The Wii was chosen as the platform to develop it for as the company felt it had a wide appeal, which it felt fulfilled the original's premise of appealing to both younger and older players.
KLONOA DOOR TO PHANTOMILE METACRITIC SERIES
In acknowledgement of the series' impending 10-year anniversary, Namco Bandai decided that a remake of the original would be the best approach, and would help determine if the series would be suitable for a proper revival if it was successful. Shin Unozawa, the vice president of Namco Bandai Games, expressed interest in reviving the Klonoa series due to its large, enthusiastic fan community. In 2005, Namco merged with Bandai to form Bandai Namco Holdings, the third-largest video game entity in Japan. By using the Wii Remote the player can use a special spin-attack to defeat enemies, as well as being able to change the voices into English instead of the default "gibberish" language. The player can also unlock several costumes for Klonoa. The player can access "flipped" versions of each stage, which mirrors the game horizontally and gives Klonoa six extra hit points instead of three these flipped stages host a secret, harder version of them that can be found through exploration. The remake contains several features not present in the original. Some stages end with a boss, which take place within either 2D planes or large, circular 3D arenas. Inflated enemies can also be thrown into either the foreground or the background. Klonoa can use a large ring called the "Wind Bullet" to grab enemies, who become inflated and can be used as either a projectile weapon or as an extra jump boost tor each higher places. The player controls the protagonist Klonoa through each of the game's stages these are presented in a 2.5D perspective, with gameplay itself taking place within a 2D plane. Klonoa is a side-scrolling platform video game, serving as a remake of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. Klonoa carrying an inflated enemy in the game's first level.
Despite its positive reception, it was a commercial failure, resulting in Bandai Namco scrapping the planned remake of the second game, along with any potential future installments. Multiple critics have placed it among the Wii's best exclusive titles, with Nintendo Power voting it to be one of the best games released on a Nintendo console. Klonoa was well-received by critics, who commended its gameplay, controls and art direction, although some felt that it was too easy and lacked any major enhancements over the original game. For the North American version, Namco Bandai proposed a redesign for the character to make him look less "old-fashioned" and appealing for Western audiences, a design that was met with a significant negative backlash and swiftly scrapped. Care was taken into making the game easier to control and more intuitive, such as altered level designs, the speed at which Klonoa runs, and his attack range. The team chose the Wii as the platform to develop it for due to its wide appeal. The game was produced by Hideo Yoshizawa, the director of the original Door to Phantomile, alongside other former members of the Klonoa Works division. In acknowledgement of the series' impending 10-year anniversary, Namco Bandai decided that a remake of the original would be the best approach. It is the eighth and final game in the Klonoa series.ĭevelopment of the game began after Shin Unozawa, the vice president of Namco Bandai Games, expressed interest in reviving the series. Gameplay takes place within a 2.5D perspective, featuring 2D gameplay with 3D graphics. As a remake of the 1997 PlayStation game Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, it follows the titular character and his friend Huepow in their efforts to save the dreamworld of Phantomile from the evil spirit Ghadius, who plots to turn it into a world of nightmares. It was released in Japan in 2008, and in both North America and Europe in 2009. Klonoa is a side-scrolling platform video game developed by Paon and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Wii.