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GBA

North America

Klonoa: Empire of Dreams

by Jonathan Metts - March 28, 2001, 10:50 pm EST

Namco's traditional-style platforming franchise hits the GBA. If you loved Mario, Kirby, and Rayman, keep your eye on Klonoa.

A couple years ago, Namco caught everyone off-guard with a Playstation game called Klonoa. The game was a 2.5D platformer (3D backgrounds and sprite characters and enemies on a 2D plane), and it played a lot more like old Super NES platformers than anything normally released on the PSX.

Klonoa himself is a strange cat-like creature with weird hand/wing/ear appendages. Don't ask. Anyway, he has two basic moves: grabbing enemies and throwing them either laterally as a weapon or downward as a vertical propulsion aid, and blowing enemies full of air to use as stepping stones, etc. The original game's charm --and genius-- was based on the principle that these two fairly simple moves can get you through the entire game. Klonoa on Playstation bore an eerie resemblance in style to a typical Nintendo platfomer; you're given a very limited range of moves, but the game forces you to use all those moves VERY creatively in order to advance and/or find secrets. Because of that design philosophy, Klonoa had a strong puzzle aspect that gave it far more challenge than its cute exterior would lead you to believe.

Klonoa: Empire of Dreams is the newest game in the quickly expanding series. Last year saw a Wonderswan version, and the real sequel will soon be available for Playstation 2. Early screenshots for the GBA game show a similar graphic style to the Wonderswan game, but of course, with color and much more detail. The gameplay is expected to be pretty much unchanged; while Empire of Dreams is not a port, the simple 2D gameplay will surely be preserved in full. Expect Namco to toss in maybe some slight modifications to Klonoa's abilities, and of course new stages and new situations for you to get past using your moves.

And anyone who has played the other Klonoa games will tell you that's just fine with them. The series has the kind of classic hardcore 2D platforming gameplay that never really gets stale, as long as the developer keeps dreaming up good puzzles and keeps the control tight. Klonoa is about as old-school as gaming gets, especially for a pretty new franchise. If the portable sequel to a game many people compare to Mario and Sonic sounds good to you, make sure you leave some room on your shelf for Klonoa: Empire of Dreams.

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Genre Action
Developer Namco
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Klonoa: Empire of Dreams
Release Sep 11, 2001
PublisherNamco
RatingEveryone
jpn: Kaze no Klonoa
Release Jul 19, 2001
PublisherNamco
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