Of course, there are all kinds of big boss attacks and environment hazards coming at you in these fights. The bosses typically need to be hit multiple times in specific ways by enemies you can pick up during the battles.
They are often fought in unique arenas such as circular areas you can run all the way around or a swing that constantly moves through the background and foreground (some of the last bosses have really cool arenas that I won't spoil!). The bosses are always pretty challenging though. In general, the levels are pretty easy, with the exception of the final epic-length level and a few hard spots here and there. This is a great mechanic that allows you to quickly take down an enemy and then use the enemy to help you traverse the level or reach some high floating pick-up. You can also press X while in the air to throw them down, which causes Klonoa to effectively double jump. You hold them over your head and can throw them at other enemies and switches and stuff. If this hits an enemy, it inflates them and pulls them back to you. Square makes you shoot out a “wind bullet” a few feet in front of you. Fortunately the attack and double jump system fit in perfectly with that feeling of flow. 2D platformers are often at their best when you can constantly keep moving forward, so the need to slow things to a halt for a few seconds on many of the games jumps hurts the experience. But in general, I found that this move breaks up the flow of the game a little too much. A handful of areas use this gliding ability quite nicely, requiring you to use it to stutter-step in mid-air while you wait for something to happen. X is jump, and holding X while in the air makes you flap your ears and hover a second or two. In each level, you must get to the end while fighting enemies and navigating platforming sections. Whether you start out going left to right and then wrap around a hill and go back right to left or take an elevator deep into the background or run through a maze of paths that crisscross over top of and underneath one another, the sense of 3D space the game gives off is delightful. This concept of moving into the background and foreground and the idea of often walking around circular paths is introduced early and keeps delivering in ways that very few games that try out this concept are able. It's one of the big things the game does right. In Klonoa, it is a functional part of the gameplay, as you can take paths that lead you into the foreground or deep into part of the background that just seems like window dressing until you go all the way back there. In some games this is merely an aesthetic choice. This means that while you only ever control the title character in 2D space, the level is a fully rendered 3D world. Klonoa is a 2.5D sidescrolling platformer. After playing it, I can only say that it does some things very right and some things not so right. I've been looking forward to playing Klonoa for quite some time now as I've heard that it really does platforming right. "After playing it, I can only say that it does some things very right and some things not so right." Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PlayStation) review