Klonoa: Moonlight Museum

Although it was one of the most underappreciated games of 1998, Klonoa of the Wind was one of the more surprising critical successes to come from an even more surprising source, Namco.

Not usually known for quality platform excursions, Namco provided the gaming world with a fresh new character whose dead-on control and imaginative worldscapes won over many a gaming editor. It was so well done, in fact, that it was voted videogames.com's platform game of the year.

Now that more than a year and a half has passed since its original Japanese release, is a sequel about to surface? In a way, yes. While not exactly a true sequel, Namco is releasing a Klonoa side-story called Klonoa: Moonlight Museum. However, it won't be arriving on the PlayStation. Instead, Moonlight Museum will be appearing on Bandai's Wonderswan handheld gaming system. Strictly a one-player game, Moonlight Museum will arrive on an 8Megabit cartridge at a cost of 3,800 Yen (about US$32). Due to arrive sometime in May, Klonoa: Moonlight Museum, at the very least, shows Namco's continued interest in Klonoa as an ongoing concern, which should prove positive news for fans of the series. Can a PlayStation or Dreamcast sequel be far behind?