However, the difficulty never becomes frustrating nor infuriating thanks to that good-natured presentation and charm.
It can be difficult – especially for those that have become comfortable with the generous checkpoints and plentiful lives in modern platformers. There is so much going on in the typical Klonoa level! Every level, at every point, is poping with bright, bubbly energy. It’s done cleverly, organically, and fluidly, and results in an experience where every new level is an opportunity for surprising joy – an opportunity the developers took full advantage of. There’s also the occasional puzzle that requires you to interact with the foreground and background too, ensuring that you’re constantly paying attention to everything going on in a level, rather than what is occurring on a single linear plane. In both cases the platforming takes place in “2.5 dimensions”, meaning that while you are on a largely linear, left-to-right path, that path can (and frequently does) wind into the foreground and background, giving the perception of interaction with the third dimension. It’s the level design that really makes both Klonoa games what they are, with some of the most vibrant, free-flowing and dynamic platformer levels this side of a Nintendo production. They may not have sold particularly well on their initial run 20+ years ago, but both have developed a very positive reputation in the years since, and for good reason. These are relatively straightforward and obvious additions to make to games that have otherwise been left untouched, but then Klonoa never needed touching up. These have been updated to allow for 4K resolution and 60 fps speed, and to enhance the gameplay there has been a two-player co-operative mode added, as well as adjustable difficulty. In the package you get a remake of the original Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil. It’s a pity that the series has tapped out at just the two games at this stage, though perhaps this remaster is a sign of a revival on the horizon.
In so many ways these two games represent the platforming genre at its most perfect, with intricately entertaining levels wrapped up with a charming efficiency of character and design. “Whimsy” is the dominant word to describe the experience across the two titles in the Klonoa Phantasy Reverie collection.
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