Klonoa Heroes: Legendary Star Medal

Klonoa Heroes: Legendary Star Medal
If you wanted the most epic Klonoa adventure, then this game is for you.
Genre(s): Action Adventure Platform(s): Game Boy Advance Release: December 13, 2002 Developer(s): Namco Publisher(s): Namco Predecessor: Klonoa Beach Volleyball (by release date) Successor: Klonoa (2008)

Klonoa Heroes: Legendary Star Medal is an action role-playing game developed and published by Namco and released only in Japan in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance. It is the first game in the Klonoa series to combine both standard action-gaming elements with CRPG features.

Plot

Klonoa Heroes is set in an world that is an alternate universe from the other games. Here, Klonoa lives in his hometown of Breezegale and is setting his sights on becoming a true hero. The game begins with him and his friend, Chipple, trying to pluck a special flower, the Radiant Flower (aka Hikari Sakura, literally the Light Sakura or Light Cherry-blossom) from a tree branch. The flower is said to only bloom under special circumstances, and the person who possesses it will be granted good luck.

Why It's Legendary

1. Making an action game with Klonoa was an awesome idea, even when compared to Klonoa: Beach Volleyball on the PS1, which had the idea of a volleyball with Klonoa, as here it's extremely well executed and the game is, as a result, a hidden gem.
2. The controls are very tight, as usual with the Klonoa franchise, as Klonoa will never, ever be unresponsive; in fact, the controls are so tight that it's making the game even more awesome than it already is.
   • The controls are also very easy to pick up, even more so than Empire of Dreams, which also had tight controls; you can even pick them up in only 10 seconds, making this game extremely easy to pick up, but in an awesome way.
3. The story is very dark but amazing, even for a Klonoa game, as it's contains many epic moments and some great plot twists that make this story the most epic that you would ever see in a Klonoa game.
   • In a similar manner to EarthBound, the story gets darker and more interesting as you progress in the game; not only that, but it's also making the story even better, thanks to how developed the story is.
4. It's also had RPG elements, which is a first for a Klonoa game. This includes the fact that Klonoa levels up when he kills enough enemies to get exp points for leveling up. Not only that, but it's also unique for the Klonoa franchise, which is mostly 2D platformers.
5. The graphics are really great, with them being quite colorful and detailed, especially for a 2002 Game Boy Advance game. It's also offering a more realistic graphics style in comparison to Klonoa: Empire of Dreams and Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament, which are more cartoony. This also hints that the game was meant to be darker than these two games.
   • The sprite work is also superb, with them being quite fluid, as you would expect from a Klonoa game, which always had great graphics.
   • The color palette is also very bright, making the graphics even better and more appealing to look at.
6. Amazing gameplay that is extremely fun and addicting, even by Klonoa standards, as here you will want to play the game over and over due to how fun the gameplay is.
   • The gameplay is also relatively simple but still awesome. Due to the reasons explained, this is one of the definitions of simple but fun.
   • Another reason why the gameplay of this game is so awesome is also because you can customize your strength, making Klonoa more powerful.
7. The difficulty is much more challenging compared to Empire of Dreams and to a lesser extent, Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament, especially because of the enemies that make you lose a lot of health, but the game for the most part isn't really frustrating.
8. The soundtrack is really good, with some awesome remixes from past games, such as "The Windmill Song", which sound absolutely awesome and catchy, even for a Klonoa game, and it's an amazing song to start the game with.
   • There's even one song that had vocals, which is Sign of Hero, and it sounds really good, and it's one of, if not the most well-known, songs of the game.
   • In fact, some of the music in the game is so awesome that you may even want to listen to them for so long or even make you want to dance while you listen to them. This shows how catchy the music can be in a Klonoa game and even a Game Boy Advance game.
9. Another reason why this game is unique to the Klonoa series is because of the customization that can make a weapon of Klonoa much stronger, which is an awesome idea again, as you will have to get some of them for most of the game due to it being challenging.
   • This also shows how good this game truly is, with its mechanics being so good that you likely wanted to get it back in another Klonoa game or even wanting another action Klonoa game, but unfortunately, it hasn't happened.
10. Unlike most action-RPG games, this game actually had a level select screen, which means that you can replay some of your favorite levels over and over. There are also some shops and hotels where you can buy items or rest in a hotel for recovering health bars, respectively. This means that the game was possibly made like that, so the game is simple to navigate with, thanks to how well designed this game is.
11. The game is surprisingly the longest in the entire Klonoa franchise, as it takes 10 to 15 hours to beat the main game, and for the EX visions, you can beat them in 3 to 5 hours, making a total of 20 hours of gameplay for this game.
12. The commercial is awesome, as it's extremely well animated and it can make you think about what a Klonoa anime would have been if it'd happened. It's also pretty epic since Klonoa had to save Lolo from a menacing villain in that commercial, and there's some epic fights too, despite being only 15 seconds.
13. Despite not having that many replay values, there's still some due to the EX visions, although it depends on you if you want to play them.
14. It's had a lot of cameos of other Namco characters, such as Susumu from Mr. Driller, Valkyrie from Valkyrie no Densetsu and even Gil from The Tower of Druaga, which is a first for a Klonoa game to include cameos.
15. The character animations are really fluid, especially when Klonoa run.
16. The level design is quite awesome, as there are a lot of fun levels and hardly any bad levels. It's also varied sometimes, such as in some levels where you had to infiltrate to not be seen by enemies.

Bad Qualities

1. Sometime the game can be a bit frustrating, as the enemies can cause you a lot of damage and you can quickly die if you aren't careful. This is especially true in the later levels.
2. Much like other action RPG games, you had to do a lot of grinding so you had less trouble with the hardest levels of the game, not to mention that it can take extremely long to do so.
3. While the game length is great, it can be way too long for some people, as if you don't really like action RPG games, it's very boring to try to complete the game, mostly due to how long it is.
4. There are no checkpoints in any of the visions, which means that if you die, even if you are at the very end of a vision, then you have to restart the entire vision from the beginning, which can be extremely annoying, especially for the longest levels of the game.
5. Some of the levels are way too long, as some of them last more than 40 minutes, which is incredible, and if you die from these visions, as said in BQ#4, you have to restart the entire vision all over again.

Reception

The game received very positive reviews by critics and players alike, the game had currently a score of 3.7/5 on Gamefaq by 44 users.

Trivia

• It's unknown why this game wasn't launched outside of Japan. Some say it's because it was a very different game while others say it was due to having bad language, while in Japan is fine, in North America is inappropriate for children.
• The graphics and sound design are somewhat similar to Bomberman Max 2, which also came in 2002.
• It's the only Klonoa game in the series that doesn't contain the iconic "Wahoo" in the title screen, as this game dropped it in favor of a short version of "Sign of Hero".
  • It's also the only game in the franchise that doesn't had the usual Klonoa theme in the title screen, this show how different this game is from the mainline timeline of the franchise.
• The game received a complete English Translation Patch on March 18th 2022 by Klonoa Mega Chat Translation Team.
• This game takes place in an alternate universe since Klonoa met Lolo and Popka in Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil and would meet Guntz in Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament.
  • Some fans speculate the Klonoa Heroes universe is Klonoa's actual homeworld. However, this has been neither confirmed nor denied.
• The games hints at Klonoa's feelings for Lolo.
• this game showed different costume options for Klonoa (including designs that swapped out his hat for a bandana and/or goggles, and two designs that gave him a red shirt with a blue jacket), before it was decided that he would wear his Lunatea's Veil outfit.
• This game was the last Klonoa game made for the GBA, if you doesn't count the NA version of Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament which was released in 2005.
• This game is pretty much the last original Klonoa game to be made, as the Klonoa game for the Wii was a remake and Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series is the last game and is also a remake of both Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil.
• CoroCoro Comics held a contest for kids to design their own boss for World 3. After one was chosen, Yoshihiko Arai drew all the other ones in his own style for the fans. The list of entries can be seen on Namco's website for the game.
• In the fan translation compared to the original Japanese release:
  • In one cutscene on the moon, Garlen sends a voice message to the heroes saying he's impressed they beat Janga and Joka... even though the Janga boss fight hasn't occured by that point. The translation omits Janga's name from this exchange.
  • The very next cutscene is labelled "Kuso kurai"note in the cutscene viewer, which is what Guntz cusses out Garlen with... in the previous cutscene. The translation relabels the cutscene as "Moon Elder's Plea", as this is the cutscene where said elder asks our heroes to help deal with Garlen.
  • The main story's ending screen has a bit of Gratuitous English that has been corrected in the translation.
    • Original: "We hope you enjoy your dream, and make your day with the mind of hero!"
    • Translation: "We hope you enjoy your dreams, and make your day with a heroic mind!"

References

Klonoa Heroes: Legendary Star Medal on Klonoa Wiki

Klonoa Heroes: Legendary Star Medal on Namco Wiki

Klonoa Heroes: Legendary Star Medal on Gamefaqs

Klonoa Heroes: Legendary Star Medal on MobyGames

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