Clockwork Knight

Clockwork Knight
European Saturn cover art
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Director(s)	Tomoyuki Ito
Producer(s)	Noriyoshi Oba Yoji Ishii Makoto Oshitani
Composer(s)	Hirofumi Murasaki
Platform(s)	Saturn
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Clockwork Knight, known in Japan as Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchau's Adventure - First Volume (クロックワーク ナイト ～ ペパルーチョの大冒険・上巻～), is a side-scrolling platform video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. It was released in Japan on December 9, 1994, in North America on the 1995 launch, and in Europe on July 8, 1995. It was followed by a sequel, Clockwork Knight 2.

Story

Sir Tongara de Pepperouchau III ("Pepper" for short) is a toy soldier. He is in love with the Clockwork Fairy Princess, Chelsea, whose voice wakes up the toys of the house every night at midnight. But he is clumsy and something of a laughingstock, especially when compared to his friendly rival Ginger who is also after Chelsea's heart.

One night Chelsea is stolen away by an unknown force, which also hypnotizes some of the lesser toys to become fierce minions and stand in the way of anyone who would try to rescue her. If there's no voice to wake them up anymore then the toys will never live again, so Pepper and Ginger head off to find Chelsea before it's too late.

Characters

• Sir Tongara de Pepperouchau III ("Pepper") - the sole playable character in the main game. He's brave, dashing, and quite clumsy.
• Barobaro - Pepper's nearsighted but ever-faithful donkey-for-a-steed. He appears to be a wine bottle on a wheeled basket. He has a crush on Soltia. He only appears in cutscenes.
• Prunchau - Pepper's valet and close friend, this top is also very conscientious of Pepper and sometimes treats him like a little boy. He gives suggestions in the Soltian Roulette.
• Sir Ginger - Pepper's chief rival and something of a showoff, but he works with Pepper in saving Chelsea.
• Silver - Ginger's steed. A horse-shaped clothesbrush, he's quite snobby in thinking he's the perfect horse for the perfect warrior.
• Le Bon - Ginger's valet. Like Prunchau, he also gives suggestions in the Soltian Roulette.
• Sir Oneon de Pepperouchau - Pepper's father. He's a bit overly dramatic; he thinks, for whatever reason, that his family has forsaken him.
• Sir Garluch de Pepperouchau - Pepper's highly respected, if somewhat misguided, grandfather. He's mysteriously gone missing.
• Pa Zur - Ginger's lord and mentor. All the toys think that the sliding puzzle is a wise old mystic.
• Soltia - A hot-tempered perfume bottle who loves music, cards, and games of chance. She has a crush on Pepper and considers Chelsea to be a rival for his affection. She hosts the Soltian Roulette mini-game that occurs between worlds, also giving suggestions to players like Prunchau and Le Bon do.
• Clockwork Princess Chelsea - This beautiful young doll's voice has the power to wake all the toys every night at midnight. Both Pepper and Ginger compete for her heart. Her kidnapping starts the events of this game and its sequel.

Gameplay

This game is a side-scrolling platformer in the vein of the Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog series. Unlike those games, however, the game uses prerendered digitized 2D sprites of high-resolution 3D models similar to the Donkey Kong Country series, or Killer Instinct, on top of fully 3D levels (and with fully 3D bosses).

Pepper attacks enemies and opens passages with his key. A quick tap of a button will thrust it out horizontally. Likewise, repeatedly tapping the button over and over will cause him to twist the key around and around. This makes it a bit more powerful (e.g.: an enemy could be knocked out temporarily with a simple jab, but running into the key when twisting it will instantly take it out). He can also pick up unconscious enemies or objects such as footballs or springs and toss them; vertical tosses are possible.

The goal is to reach the end of the stage before time or hit points (typically three, though Gold Keys can increase that maximum) run out. There are no checkpoints; dying sends a player back to the beginning of a level. The levels are fairly large and contain numerous side areas with treasures.

Every third level, Pepper must face off against a large, fully polygonal boss in a one-on-one battle.

The game has 13 levels, including boss levels. The 13 levels take place in four different rooms with two normal levels and one boss each, plus a final boss. If Pepper loses all his lives, the player can continue from the beginning of the current room by spending coins. If the player does not have enough coins to continue, the game is over and the player must start from the beginning of the game.

In Training mode, the game ends at the level just before the final boss.

Reception

On release, Sega Saturn Tsūshin awarded the game a 29 out of 40. Famicom Tsūshin followed this up with a score of 32 out of 40 eight months later, giving it a 10 out of 10 in their Reader Cross Review. USA-based magazine GamePro reviewed the Japanese version of the game prior to the Saturn's launch in the USA. Though they highly praised the responsive controls and graphical effects such as the scaling of enemies when they move to and from the background, they gave an overall negative assessment of the game due to its lack of any gameplay innovation, concluding that "once the initial look of the game wears off, you're left with a game you've been playing for years." Their later review of the North American release was more forgiving. Though they criticized the music, controls, and low difficulty, they acknowledged that the game was a strong showcase of the Saturn's graphical features and concluded that younger gamers might enjoy it. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly agreed that the game was a showcase for the Saturn's graphical abilities but considered this to be a negative, with one of them elaborating that "The 3-D perspective is practically shoved down your throat. There are enough colors to blind you for life..." Two of them felt the graphics were particularly wasted because the player character cannot enter the different scrolling planes. They rated it an overall "okay" platformer and scored it a 7 out of 10.