Klonoa
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| Klonoa | |
|---|---|
 Klonoa in his current character design. |
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| Game series | Klonoa series |
| First game | Klonoa: Door to Phantomile |
| Voice actor(s) | Kumiko Watanabe |
Klonoa (クロノア, Kuronoa), sometimes referred to as Klonoa of the Wind (風のクロノア, Kaze no Kuronoa) is an anthropomorphic video game character created by Namco and Klonoa Works, and has starred in several games bearing his name since 1997.
There is much speculation as to what Klonoa actually is, though he most closely resembles a rabbit or cat. The latter is probably the most fitting description, as Namco has stated in various interviews that though he is primarily a fantasy character, they mostly consider him a cat with long ears. Klonoa also has his own unique language, with such exclamations as "Magya!"(an exclamation shouted by him whenever he loses a hitpoint), "Rupurudu!"(Let's Go!) and "Wahoo!", which have become his trademarks. While it would be easy to label Klonoa's language as cute gibberish based on Japanese, there does seem to be an underlying syntax order. For example, most of the time Klonoa silences the letter N, pronouncing his name as "Klo-oa." In all of his appearances, Klonoa is voiced by Kumiko Watanabe.
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[edit] Biography
Though a comprehensive account of Klonoa's life is still forthcoming, all that is currently known about him is contained within the various games in the Klonoa series. He lives in the world of Phantomile in a small village called Breezegale with his grandfather, who he and everyone else refer to affectionately as "Grandpa". It is unrevealed what his parent's status is, or if they simply live somewhere else. Besides Grandpa, Klonoa once lived with a small sprite named Huepow, who also accompanied him on a few of his earlier adventures.
It is also known in the first game that this world was not actually his universe, but rather another universe also called Phantomile. Klonoa was sent by Huepow to the Phantomile of that game to save the world and its dreams. After saving it, he was sent back to his own world by the Song of Rebirth, sung by the Diva Lephise (damsel-in-distress of the first game).
Not unlike Nintendo's character Kirby, 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 would later become something of a love interest, if not just an obligatory damsel in distress. He has also made a rival of a gun-toting mercenary named Gantz (Guntz in the Japanese version, an intentional translation by Namco in order to downplay his use of firearms).
[edit] Appearance
Klonoa's appearance has changed since his introduction in his first game, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, though he has retained his most recognizable features such has his large ears, dark blue and white color scheme, and cap depicting an image of Namco mascot Pac-man eating a dot. In Door to Phantomile, Klonoa was much more feline in appearance, with large, yellow eyes and noticeable fangs when smiling. He wore magenta pants, a light blue cap, and had a large collar around his neck. Later, in Klonoa: Moonlight Museum, Klonoa's appearance was changed slightly, and his eyes were given a more traditional, animated look, as well as making him somewhat taller.
The biggest change to Klonoa's design came in his third appearance in Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, where he went through a radical wardrobe change, gaining a blue shirt with a large zipper pin, dark blue shorts, and a blue cap. His face was altered a bit as well, and gave more focus to the fur around his mouth.
Klonoa's designed was slightly altered once more in Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament, making him have rounder, orange eyes and slightly bigger fangs. This is Klonoa's current design.
[edit] Abilities and techniques
Klonoa's small yet notable abilities have faithfully been retained in nearly every game he has been featured in, and very little has been changed about them throughout the years, despite changes in game engines and console hardware. Most of his talents come from his particular attributes such as his large ears or his special "Wind Ring" which can be used for a variety of effects.
[edit] The Wind Bullet
The magical jewel at the end of Klonoa's ring can fire a concentrated blast of wind known as a "wind bullet" that serves as his primary means of attack. When this bullet is fired against an enemy, their bodies inflate and become rounded, filling up with a light substance that makes them float. Klonoa can then pick them up over his head and either toss them straight forward into other enemies or use them to perform a second jump in the air, allowing him to reach places he normally couldn't (and kicking the enemy he is holding downwards in the process). Many of the levels in the Klonoa series of games have been designed with this ability in mind, with large vertical obstacles being a common hindrance. Klonoa's ring is unique in the fact that as soon as he touched it for the first time, it became part of him. [citation needed] This eliminates the idea that he could lose the ring and have to fight without it, because he can summon it whenever need be. Also eliminated is the idea that the ring could break, for the same reason as stated above. The ring cannot operate without the presence of a spiritual being (Huepow in DTP, Lolo in LV).
[edit] Floating
Klonoa can often use his large, floppy ears to his advantage by flapping them in order to add a few more inches to his maximum jump height, or to remain in the air for a moment longer. This move has been important in games where precise jumps are needed, and leaves smaller room for error with judging Klonoa's landings.
[edit] Board Riding
In addition to Klonoa's other talents, Klonoa has demonstrated the ability to ride a special "Air Board" in several of his titles. Resembling a snowboard that hovers slightly off the ground, this board is usually only available in certain circumstances, but it allows him to travel over large areas of snow or water. His ears are also usable when on the board, as well as his Wind Ring, allowing Klonoa to make impossibly large jumps and stay in the air for an extended time.
[edit] Tornado Attack
One of Klonoa's specials in Klonoa Heroes: Legend of the Star Medal. Klonoa flies in the air then unleashes a massive amount of tornadoes around him.
[edit] Thunder Hurricane
The second special from Klonoa Heroes: Legend of the Star Medal and his ultimate assault in Namco X Capcom. Klonoa begins to spin as bolts of lightning spark around him.
[edit] Klonoa series games
The Klonoa series began in early 1997 in Japan and was critically received by numerous gaming publications and magazines. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile 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.
Many of Klonoa's trademark abilities such as the wind bullet were introduced for the first time, as well as several series regulars like the Moos, Klonoa's common enemies. This was the first title to establish Klonoa as a dream-traveling hero, seemingly ported wherever he was needed by the powers that be in order to set things straight.
Klonoa's second appearance, Klonoa: Moonlight Museum 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 titles like Klonoa: Empire of Dreams the following year. Though it was very similar in style and execution to the preious game, it was developed for the more sophisticated Game Boy Advance hardware and was also available in North America and Europe. This was also the first game in the series to feature Klonoa's modern outfit.
Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil 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, and Tat.
A third handheld title, Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament was released 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.
Klonoa Heroes: Legend of the Star Medal 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. In this game you can play as 3 different characters. Klonoa, Guntz, and Pango. Klonoa's wind ring can form into different weapons now, such as a sword, a javelin, two bomb gauntlets, a large hammer and some other weapons. Guntz has his duel hand-guns like always, as well as grenade and rocket launchers, and Pango uses Bombs. After a while in the game you will get SP moves. Klonoa's SP moves are Tornado attack which makes 3 tornados appear and hit the enemy 3 times. His other one is Thunder Hurricane involves him spinning really fast and lightning hits everywhere. Guntz's SP Moves are Shinigami Fire in which he jumps in the air and shoots fireballs in random spots. His second SP move is Shinigami Rush in which he runs around shooting bullets. Pango's two SP moves are Gigantic Bomber in which he jumps in the air and shoots bombs in random places, and his second SP Move is Rolling Blaster which he rolls and bombs explode everywhere.
[edit] Other appearances
- Klonoa and his rival Guntz from Klonoa Heroes also appear as a playable duo in Namco's cross-over RPG, Namco x Capcom, developed by Monolith Soft. They retain similar moves featured in Klonoa Heroes, such as Klonoa's Thunder Hurricane. Other appearances are made by Lolo, Janga (in his only console appearance as of 2006), Joka, the Priestess of La-Looshka and various varieties of Moos.
- In Tales of Symphonia, the character Presea Combatir has a hidden costume based off Klonoa's outfit accessed by changing her title to "Dream Traveler". She also has a habit of saying "Wahoo" in a completely deadpan manner while wearing it (this happens during the optional skits and scenes wherein she wears the outfit, she talks normally whilst in battle and these lines are not voiced by her voice actor in the English version of the game. However, if one imports Titles to a New Game, Presea will occasionally say "Wahoo!" as an end-of-battle phrase, but only up until a certain plot event).
- In the (official?) manga, 'Shibuutenkoku Kaze no Klonoa', Klonoa and the Breezegale residents are the major characters. But a few changes are made in this manga - in fact, this manga is simply made for fun and portrays Klonoa as a complete idiot, obsessed with being a hero. His sidekick, surprisingly, is not Huepow - he is replaced by a Moo, who is the postman of Breezegale. Every episode/chapter of this manga is hilarious, Klonoa, Moo and the other characters in the chapter being completely out of character. Klonoa is more of a comic relief than anything else.
The residents of Breezegale in this manga are:
Garlen: Is the main villain, trying to catch Klonoa but failing every time, making himself look very idiotic.
Lolo: She isn't herself. Her eyes have a permanently dillated, hypnotized kind of look, and she doesn't have Popka with her at all.
Emperor Jillius: Suffers from insomnia, and never gets enough sleep. He is bothered by a poltergeist in the manga, which made him increasingly restless. Klonoa and heupow tried to find out the identity of the poltergeist, and succeeded.... finding something very, very weird indeed.
Guntz: Narccistic, the bounty hunter seems to fancy himself. He carries around firearms, as expected, but is so terribly comical that no one really finds him scary. As of Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament Guntz teams up with Klonoa and the two became official partners. Ever since teaming up with him, Guntz has somewhat gained a brotherly relationship with Klonoa.
Pango: Made a very brief appearance. The armadillo carries around bombs as usual, and is jolly and friendly.
Leorina: See above. She doesn't have Tat wth her.
[edit] Confusion
There has been some confusion about what exactly Klonoa is. Some say he is a cat. Others say that he is a rabbit. His long ears could portray him as a rabbit, but in Klonoa: Empire of Dreams, he refuses to eat the raw carrots given to him in a restaurant. Also, his favorite food are hamburgers. Since cats are normally meat-eaters, Klonoa is most likely a cat. Even the official gaming magzaine, Nintendo Power gave hints to him being a cat, with names including "Floppy Eared Cool Cat".
[edit] Similarities
Klonoa has a few similarities to Sonic of the Sonic the hedgehog series.
Both have blue as their main color, have red shoes with white soles, and their eyes are drawn similar; Their body type and frame are identical as well. Both have wind element attacks. Both dislike water and can't swim. Both ride boards. Their catch phrases are similar as well. Klonoa's catch phrase is "Wahoo!", Sonic doesn't have a catch phrase but he will occasionally shout "Yahoo!".
[edit] Popka
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 yellow dog with orange ears and legs, striped arms and a tufted pink 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.
