VGR Clockwork Knight 2

Companion review to a previous one, don't miss out the first part here!

VGR: Clockwork Knight 2
From Sega AM7 (Overworks)
Played on Sega Saturn
Also available on /

Type Sidescroller platformer
Year 1995


Developed around one year after the orginal title, Clockwork Knight 2 was released in Europe and America the same year as the first episode. It wasn't because it was a "rushed out" product, but more of the same using the previous tools, and like most 2D platformers didn't take the 3+ years modern titles use in development.

Clockwork Knight 2's ambition was to propose more of the same, correcting the minor flaws here and there, and add more content to an already decent formula.

Did it work out in the end? Let's have a look!

Pepper is back and things start off as soon as you "Press Start"!

This sequel takes immediately place after the ending of the previous episode.
Clockwork Knight 2 is pretty similar to Sonic & Knuckles in that sense, but this is a game that doesn't need the previous episode to play nor enjoy it!

You take control of Pepper once more, still trying to get the princess Chelsea, continuing the adventure after the cliffhanger of the last game. To help Pepper in his adventure is still his rival/friend Ginger (in the story/cutscenes only) and Pepper's horse Barobaro.

The game controls are mostly similar to last time. Pepper can attack with his key, turn it to activate stuff/explode toys/open boxes and interact with objects (pushing pages of a book over enemies to crush them, etc..).

This episode will have the player explore 4 new rooms composed of 2 levels each plus a boss zone at each end. From a new Kid's Room, to a Study Room, a Bathroom and finally the Clock Tower!

Finally, Barobaro is playable in the most crazy, speedy levels around!

The game starts of right from the ending of the last one...
Meaning having to confront the CK1's final boss one more time, right from the start!!

And I thought he was pretty difficult last time...

But this time that final boss will be on his final lives, thankfully.
All the new bosses are pretty creative, and all are very difficult! The last game's final boss will look like a tutorial stage in comparison!
Be prepared to die a lot.
Like in the last game, you will be able to "buy" continues with the "money" you get in this game during your playthrough or use it in the same Roulette mini-game from CK1 to win (or lose) lives, life upgrades...

The game tries to avoid the "Toy Story"-effect. You know, having people comparing this to Toy Story (often in a negative aspect).
To do just that there's less toy-inspired enemies, levels and objects. Instead the bosses use "original" ideas (a paper/origami boss that transforms into a monkey, a tiger and a bat, another boss is a giant pirate squid in the bathroom, etc..).
The first level will look pretty similar to the toy-related rooms of the first game but then you'll go to the more inspired bathroom or the more dark-ysh/serious study room...

Finally there's a new very original sequence, playing Pepper's horse, Barobaro.
Forced scrolling, lots of enemies to defeat while still moving on forward and alternate paths around.
Those levels are some of my favorites. Very fast, intense and kinda similar to the "running" sequence of the Shinobi games (on foot, horse or water). Too bad they're also the shortest parts of the game :(

Minigames! Chibi-Pepper in minigames!!

This game is a continuation of Clockwork Knight 1.
Meaning the player is supposed to be familiar with the controls this time around and the level designs. Thinking about that, the developers probably thought; "Hey! No need to progressively introduce difficulty during the playthrough! Let's kick that player's ass right from the start!!"

Like I said, it starts off with the previous game's final boss. Then introduce harder and harder bosses one after the other! You need very quick reflexes and to be very deductive to find out each boss's weaknesses!
The levels are also very difficult this time, longer (a helluva lot longer!!) and dying will have your replay through them from the start!! (no checkpoints here, no sir!)

The game also corrects the first one main problem, it's replay-value!
This time you can find 4 cards per level (finding all of them will unlock stuff). Hidden in the background, paths, etc..
Some levels are a lot more linear this time around...but at least there's interaction between foreground and background now! (which is pretty cool and done pretty smart)
Oh and there's minigames now! Some kinda similar to the more recent WarioWare series, and using a similar lazy-design/kiddie approach. Jumping & runing with a chibified Pepper, using a 3D view and playing a race with Barobaro, some shooting, etc

And there's a Bosses Galore mode to unlock! Where you can face off all the bosses from Clockwork Knight 1 & 2 after each other from the first one in CK1 to the very last one in CK2, playing either Pepper or Ginger!

The game is also one of the earlies games, on any console, to play around with the player's interaction during the game and the date on the system to modify it's appearance every time.
Finish the game a lot of times, and each time adds a new character on the menu/edits the menus.
Play on christmas/new year, and it will also change according to the holiday.
(something NiGHTS on the Saturn would also play around with later on)

Overall, it's a very complete experience.
Using a well tuned machine and similar mecanics to CK1, CK2 only needed to correct the previous game's flaws. It did just that and a whole lot more!

CK2 is fun, very difficult (beware!!) and offers quite a lot to play with!
It's a beautiful looking 3D game for 1995. (yeah, I know it's a 2D platformer, but the look is definitively 3D!)
This sequel is fully 3D now, no more pre-rendered CGi! The backgrounds also spot a clear 3D relief, and aren't that flat anymore. Objects, enemies and Pepper are all now in ful 3D, which means better and more clever interaction.

I can find very few problems I have with it...
The music, same kind of jazzy/festive/samba-esque tunes, is a bit more calm this time around.
Only the main theme with lyrics really stands off.

Pepper doesn't slip as much as last time, the controls are precise and almost perfect, the levels huuuuge to explore and completly master, the bosses quite hardcore, the minigames/bonus modes fun to play and the whole design pretty memorable!
The plot even offers some twists if you're following attentively Pepper's adventure!

One of the Sega Saturn's classic! A must have!
Why didn't it have another sequel/more episodes?
Well, it almost had, at least on three occasions!
A Clockwork Knight 3 was almost going to be made and often mentioned in gaming magazines!
A spinoff title called Clockwork Knight: Pengin War (usually misinterpreted as CK3) was kinda finished and almost released. It would have been a Bomberman-like spinoff title. Probably inspired by CK2's minigames and could have offer many minigames in the end to play with CK's cast of characters...
And finally a Gamecube (!!) sequel under the title Knight n Knight was announced, featured on many gaming websites like IGN. I'm kinda glad this one wasn't made because it could ended up as a very generic 3D platformers like there were so many at the time...
I'm still hoping to this very day that a new sequel could be made, probably like the new Donkey Kong Country on the Wii. (3D graphics on a 2D plane)

I give it:

 3 / 3 Segata Sanshiros!

VGR Clockwork Knight

New Sega Saturn review!
Since I had a fun playthrough this week and finished the game, I decided to write its review while the experience was still fresh in my mind~

VGR: Clockwork Knight
From Sega AM7 (Overworks)
Played on Sega Saturn
Also available on /

Type Sidescroller platformer
Year 1994/95

Clockwork Knight is the typical kind of game the Sega Saturn was designed to provide.
A "modern" side-scroller (well, for 1995).
Afterall, when Nintendo was trying to force the 3D platforming on everybody's mind and Sony going all "2D sprites is the past, we're entering the era of 3D polygonal models!", Sega designed the Saturn as the ultimate 2D videogame system, and that's the reason I love the system.

But we aren't here to talk about the 32/64 bit era nor the evolution from 2D to 3D (maybe some other time).

What is Clockwork Knigh, what kind of game is it?
It is a side-scroller (read 2D platformer) using 2D backgrounds, 3D pre-rendered enemies, real time 3D bosses and a 3D character as well.
Pretty similar to the SNES Donkey Kong country games but a bit more 32 bit-ysh if you want.

Once upon a time, in a toy box...

The game introduces you to a familiar setting straight from our imagination as a child.
While the children are away, all the toys come to life under the magical singing of Clockwork Fairy Princess, Chelsea.
All the toys have their fun and their own lives while the house's empty.
Everytime, the toy soldiers try to win the princess' love, showing off their skills and techniques.
But one day, Chelsea is stolen away by a mysterious toy...
It's up to you, Sir Tongara de Pepperouchau III, aka Pepper, to find your way through the house, find the princess and help her back!

Along your journey, there's Sir Ginger, Pepper rival, another toy soldier.
There's also Barobaro, Pepper's faithful steed and Soltia, which seems to be a decorated perfume bottle, who loves our hero even if he only devotes his whole attention to Chelsea.

Toy's coming to life while nobody looks at them, now where did I hear that before? Toy Story you may say?
Well, this isn't a "rip-off"! Calm down angry kids! (I already saw that written before)
Toy story came out on November 22, 1995 (it only really started the real development around February 1994), the public could have only known about it earlier that year (and even later for a Japanese gaming studio, this was before Internet and information being quickly spread and leaked)
Clockwork Knight came out on December 9, 1994 in Japan (taking probably around 6 months/1 year of production).
CK isn't a rip-off of Toy Story. Nor the opposite. No plagiarism here. This is just a simple occurence, a clear case of coincidence, when some people probably got the same idea at the same time. It often happens. (see the case of the cartoons Rhapsody Rabbit and Cat Concerto)...

 The enemies are various and diverse in your quest to bring the princess back...

The game is very easy to understand and have your hands on.
It only uses 2 buttons of all the buttons the Saturn pad has, a jump and an attack button.

As a Toy Soldier, Pepper is equipped with a key which he can uses to slash enemies.

The game as a very nice level design. The platforming parts are pretty well designed and with its very precise and simple controls, jumping from a moving platform to another one is very easy as long as you play it well.
Most of your deaths will be the player's own fault, it's a well made engine and multiple playthrough will get you better each time.

Pepper can interact with the objects he finds on his path.

There's a lot of enemies on your path, many kind of toys, objects and little creatures who'll try to stop you.
You can attack them, grab them to throw them at the other enemies. Tapping the attack button several times will make Pepper use his key as, well, as a key! This will make toy enemies explode and open up locks on little boxes for exemple.

There's some alternate path, finding them will make your progression easier or harder sometimes.

It's a very fun adventure to have to explore the house.
You'll start out in one of the children's room, go to the other one (a girl's room then a boy's room), explore a kitchen and then the seilling. For a total of ~13 levels (counting boss levels).

Exploring the house from the kitchen to the roof!

You can say there aren't that many levels, but they can be quite difficult at times and will require many playthroughs to master.
Like many Sega games I'd say, it's a much more shorter arcade experience (like Sonic, Alex Kidd,..) rather than a easier numerous multi-levels experience (like Nintendo offered with Mario World, Donkey Kong Country,..).

The game will have you fight a boss at the end of each room before moving on, dying and losing all your lives in any of the 3 levels of the room will make you go back to the beginning of that room. That is, if you can buy another continue. That's right, you'll find money in the levels which is required to buy more continues but if you wanna spend it otherwise, you can play a Roulette mini-game between levels. Soltia will offer you a game of roulette where you can either win lives, life upgrades, bonus points or lose everything!

The story is presented through very nicely done CGi cutscenes for 1994/5. Quite full of life (for 3D toys in a small budget videogame!)

Final important point to me (specially as a Sega fan).
The music is fantastic!
The game has a very nice jazz/festive tone. All the levels have their own musical overtheme, with bosses having a special more epic atmosphere.
There's a vocal main theme and ending theme which are now part of Sega's cult classic tunes (released many times across various Sega compilations). Something you have to check even if you're not interested in this Saturn game!

Overall, it a great experience!

Definitely a classic which helped many decide to go into the Sega Saturn instead of the N64 or PSX.
Not bashing the other systems or anything here, but this was exactly how I wanted gaming platformers to go at the time, instead of the early 3D platformers who seemed to start from scratch (losing everything platformers had evolved into from the 8 bit era to the 16 bit era).

The game is quite challenging, beautiful to look at! (specially with a Saturn plugged into an HD screen - I like my pixels!)

My main problems may be that there's isn't much challenge to go back to when it's over, but it's quite fun to go back to CK once in a while anyway! The music's great, the visuals colorful and well done (specially for a early Saturn game). Controls are perfect.
Oh and the other problems are probably that there isn't that many levels (at least there's alternate paths) and the game ends with what I hate the most in videogames. After the very last final boss (which is easier that some other bosses), Pepper goes back to the princess, and... CLIFFHANGER!!!
I absolutely dislike cliffhangers in videogames!! Sometimes they stay unresolved due to the game never getting a sequel (or the studio shutting down, or losing interest in that game...), see Shenmue 3 for that! Ha!
But fear not, cause Clockwork Knight had a sequel!

Finally, I'll say this game is a must have for any Sega Saturn owner! It's fun, maybe not that original, but well done. A perfect launchtitle for it's unique and 2D-friendly library!

I give it:

2.5 / 3 Segata Sanshiros!

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing ART JAM retrospective

That's right, this is a little post about the Art Jam I've been running on deviantArt!

In case you would have a look at the original deviantArt Journal where all the fun was at, click this link!

So, I would like to have a little retrospective of the Jam on my blog.
A small recap, if you please.

But first of all, I'd like to thank everybody who participated in the Jam!
This ought to show Sega and Sumo Digital how much we love our Sega franchises and characters,
and that a wider range of characters from all Sega periods should have been representated in game!

A quick look at a compilation of all our different and various entries! Click it to see it in bigger and better format!

22 participants. Over 50 entries for a "little" art jam in my humble deviantArt page!
That should shake SEGA and the guys at Sumo Digital a little, right?
I mean, would I have been a lot more popular on deviantArt, the Art Jam a little shown on forums and fansites (which it wasn't while running) and the deadline longer, I'm sure we could have reached over 100 entries!
50 entries are quite a lot!

However we're not here to discure that, but to have a little look a certain pieces.
If I'm not gonna quote your entry below, don't worry, nothing against you or your piece.
But I wanted to have little look at the more DLC worthwile and nostalgic franchises that should have made it into the game.

Instead we got Metal Sonic, and while I'm sure kiddies and Sonic fanboy bought it the second it appeard online, I didn't and do not plan on buying it soon.
Money doesn't grow on tree, you know? Special not for digital content.

First, here's one more link, to the Art Jam gallery if you want to check out all the entries in separate pages.

I'm kinda sad there hasn't been any real Saturn material in the game.
The Sega Saturn is one of my all time favorite systems, I play it to this very day, and will play it long after Xbox 360 and Wii will be collecting dust in their boxes.
Sure, NiGHTS is present in SaSASR, but 1) he's non playable 2) just a cameo! 3) he's not even a real Saturn exclusive anymore thanks to the PS2 remake and Wii sequel!
I'll start to illustrate this with my own pics (why shouldn't I?)

All pics can be viewed bigger, just click them ; )

Come on! Why couldn't you give me those?!
Too obscure for you modern younger gamers?
They weren't that obscure in the 90s, they even managed both to score a sequel!
They aren't mainstream by 2010s strandards, but who cares?
Nintendo's own Super Smash Bros would be as huge and loved if it didn't contain that much old school Nintendo-fans references!
And look at what they got, Pit, who's never been well known nor popular!
And Earthbound characters! Only one Earthbound did make it outside Japan back then, and it wasn't that successful nor popular!
Obscure references for non fans might interest gamers and introduce them to forgotten past series!
And Bug! and Clockwork knight are both classic Saturn series and almost mascots to the system, alongside NiGHTS who's scored a cameo!

Talking about NiGHTS, yeah, I'm sad he didn't made it, but reading people crying for his inclusion as a DLC sounds so...unoriginal! Would you really want a character you have in the game become "playable" with a cheap model re-use? (oops.. did I mention Ryo's Forklift DLC?)
Reala could work a lot better as a DLC! And just thinking about his rockin' theme song.. *dreams*

About music...
Reminds me of those guys, Toe Jam & Earl.
Wasn't SEGA and TJ&E creators working on an agreement to include them later on? Were are they? As of today, May 25, I still haven't seen them in the game??
There was a lot of copyright issues, being a co-production, like Pokémon is for Nintendo.
But wasn't that some discussions about a later-addition of TJ&E as DLC?

For the characters that didn't make it, Sumo Digital did talk about cameos in game. But all we got was NiGHTS!
With the first DLC coming, we would thought that some original stuff would come, but we only got an alternate Ryo Hazuki in a full all star mode (forklift), which isn't interesting in my eyes, I prefer Ryo on his bike only switching vehicle for his All Star, and a combo Metal Sonic/New Eggman track, which isn't that new because of all the Sonic stages and a metallic Sonic doesn't make it for me.
I didn't buy any of those, kinda cheap marketing trick in my eyes.
But look, they include some fan service content! Ristar's in it..in a...cameo..3D object in the background of the stage..and a cheap 3D model at that... That's kinda lazy...
Couldn't they switch off Ristar as a character and Metal Sonic as a cameo in the Eggman stage? I would be a lot more surprised by that!
But kiddies wouldn't buy it then... So why not make them both playable? Like a combo pack. A popular (and Sonic) character and a less popular (read: obscure/non-mainstream) one? Better deal that way!
Or better, a huuuuge character pack!

They said the game would be DLC-friendly, built from scratch to allow those unlike the (pretty good) Tennis game.
Where are our classics and huuuuugely popular Megadrive franchises? Those would sell!
Better, why not make a 3to5 character packs? I'd buy that!
They could even sell a new release of the game at some point (or for their Xbox360/PS3 platinum or classic re-releases) with all the previously added characters that would have been released as DLC in the meantime.

Heck! Don't you want to play with Segata Sanshiro?
Even old obscure characters are quite popular nowadays, thanks to internet, youtube and MEMES.
Just imagine his epic theme song across the tracks!

 I'm pretty surprised the very popular Phantasy Star (Online) franchise didn't get a mention in this game!
They're one of post-megadrive Sega most popular franchises!
And all accross the world, not just Japan.
(I could have said almost the same from Yakuza, but it isn't that a hit in Europe, not all the games were released outside Japan and finally it's a bit too much M-Rated for this game!)

Be it old school/retro Sega games or new franchises I think those proprieties offer quite a variety of colors.
There's a lot of classic and new stuff to work with!

If I was at the head of a studio m'self... : P

The ball is in Sega's court. And Sumo Digital as well, don't tell me they couldn't make a difference or their voice heard if they truly were all for it!

On this final phrase, I'll be trying to send it, all of this, to Sega or Sumo Digital.
You can help me as well, post it on forums, show the SEGA love!
Hating, arguing against Sega won't do any good, we, as gamers, can make a difference and influence the way Sega is today!
If you keep only buying Sonic games, that's not gonna bring back Sega's original creative force! Showing your, our, interest in Vectorman, buying Rub Rabbits and making a voice heard in Sega communities would be a lot better.

(I can sound quite passionate about some subjects, can't I? XD)