The Games that Time Forgot: Vol. 1 - Klonoa

Happy Thursday!
Over the next however-long-it-takes I'll be doing a series of reviews of the games which shaped my childhood. If you haven't played these already then you really should. Or most of them at least. Some of them are just good for a laugh or to occupy you for twenty minutes.
First on the agenda - The Klonoa series: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil.
I have also just discovered that Klonoa: DtP is available on the PS Store, so bear with me one moment.
*Purchases*
Okay. Let's get started.

KLONOA: DOOR to PHANTOMILE
Rating: 4/5

The first PS game I bought with my own money. I feel that I had good taste as a 5 year old.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is a cutesy platformer following a fluffy non-human thingy (named Klonoa, unsurprisingly) and his ring spirit Huepow. I'm not sure why, but as a kid this game seemed like it was endless. Following a recent replay, I realise now that it is in fact only about 45 minutes if you know what you're doing. Nonetheless, it is still a fun game to play and not only because of the nostalgia. It essentially follows the same template as mostly every other game - you rescue somebody and save the day. But what makes this game special to me is the enemies. The Moos.

GAHHH THEY'RE ADORABLE.

These little critters are also your main enemy. You zap them with your ring spirit and they inflate into ballooney type things which you then throw around in order to complete puzzles and destroy enemies.

I don't remember too much more about the original Klonoa game, other than that the storyline is quite interesting. It's about a place named Phantomile, which is fuelled by people's dreams. This causes everybody to forget their dreams. But I won't say too much more about the storyline. For the time period, the graphics are quite nice too. It's really worth a look in. And if you enjoy this, then wait until you see..

KLONOA 2: LUNATEA'S VEIL

Rating: 4.5/5

Again, a cutesy platformer following the same unidentifiable human-animal Klonoa as he attempts to help the Priestess Lolo and her dog-thingy Popka. What I like about this is that it breaks away from being just another platformer by way of the inclusion of annoyingly fun and addictive mini-games. Also the Moos return in this title to my great joy. Graphically, Lunatea's Veil greatly improves upon the graphics of its predecessor although both graphically and narratively it has a bit more edge. Still cutesy, but more "Aww" than "SQUEEE".

The games are both very short, so I think if I say a whole lot more I will give away the plot. And a game without a plot is like a chocolate fireman. Useless.
So please, if you ever get the chance, do check these games out. They were pretty underrated and I think they deserve a little more credit because they hold a special place in the platformer folder in my heart.