"A beautiful remastering of a Playstation era gem"

The Wii remake of the original Playstation Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, simply titled Klonoa, has been eagerly anticipated by those in the know of the cute, emotional roller coaster of the series. This reviewer has been one in the know for a very long time, being so enamored with the series that he owns all seven of the games in a hard format, including the rare original Door to Phantomile. Naturally, my expectations for the re-make were high. There were certain things that I darn well expected better be in the game, or else. I can gladly report that, from a die-hard fan perspective, Klonoa does not disappoint.

However, it should be qualified what, precisely, was the object of the makers. In creating Klonoa, the developers clearly wanted to bring the original experience of the first Klonoa series title to a wider audience. This is clear because so little about the game has been changed. Essentially, Klonoa is the original Door to Phantomile perfected; it does what could not be accomplished on the original Playstation due to graphical and hardware limitations. All of the level designs, proportions, and enemies are the same. Given that the original was widely praised as a gem of a game, this is itself high praise. Certain changes were made, such as the replacement of Full-Motion Video sequences with in-game cutscenes using character models, as in Klonoa 2. This change was reputedly made because it was always the intention of the developers to tell the story in such a fashion, but the limitations of the Playstation made this impossible. It is a change for the better, as this makes the experience feel seamless and flow smoothly. The transition from lush FMV to harsh polygons and sprites in the original was one of the few qualms that I took with it. Since Klonoa is a very expressive character, these new scenes are able to convey all of the raw, visceral emotion mixed with the squee-inducing cuteness of the original in a form that only amplifies our connection to the characters.

The story is distinctly un-fooled around with. A few embellishments and flourishes have been made to the text, but this is one aspect of the game that needed little treatment. Many still list two particular moments in this game as some of the most heartbreaking in all the medium, and though the story is a fairly light contrivance (the game was originally intended for children, after all), the emotional content of the story and the very real way the characters are presented make for an at once unforgettable and unsettling experience.

However, the story should be experienced only one way for a first-time player, and that is using the original Phantomile voice track. Klonoa games have a reputation of the characters always speaking in gibberish, and this is no different. But where there was some linguistic structure in Klonoa 2, here there is no consistent theme. The voices have been re-recorded for this edition of the story, but the developers clearly had a paradigm in making this game that they would change as little as possible. We know this because in the original, character voices were cobbled together from a Banjo-Kazooie-like assortment of character sounds, except for certain scenes and names where particular emotional content was warranted. All of the Phantomile dialogue was re-recorded, but with the same gibberish syllables for each character as in the original, perhaps as a nod to long-time fans. Since no one will understand the Phantomile voices, the actors had to impart as much emotion in each scene as possible into words that meant absolutely nothing.

Which leads us to the sticky problem of the English voices. I am not one to complain about voiceover, finding most efforts toward creating a character in the English dubbing and game voice acting industries at least competent. However, in the case of Klonoa, very few of the English actors are able to deliver their lines with the same impact as the originals. Somewhere along the line the emotions of the gibberish Phantomilian tongue get lost in the words, and the actors don't particularly fit their characters at times. This is most evident in the titular character himself, whose cute “Rupurudou” becomes the grating battle cry of bland heroes everywhere, “Yeah! Let's go!” The original voice track of Miss Kumiko Wantanabe still brings me to tears when she delivers the most heart-rending scream of a little boy that one is ever likely to hear in a video game. Her performance is cute, powerful, and unforgettable. The English track is, unfortunately, quite forgettable, and while I felt sorrow for the English Klonoa, he won't bring grown men to tears like Miss Wantanabe will. The English track should therefore be treated as a novelty, to be seen only once the game is completed.

The soundtrack has not been touched since the Playstation Door to Phantomile, which only furthers my suspicion that the developers were trying to bring the original to a wider audience. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since the soundtrack was well-composed and very ahead of its time. It is a testament to how well made this remake is that the soundtrack meshed even better in my opinion with the re-rendered levels than with the blocky originals.

Although I have not to this point touched on the control and game mechanics, those have been left much the same as well. Other reviewers will likely go into much more detail on the subject than me, for having played Klonoa games so long makes the controls to me intuitive. In essence, Klonoa is a very bare-bones game with a very simple mechanic. Klonoa moves at one speed, and jumps at only one height. Pressing a button will shoot a “wind bullet” from the ring that he carries, which allows him to inflate enemies for their use as projectiles, or to double-jump in midair. The beauty of the game is while this seems a very Spartan mechanic, it is stretched to its very limit in ways that the player will never quite expect. For the experienced player, special challenges are included after the end of the game that will provide glorious frustration for those disappointed in the admittedly easy main storyline.

This game is a re-mastering of its source material, in every sense of the word. The graphics have gotten a needed face-lift, and while never impressive are always enchanting in the way that a game seen through the eyes of a child could be. And that is Klonoa's greatest strength: it made me feel like a child again, as if I were playing it for the very first time. This is an excellent game for children and adults alike, simply for the emotional content and beauty of minimalist platforming of a bygone era.

For what it is, a re-make of a Playstation classic, Klonoa succeeds on every level. The game is the original brought to perfection. If the developers were, as I suspect, trying to bring the game to a wider audience, then they are well on their way. And at only $29.95, the game is a steal compared to what I paid for the original Door to Phantomile. Who knows? At that price, Klonoa could be another Katamari Damacy, a strange little budget game that spawned still-ongoing sequels.

And more Klonoa is always, always a good thing.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/06/09

Game Release: Klonoa (US, 05/05/09)