Change... not always good.

Okay, so this isn't the picture I was hoping to post today. I picked up the Wii remake of Klonoa last week, rekindling my love of the floppy-eared one, and had been meaning to do some drawings exploring how his design had changed between the original PS1 game, the PS2/GBA sequels, and the Wii remake of the first game. Well, I did start that drawing, but I forgot my tablet today, so I wasn't able to finish up the linework and start coloring.

Today's picture is related, though. Prior to the Wii game's US release, it seems that Namco Bandai was considering "updating" Klonoa's look to appeal more to Western audiences (or something). The fan and media reaction was rather negative. To be honest, the proposed redesign isn't bad. It's a rather attractive character in its own right, but with one major flaw: It's not Klonoa. The costume design is nearly identical to the one used in the remake, but they eliminated Klonoa's two most distinctive features: long floppy ears, and that big blue Pac-Man hat. I once saw someone dressed as Klonoa at a convention. It wasn't a full costume with some big scary furry head or anything, but instead just a big blue Pac-Man hat with some long floppy ears attached on top of a rather average human head. But it was instantly recognizable as Klonoa. Hell, even the lives icon in the game is simply Klonoa's hat.

When I first saw the proposed redesign, I immediately thought about the Goemon series and the (many would say "failed") attempt to make the series more appealing to a new audience by replacing the classic characters with their distinctive art style with "updated" generic-anime designs and futuristic settings. The couple of "New Age" Goemon games had abandoned the series' unique designs and quirky humor that had defined it in favor of appealing to the Digimon crowd. And on top of that, the games just weren't especially good. Konami did eventually ditch the updated designs and returned to the originals, going as far as to include the "New Age" version of Goemon as a prisoner in a jail cell in the DS game for his "crimes against the Goemon franchise."

So, in comparison, Klonoa didn't have it all that bad. But still, if it ain't broke...