completely kills his forward momentum from the jump, frequently resulting in death by bottomless pit.

Another significant flaw is the save and lives system. Klonoa starts the game with a handful of extra lives, but more can be easily gathered by collecting gems and medals. The problem is that saving between levels locks in the number of lives in reserve at that time. So if a player gets to the final level with only 1 life in reserve, then dies and continues off of that save, the player will still only have 1 life to work with. Thanks to the fact that you can't backtrack and gather more lives until you complete the game, it can be impossible to finish the game with a small number of lives in reserve. I, personally, had to replay the game from the beginning so I had more than 3 lives available for the final level.

Finally, the difficulty of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is uneven. Most of the game is fairly easy. However, the difficulty spikes in the last few levels, which could be frustrating for players who enjoyed the easygoing gameplay and lighter difficulty of the early and middle levels. The bonus level that is unlocked by rescuing all the hostages in each of the other levels is brutally difficult, as any mistake means instant death.

Overall, I enjoyed Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. The excellent use of 2.5D gameplay and the cute characters kept me interested even when the endgame was mercilessly killing me with cheap deaths due to iffy jumping controls. I recommend Klonoa: Door to Phantomile to anyone who likes old-school 2D platformers and isn't put-off by cuteness and squeakiness.

Overall (not an average): 7/10
Presentation: 8/10
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/17/09

Game Release: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (US, June 1998)