Klonoa: Empire of Dreams

"Klonoa: Empire of Dreams" tells of the adventures of Klonoa after he wakes up one morning in the mysterious way in the Empire of Gillius . Members of the royal guard drag him to the emperor for no reason.

Emperor Gillius tells Clonoa that he has violated the sacred law of his kingdom of dreams, which he sees as a worthless effort and a waste of time.

The emperor himself suffers from insomnia . He issued a decree that if he cannot sleep, then no one can.

Instead of directly punishing Clonoa, he offers him a test: defeat four great monsters that damage the earth.

He was joined by his friend Hupei . Klonoa has no choice but to travel through the surrounding lands and fight with the monsters living there, in the hope of earning his freedom and finally returning the world to the kingdom.

As Clonoa and Hupei defeat the monsters, they suspect that someone is using people's dreams to achieve their goals, because the monsters are actually transformed versions of different residents from each region (including Chipple).

As soon as the two figures appear in the imperial castle, Clonoa and Hupei draw Gillius into battle and defeat him.

Then it turns out that Gillius' minister, Bagu, was behind all this. Bagu, having turned into the King of Despair, explains that through Gillius he organized a plan to create his own kingdom of stolen dreams, even if all the inhabitants of the empire turned into monsters.

Clonoa and Hupei manage to destroy him, and Gillius subsequently dies in the hands of Clonoa.

All this turns out to be a dream that Gillius had, and he decides to return his dreams to his people. Thus, he renames his kingdom into the Empire of Dreams.

Klonoa: Empire of Dreams 2D - side-scroller with moving left and right. A special ring is used to attack enemies, which can capture the enemy in a bubble.

A clone can throw the enemy forward, throw him at another enemy, or take a double jump, allowing him to reach places that are not accessible to him.

In addition to enemies, Clonoa can also pick up large square blocks and place them where the player chooses.

Holding the jump button after Klonoa has taken off the ground, he waves his ears and can soar in the air for a short time, which increases the height of the jumps.

The level ends when Clonoa finds a way out to the next stage after collecting three stars on the level. Other items like crystals and hearts can be collected. Clonoa hat-like items are also hidden on the level. Hearts increase the health of Clonoa.

Players take control of Clonoa , the long-eared hero of the story who wakes up one morning in the strange world in which this game takes place.

Using his faithful ring-like weapon, the Wind Bullet, he decided to rid the world of five great monsters that cause trouble, as well as discover the secret to why he came here. He is joined by his friend Hupei , a creature that resembles the blue sphere with his hands and eyes, who is also used as an energy source for the Wind Ring ^[1] .

The antagonist, Emperor Gillius, was the once benevolent ruler of his kingdom, until chronic insomnia caused him to become extremely irritable and forbid all dreams in his kingdom. He is always accompanied by an assistant and a minister - Bagu ^[1] .

During the game, players must defeat four monsters, who are actually citizens of the kingdom, turned into a strange fog. This is a boxer named Chipple, soprano Muzyka, chef Chirin and a doctor named Medim.,

Klonoa: Empire of Dreams was co-developed by Namco and Now Production as the second portable title in the franchise after 1999, Kaze no Klonoa: Moonlight Museum at WonderSwan ^[2] and was released by Hido Yoshizawa , who worked on all previous episodes " Clonoa. " Unlike console games, which were more focused on actions, Yoshizawa wanted the Empire of Dreams to focus on puzzles and “to have the same audience, but to allow players to enjoy it differently” ^[3] . Representatives from Namco revealed the first details of the game in March 2001, saying that the name would retain all the “common moves” of Clonoa from a series of consoles on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance portable device ^[4] . The game would later appear in 2001 at the Tokyo Game Show that same month, which included an early playable demo ^[5] . In May of this year, in 2001, the Electronic Entertainment Expo released a North American English-language release with an initial release date for August of this year ^[6] . In October 2013, Namco Bandai registered the trademark “Klonoa: Empire of Dreams” , alluding to its remake, which may be in development ^[7] .

Empire of Dreams received mostly positive reviews from critics, earning 83.10% and 85 of the 100 average ratings from the combined GameRankings and Metacritic review websites ^{[8] [9]} . Upon its release in Japan, Weekly Famitsu scored the game a 34 out of 40, earning the magazine's Gold Award ^[13] . After its release in Japan, Weekly Famitsu gave the game 34 of 40, from which the game received the magazine’s Gold Award. GameSpot called this title “a very respectable emulation of the general feeling of the Clonoa Universe”, but overall it turned out to be “less ambitious” than “ Klonoa 2 ” on the PlayStation 2 ^[16] . They also praised the audio and visual presentation of the game, including its multifaceted backgrounds, image scaling and rotation effects, stating that “Despite the minimal level of background animation, the game looks amazing” ^[16] . IGN also applauded the graphic capabilities of the game, but found a color palette a Bit, missing in comparison with other names in the system ^[19] . The website also preferred general gameplay and puzzles, calling the game “absolutely wonderful” and “one of the most cleverly developed game platforms on Game Boy Advance” ^[19] . During their Best of 2001 awards, IGN will name Empire of Dreams, "The Best Foothold" for Game Boy Advance ^[22] .

While Game Informer 'also discovered that the visual effects of the game were “sharp and colorful,” the magazine also felt that “Empire of Dreams” doesn’t use the system enough, providing “pseudo- 3D ” background graphics that have become a symbol of a series of games, summing up “The end result is a fun game, but misses the target, as well as previous efforts” ^[14] . GamePro 'drew attention to “vibrant, kaleidoscopic levels,” stating that “the graphics and sounds are as sharp as any other GBA game,” ultimately calling Empire of Dreams “a simple platform game with ample Gameplay, which make you play to the very end ” ^[15] .

• Official website