Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS1) - 100% ~ 01: The Start of Klonoa & Huepow's Journey in Phantomile!
0With Namco turning 70 about 2 days ago, I decided playthrough my favorite Namco franchise and the one people are talking about more often today, Klonoa!
Klonoa's first game has a very interesting history. The game was directed by Hideo Yoshizawa who previously directed Ninja Gaiden for the NES. He wanted to make a game that was more story-driven since game companies at the time didn't really focus on the Story aspect of games. After many concepts about what the game would be about, including a concept where the game was a lot more serious & had Robots in a Ancient Ruins setting, Yoshizawa went with the Dream motif that we all know and love the Klonoa Series for. The game sold well in Japan and recived positive reviews, but while it also got positive reviews in America, failed to catch on in there in terms of sales, due to some pretty horrendous marketing. This would unfortunately plague the series, which would end up making Namco make some odd & detrimental stuff to this series, which ended up making this series pretty Obscure to people. It wasn't until the Phantasy Reverie Series came out where Klonoa started getting recognized a lot more.
I'll cut to the chase. Klonoa 1 is a really Great game! Sure, I like Klonoa 2 a bit more than the first game, but make no mistake that this game is still Great to this day and is a game I have played countless of times! The story is very ambitious and great, the graphics are amazing, the music is a awesome, the FMV cutscenes are some of the best on the PS1, the controls are smooth, and the level design is great at complementing the controls and test your skills on how you use your abilities. The only complaints I have is that I wish the game is a little longer as it's pretty short and the even though the game does test your skills, I do wish it was a little harder.
Now, the game is pretty story driven, so I will talk about the story a bit through the playthrough. After starting a New Game, Klonoa will give a little monologue represented by text, while a Wind Ring is seen falling to Klonoa's world, Phantomile, a world that's fueled by Dreams. While Klonoa was out in the woods playing, he notices the Ring crash lands in the middle of the Forest. Being Curious, he pulls it out of the ground, releasing a Ring Spirit named, Huepow. The 2 quickly become friends, and they start playing together. Just then, something crashes at Bell Hill. Everything suddenly goes dark as something seems to be approaching, but it turns out that Klonoa was having a Bad Dream, but everything with the Ring & Huepow did happen in real life. The next day, an Airship does end up crashing in Bell Hill, just like how something crashed at Bell Hill in Klonoa's Dream. Both Klonoa & Huepow goes to investigate what happened there, kicking off the first level.
Vision 1-1 is about as simple as you would expect it to be. It lets you learn how to use Klonoa's Moveset and use the enemies to get around, and there aren't any pesky tutorials that stop to tediously tell you what to do, so you're free to mess around with the controls.
While on there way to Bell Hill, Klonoa & Huepow, run into the Manson, Balue. He talks about the Statue of the Diva, Lephise who sings the "Song of Rebirth" and how he'll use it to get to the Legendary Moon Kingdom which may or may not exist. Before they go, they wish Balue good luck on the Statue.
After that, they head into Gunston Mine, to get closer to Bell Hill. Vision 1-2 is a little more complex than 1-1. It is still simple, but brings up the challenge a bit, you start off in the mine and even go on the minecart in the Second Room. This level also introduces the Giant moos, who you can't pick up, but you can inflate them to make a temporary platform.
After going through the Mine, they finally get to the top of Bell Hill. They encounter a Dark Spirit named Ghadius & his Henchmen, Joka who find an Unconscious Lephise to stop her from singing and are looking for a Moon Pendent. After he finds out someone is there, Ghadius instructs Joka to finish the job, and kidnaps the Diva. After Klonoa & Huepow reveal themselves to Joka, he unleashes his creature: Rongo Lango to kill them.
Rongo Lango is a simple and easy boss. You have to hit him from behind which is easy to do after he jumps. He has some attacks but it's easy to dodge them.
After Rongo Lango is defeated, Joka runs away. Klonoa & Huepow finds that the Moon Pendant was under the Bell & they take it to Grandpa, who tells them to go to Forlock as their Granny knows about the Moon Pendant.
(Game Progression)
300/1950 Dream Stones Collected
12/72 Phantomilian Civilians Freed
(Game Info)
Systems: PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2
Release Dates:
PS1
JP: December 11, 1997
NA: March 10, 1998
EU: June 5, 1998
PS2
JP: July 21, 2005
Publishers: Namco (JP PS1 & PS2 Versions) | Namco Hometek (US PS1 Version) | Sony Computer Entertainment (EU PS1 Version)
Developers: Namco
#klonoadoortophantomile #klonoa #namco #klonoanamco