8 Seemingly Forgotten Video Games That Need To Be Revived

7. Klonoa

Last Release - Klonoa Heroes: Densetsu No Star Medal (2002) The late nineties and early noughties were a golden age for platform games - Nintendo pioneered the switch to three dimensions with Super Mario 64, whilst Sony were the benefactor of Naughty Dog and Insomniac's respective creations, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro The Dragon, to which they subsequently followed with Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank on the Playstation 2. There were numerous other gems including Klonoa: Door To Phantomile, a 1997 release that was beautifully crafted, containing a number of colourful and immersive worlds and characters. For a game principally aimed at children, its story was also surprisingly deep from an emotional standpoint, with a bittersweet ending that tugged on the heartstrings. With all that said though, it struggled to sell in Western markets despite being successful in Japan. A sequel, Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, followed with more of the same on the Playstation 2, earning universal acclaim (it holds a 91 rating on Metacritic) but once again struggling to turn this into sales as the platforming genre became more about action than traditional jump-based exploration. This in turn was followed by a Japan-only RPG spin-off in 2002. Apart from a Wii remake of the original, the series hasn't been touched since 2002, when it was ended just five years after its inception. Such a short lifespan doesn't do justice to how appealing the franchise's two core titles were, and although rebooting a franchise that didn't set the world on fire the first time around would be a highly risky move, it might be worth Namco's time, given the recent success of indie platformers such as Thomas Was Alone.