Klonoa

nihongo|Klonoa|クロノア|Kuronoa is a video game series created by Namco and Klonoa Works.

Overview

etting

The games take place in the world of Phantomile. Klonoa lives in a small village called Breezegale with his grandfather. Klonoa is described as a "Dream Traveler", who is fated to travel to various places where the state of dreams is in danger. During his travels to several Dream Worlds, he has met several characters who would later become mainstays in the series, such as Popka and the young priestess Lolo, who he is secretly in love with. He has also made a rival of a gun-toting mercenary named Guntz.

Characters

Klonoa: Klonoa is described as a "Dream Traveler", who is fated to travel to various places where the state of dreams is in danger.

Lolo: A priestess-in-training who first showed up in Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil. Additionally, she makes appearances in Dream Champ Tournament and Klonoa Beach Volleyball. She was teleported to the Dream Champ Tournament along with her friend Popka. Though Klonoa worries about her safety in the competition, she assures him that her training has made her as viable a contender as anyone else.

Garlen: A round man with a mechanical claw for a hand who sponsors the Dream Champ Tournament to find out who is the greatest hero in the land. Using magic invitations, he is able to teleport all the participants to his arena, and sends them one by to neighboring lands to take part in his competition. There is a darker side to this shady character...

Guntz: (Gantz outside Japan & Europe. Namco intended to downplay his usage of firearms) Called the "Golden Killer", he is an adventurer who wields a large handgun and rides a motorcycle. Since learning that Klonoa was in the tournament, he has made it is business to compete with him.

Suiryu: A blue dragon who competes with Klonoa at the Southern Resort. Though he lacks any real formalities, he has actually been trained as a Knight before entering the tournament. As an expert swimmer, he feels that he has a natural edge in the competition. In fact, he has another identity hidden from other competitors.

Chipple: A boxing kangaroo competes with gloves and a headguard that covers his eyes. Usually displays a positive attitude and encourages others to do the same. Although, he does happen to go into a depression fit when he fails to achieve a goal.

Joka: A maniacal clown who competes with Klonoa in the Northern Express. Often resorts to cheating and other underhanded tricks in order to win. Joka appeared in the first Klonoa game, Door to Phantomile, acting almost as a servant to Ghadius.

Popka: Lolo's talkative friend who resembles a dog with pointed features and a pair of green jewels for eyes. He is also competing in the tournament, and makes quick enemies with Gantz.Popka is a character featured in "Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil" for Sony PlayStation 2. He has also made appearances in "Klonoa Beach Volleyball" (released only in Japan and Europe) and "Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament".

Popka is a small beige dog with brown ears and legs, striped arms and a tufted pink/purple tail; one of his more characteristic traits are his green shattered glass eyes. Popka also wears a red bandana around his neck.

First featured in "Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil", Popka was used as a secondary character, noted as Lolo's sidekick and as comic relief. According to "Klonoa Beach Volleyball", he was adopted by young Lolo as an abandoned puppy. Popka's quick-temper, talent for thievery and no-nonsense attitude seemed to clash with Lolo, who as a priestess-in-training, appeared slightly naive and rather prude-like in her actions.

King of Sorrow: The ruler of a kingdom that was supposedly ignored by the other kingdoms in Lunatea. He summoned Klonoa into Lunatea in order to help him. In the end however, the king decides to use Klonoa as a vessel for the pain he suffered in isolation, and was killed in the battle that resulted. Klonoa did however activate the bell in the kingdom of Sorrow so the kings legacy would live on, and people wouldn't ignore sorrow anymore. Also it is implied that the King of Sorrow was reincarnated in the end credits. This impression is given by a picture of an infant resembling the King of Sorrow in the arms of a high priestess.

Games

The "Klonoa" series began in early 1997 in Japan and was critically received by numerous gaming publications and magazines. "" was not only Klonoa's first adventure, but also one of the first PlayStation platformers to feature two-dimensionsal character artwork on a rendered, three-dimensional backdrop. This led to the creation of the phrase "2.5D" to distinguish it between other games that either relied totally on one or the other. Since "Door to Phantomile", several other games have employed this method. On October 1, 2008, Famitsu reported that a remake of Door to Phantomile will be released for the Nintendo Wii and is scheduled to be released on December 4th in Japan.

Klonoa's second appearance, ' was released solely in Japan for the Japanese-only WonderSwan handheld system in 1999. It is noteworthy for being Klonoa's first handheld appearance and his first fully two-dimensional one. Despite lacking the artful style of the first game, "Moonlight Museum" set the standard for the approaching Game Boy Advance titles like ' the following year. Though it was very similar in style and execution to the previous game, it was developed for the more sophisticated Game Boy Advance hardware and was also available in North America and Europe.

"" was released for the PlayStation 2 with moderate success in 2001. It returned to the series' roots and had more in common with the original game than the other titles in the series. This game used a cel-shading method for the characters and also marked the first appearances of several prominent "Klonoa" characters, such as Lolo, Popka, Leorina and Tat.

A third handheld title, "" was released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan in 2002 with a heavily belated release in North America three years later. Utilizing the same game engine as "Empire of Dreams", "Dream Champ Tournament" was a similar gaming experience that benefited from more sophisticated puzzles and featured a newer cast of supporting characters.

His sole sports title, "Klonoa Beach Volleyball" released for the PlayStation in Japan and later Europe, featured Klonoa and his friends in a unique version of volleyball. A North American version was never made.

"" is the newest game in the series and was released solely in Japan in late 2002. Taking a unique twist on the series, the game is an Action RPG, rather than a platformer and is played from a top-down perspective.

* Klonoa had cameo appearances in "Moto GP" [cite web | author=IGN staff | date=November 16 | title=Go Speed Klonoa, Go! | url=http://ps2.ign.com/articles/087/087416p1.html | work=IGN.com | accessdate=2008-07-19] and "Alpine Racer 3". Klonoa and his rival Guntz also appear as a playable duo in Namco's cross-over RPG, "Namco x Capcom".

Manga

"Shibuutenkoku Kaze no Klonoa" features Klonoa as a complete idiot, obsessed with being a hero. His sidekick a Moo, who is the postman of Breezegale. Garlen is the main villain, trying to catch Klonoa but failing every time, making himself look very idiotic.

Development

Klonoa was designed by Yoshihiko Arai. Arai's first design, "Shady", had a shadow-like appearance. However, he felt that the lack of color did not seem tasteful, and dropped the design. His next design was created with cat eyes and long ears, as Arai felt that a person's eyes and silhouette are the features noticed when they are first met. He added a large hat and necklace to give the character a childlike and energetic quality. The design was kept and used for Klonoa. [ [http://namco-ch.net/klonoa/relay-essay/essay-06b.html 風のクロノア/開発者リレーエッセイ ] ]

References

External links

* [http://namco-ch.net/kloweb/index.html Klonoa Web: The Official Klonoa Website (Japanese)]