Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series

For such a cult franchise, it's a real shame there is so little to offer outside of the base titles included in this package, especially when full price is being asked. In other titles and remakes some real love has gone into providing a nostalgic piece of history in one cart. If, however, this is your first time round, Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series will provide a good chunk of great platforming fun, but just that, nothing else, at all.

KLONOA Phantasy Reverie Series is a best-selling collection that brings back a different platformer that has been hailed by many, but its different approach may take newcomers by surprise. Even with a good focus on narrative, the campaign added to the collection is very short.

Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series offers players a nostalgic look at a relatively unknown platformer with a cult following. This is undoubtedly the best way to experience these games, even if they are priced a little too high.

I don’t think the Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series is a perfect collection, especially on Nintendo Switch, but it’s a solid version of two excellent games. If you get this on another platform, I’d probably recommend it without any hesitation for newcomers looking to experience Klonoa for the first time. Despite being announced during a Nintendo Direct, the Switch version of this is rather subpar. This is a solid remaster of two of the best classic platformers you can find on the market, that would, unfortunately, be best played elsewhere. At least it’s nice to see that Klonoa is back!

It’s a good effort to introduce the series to a new generation of gamers. Beautiful music and an accessible difficulty level should guarantee time pleasantly spent for anyone who feels like jumping around a bit, especially younger kids (naïve story and childish art style might annoy older players) and those who are new to video games.

Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series does a great job of grouping two beloved but not well known games together in a package that works well on Nintendo Switch. The games have a charming visual style and a gameplay simplicity that I greatly appreciate. That said the game does have some unforgiving late game platforming that randomly pops up for no reason, some annoying voice over work, and a lackluster celebration for, you know, what’s supposed to be a series milestone. There’s enough fun to be had with Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series to recommend this game to anyone who enjoys 2D platformers or someone who’s looking to rediscover two classic games deserving more attention. Hopefully, this will lead to Klonoa seeing either a new game or the Game Boy Advance games being remade.

Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series brings remasters of the first two Klonoa games to Nintendo Switch with some quality of life improvements, but it is held back by some unfortunate performance issues both docked and handheld. This release should've also included the bonus artbook and soundtracks in the base release as a museum or gallery to be a true celebration of Klonoa instead of being expensive DLC.