Reviews from

in the past


A worthy successor to Yoshi's Island that puts the .5 in 2.5D. A joy and spectacle from start to finish, although the bonus level made my thumb hurt.

Este juego es un gran paso en el género plataformero 2.5D, una historia simple al principio que progresa conforme vas adentrandote en la misma, con un final que te sacará más de una lagrima

“Klonoa… It’s time for you to go home, back to your Phantomile.”

My first experience with Klonoa was just about 2 months ago, right at the end of January. I knew next to nothing about this little guy and the extremely niche series that he hailed from, but what sparked my interest in these games was the profound and impactful impression that they left on people when I stumbled across its review page on this platform. Luckily for me when I was checking out my local game store, a copy of the Klonoa Phantasy Reverie series was sitting on the shelf and I instantly purchased it.

What appears as a simple, colorful mascot platformer at first glance, turns out to be so much more. Halfway through the game, Klonoa experiences pure rage and sadness in a turn of events that completely threw me off guard. It was this moment that made me realize what everyone had been talking about and why this game was so special. Door to Phantomile isn’t just a cheerful game with a cute mascot catered to children, it hides a much darker and deeper meaning beneath its shallow facade of innocence. I continued onward and found myself becoming attached to Klonoa and Huepow, two characters that I had literally just been introduced to only a couple of hours prior, and in no time I had defeated the final boss. I felt satisfied and glad to have witnessed Klonoa and Huepow’s teamwork and friendship triumph over Ghadius’ vile intentions to enshroud the world in an endless nightmare. Everything was wrapping up happily and was very wholesome… until the final scene of the game played out.

Even after experiencing Door to Phantomile twice (initial Phantasy Reverie playthrough, and a replay of the original PS1 version), I still find it hard to put into words how the ending makes me feel. One thing is for certain, it’s genuinely one of the saddest video game endings I’ve ever experienced.
No punches are pulled when the truth of Klonoa’s existence comes out from who he assumes is his long time best friend. A revelation so shocking and yet so heartbreaking all thanks to the masterful use of music, phantomilian voices/dialogue, and of course the expressive sprite work. The conclusion of Door to Phantomile stunned me, and I couldn’t shake the emotions I had towards its ending for days… and weeks… and at this point a month had passed, a time frame in which I usually would have moved on to the next game in my backlog and forgotten about the previous games I had played.

But Klonoa isn’t just the “usual” game. I was constantly listening to the soundtrack, reading how it impacted other people’s lives, and thinking about it all the time. I would get lost in thought over this game to the point that I would ponder my own life, dreams, and purpose. It sounds silly, but I had to experience this game again. So fast forward two months from my initial completion of Door to Phantomile’s Phantasy Reverie remaster, I bit the bullet and secured myself a copy of the original game for the PS1.

The original version of Door to Phantomile is undeniably the best way to play the game. Graphically, it is absolutely beautiful, delivering a presentation of vibrant 3D environments, with characters and enemies appearing as 2D prerendered sprites. This style works so well with the game and completely outclasses the all 3D look that the remaster has. Not only does the gameplay look better, but the FMV cutscenes throughout the game are gorgeous and show so much more emotion and drama than what is shown in the remaster.

The childlike whimsy and dreamy aesthetic of Door to Phantomile oozes with so much charm, I truly can’t get enough. The theme of dreams and where they go once you wake up is delivered even better when you realize that as the game goes on, the environments and music begin to change, reflecting the atmosphere and tension of what is occurring during Klonoa and Huepow’s adventure. The opening stage throws the player right into a breezy and uplifting windmill village stage, the accompanying music consisting of woodwinds, acoustics, and stringed instruments. But during the last stages of the game, the music has completely transformed from natural melodies to something far more artificial, electronic, and otherworldly.

I could talk about how absolutely brilliant the soundtrack is for this game, but I want to move on to the gameplay aspects. Klonoa is a 2.5D platformer that, while mostly linear, does have branching paths and optional areas to explore in every level. The main gameplay gimmick is that Klonoa can use his wind ring to grab enemies a short distance from him, inflate them like a ball, and use them as a projectile or jump off of them for a second mid-air jump. This mechanic paired with the 3D environments leads to some pretty creative puzzles, such as throwing an enemy into the foreground or background to obtain a collectible, or inflate and jump off of multiple mid-air enemies to gain a ton of height whether it be to reach a high ledge, or to avoid falling into an endless abyss or pit of lava. For a game that only uses four buttons (left, right, jump, and shoot), Klonoa somehow manages to only get more interesting and ramp up the difficulty with super fun level designs and a large variety of enemy types. While most of the enemies are mindless drones that can easily be inflated, some of them can be very annoying to deal with in those late game levels.

Where the gameplay of Klonoa really shines however is in its boss fights. Every single one progressively gets more challenging, the music absolutely slaps, and they feel completely unique despite the objective always being to grab and throw enemies at the boss’s weak point. The late game bosses in particular can be pretty difficult and they have multiple phases in which different strategies need to be utilized. Overall the difficulty curve is pretty steady and goes from being a super easy platformer to a test of mastery and precision of the game’s mechanics.

What makes Klonoa standout amongst its competitors and the droves of other mascot platformers however, is its story. Door to Phantomile tells a tale deeply personal to so many people, including myself. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that this would be the game that touched my heart and reminded me that it’s okay to cry, even when it’s something as simple as a videogame about a little rabbit cat creature jumping around inflating his foes. For a 3-4 hour long experience, I was fully immersed into this world and its characters to the same degree that I would be with a 40+ hour long videogame. Door to Phantomile expertly combines music, dialogue, and sprite work to express emotion in a way that few games can even hope to achieve, and I genuinely consider this game to be a masterpiece. It tackles the idea of dreams in a manner that is freakishly relatable to experiences I have had with them, such as the perfect reality or absolute bliss, only for it all to be stripped away because you’re waking up. It’s a concept so beautiful and yet so harsh, realizing that when you do wake up, you can barely even remember what it was you dreamt. Imagine the friends you made, the memories you shared, and your life as you knew it all being a fabricated lie. It is with this dread that Klonoa’s tale comes to a close.

“It's strange... Sometimes I can't remember my dreams, though I'm sure I saw them. Where do these dreams go? But I remember this one dream, as clearly as if it were reflected in a mirror...”

This was a lovely little game! Ending was a little fucked up but I see the hype behind Klonoa now.

This game's aesthetic is peak btw, everything is so crunchy, especially the designs for anything crystal related. It's so good. I haven't seen what it looks like in the remake but I'm not sure they can capture the same appeal. Music is so fucking good too, every song is a bop.

The greatest gem of 2.5-D games


A fantastic old gem, it has almost everything a good platform game should have, with great unique mechanics and level design.
The graphics are beatiful for the ps1 era. Amazing soundtrack and art direction.
This game is a solid timeless gem. the dificulty curve goes from none to decent just by the end of the game, with the final vision beeing the real challange of the story.. as for the The Tower of Balue being the biggest challange of the game.. but none is too hard. is a relaxing experience overall.

this is such a gem my god i did not expect to like this game this much

this game made me FUCKING EMOTIONAL

makes me sad that people will now grow up with the phantasy reverie version of this game which is basically the absolute worst version to play this (seriously, even the "wii"make made this game look better than this soulless remake)
beautiful, dreamy worlds, gameplay that doesnt get boring even though you only have like one mechanic to use and a touchingly beautiful story.
still the best way to play the first game.

Bitirdiğimde bu kadar kahkaha atmamam gerekiyordu.

Good platformer with cool mechanics and immaculate fantasy levels

Alto plataformero, banda sonora buenísima, mecánicas algo raras pero te acostumbras, gráficos mejorables y una historia hermosa

i don't get the immense hype. just kinda a boring chore of picking shit up off the floor and waiting for stuff to move out of the way. albeit it is a kids game (I've enjoyed some other kids game still)

Not a big fan of the 2.5D platformer but this is one of the best ones. That being said I have to admit that not even the pretty graphics and art direction can save it from the slightly slippery controls and the not so enjoyable boss fights.

"wahoo! dupurudu!"

i believe this is the truest a 5/5 can get. this is one of the best platforming experiences i've ever had. it oozes soul, it plays perfect, the ost is great, the difficulty feels perfectly finetuned. i am in love.

decided to buy the remake duology on a whim, played halfway through 1, loved it so much that i downloaded this and decided to play through twice. it is that good.

this version is the better version too, barring the slight slipperyness on platforms, the visual flair just goes so far. i just can't get over how perfect this is. oh my god. i believe in klonoa supremacy.

This review contains spoilers

genuinely made me remember how much i adore games
i fucking bawled my eyes out like a child despite spending so little time with it

Un juego sencillo mecanimente, pero que aun asi se las arregla para generar una experencia bastante divertida y sus graficos son hermosos.

Un juego que quizás para alguien adulto no supondrá un gran desafío, pero es perfecto para los niños, además de una historia no muy amplia pero bien construida.

Klonoa no es sólo un videojuego de plataformas bien diseñado, con buenas mecánicas y una estética colorida y memorable. Quienes quieran indagar en sus temas encontraran tanto en Door to Phantomile como en su secuela una inspiradora carta de amor al medio y a lo que el jugador puede aprender de este; son detalles tan sutiles pero significativos que añaden mucho valor a la experiencia. A ver, tampoco es que sea la cosa más profunda del mundo, pero pocos videojuegos de este tipo logran tan bien el factor entretenimiento a la vez que plantean ideas más allá de lo que dejan ver en una primera impresión, por medio de sus elementos temáticos y de una forma tan orgánica como la duología de Klonoa. No tiene nada que envidiarle a los mejores plataformeros en 2D.

I cannot count how many friends I have who are into retro games and just absolutely adore Klonoa. It’s a game I’ve had recommended to heck and back, and with the recent remakes of the first two games, it was a series back on everyone’s lips. It’s also a game that’s pretty darn rare in English, but it’s also pretty darn cheap (if a bit uncommon) out here in Japan, so I set out to pick up the first two games a couple weeks back. This weekend, I finally sat down and played through the first Klonoa on my PlayStation to see what all the fuss was about. It took me about 5.5 hours to play through the whole thing, rescue all the captured lads, and do the extra final level. I played the game in Japanese on real hardware.

The story of Klonoa is the story of the titular Klonoa and his friend Hyupo. A strange ring carrying Hyupo crashes down in the forest one day, and Klonoa comes across and saves him. They play and have fun all the time until one day, another strange force descends from the sky. The evil Gadius and his henchman Joker are bent on destroying the world, and it’s up to Klonoa to stop him! Along the way, you’ll meet a lot (and I mean a lot) of colorful characters on your quest to save the world, but the story is overall still very simple. It reminds me a lot of a 90’s family film, where the overall vibes of the adventure are more important than character arcs or larger themes. This isn’t a bad thing, as the game is so short yet packed with so much personality that it’s able to carry itself just fine, but it left me wanting more and didn’t leave much of an impact on me in the end. It’s not a bad story by any means, but I think it’s a tad too overambitious for its own good, and narrowing its scope a little and/or focusing itself a little would’ve paid dividends.

The gameplay of Klonoa is a 2.5D platformer that reminds me a bit of the original Kirby’s Dreamland than anything else, and that is absolutely a good thing. Klonoa can run and jump, but he can also grab things with the power of Hyupo and his special ring. This inflates enemies big and round and places them above your head. You can then throw these enemies out in front of you (or even towards or away from the screen! Ain’t 3D crazy ;b) or throw them beneath you as you use them as a double jump. You can even grab another enemy mid-air after you’ve jumped or thrown the enemy you’re already carrying, meaning you can do some really technical maneuvering through stages (and they’ll make you by the end, believe me). Klonoa is pretty short, with only 12 levels and a final boss stage, but those stages are pretty long and also pretty darn tough. If you’re not quite experienced at platformers, you’re likely going to have a pretty rough time making it through to the end of Klonoa. It’s a fun and well-polished experience, but heck if it isn’t one that’ll make you work to see that ending XP

The presentation is incredibly well done and charming. Klonoa’s design is immediately iconic, and the pre-rendered 3D assets turned 2D (think like Donkey Kong Country) create a beautiful world and super fun characters to have your adventure along with. The way the game messes with 3D space to make levels and areas loop through and around themselves is also quite neat, and it very rarely actually gets to the point where it’s confusing to try and point or aim a shot due to how the 3D is working. The music is super fun, as is the sound design. All of the characters have this almost-real-language voice acting that is nonetheless incredibly effective. It does a remarkable job of communicating the emotions of the character’s text without actually going to the length of giving proper VA to every line. With just how many of my friends who like Klonoa love to shout “Wahoo!” just the way he does, there’s no doubt in my mind that the voice work is no small part as to why this series has captured so many hearts over the years.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. This is a really excellent action platformer on the PS1! It’s not one of my favorite games ever, like I know it very much is for some folks who’ve played it, but it’s a super fun and charming time either way. It was far and away worth what I paid for it, no doubt. If you like platformers and like the way the game looks (and don’t mind a bit of a challenge), then this is absolutely one to look into acquiring digitally or snagging the remake that came out recently. You won’t regret your choice~ ^w^

0/10 didn't save. Apparently this game just has no concept of a memory card being in slot 2, so I finished the game and didn't even realise absolutely nothing saved. A little miffed about that since I went out of my way to 100% this game, but like the rating speaks for itself lol

One of the most polished sidescrolling experiences of the original PlayStation, and maybe even the whole gen.
It's a short game that's also Yoshi's Story levels of babby tier easy. But still feels satisfying enough to beat, and the game makes the most of it's simple mechanics such as using enemies to jump higher, in order to create plenty of engaging platforming sections, specially on latter levels and Balue's Tower.
Admittedly, a lot of it is carried by it's story. It's hard for me to describe it but it has the same charm as something like the original Dragon Ball or Digimon Adventure 02. Whimsical yet not afraid to take a serious turn or have stakes. This game is like a rainbow of soul after the deluge of 'tude mascot slop from the SNES and Genesis era.

Only rating this 3.5 because i want to try Klonoa 2 (and a few of the handheld games to top it off) and see how it compares.

I talk about Klonoa a lot but yet I haven't played the games at all; I've fixed that just now! Amazing aesthetics, challenging gameplay, beautiful soundtrack and feel all around, one of the best 2D platformers I've played recently. Give this little boy a Wahoo to play through!

Lindo jogo, jogabilidade divertida e um marco da minha infância. Ainda lembro do som da cachoeira nas fases, joguinho de plataforma que te vai levando, além de tudo, pela beleza das fases

Might actually be one of my favorite games ever made. Not even joking.

There's a sense of serenity that comes from this game even in its toughest platforming segments, a sort of playgroundy feeling resembling playing pretend more than just about any other game I can think of.

Sure, the bosses are too backloaded and yes, the inconsistent traction can be irritating while running is too slow, and of course the attack and ear-floating are both a wee bit short... but with pointed and clever design accounting for these things and more, I don't find myself needing to harp on them very much.

Strong direction on many fronts, a dollop of soul, perfect technological timing, and a masterful touching upon the shared experience of childhood dreams bring together a game I would have regretted not playing before I die.


I love the way this game looks and sounds. I like to imagine that the world these characters live in just looks like a PS1 game.

Really great game, but the last three levels are painfully annoying

I know totally get why this game has the audience it does. It's cute, it's fun, and bittersweet by the end. I adore the cute story book look of the game. It kinda feels like a children's stop motion show with how the characters animate. The gameplay itself is fun. Good balance between challenging and easy. And the plot was way heavier than I honestly could've ever expected. I commend the team for going in such a direction.
Also I find it hard to believe this was directed by the NES Ninja Gaiden guy.

After first playing this game through the Reverie remake, I decided to come back to the OG PSX version. Great idea on my behalf, because the visual presentation of this game still blows any of the remakes out of the water. They're still a perfectly fine way to experience Klonoa, but I highly recommend playing the original release of at least this one to get a good grasp on the kind of vibe this game is going for. The pre-rendered scenes and visual style add a lot, trust me.