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There’s also a co-op mode and an easier difficulty. Still, with all the improvements the Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series did add to its games, the collection is missing some obvious features. Hopefully, these can be added to future patches.
6 Add The PS1 Version Of Klonoa
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series has the remastered versions of the Wii remake of the first game, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, and an upgraded version of the base PS2 game Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s. The first game was a PS1 title that still holds up today, even with the dated graphics. Some fans may argue that it is a better game than the Wii remake. It’s hard to buy games on the old PSN stores now, but players were able to buy the first game on the PS3, PSP, and PS Vita.
Other than that, emulation is the only option to play the original. Whether the original is better than the remake is debatable, but either way, it would have been nice to get both versions in this collection. A remastered collection should be chock-full of content, and this is only one example of how Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series could have been better.
5 Add More Games
Getting the PS1 version into Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series would be great, but it wouldn’t be as worthwhile as a complete collection of the entire series. It’s great that the collection included the main games, but there are so many spinoffs that old-school fans, and new ones, would enjoy if only they got patched in. Klonoa: Moonlight Museum was a Japanese exclusive for the WonderSwan, which was an exclusive handheld in Japan. It was also a platformer but in pure 2D.
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Klonoa Heroes: Densetsu no Star Medal was also only released in Japan, but it was for the Game Boy Advance. It was a top-down action game with some RPG elements. Klonoa Beach Volleyball was a sports game, as the name implies, and did get into Europe along with Japan, but a North America release didn’t happen. Finally, the only other game North America got was Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament on the GBA. It, like Klonoa: Moonlight Museum, was a decent 2D platformer.
4 Add An Art Collection
Remastering more than two games is understandably a difficult task. This is especially true for games on the PS1 and the various portable systems. Plus, most of those games in the series have only been released in Japan. It’s not an impossible task, but again, fans can see why those games didn’t make it into the collection initially.
However, why are there no extra modes in Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series? That is the wildest thing about this collection, as art galleries, movie galleries, and music galleries are pretty standard nowadays. Any one of those features would have been nice to see in the bundle, but maybe Bandai Namco can try it again with a future patch. Of those options, the art gallery seems like the most important.
3 Make The DLC Free
There is some DLC for the game planned to add new costumes for Klonoa. Most of them give the fuzzball a different hat that celebrates other popular Bandai Namco games. There is one that puts Pac-Man around Klonoa’s head and another that gives Klonoa the Prince’s hat from Katamari Damacy. New costumes are something developers like to put in remastered collections.
Bundles like Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series should be a celebration of not only the included series but the developer’s brand overall. The only problem is that this is paid DLC and not free DLC. It’s not expensive, admittedly, but since this collection is already lacking in extra content, charging for costumes seems like a bad idea. Making these costumes free could bring in some goodwill when they do launch.
2 Add Voices
The story in either game is not something to write home about. Most platformers, including the plumber over at Nintendo, don’t have gripping narratives. One of the better platforming series that does have good and funny stories is Ratchet and Clank. There’s another thing in those games that both of these Klonoa games lack: voice acting.
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The PS2 did have voice acting in games, but it was still new. So, Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series lacking voices initially is understandable. No voices in the Wii remake was less understandable, and it is even wilder now that both of these remastered versions are lacking voices. It might be difficult to add in voices with a patch now, but Bandai Namco could at least try.
1 A Map Would Help
There is a key thing in platformers that makes one stand out from another: secrets. Both Klonoa games have longer than normal levels, and each is chock-full of collectibles. Players can collect jewels to get extra lives or rescue citizens.
Doing both on every level has the potential to unlock secret stages and other bonuses. Saying more would spoil the surprise, which is half of the fun. The downside to all of this is that the layouts of levels can be confusing without a map. There is often no clear way of knowing which path is the main one and which is the side path until it is too late. That’s why a mini-map, at the very least, would be much appreciated.
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series was released on July 8, 2022, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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