This entry in the Klonoa series sees the floppy-eared hero training to become a true hero in a new RPG system. Klonoa Heroes: Densetsu no Star Medal is a spin-off of the Klonoa franchise, released only in Japan on December 13, 2002. Klonoa Heroes was developed by Namco and published by Namco for the Game Boy Advance. Klonoa Heroes is a twist on the traditional Klonoa games, putting Klonoa in a more action role playing game along the lines of Legend of Zelda or Beyond Oasis. The game does have voice acting, as well. Kumiko Watanabe plays Klonoa, Takahiro Sakurai plays Guntz, Shouzou Iizuke plays Pango, and Yutaka Shimaka plays Garlen. Klonoa Heroes' gameplay is very similar to the gameplay of The Legend of Zelda. Players can control one of three characters (Klonoa, Guntz, and Pango) in a top-down perspective, hitting enemies with various attacks (Klonoa with the Wind Ring seen in the platforming games, albeit with a few differences). Guntz uses a handgun, while Pango throws bombs. In addition, these characters can collect more weapons as the game progresses. Every enemy in the game is given a color (either blue or red), and the player must attack that enemy with the corresponding attack (as each weapon has a blue and red attack). Klonoa Heroes also has role playing aspects. Experience points are gathered by picking up Dream Shards after defeating enemies (failure to pick them up results in no experience). Enemies also drop coins, which can be spent on items and weapons. These items can be found in chests scattered throughout the levels, as well. Most items can be used to restore health, but there are various other uses (such as stat benefits). Leveling up also allows the player to distribute points in several different areas (traditional role playing game stats, such as attack, defense, and agility). These changes are not permanent, and can be changed at any time (when not in the middle of a level).
Also in series
Reviews View More
If you played it like me though, beating it over a weekend and playing very long sessions at a time... you'll become quickly tired of it, with how drawn-out the level design feels especially, and how non-varied the gameplay is, and considering the fact the game is only in english via a translation patch, thus mostly requiring an emulator to play... that's most likely how you'll end up playing it.
It is saved by the cute artstyle and portraits, and the various character interactions are wonderful too, it's just... a very repetitive game.
Peak mid, if you will.
The writing is extremely cute and charming, yet it is obviously juvenile in a way the console games aren't. Guntz's arc is solid and more mature than the rest of the game, but the game doesn't go any deeper than a Power Rangers show. Still, the writing is very funny and very earnest. I found myself smiling a lot at the dialogue and there were moments that I found genuinely moving, though the intended audience is squarely for children rather than the all-ages mature writing of DtP and LV.
The fan translations insistence on making the dialogue swear-heavy is very stupid, though, and single-handedly justifies localization as a concept if fans shove in four letter swears into a very Rated E game.
The music is either really dinky and simple or inexplicably very good tracks (ignoring the tracks from other games) with highlights being the vocal theme and the moon area's theme.
I enjoy the gameplay...kind of. The weapon diversity is really fun to play around with, and I like how each character has their own gimmick. The color gimmick is actively detrimental, though, and more often than not puts the player in unfair situations in cases of enemy groups with mixed colors. Since you're forced to have each attack button locked to a specific color, this locks move variety for every character that isn't Klonoa and even then he would appreciate a lot more move diversity in some of his weapons.
There's a lot of other decisions that are baffling like the OBNOXIOUS level curve, mashing being the enforced way to optimize combat, the existence of the healing enemy in a lot of room layouts including as a summonable mook for the final boss that can fully heal the guy if you're unlucky and don't have a special move prepared, and the lack of i-frames giving some enemies like the Shield Moos the ability to kill you VERY quickly.
If you play this, just level Klonoa and Guntz. This way the level curve is anywhere near tolerable without 10 hours of overall grinding. While Pango is enjoyable, his usefulness unfortunately falls off hard and all his weapons do the same thing.
Overall, Klonoa Heroes was an experience I enjoyed but the game also got on my nerves so badly I had to put this down for four months before picking it up again. I really do think an ARPG game would work very well for Klonoa. Mature the writing and make it more in line with the console games; get rid of all the jank that makes the game more limiting and unfair than it needs to be; and don't make every single boss have 3000 HP and have so much defense the fights last for 10 minutes with minimal variation. Do this and there's very solid potential for a stellar entry into the series.
As-is, only play this if you have extreme patience for grinding and GBA jank. You don't lose a lot of the experience watching an LP instead.