For those who don't know: between 2017 and 2019, Hideo Yoshizawa (creator of Klonoa) made a series of Twitter threads he named Klonoa Chronicle(s). These detailed the development history of the original game (with a few more afterward devoted to his involvement in Moonlight Museum and Empire of Dreams). The ever-helpful Klonoa @ Blog has archived all of them here - it's probably the most convenient way to read all of them.

The 15th thread has a part where he discusses one line near the end of the game that worried him during development. He wanted Klonoa to be the player's "alter ego,"* and it was very important to him that nothing would unintentionally separate the two.

In a response to what I believe is a now-deleted reply to the thread, he went on to mention an interesting and relevant tidbit about the Wii remake:

そうですねぇ、Wii版はプロデューサーの意向で日本語音声を入れることになったので、そうなるとさらにプレイヤーとの分離が気になってセリフを減らしてしまったので、結構叩かれました（笑）。

Very roughly translated, this means:

Well, the Wii remake's producer wanted to include Japanese voice acting, and that made me worried that the player would get even more detached [from Klonoa]. That's why I decreased the number of lines he had, but I caught quite a bit of flack for that (lol).

* The Japanese word he used, 分身, could also be translated as "avatar," "embodiment," or even "doppelganger."

Ninja Ryūkenden | 忍者龍剣伝, 1991

“Did you get lost? Or are you a stray?”

Klonoa Heroes 20th Anniversary Teaser | Tuesday, 12.06.2022

Next week...

Sukeban Deka The Movie - Hideo Tanaka 1987

Rinsho Hanzai Gakusha Himura Hideo no Suiri | S01E02

Japanese Drama - 2016, 10 episodes

~ Episode List ~ |  ~ Japanese Drama Master List ~

G.A Sano Gaku & Yoshizawa Ryo

what's your favorite thing about klonoa? ^^

the character or the games??? you know what, i'll answer both: and i can't list just a single thing about both so i'm just going to list all the things i most love about them THE CHARACTER:

- Extremely cute character design, I love the big ears, I love the pac-man hat, and i love how they work together, the shapes just aren't as appealing otherwise (which is why I'm a bit lukewarm on the Klonoa 2 design - but put his hat forward like it should be and then it's instantly a good design again). Besides that I like his goofy and cute expressions and fangy teeth. I also love the yellow sclera, I used to be much more protective of it and upset that they changed that, but the white sclera works too - I like how in Moonlight Museum it blends with the white muzzle so it gives Klonoa that really cute old Mickey Mouse cartoon sort of look to his face where you can't tell where the eyes or white fur begin or end.

- Cute noises. Klonoa's voice actress is great and his gibberish is really cute. the double jump "WA-HOO!" just doesn't work with another delivery or with a less cute voice. I like the new lines that Klonoa 2 gives him for consecutive double-jumps which makes them feel even more satisfying to perform. THE GAMES:

- Each kingdom in Door to Phantomile feels like a totally different culture from each other, and the 2.5D helps sell this feeling that all these levels are sprawling lively places that you're going all over and throughout instead of feeling like you're stuck in a tiny stretch of land in one lane on a much larger and richer environment, like how other 2.5D games tend to feel like. The levels are designed pretty cleverly to not give you that impression, like you're never going "come ON just go AROUND this guy" or "why can't I go over there?" I love how barely anything in the levels' environments are "just" in the background in DtP. Every polygon is precious and is used efficiently. You see that windmill in the distance? You can climb it later in the level. That's right, Klonoa is Skyrim. The best Klonoa levels feel like an entire journey happening in a capital P Place. - The music in Klonoa 1 and 2 are both out of this world amazing. there are songs in both games that sometimes moves me to tears. That era of Namco was them at the top of their game when it comes to music. - BOUKEN!! I love games that feel like an adventure. Door to Phantomile especially feels like an adventure that keeps escalating and going bigger in scope. I love Rocket Knight Adventures for the same reason. Klonoa has great voice-acted cutscenes full of character (and characters!!) to help with this too. Klonoa 2 has a nice story too by the end, but it misses on this BOUKEN aspect, for most of it, it ends up feeling like you're a little chore boy running a somewhat repetitive errand. - These games are really simple and approachable!! Hideo Yoshizawa came up with the idea for it trying to craft a 3D game that had the straightforwardness and ease of pick-up-and-play of a 2D game, and that intent shines through very clearly. So for anyone reading this who hasn't touched them, please give them a try!! At least the first one, it emulates really nicely on Duckstation! Klonoa 2 I recommend the Phantasy Reverie version, but with the first game you *gotta* play the original and not the remakes. And you gotta play them in order!

i just discovered hideo yoshizawa (a director who produced klonoa) wrote a novel-length fanfic. and someone translated it!

Today’s Gamer of the Day is: Hideo Yoshizawa

Klonoa games coming soon to Xbox consoles and Windows PC

Klonoa games coming soon to Xbox consoles and Windows PC

Just a few days ago, certain games that were released decades ago on the original PlayStation console were announced by their respective Japan-based game publishers to be coming to Xbox consoles which I really never anticipated. From one side is the publisher Bandai Namco which confirmed that it will be releasing not one but two games of the Klonoa game franchise on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S,…

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Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (1997). Vision 6-2, The Time of Restoration, The Prism Corridor.

From: Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil Official Guide Book (Published by Famitsu/Enterbrain - 2001) (Pg. 207)  

~Messages from the Klonoa 2 Staff~ Lastly, we would like to show you messages from those who were involved in the development of Klonoa 2 to the public. You'll find hard work, inside stories, and a few positive ones(?!) here and there! ......So, thank you all for your hard work!

Tomomitsu Kaneko Profile: ● Age: 24 years old ● Blood Type: O ● Responsibilities: Sound Effects ● Comments: Sound effects...... sound effects? Ugh, too much light. ● Favorite character: Likuri

Minako Matsuda Profile: ● Age: 33 years old ● Blood Type: A ● Responsibilities: Package Design ● Comments: Every time we make a package, we go to the chief to see what the next one will be like, but this time, we don’t have to do that anymore, Mr. Kobayashi just comes in and talks like a madman and leaves. I could go on and on about this and that, so to sum it up, this is a package that says, “Let’s go on an exciting adventure!” What I really like is the part where the ears are moving. I think that’s what makes Klonoa so great. ● Favorite character: Moo

Shinichi Tsuruya Profile: ● Age: 25 forever ● Blood Type: Typical B ● Responsibilities: Quality control and programmer snoozing ● Comments: I am Tsuruya, in charge of quality control. I have always heard users say, “Klonoa makes me cry!” I agree with you completely. It really made me cry, yes. Both 1 and 2. I can’t stop crying. The first ocean is our incapacitation. It was only those who played Klonoa that stopped the tears. Thank you for playing! ● Favorite character: Large Dream Stone with wings x5

Ryo Sakamoto Profile: ● Age: 28 years old ● Blood Type: O ● Responsibilities: Quality control (Debugging) ● Comments: Hello, my name is Sakamoto of Quality Control. I hope you all are enjoying the scaled-up Klonoa 2 in all aspects. My favorite song is from Mts. of Mira-Mira. When I was tired, that BGM cheered me up. You may also feel more energetic if you listen to it when you are tired. Last but not least, the entire staff will continue to do our best based on your support, so please continue to support Klonoa for a long time to come. See you soon! ● Favorite character: Moo (I like the way he walks)

Noriko Kobayashi Profile: ● Age: Unknown! ● Blood Type: A ● Responsibilities: Sales Promotion (Public Relations - mainly magazine publicity) ● Comments: We held game tournaments (Jungle Slider Relay Race!) with users at event sites across the country. We also danced the “Klonoa-kun Dance” to the background music of the Mts. of Mira-Mira stage. We were blessed with the opportunity to actually talk with many Klonoa fans, making this year’s sales promotion activity a very memorable one. I hope that everyone who played the game will become a word-of-mouth promotion captain and spread the fun of Klonoa to the people around them.  ● Favorite character: Erbil is so nice~

Hideo Yoshizawa Profile: ● Age: Age? I forgot. ● Blood Type: Once a B, now an A ● Responsibilities: Scenario (Screenplay, Supervisor) ● Comments: I had a lot of trouble with this story. I even had to reject one entire story. In the end, I rewrote the story up to about the seventh draft. I wanted to make a fresh and a little sad ending this time, since I made a very sad ending last time. But I wanted it to be directly connected to the hearts of the players, who are the alter egos of Klonoa, and that’s how I set up this world. Think about what sorrow means to you. ● Favorite character: Leorina

Hazards are abound in the original Ninja Gaiden, and death can come fairly easily if the player isn’t paying attention to their surroundings. As such, one of the core abilities of the player is to scale almost any wall- meaning that while platforming is meant to provide some challenge in the game, that challenge is secondary to the rest of the obstacles the player must overcome.

Klonoa (Original Game) | Friday, 03.10.2023

Remember when the original Klonoa (known as "Klonoa: Door to Phantomile") video game was released by Namco in North America on this day (exactly 25 years ago)? Since then, it has gained itself an underrated franchise bringing in more successive games (like the 2001 release of Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil on PS2), a re-release on PlayStation Network (PS3, PSP, and PS Vita), and has been remastered twice on Wii (2009) and modern consoles for Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (2022).

yawa hada mushuku: otoko goroshi onna goroshi / naked bullet (jp, wakamatsu 69)

Geidai Game Orch, Klonoa "Okami" music on aesthetic Eriko Imura, Hideo Yoshizawa and Yoshihiko Arai.

High quality photos Yoshizawa took of one of the Klonoa phonecards sold during the ‘98 Tokyo Game Show. There’s a few more that go with this, but no good quality pictures exist yet.

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