Klonoa
After being amused by this article from Electronic Gaming Monthly, Child’s Play, I decided it was time to dust off the console.
Autumn is videogame time of year. I have lots I never play, some unopened. I treasure them though, in hopes that during retirement, I will actually go back through and beat Zelda.
Tonight’s pick was Klonoa 2. I picked up my save point from 2001 and got through four more levels. Then I got bored ’cause I had to think and turned it off. It was fun while it lasted.
I like the parts where you just run and jump. This is a good game for that. I don’t even have to worry about the camera and 3-D angles. It’s a basic side scrolling platformer with mildly spicier graphics.
If they’d lose the cutscenes and make the map world straight-forward, I’d play it more.
Aside from not being too ponderous, I had the notion: Man, I’d love it if my next job were to make a new classic side-scroller that had sweet flat graphics (but updated and anti-aliased), good level design and pertinent music. A blend of:
The control of Mario
+ the addiction of Jumpman Jr
+ the try again joy of Super Monkey Ball or Donkey Kong Jr.
+ the style of Out of This World
+ the vibe of (the first few) OddWorlds
+ the graphic language of Wipeout
In hedging on full out instrumental music…. like the Pauls Boutique era of the Dust Brothers with more of the electronic lilt of Moby – no coherent vocals, or some of modern twist on the midi-like theme songs that defined earlier games.
I’ll pick this back up later once I’ve had time to ruminate.
(link nod to jwz)