Hello there! It is that time of the week again, where I bring you a classic game that is sadly no longer officially available. So in Lost Gems this week, I will be covering the sequel to a game I have previously covered. The second part of the Pepperouchau’s Adventure with Clockwork Knight 2, released in 1995 in Japan and Europe, with a release in North America the year after. Now let us take a look at the second part of SEGA’s sadly abandoned series.
Disclaimer: while the game discussed here is no longer officially on sale, there are ways to obtain the game. This can be either through the second hand market, or through unofficial digital roms/rips. I do not condone or promote piracy, so there won’t be any links to roms or rips of the game being covered.
So with the introductions out of the way, let’s get started. I will be discussing the general game experience, then giving my personal thoughts on the title. Please not, the version of the game I am covering here is the European release, so it may be different from other regions. I also covered the first game which you can find (HERE).
About the game
Clockwork Knight 2 is a 2.5D platformer, like its predecessor this game uses a mix of pre-rendered sprites and polygons, combined with stages to give a sense of depth. But it takes that concept further, with use of both foreground and background layers to a greater extent. This is combined with full video cutscenes, which occur throughout the game, starting off with a musical number at the start. This makes gets the player ready for a wonderful adventure.
Following on from the previous game, the player is thrown straight into a shortened version of the final boss stage. After this relatively quick battle, the princess Chelsea is saved, but the peace is short-lived as she is recaptured. Pepperouchau (Pepper) sets off in hot pursuit, going on another adventure through the house to save the princess. Now the player must overcome four new rooms to rescue the princess, with new dangers and challenges to overcome.
Just like the previous game, the gameplay loop follows the same core mechanics. The player controls Pepperouchou, the Clockwork Knight moving through the house again. They must battle the evil toys and living items, with each world having two stages and a boss. When all the other rooms have been cleared, the player will encounter the final boss to save the princess. Following the first game, there are special gimmicks attached to each room to make them unique.
The action of Clockwork Knight 2 is nearly identical to the first, with the player able to move left and right, jump gaps and attack enemies with Pepper’s Keyblade. Pepper can also stun enemies, allowing the player to pick them up and throw them, stunned enemies will defeat enemies that hit. If timed correctly, a chain reaction can occur killing multiple enemies. Pepper can also pick up and throw stage elements including eggs, which contain items to collect.
As this is a platformer, there will be hazards like spikes, waves from a bathtub and bottomless pits. This means there is danger present throughout most of the adventure. Pepper has three health gears when starting the game, losing one when damage is taken unless it is a death pit. Lost health can be restored by collecting keys, with Bronze and Silver only restoring health, whereas Gold increases health by one up to a max of five, but death resets them to 3.
Each of the different stages has their own theme, which come with their own distinct mechanics. The Kid’s Room has high elevation areas, with cranked platforms and mechanical gates. This is followed by the Study, which has exploding rockets and books that will fall own and open. The bathroom features a tidal wave that will try to sweep everything away, last is the Clock Tower containing swinging pendulums and slippery platforms.
These different gimmicks keep the action exciting, maintaining the fun throughout the experience. Unlike the first game, there are auto scrolling stages where Pepper rides his trusty bottle horse. In these stages, the player will ride along a track with enemies and hazards appearing. Pepper uses his sword to launch his trusty steed’s head at enemies, using it as a weapon. Just make sure not to fall into the gaps of the track or get crushed.
The focus on exploration is here again, with the boxes that transport the player to different sub-screens. These will take the player to extra challenges, which can yield extra bonus for the player. Throughout the stages there are four playing cards, which are activated by going through them at a high speed. If the player is able to get all four cards, they will be rewarded with a gold key, but in the event the player gets all 32 of them, a secret will be uncovered.
At the end of a stage, there will be a bonus challenge where Pepper must land on the letter missing from Clockwork Knight. These letters scroll across a grid at the end of the stage, and if the player is able to land on the correct letter an extra life will be earned. This is a good way to be able to get extra lives if the player can do it successfully. Extra lives can also be earned by hitting set score milestones during the course of the game.
Moving on, there is a boss battle at the end of each room. These encounters have been expanded from the previous game, with more challenging bosses to fight. There are multiple phases to these boss stages, with challenging patterns that players need to figure out. While the bosses were relatively simple in the first game, they have been significantly expanded here. The stand-out for this is the Study boss, made of a living book page that transforms into three animals.
When one of the first three bosses has been cleared, the player will enter the bonus game. In the Soltian Roulette, the player will be able to wager bottle caps collected in stages, with denominations of 5, 10 and 15 that can be offered. Then the spinning box challenge occurs, where the box must be followed, with caps and lives to win. If the player gets either of the items, they can try to double it or take it, but if they get a clown face, they win nothing.
The roulette is a big risk/reward bonus, as the caps are also used to continue if all lives are lost. The player needs to have 20 bottle caps to continue, jumping right back into the stage they died on. This makes it important to collect as many of them as possible, as players may need to continue later in the adventure. To ensure all that a continue isn’t used, be sure to get as many extra lives as possible, and at the end of the game any remaining lives are turned into points.
The score system from the previous game carries over, with bonuses at the end of each stage for time and health remaining. This is where the replay value for the game comes in, as the highest scores come from clearing stages as fast as possible, while avoiding damage. To get the best score, take advantage of the items that can be thrown, farm extra lives where possible and collect all of the clocks for the time bonus. And make the most of invincibility orbs.
Personal Thoughts
Just like the first game, I have fond memories of Clockwork Knight 2, with my first experience being through the special Bootleg Sampler demo SEGA released. It was after this that I got the full game, which became one of my favorites to play when I wasn’t at school. Like the first game, it can feel pretty short as there are only 13 stages , but it completes the story in a satisfying way. There is plenty of replay value too, searching for the cards and the hidden true ending.
I very much enjoyed the musical number at the beginning, which I tend to find myself humming while performing tasks around the house. Then there is the new soundtrack, which retains that mix of Jazz, Lounge and Big Band music, with the first boss having an exciting rockabilly style theme. The animated cutscenes return, with the same quality and fun charm to them that the first game had. All of these make it such an enjoyable experience.
The gameplay loop has the same enjoyable platforming, puzzle solving and exploration, while adding a few new wrinkles to it. I really like the card system as it rewards you for looking around, with a secret for getting them all. The horse riding stages are a lot of fun too, with the different background elements adding to it, like the topping toys in the Kid’s Room. Then there are the canons and rockets in the Study, which make good use of the 3D space.
One of the real tricky parts of the game, but still just as enjoyable are the boss battles. While the first game was pretty simple, having two pairs are similar bosses and the final one, this game is much more diverse. There is the wood block snake that thinks it is Elvis and the bathtub octopus, where Pepper needs to jump between soap bars to avoid the tentacles. Each of the boss battles are really tough, but with a few attempts they can be figured out.
As I said in the first feature covering the first Clockwork Knight, I have a deep love for this game as I do the original. The platforming is a lot of fun, which is simple but effective and makes it easy to play by everyone. Like the first game, as well as many other games from the SEGA Saturn library, these games are trapped on the sadly dead hardware. I just hope that at some point, SEGA will partner with City Connection to use the Zebra Engine to revive these games.
There are many properties that are in limbo from SEGA, like Die Hard Arcade (Dynamite Cop), Sonic R and Fighters Megamix (all on the Lost Gems List), with no sign of a revival. This is a real shame as Clockwork Knight and many other games from the SEGA Saturn deserve to be played. Thanfully, for those looking to collect, Clockwork Knight 2 is not that expensive to buy, managing to stay pretty affordable with the Japanese version being the cheapest.
If you have enjoyed this feature, then please stick around and see what else catches your eye. I cover a wide range of games in reviews, get special previews and put out regular features. I have Lost Gems, Retro Revival where I discuss re-releases and the occasional Gaming Oddities piece, where I cover weird and wacky titles. So stay a while and have a look around.
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