A platformer you can only dream of, nya! (I know it's cheesy, nya... get over it, nya).
The story is laughable to most people, nya... even to kids it can be pretty corny, nya. Basically, it's up to Klonoa to save a kingdom and protect the dreams of its inhabitants, nya. With a story like that, you know right away it isn't for everyone, nya. If it's going to bother you that much, you might as well stop reading and ignore this title, nya. But if you can shrug it off, keep reading, nya!
The actual gameplay is very simple, nya. You can jump, float for a while, and fire an air bullet, nya. The air bullet grabs items and enemies, nya. Once you're holding something you can throw it or use it to double-jump, nya. Everything you can grab has a special property, nya. Blocks are heavy and can hold buttons down, nya. Enemies... well, enemies die, nya. But there are different types of enemies that float and explode after a time limit, so there's really quite a variety of objects. You should know what this means, nya: this is a puzzle-heavy platformer, nya. But in that department, it's unmatched, nya.
There are plenty of platformers that have you running from beginning to end, dodging or destroying enemies, nya. Klonoa is a thinker's platformer, nya. Sure, the puzzles at the beginning are simple, nya.... but the progressively get harder as the game goes on, nya. In each world there's two "skill" stages that aren't so puzzle-heavy, nya. These are a snowboarding stage and a forced scroll stage, nya. In each world you only have to beat three out of the five normal stages to get to the boss, so if you don't particularly like having to go through the trouble of solving long puzzle stages (and they can get pretty long, nya) you can choose to go through those stages instead.
I mentioned it before nya, but I could stand to go more in depth, nya: The learning curve for this game is amazing, nya. It's easy to get the basics down in five minutes, but the way the stages are set up, you gradually learn new techniques and implement them differently, nya. Anyone can go through a puzzle stage, sure... but successfully collecting all 100 gems in the skill stages are another thing, nya. While the puzzle stages challenge you mentally, the skill stages challenge your reflexes and, well... skills, nya. At the beginning of the game you'll be taking things slowly and it may be to easy, but if you're a completionist like me, the last world's skill stages will have you implementing all your skills and advanced techniques in a rapid pace in a short amount of time, nya. It'll have you going mad, nya. And the point of all that work, nya? So you can unlock the hardest puzzle stages in the game, nya. The really scary part, nya? You'll love every minute of it, nya. Unless you get frustrated really easily, nya.
If you're looking for a game that you can just plow through and maybe enjoy the story without caring about extras... this game is okay for that purposes, but you ought to look elsewhere, nya. If you're an insane completionist that likes challenging yourself with new skills, Klonoa is perfect, nya.
(Caution, nya: not for people who don't like the word "Wahoo!" nya)