All of us have played a game that involves saving a princess. Just like everyone else I grew up with Mario, but when I was a kid I didn’t personally own a Nintendo system until the Nintendo 64. The first system I actually owned was a Sega Game Gear, and the first home console was the Sega Saturn. There was one game for the Saturn that involved saving a princess, and you saved her using a Keyblade…eat your heart out Sora. The game is called Clockwork Knight.
As soon as you watched the opening cutscene, you instantly known this is going to be an interesting game. It’s got a slow song, followed by an awesome song, followed by 3 Clockwork Knights power jogging. So here’s a back story. There is a princess named Chelsea who lives in a clock and at the stroke of midnight, she comes out and sings making all the toys come alive. The main character Pepper competes for her heart and embarrasses himself and while everyone is laughing at him, the power goes out and Chelsea is kidnapped. So you go on a mission to rescue her.
The game is a classic side scrolling game and your weapon of choice is a keyblade. Yes everybody, a keyblade. I mean you are a Clockwork Knight after all so it does make since. You go through 4 different rooms with 2 different stages and a boss battle in each room. You go around fighting toy helicopters, a jack in the box clown, a guy in a football helmet using a pencil to kill you, transformers, and a Giant Blue Baby.
There were a couple of things I did find awesome and funny at the same time. One was Pepper had a horse that would show up on certain levels named Barobaro. Not only is the name awesome, but he looks kinda like a horse that’s not all there. The other thing is there is another character by the name of Sir Ginger who is the other knight who is competing for Chelsea’s love. What’s funny is not only does he look like someone who would be old enough to be Chelsea’s father, but at the end of the game he finds out that he is actually Chelsea’s brother. Yeah, he’s been competing just the love of his sister. Sir Ginger also has orange hair and an orange mustache. You can insert that joke yourself.
Overall, this game is actually really fun. It will take you about a day to beat if you know what you are doing. I never had the chance to beat it when I was a kid. I only got to the third room which is the Kitchen. It really makes me want to go find my Saturn and play it. Even though the game did have a sequel for the Saturn later on, it has been long forgotten by many gamers and I consider the game and its characters a hidden gem. So this game belongs in the Gaming Graveyard.
