Visually, as a GBA game, Klonoa: Empire of Dreams steps away from the 2.5D that the first two games were known for, and sticks to 2D. The character designs still match the world of Klonoa, but the backdrops to the levels themselves feel very...static. The music ranges from catchy to elegant, and is very nice to hear in the moment, but the limitations of the GBA soundfont keep it from being truly memorable in my eyes.

While the presentation leaves something to be desired, this game's level design is top-notch. It takes the platforming of Klonoa and adds light puzzle elements, constantly using them in ways that keep you on your toes. It's not dissimilar to PS1 Klonoa's level design at all, and it's just as satisfying in its own way. I do feel like the addition of lives is pointless though. You can hit retry from the pause menu at any time if you softlock yourself (or just wanna reset a room to save some time), and I had about 40 lives at the end of the game via casual play alone.

In between the standard levels, there are non-puzzle levels to spice things up: auto-scrollers and hoverboard stages (a different kind of auto-scroller), one of each per world. The auto-scrollers are good fun, they test your reaction times with some tight platforming, especially if you're going for all gems. Unfortunately, the hoverboard stages have the exact opposite problem. They're not necessarily difficult, but it takes vigorous memorization to collect all of the really easy-to-miss gems.

Aside from a few blemishes, the game is an extremely strong puzzle-platformer, and I feel like it can even stand proudly by its console bretheren as a member of the Klonoa series.