Name: Klonoa: Empire of Dreams ('Kaze No Klonoa' in Japan)
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco (Japan, US), Infogrames (UK, Europe)
Year: 2001/2002 (Japan: July 19, 2001, US: August 22, 2001, UK: March 26, 2002)
Platform: Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Genre: Platformer
Players: One Player
Rarity: Recently released (although it was a pain in the arse to find)
Cartridge Size: 32MBit

"Where did I come from?
    Where the blue winds blow...
Where am I going?
    Where the white clouds flow...
So if I dream,
    I'm sure to wake...
"
Released in 2001, K:EoD keeps all the great platforming action of the original, and sticks it into a pretty 2D graphics engine. In this game, Klonoa and Huepow are arrested for dreaming, by an emperor known as Jillius, who is suffering at the hands of a curse that prevents him from sleeping. As part of their punishment, Jillius orders Klonoa and his friend to destroy five monsters that are crushing the emperor's country. There are forty levels in total, across five lands. The stages are split into Puzzle, Action and Boss types.

Puzzle Stages
These levels (or Visions, as they are called) are similar to those in Klonoa: Door To Phantomile, which involves you collecting Dream Stones and trying to find the exit. Where the levels in K:DoP are linear, Empire of Dreams' allow you to travel back and forth between screens, giving you the capability to back-track if necessary. This has allowed Namco to harness a few new game mechanics in this version of the Klonoa series.

Your main purpose in the Puzzle Stages is to collect three Stars. Once you have collected these three Stars, the Moon Door will open, which allows you to exit the Vision. As well as the Stars, there are a certain number of Dream Stones in each Vision. Although it's not required to collect them all to finish the level, or the game, you will get a special surprise if you collect them all.

Action Stages
There are two types of Action Stage in Empire of Dreams. One is the Hover Board stage, in which Klonoa rides on a self-propelled hoverboard, to collect as many Dream Stones and Extra Lives as possible, while avoiding or using enemies to your advantage.
The other Action Stage is the Athletic Challenge, in which you have overcome obstacles and get to the end of the level. These stages scroll constantly from one side of the screen to the other, so you have to be careful not to get trapped, or fall.

Boss Stages
On these stages you come up against various Boss characters who you have to defeat to move onto the next land in the game. It's the usual 'attack the weakspot' method usually found in most games.

This game features pretty, albeit simple, 2D graphics, which don't really show the Game Boy Advance's power, but don't put it to shame either. It features a rotating, sprite scaling world map, similar to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island's. It also has the typical cutesy music you'd expect not only from a Klonoa game, but from this particular genre too.

There are a lot of similarities between K:EoD, and the WonderSwan Klonoa game, Kaze No Klonoa: Moonlight Musuem, both games including the same items, enemies and obstacles.

Similar Game Boy Advance titles include Super Mario Advance, Sonic Advance and Spyro: Season of Ice.

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