Klonoa Heroes: Densetsu no Star Medal Play Online

Summary

Klonoa Heroes: Densetsu no Star Medal is a Japan‑only Game Boy Advance spin‑off that drops the series’ usual side‑scrolling for a top‑down adventure, complete with full voice acting – Kumiko Watanabe as Klonoa, Takahiro Sakurai as Guntz, Shouzou Iizuke as Pango, and Yutaka Shimaka as Garlen.

You control one of the trio – Klonoa with his iconic Wind Ring, Guntz wielding a handgun, or Pango tossing bombs – and each enemy bears a blue or red affinity, forcing you to match the weapon’s color for maximum damage, a mechanic that feels straight out of classic Zelda titles.

Defeating foes drops Dream Shards, which serve as experience points, and coins for buying gear or items found in scattered chests. Level‑up screens let you allocate points to attack, defense, agility and more, and you can reshuffle those points anytime you’re not in a level, giving the RPG side a surprisingly flexible feel.

The game’s world is split into eight distinct realms, each composed of several “visions” that culminate in a tougher boss battle before you can move on.

A memorable theme song, “Sign of Hero,” and a full soundtrack released years later round out the package, and Famitsu gave the title a respectable 31 / 40 on launch.

Storyline

Klonoa Heroes takes place in an alternate universe of the series, where the blue‑eyed dreamer lives in his hometown of Breezegale and dreams of earning a Hero Medal. The adventure opens with Klonoa and his friend Chipple trying to pluck the rare Hikari Sakura, a light‑cherry blossom said to bring good luck. After securing the flower, Popka, his small dog‑like companion, warns him that monsters have begun to infest the town.

Klonoa visits his childhood friend Lolo, a priestess‑in‑training, who tells him that more monsters are spotted on nearby Bell Hill. While climbing the hill he is ambushed by round creatures called Moos, but a motorcycle‑riding bounty hunter named Guntz rescues him. Guntz briefly takes the Hikari Sakura, Klonoa defeats him, returns the flower to Lolo, and the two decide to team up as partners in bounty hunting.

During a mission Guntz runs into Janga, a deadly foe responsible for his father’s death; both are captured but escape with help from Pango, a bomb‑expert pangolin searching for a cure for his son Boris’s mysterious sleeping sickness. Janga is working with the mad clown Joka, who seeks a sacred book in the Sky Temple; the heroes head there, reunite with Lolo, and Klonoa receives his own blank Hero Medal. Joka kidnaps Lolo and steals the book, leading the trio to Volk where they discover a rocket launch plan; they fail to rescue Lolo but manage to defeat Joka.

A rocket carries the heroes to the moon, where they learn that Garlen has been orchestrating the monster attacks and the sleeping sickness to harvest nightmare energy and resurrect Nahatomb, a corrupted former hero who created the Star Medals. Nahatomb needs a priestess as a living battery, explaining Lolo’s capture. The heroes confront Garlen, defeat him, and then face the awakened Nahatomb, finally striking him down with the collective dreams of those freed from nightmares.

After the battle, the weakened gravity on the moon allows the Hikari Sakura to bloom again, curing Lolo’s coma. The group returns home: Pango uses the flower to heal his son, Guntz rides off toward new adventures, and Klonoa’s Hero Medal, which had turned gold, reverts to a blank emblem. Smiling, Klonoa declares that he can be a hero any time, content with the journey rather than the title.

Edited by Maya Carter