Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil

released on Mar 22, 2001
by Namco

Klonoa 2 puts players in the role of Klonoa, who, along with a new cast of friends, has stumbled into another adventure, this time to save the world of Lunatea and help unveil the mysteries of the enchanted world. The game features gameplay inspired by the original Klonoa with 2D side-scrolling in a 3D-rendered environment. Klonoa's equipped weapon is a crystal ring which contains the life of Lolo inside helping him. Klonoa, a long-eared creature, has stumbled on yet another mystical adventure. In Klonoa 2, a dark kingdom threatens the enchanted realm of Lunatea. Now it's up to Klonoa and his friends, Lolo and Popka, to prevent evil forces from bringing monsters and sickness into their world. Help Klonoa through 24 magical stages featuring hover-board gliding, perceptual changes, and new treacherous foes. On your adventure, you'll drop off waterfalls, get shot into the air by cannon, and gain special abilities from your defeated enemies.


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Ah ha! Another game with incorrect platforms. This was NEVER released on GameCube, I don't care if it was planned, where is it bitch I don't see it on GameCube so why is it an option?

não consegui terminar mas é um jogasso

While I was at it with playing PS2 action games that are sequels to games I’d beaten earlier, I thought why not play Klonoa 2 as well. I enjoyed the first Klonoa a fair bit, but it certainly had a fair bit of room for improvement. I’d heard nothing but great things about its sequel here, so I figured it was high time I finally get to checking out what Klonoa’s second big adventure was all about. It took me around 7 hours to beat the game getting all of the doll pieces in each stage, and I played the Japanese version of the game on real hardware.

Klonoa 2’s narrative follows our titular character as he’s pulled into a mysterious dream world to save it from the encroaching forces of darkness. He must help his new friends ring the five bells scattered around the land while constantly keeping the nefarious sky pirates at bay as well. It’s something that very much feels like something out of a Japanese children’s film or OVA series of the era, and it’s got a lot of the same writing beats and such that you’d expect to see as a result, and it does a pretty good job at executing upon them. Learning a valuable lesson from the first Klonoa, it cuts down on the cast a LOT and that does absolute wonders for the narrative as a result.

Nonetheless, I still think the game has a bit too much text in places, and it makes for some very stop-and-start pacing between the action & story telling that I grew to find grating far before the game’s end point. Though, at least in my case, that may be because the overall themes it’s going for are things I’ve seen quite a few times in other games and done better in them. The story certainly isn’t bad by any means, goodness no, but given how heavily I’d had this game’s story hyped up to me as a super well done emotional narrative, I found it decidedly lesser in that regard for my tastes at least.

Mechanically, I can’t really sum it up better than saying that this game is absolutely a successor to the first Klonoa. You still have a 2.5D action platformer centered around grabbing enemies and objects and using them to launch yourself up and around stages. There are 6 special goodies to collect in every stage, and collecting all of them will unlock a couple of far harder challenge stages to play (which unlock you the sound test, just like in Klonoa 1), but that isn’t to say the main game isn’t difficult on its own. While some stages (particularly the burning city) are far harder than the rest of the game, the usual source of the game’s difficulty usually comes from how you only have a health bar of 3 hits before you die. The platforming itself isn’t usually that hard (indistinct contrast to Klonoa 1), but that 3 hits between you and death is more often than not what will lead to your death, particularly in boss fights. It’s a very well constructed little platformer with some fun gimmick levels to spice things up, and while it’s overall not quite as hard as Klonoa 1, it’ll still provide more than adequate challenge for any seasoned veteran of the genre looking for something a bit meatier to sink their teeth into.

The aesthetics are also very much more Klonoa, but as this is a game with the power of the PS2 (albeit one released barely after the console’s first birthday), we’ve dropped more or less any 2D stuff for all 3D models. Klonoa and friends, all the characters really, have wonderfully adorable designs that my friends watching me play described as having Dreamcast aesthetics (which I’m inclined to agree with). The dream world itself’s designs are also very pretty, and it all makes for a great adventure. Also adding to that is the soundtrack, which is also excellent.

Verdict: Recommended. While Klonoa 2 didn’t live up to the super hype it’d been sold to me as, it’s still a quite good game nonetheless. If you’re into 2D action platformers and don’t mind a relatively difficult time, then this is absolutely one you shouldn’t sleep on. However, if you’re someone who is less comfortable with 2D platformers but still love the aesthetics of the game, it might be worth looking at some bits of a playthrough online before you run out and buy the remasters recently released for modern systems.

a very profound and melancholy game if you've played the first one. klonoa's grown up a bit and i think the story reflects that very well

It's hard to really summarize why this and the first game mean so much to me. The games are super fun and have some of the best platforming I've experienced. However, this goes beyond that for me. As works of art, they ruminate on the melancholy of dreams and focus in on the importance of all human emotions, even the ones we want to subdue. The tone is memorizing and almost meditative.

To put it shortly, it feels like your playing a dream and all that comes with that. I love it dearly.

It takes a bit longer for this one to become peak but when it comes together it really comes together. I just wish certain side characters were given a little more depth, and I feel klonoa’s redesign here has a little less charm, but by all means this is still brilliant.