With the recent announcement of Nights 2 on the Wii, I can't help to think about the possibility of some great Saturn franchises coming back to life on the Wii. Today we're going to talk about one of my favorite series from the Saturn, Clockwork Knight. Essentially, Clockwork Knight is a standard platformer in the vein of Sonic and Mario however the game's style more reflects the Donkey Kong Country games due to it's use of pre-rendered sprites. The difference here though is that unlike DKC, all of the boss battles, backgrounds and environments are fully 3D in CK.

The Story in the clockwork night games is standard fare. You are the mighty Knight Sir Tongara de Pepperouchau III(!) armed only with you key and armor you much save the princess from an unknown force. Basically it's a story of toys in a child's toyroom at war. Much like Chibi Robo or Toy Story, Clockwork Knight shows us what toys do once the lights go out.
Pepper's Moveset is pretty limited. He can jump, thrust his key forward and by continuously tapping the attack button he can spin his key. Spinning your key comes in handy for lowering bridges, repeatedly striking enemies and opening gates. I can only imagine what the Wii's Motion controls could do for this series.
Music is another big part of the series. Both games are filled with memorable tracks accompanied by some really cool CG cutscenes. In Clockwork Knight 2 there is an option to watch all the cutscenes from both games and listen to all the music.




As far a sequels, there was one in development for Saturn titled Clockwork Knight 3. Basically the game was changed from a platformer to a Bomberman-style game where you destroyed enemies by laying "Bombs" and kicking them at enemies. The game was never release in Japan or the US but a few years ago the beta was leaked and footage of the game showed up online.



Clockwork Knight was a solid series and is prime for a comeback. The Wii's motion Controls could lend so much to this game. I'm not holding my breath but hopefully, with the resurrection of Knights, we'll see some more saturn franchised appear on the Wii in the coming years.

Posted in: Features, Retro, Saturn, Wii on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at at 4:25 PM