Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament

released on Aug 06, 2002

Floppy-eared hero Klonoa returns in another fast-paced, colorful side-scrolling adventure for the Game Boy Advance. In his latest challenge, Klonoa must race against time and other dream travelers in the Dream Champ Tournament to collect stars, sun and moon stones to become the ultimate Dream Champion. Combining platform, puzzle and adventure elements, Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament is just the adventure fans of the series have been anticipating. Explore the intricate and puzzle-packed worlds where you’ll meet a wide variety of interesting creatures! Solve Fiendishly-Designed Puzzles - Use Boxes, Bomb Boxes, Switches, Pressure Switches, Goomis, Springs and Scales in your quest for glory. Hoverboard Races - Each world contains a fast-paced thrill ride of gem collecting fun! Master your Skills to Win - Klonoa must prove his skills against other dream travelers in the Dream Champ Tournament.


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Not as good as the other GBA release. The bosses are kinda whack and there's some levels that just have really weird puzzle solutions. Hidden items are also occasionally lame.

It's been quite some time since playing a puzzle game has made me feel bitter. I want to love Klonoa 2 so much for what it is and how much complexity it crams into a single GBA cart, but it can be such a chore to play through entirely.

Feeling like a true evolution of Empire of Dreams' concepts - taking the console Klonoa experience and putting it to shorter handheld levels with a heightened puzzle focus - is awesome and I love all the new puzzle piece additions added here, whether new or pulled from Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil. It doesn't look bad, plus the story's charming as well. Everything else is a heavy burden though.

I didn't find myself as down on the underwater levels as others seemed to, but the alternative level types - the boarding and auto-scroller levels - are miserable. The game also decides to ramp up its puzzle difficulty much higher than the previous title ever does. The game designer in me lauds how amazing intricate some of the puzzle designs are here, but actually playing them leads to constant frustration and solutions that sometimes feel non-intended. (or maybe I'm just getting old)

For all the enjoyment I had throughout the first two and a half worlds, I let out the loudest possible groan when exploring the final puzzle platformer level in this game - which maybe tells all you need about the experience of what's only a 2-3 hour playthrough.

The Boss music from this game will forever be in my soul.

A mixed bag.

I'm a believer that 2D Klonoa is better than 2.5D Klonoa. Moonlight Museum is a must play in my book. Empire of Dreams was a fun way to bring it to GBA. But I gotta say, Dream Champ Tournament was a step back.

I don't like the art direction, it's arguably downright ugly. The bonus stages are tragic. And the pacing lacks. But it's not all bad. Some of the puzzle elements they introduced expanded the 2D Klonoa dynamics in a way that felt new. The middle chunk of the game feels really polished and fun. But then you end up in slow motion underwater levels and the momentum is lost.

So yeah, it was a mixed bag. A definite step backwards despite finding inventive new folds to the puzzle platforming. There's definitely enough here that I'm left baffled it's the last 2D Klonoa. Hopefully the Reverie Series leads to a reboot of some sort, though I imagine that'll be 2.5D unfortunately.

Wahoo!

[Emulated/played on Anbernic RG35XX]

what i played was okay but its extremely samey that im not sure ill finish it. the exact same as the first game