Drive-by review: Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series

(Originally written November 2023)
(Contains unmarked spoilers for Door to Phantomile, it's a 25+ year old game...)

Table of contents:
Klonoa's first remake - Good VS. Bad remakes? - What Phantasy Reverie did right

I briefly owned the Wii remake (Wiimake) of Door to Phantomile, because I was always intrigued by Klonoa and it was the most recent game at the time; On a console I owned, no less. I played the beginning, but didn't get far and had to sell my copy later. I used to regret that a lot. I didn't get a chance to finally replay and finish the Wiimake until 2017, after modding my Wii and installing USB Loader GX to run an .ISO of the game. (Highly recommended - Keep circulating the tapes!)

The Wiimake was...fine. I liked the twist at the end, but something about the experience felt off. Then I played the original PS1 version immediately after finding out WiiSX can run it decently (give or take some lagging). They played identical, but at the same time felt like night and day. The Wiimake felt like a soulless husk compared to the original. The graphics were "better", but the charm the original PS1 graphics and Klonoa's old design was gone. The intro of the Wiimake is pure trash compared to the original's FMV sequence. How could they be virtually the same but the remake was somehow worse? Hot take: Maybe Bamco should've used Fake Klonoa instead. The design was good and the Wiimake was mid. Fake Klonoa would've made it more interesting.

"You're not even good enough to be my fake."

That's just a matter of hindsight being 20/20, though. It would've been risky on Bamco's end to "replace" Klonoa as an attempt to appeal to international players. Klonoa's Wiimake had a positive critical reception, but a failure commercially. To be honest, I don't think my criticisms have anything to do with that. The game is fine if you don't compare it to the original. The issue was more likely that people who weren't already familiar with Klonoa didn't care, and it was drowned out among more better selling games released that year and on the Wii. I don't know about anyone else, but in 2009 I was still occupied with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and normies loved Wii Fit. The potential reboot for Klonoa's 10th anniversary flopped, and plans for a remake of Lunatea's Veil were scrapped. Klonoa never had a new game again, until Phantasy Reverie in 2022 (ouch!).

I tried playing Spyro Reignited Trilogy last year. I was curious about it since it was announced, but didn't buy it until 2021 because it was on sale and thought I deserved it (I survived a power grid freeze!). I regretted it. I don't expect many people to agree with this, but I couldn't help comparing it to my dissapointment towards Door to Phantomile's Wiimake. Reignited made me wish I was playing the original PS1 games instead, despite being virtually the same. I'm aware the assets from the original game by Insominac couldn't be reused, and Toys for Bob did a faithful recreation game's controls. But I just hated the graphical differences. It was technically better and more detailed, but I just didn't like it. The "fancy" rounded graphics didn't have nearly as much character to me as the low poly original. I'm a strong proponent of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and there was nothing wrong with the original Spyro trilogy. I liked the redesigns for the adult dragons, but that was one difference I prefered over the original. Almost every other redesign were a huge miss to me. I don't plan on playing Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy or other remakes that emulate this style (Kao the Kangaroo).

Are remakes and ports with major visual differences or changes a bad thing? Of course not. I'm not the biggest fan of Johto, but Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver were fantastic and even better than Gold and Silver. Fire Red and Leaf Green were pretty good too. Not to go into "modern games are bad now" territory (I don't think I have the right to when I've fallen out of love with gaming and pass on most releases now), but I have become more disenchanted with remakes. In fact, last year I mentioned falling asleep while playing Let's Go! Pikachu. Another game I played years ago that's in the same category as Spyro Reignited and the Wiimake was Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions. I owned a copy of the original, and even though I didn't finish it I loved what I played of it. I "borrowed" the 3DS remake for it's quality-of-life features, but I just... Didn't like it. Yet again, the cartoony charm of the original graphics were sucked out of this "better" version. Compare the sprites, if you don't believe me. I got farther in the remake than my original copy - I made it to the last battle. But I just wasn't as enthusiastic to finish it. I honestly don't know if I'll play the remakes of Super Mario RPG or Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. They both appear to be okay visually, but I think having reservations is understandable after being let down so many times.

I'm happy to say that Phantasy Reverie is a proper remake of Door to Phantomile. I've seen some complaints that it's the bare minimum and shows the game's age by not changing much besides adding an easy mode, but at this point I think that's the best thing a remake for a game like this can do. A point can be made about this when it comes to the price tag, though. $40? Well, I also got this on sale, so...

First, it did what I think the Wiimake wanted to do in the first place. The original Door to Phantomile was a 2.5D game, but Phantasy Reverie is fully 3D. (There's a pixel filter mode, if you like it that way too.) Get this, it captures the charm of the original graphics and Klonoa's old design pretty well. Klonoa will turn 26 this December, and after how his 10th birthday flopped (poor guy...), I think Bamco knew what they did wrong here. The small creachur Klonoa is not quite the same as the teenager-ish (arguably Sonic-ish?) design in Lunatea's Veil and beyond. Trying to use that design in Door to Phantomile doesn't quite work in my opinion. The charm of Door to Phantomile is that it appeals to all ages, children will enjoy the cute aesthetics and dream setting, while adults can appreciate the emotional moments and plot twists.

Phantasy Reverie also combines what I liked about the Wiimake and original. The gameplay is identical, which is why I still had fun playing the Wiimake despite feeling that it doesn't hold up. It's a pretty simple platform game with puzzles within the levels and boss battles; There's replay value in collecting every gems and villager. In both the old and new versions, I sometimes restarted the level when I didn't get them all. Watch out, though - There's a difficulty spike midway (especially if you're a completionist - I stopped collecting after the first few worlds). I legitimately did find some puzzles near the end infuriating despite managing to do them before.

What about the story? The script is near-identical, to my knowledge. Apparently something I completely forgot about the Wiimake is that it changed the script a bit in favor of Huepow. Phantasy Reverie Series does not do that here. The very intro does make you wonder, what happens to the dreams you had but can't remember? Klonoa has a nightmare about a ship crashing into a nearby hill, only to awake when that actually happens in real life. They find a creepy looking dude named Ghadius and his weird henchman Joka searching for a Moon Pendant so he can turn Phantomile into a world of nightmares instead and kidnaps the diva Lephise to prevent her from using the Song of Rebirth. GASP!!! Yeah, you really know this is a bad guy now!

It does seem like a typical cute plaformer at the very beginning, just playing as a cute little creachur and his orb friend. The beginning is a bit linear too, just going to A to B to C. Klonoa finds the Moon Pendant and brings it home to Grandpa. Grandpa tells you that Granny in Forlock Forest knows more about the Moon Kingdom, but on the way to have to go to Jugpot because Ghadius fucked with the water flow to kill the Forlock Forest villagers. You rescue a baby fish named Karal (whose mother Pamela has been corrupted by Ghadius) and find out from King Seadoph that Granny will be in danger because she has knowledge about the Moon Kingdom. Even though Klonoa saves Granny, Joka overhears what she said and tries to go for the Moon Pendant that Klonoa left with Grandpa (uh oh).

Late game is where it gets interesting.

Pretty cool twist, isn't it? Even when I saw it in the Wiimake, I was shocked by and liked it a lot. (I wonder how many kids playing cried...) But don't let my shitty ass summary placate you, this game is available on all recent consoles. Many old games do have issues that a remake should fix, but I'm glad Bamco took the hint to not change much about this game. Wahoo! Play the sequel, Lunatea's Veil, too. (I mean, they are bundled together...)