As described in our preview, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile for Wii is a remake of a 1998 PlayStation platformer by the same name. Since the North American release is forthcoming, I thought I'd post my thoughts so far on the Japanese release.

For Nintendo fans like me that are unfamiliar with the PlayStation original, Klonoa's presentation is similar to that of Kirby 64: The Cyrstal Shards, which was released two years later. Both feature vibrant worlds that are rendered in 3-D, yet largely restricted to two dimensions. Both games also skew easy while remaining enjoyable to players of many skill levels.

That's not to say Door to Phantomile is some sort of Kirby clone; Klonoa's move set is significantly different. Klonoa attacks by grabbing and hurling nearby enemies. He can throw baddies left, right, into, or out of the screen to hit other enemies, break blocks, and trigger switches. If Klonoa is holding a baddie, he can also perform a mid-air jump, which also hurls his load downward. This becomes a vital skill later in the game, allowing him to jump sequentially by grabbing and chucking enemies in succession, as well as destroying blocks below him. Klonoa also has a flutter-jump—not unlike the one Yoshi employs in Yoshi's Island for the SNES—to accommodate minor slip-ups.

Many of the levels feature path branches that hold hidden collectables or keys necessary to progress. These forks in the road usually leverage the 3D environments: certain platforms exist on two planes, and landing on one of these will switch the gameplay to the alternate plane. This allows for some clever surprises (e.g. running forward in a circle without realizing it), but the level design remains fairly linear and does not become disorienting. Combat and platforming can get a little tricky at times, and players will die with some regularity, but the game is generous with its checkpoints and extra lives. The boss battles are interesting but somewhat easier than I would have liked.

I am not familiar with the PlayStation original, so I cannot comment on every change made to the game. I don't know how the original handled, but the Wii remake feels very comfortable using any of the available control schemes, although the Classic Controller and Remote are recommended for their D-pads. This remake replaces character sprites with full 3-D models, breathing new life into the environments with updated architectures and textures that look good but don't really tax the hardware. The impressive music and sound effects have also been re-mastered, though I find the Japanese version's voices to be annoyingly cutesy on both gibberish and Japanese voice settings. I often find myself pushing the minus button to skip the incidental cutscenes littered about the levels, which give off a Saturday morning cartoon vibe.

I'm really enjoying Klonoa, albeit in short spurts over several weeks. It's a rather short game, but its collectables and fun factor should provide some replayability, and Namco is wisely releasing the remake at a budget price. If you're looking for another traditional (mostly) 2-D platformer for the Wii, Door to Phantomile is a good pick.