Videogame Blog

I got a DS Lite! 22/05/2024

I found this pink DS Lite at a pawn shop for £14.99! It was insane, especially considering its condition. There are barely any scratches - the inside is basically perfect and there are just a few very shallow scratch marks on the outer shell. Other than that, there's just a bit of grime but nothing that can't be cleaned. I know these pink DS Lites in particular had an issue with yellowing but this DS has no yellowing. It's almost like it wasn't used at all! My theory is that it might've just been left in a box with other electronics. The scratching on the outer shell is super shallow and seemingly random, so I think it was probably kept with a bunch of cabling. Either way, it's near perfect and I'm super happy to finally have a DS with a GBA slot. The original stylus was still included as well!

First Post and Klonoa ARCHIVE 24/05/2023

WARNING: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile spoilers for everything up to Vision 4 incoming!

I started playing Klonoa: Door to Phantomile on the 17th, after a while of wanting to get into the series. It took a while to set up, but my friend helped me through it (thank you) and I was finally able to play the game!

I went into the game knowing nothing about it other than Klonoa's character design, so I wasn't too sure on how much I'd like it. The moment that had me sold was the title screen animation and Klonoa's little "Wahoo!" - first of all, the wahoo is super cute, but I also just love games with late 90s early 2000s video game graphics. The way the title screen animates to the music is just so cool, and the way it switches to a recording of some demo gameplay when you idle for too long is something I love about old games. This was the moment of no return...

The game is so cool! The 2.5D environments look really good and extremely unique, although confusing to play in at times. One of the things I was really surprised by was the voice acting - there's so much emotion put into the lines, and it makes it feel like they're ACTUALLY speaking to eachother and not just making a bunch of random noise (like animalese in Animal Crossing). It feels like a real language, and you can really hear the tone in each line. I think Klonoa's voice acting is my favourite by far, but I'm not sure if I'm just biased lol.

The music also sounds amazing. I have spent the last week listening to nothing but Klonoa music! I remember I had a little bit of trouble with Vision 1-2. At this point I was still not used to the game's mechanics and had to keep restarting the level because I kept getting killed by the spiked balls or falling off platforms.

Vision 1 Boss

Boss 1 was pretty easy and super fun! It felt kind of like a Mario Galaxy fight but 2.5D, I really liked it! Although, it took a few retries since I was still getting used to the controls.
Vision 2 made me appreciate this game's environments and graphics even more. Look how pretty it is! These levels feel so unique, I was genuinely in awe. I was talking to my friend on call whilst playing, and I was saying how much I love the appreciate animations and emotes Klonoa has. Most games just default to an idle animation and maybe some expression changes during cutscenes, but this game animates Klonoa to look around and emote. It's so cool!

Vision 2 Boss

The Vision 2 boss was harder than the last one. For my first few tries I was very confused on how to land a hit on the boss and kept trying to hit her with the wind ring whenever she lunged out. I eventually realised the King idles around a side of the map every now and then, and you could use him to hit the boss! Overall, this boss was very fun to play once I figured it out, and after beating it once I reset so I could do it a second time.

Vision 3 Boss

This boss was BY FAR the most difficult yet. The timing on the jumps to get the enemy to fall riiight onto the boss in the right way was so hard to get right. It took me a while to figure out that that was what I needed to do. Even after that, the 'phase 2' that the boss goes into was hard to adjust to and harder to get right, as it would launch itself into the air and then fall onto you. Eventually, after probably almost an hour of trying to beat this boss (lol), I did it!! It was SO stressful, but again, so fun, and I could tell Klonoa was beginning to get harder in general. Which, makes me a little worried, but I'm sure it'll be fine!

Aaaand that was how far I got as of yesterday. I have an assignment due soon so I might not be able to play again until the weekend (sad), but I'm really excited to continue, whenever it is that I do so! This game has, in the span of a couple days, become one of my favourite games ever. It has so much personality in every aspect of its design - the characters, the sound, the visuals...etc, I have NOT been able to stop talking about it. Last weekend I coincidentally found a physical copy of Klonoa: Phantasy Reverie Series for really cheap! Which was really cool! I'm super excited to play it once I've gotten through the whole series!