Klonoa

[School of Everything Else 2024]

This was a commissioned show for Dean R who just happens to sit at the ideal age to have discovered Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Vale on PlayStation 2 in 2001 as a kid. After it had a profound effect upon him, he went back to examine the original Klonoa: Door to Phantomile on PS1 from 1996.

And while these puzzle-platformers with their poochified, Sonic-looking rabbit/cat thing might on first inspection hold nothing of particular interest I was glad to have been contracted to dig deeper. There's an existential element beneath the surface that left a lot of kids bewildered, introspective, maybe even depressed.

And I played through both games in their Phantasy Reverie Switch remakes (as well as completing the original on PS1, part of the second on PS2 and the ill-fated first remake of the original on Nintendo Wii, that many Klonoa fans HATE for resons we will go into.

So, strap in, grab your ring, and do not trust your friends, they're lying to you!