Throughout my many years of playing games from Sega’s lineup of consoles, the one console that I have little to zero experience with whatsoever would be the Sega Saturn. I have played some games from the system, such as Nights Into Dreams and maaaaaaaaaaaaybe Sonic R, even though I’m not sure if that’s a real game, but aside from those two, I have had zero experience with any Sega Saturn exclusive games whatsoever. It is a shame too, considering that from what I have seen, it looks like there are a lot of quality games for the system, ones that probably don’t reach the same quality as many other games of the era, but enough to where anyone who owned the system could definitely get their money’s worth from a nice selection of titles to choose from. So, I figured it is about time that I dip my toes further into the pool that is the Sega Saturn library, starting with a game that was a launch title for the system for us Americans, Clockwork Knight.

I have never played this game or it’s sequel before, but I have known about them for quite a while, seeing them being played on some YouTube channels that I have been subscribed to over the years. It looked charming enough with its toy-themed setting, and it did look short enough to where I could get through it in one afternoon, so I figured “Why the hell not?”, and I did blaze through it in that same afternoon, finding a charming and fun game that… doesn’t really do that much. It is a solid platformer all throughout for the most part, and it does the job that it is supposed to do, but there are definitely plenty of other titles that were out around this time that could do what this game did a whole lot better.

The story is fairly standard for a game like this, where in a seemingly average household at midnight, all of the toys in the house are brought to life by the voice of lovely Clockwork Fairy Princess Chelsea, and everybody goes about their merry way as a result, but suddenly, she is kidnapped by an unknown and mysterious force, so it is up to Sir Tongara de Pepperoucha III, or just Pepper, to set out on a journey to rescue her and stop her vile kidnapper, which is all presented in a charming, yet understandably terrifying, intro cutscene, which does give the story much more charm despite how generic it is. The graphics are pretty good, using pre-rendered sprites for the characters and enemies like Donkey Kong Country, and mixing them together with 3D polygonal environments, all of which blend together pretty well, despite it obviously looking dated, the music is pretty good, having plenty of enjoyable tunes to listen to throughout your journey, and the gameplay/control is pretty standard for a 2D platformer, but it all works out pretty well, and you can get a handle on things with no problem whatsoever.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Pepper, go through four different worlds, each with two levels and a boss, all themed around different toys and other objects and places you would find in an average house, go through many different platforming challenges while taking out plenty of enemies using your trusty keyblade weapon (wait a minute…), gather plenty of different coins, health upgrades and pickups, and extra lives to give you an advantage for what comes up ahead later down the road, and take on several boss fights that range from being piss easy to mildly annoying, all for the purpose of saving the one girl who is responsible for your entire existence. It’s the same song and dance you have seen time and time again, with very little to make it stand out amongst other titles, but again, it does manage to still be fun for the time it lasts, and its simplicity does help make it more appealing for those like myself who were looking for something to play from the console as an introduction.

Given that this was a launch title for the Sega Saturn (for us Americans, anyway), it is important for the game to not only be fun, but to also show off some of the things that the system was capable of, and while it doesn’t push the system to its limits, it does a good job at showing some of the things it can do. There are plenty of different cutscenes throughout the game, showing the characters animated with a CG style, and while nowadays these cutscenes look terrifying just from the toy designs alone, I imagine this must’ve looked really impressive back in the day. Not only that, but once again, the pre-rendered sprites for the characters and enemies mesh together really well with the 3D environments, and the main gameplay style is familiar enough for those who owned plenty of other well-known titles for the Sega Genesis, being able to bring them into this new generation smoothly without anything too crazy or intimidating getting in the way.

With all that being said though, from the lens of a modern-day player like myself, there isn’t much else the game has going for it other then that. It is a very basic platformer, where ya run, ya jump, ya grab the shiny objects, ya save the girl, ya drill these guys in the ass with your keyblade, we all know how it goes. It manages to do everything right, and it feels good to play, but at the same time, it doesn’t go out of its way to really shake things up or do anything crazy, which leads it to being somewhat generic as a result. Not to mention, the game is REALLY short, only having eight main levels and five bosses, all of which can be beaten fairly quickly if you know what you are doing, which is definitely a letdown. If only there was maybe one or two more worlds with more fleshed out mechanics, as well as possibly adding one or two more levels to the already existing worlds, then maybe this would feel like a complete package, but as it stands, it does feel like it ends too quickly once you beat the final boss, leaving you wanting a little more.

Overall, despite how basic and short the game is, Clockwork Knight manages to not only do a good job at being a launch title for the Sega Saturn, but also for being just an all around enjoyable platformer, full of plenty of platforming challenges for those that are fans of the genre, an impressive visual style and graphics for the time, and having a sense of charm to it that does make it much more appealing as a result. I would definitely recommend it for those who are looking for something to play on the system, or for those who are just fans of 90s platformers in general, because while this isn’t the meatiest one of the bunch, it should provide a good amount of fun and leaves you satisfied by the end of it all. Although, speaking of which, it does kinda suck that it ends on a cliffhanger of all things, which really paints a picture of what they are trying to do. “Aw, you wanna know what happens to Chelsea? Well, you can certainly find out, for a small $60 fee, thank you very much…”

Game #570

Clockwork Knight was my pick for October's TR theme of 5th gen platformers. It wasn't exactly my first choice, but everything else I could think of I'd either already played or is weirdly very rare and expensive here in Japan (annoyingly enough). But this is a game I've been meaning to give another try for quite some time. I tried it briefly back on my American Saturn many years ago, but I never gave a ton of effort or time to beating it. I guess I've gotten a lot better at games since then, since I managed to beat the (mechanically identical) Japanese version in only 80 minutes, but I still enjoyed my time with it well enough.

Clockwork Knight was a very early Saturn release and one clearly designed to show off the audio and 3D graphical capabilities. The story is a very simple "knight must rescue the princess" sort of affair, but the added spin is that everything is toys~. You're the titular clockwork knight off to save the princess toy from whatever mysterious evil force in the house kidnapped her and turned a bunch of the other toys evil. It's a very simple story told mostly through dialogue between levels and unvoiced cutscenes, but it does the job it needs to for the kind of game this is.

And the kind of game this is a quite short 2.5D platformer. It's only 8 levels with 5 bosses, and I can certainly see why it didn't exactly blow people away when it dropped back in '94/95, and I can't imagine it made Japanese players feel terribly satisfied with their Saturn purchases compared to what the SNES was getting back then. You have some levels with maze elements, but it's ultimately really nothing special. You have a jump, a dash, a short-range melee attack, and that's all she wrote. You can get coins to play a ball-and-cup game between levels, and being pretty good at ball-and-cup games, I was able to get a crap ton of extra lives, so getting a game over was never a terrible concern of mine. That said, the game is pretty tough, especially in its later levels, but a lot of that feels more down to less than stellar stage design rather than a game that's both tightly designed and challenging (not to mention how you completely restart a stage upon death, and more health is quite uncommon).

The presentation is quite nice, and is definitely one of the things Clockwork Knight was created to show off. The vocal song that the game opens with is fun and poppy, and the other tracks the game has are also that 90's Sega brand of groovy and fun. The graphics seem to have taken the same approach that Pixar did with Toy Story: if all of our 3D-rendered CGI looks like plastic, why not make a game about toys? The toys have bright, colorful designs that are a delight to the eye and have unique and fun designs. However, the one drawback of that is that the 2.5D art style can at times make hitboxes not terribly clear.


Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. Clockwork Knight is and always has been an okay game, but I don't think it's worth giving time to for most people. There's just really nothing special or unique about it outside of its historical significance to the Saturn to justify slapping down the time or the money to give it a go. If you do give it a go and you like 2D platformers, you'll probably enjoy it well enough, but it's one that, like me, you'll probably put back on the shelf forever and seldom think about again.

I played this for Retro Achievements Challenge. What a fun little 2d platformer with charm! The music is jazzy/big band and its fantastic! The game isn't that hard but it ramps up in the final two stages. Eight total stages with five boss fights. And one boss fight, you need to know how to pick up items to throw or you aren't finishing the boss. And with 6 buttons, the manual tells you that X,Y, and Z aren't needed. So they thought that holding down the attack button was the best bet for this action. Other then that, still a fun playthrough.