Klonoa ain't dead (My many observations)
Been thinking about Klonoa's upcoming 30th anniversary (December 11th, 2027) and why I am feeling positive about them celebrating it. (This could age like milk tomorrow or whatever, but this has been on my mind for a while and I want to write it out.)
Wahoo Encore (ワッフーアンコール) is a trademark from 2021 registered at the same time as 1&2 Encore; Phantasy Reverie Series Japanese subtitle. I speculated it would have been a subtitle for another Klonoa remaster/collection, but nothing has come from it since. The last Encore game was 2023's We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie and has since been followed up with two new original games in the series. I think the Encore series has been retired (its purpose of series revivals seemingly fulfilled?) as the twitter account @encore_series has since been combined into @bandainamco_cs, a general BN home console game's account.
MONKEYCRAFT Co. Ltd, the devs that produced the Katamari and Klonoa remasters, has now formed into Rengame Co., Ltd. as of 2025 with Once Upon A Katamari.
Just comparing the names in the credits on mobygames for the brand new Katamari title, the amount of people credited seems to have grown from MonkeyCraft's reported 41 employees (as of 2023). I see this as a result of their remaster's success, allowing them to expand and make a whole new game. With this in mind, I hope they are working on a new Klonoa game.
Oh, but why in the world would they be making a NEW Klonoa game? Yeah, I don't know that for certain either, but the new Katamari games followed not long after the series 20th concluded. Most of that celebration was in Japan, but from the sidelines I kept seeing new merch (Gashapon, collabs, pop-up shops, etc.) being announced, even well after the anniversary had come and gone. And to this day, it's still going as I still see near daily posts from the Katamari twitter account. (I observe the Pac-Man. Taiko no Tatsujin, Mappy Chu, and Katamari accounts and they appear to post around or at the same time.) I keep perfectly imagining a Klonoa account to join in, posting whatever for a new game or merch. Actually, the lack of Klonoa's inclusion with these other games fuels my suspicions for a true "I'm not dead" return.
Early 2025, Bandai Namco announced they would allow for others to license out their IP and among the titles is Klonoa. I assume this might have helped the new Fangamer merch become a reality. ❤️
As of me writing this, there's a Namco Game Selection Summer Market pop-up shop going on for a range of merchandise at the Hakuhinkan Toy Park store in Ginza. Klonoa's omission is felt.
There's an embroidered sticker of the first game's logo (doesn't even appear to be a formally announced product either). Well, it's something at least?
Klonoa appearing alongside other Namco series is becoming more frequent too.
Nintendo Online GBA, Astro Bot cameo (alongside Katamari, Ace Combat, Tekken, and Ridge Racer), Little Nightmares III costumes, Amazon.jp store, Chill Night BGM video, and random smattering of social media posts.
BN's amazon.jp store has made it especially clear that Klonoa is standing again like Katamari, Taiko, and more. For example: Mr. Driller and Mojipittan (both of which had Encore series games) are being represented under the Namco Legendary brand, which largely consists of classic arcade game titles.
Speaking of those amazon.jp shirts, there has only been 4 designs (well, three unique) since they first popped up in 2024. The other series have way more designs, while Klonoa has suspiciously the least. Speaking of suspicious, I still have no idea where this artwork came from or if it's totally new for the t-shirt. The simplistic art style reminds me of Moonlight Museum. I could see more designs being added if there was, y'know, a special occasion coming up. ;P
I feel like celebrating his 30th anniversary/new title will bring Klonoa fully back into the fold with the other Namco series. The series will definitely bolster their classic/cute/easygoing/friendly gaming catalog (unofficial name lol).
....And I am still holding them to their word about making more Klonoa if KPRS sells well.
"Remakes are always a good start, but I couldn’t help but ask if a proper sequel might be on the horizon after the release of Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series. And while we have no solid answer just yet, Ishida’s answer gave me a bit of hope that there could be a great future should this new release see success.
'I could not say for sure, but we would like to focus on spreading the IP once again with the remastered version,' Ishida says. “If the reaction from the community is good, there might be other remastered Klonoa games we could propose as well!”
I feel like we're already seeing that "spreading of the IP" since the 25th anniversary, right? Wahoo~
