Clockwork Knight is a video game that was released for the Sega Saturn in 1994 (1995 in America). It got a sequel in 1995 (1996 in America) simply called Clockwork Knight 2.
Chelsea, the Clockwork Fairy Princess, wakes up all the toys at midnight. Sir Tongara de Pepperouchau III, or Pepper for short, is a toy knight who is in love with Chelsea, but is quite clumsy compared to his fellow knights, especially his friendly rival Ginger. One night, a mysterous force kidnaps Chelsea and hypnotizes some of the other toys to be its minions. If Chelsea isn't rescued, the toys will never be able to live again since Chelsea is the one who wakes them up at night, so Pepper and Ginger set off to rescue her. The second game's premise is pretty much the same as the first one, with Chelsea getting kidnapped again and Pepper and Ginger going back into action to save her.
In both games, the player must go through four rooms, each containing three levels (two normal levels and one boss level).
Currently has a character page under construction.
The Clockwork Knight games provide examples of:
- 2½D: Both games are 2D platformers with 3D graphics. While the first game plays out like a typical 2D platformer, Clockwork Knight 2 takes more advantage of its perspective, featuring twists like 90° turns and hopping between layers.
- Action Bomb: B.B., who is a yellow-and-black striped dynamite stick with shades and overly large lips.
- In the second game's Study Room world, there are rocket enemies named Edwards, and they can be hit and either jump to the foreground or background depending where you are located and blow stuff up.
- Aerith and Bob: Very much in play. Many of the main characters have rather exotic names like Tongara de Pepperouchau, Prunchau, Soltia, and Garluch, while some of them have normal names, like Chelsea, Ginger, and Silver.
- Much more apparent with the enemies, whose names range from things like Katchin', Darjeeling, Pierron, to utterly mundane stuff like Mark and Edwards.
- The Alleged Steed: Subverted: Barobaro may be a bit nearsighted and unreliable (in the story at least), but he manages to help Pepper on his journey regardless.
- All There in the Manual: Much of the characters' personalities are described on their bios in the manuals, although how much is revealed about them differs depending on the region. The Japanese manuals, for instance, have the most to say about each character, while the US manuals have only one or two sentences.
- Animesque: Inverted. While the games are made in Japan, they use a digitized art style comparable to popular Western-made games during the era like Donkey Kong Country and Mortal Kombat, and the soundtrack emphasizes genres like jazz and ragtime.
- Anti-Frustration Features: In 2, the playing cards, when ran through, are permanently collected, so if you die you don't have to go to it again to collect it.
- Attack Its Weak Point: A good few of the bosses have this, such as Iron Kong X, whose torso must be attacked using his detached head. Funky Snaky is probably the most obvious example, due to how his weak point, the mike at the end of his tail, constantly moves around and flashes. Soltia even mentions in her pre-boss dialogue for him to attack the mike!
- Auto-Scrolling Level: Stage 2 of the Kid's Room and Bathroom in 2 are these, in which you ride Barobaro on a track, using his head to knock out foes.
- Background Boss: The final boss of the first game, Crazy TV, stays in the background as it unleashes its attacks on the player in the foreground.
- Captain Octopus in the second game fights this way, throwing soap bars from afar and occasionally sticking a tentacle between the turtle platforms Pepper moves around on.
- Badass Arm-Fold: Ginger is often shown in this pose in official renders.
- Bat Out of Hell: In Clockwork Knight 2, there are bat-umbrella hybrids called Vamprellas that hang around (in places like mid-air, strangely) and attack when woken up.
- Paper Morphy from 2 has a giant blue bat as its final transformation.
- Bears Are Bad News: Mark, an enemy who is a bear in a honey jar. He throws knives and snickers at you.
- Betting Mini-Game: Soltia hosts one at the end of each world in both games, the Soltian Roulette... where you can wager a set amount of Imperial Crowns to increase the odds of a better prize in a fancy shell game.
- Big Bad: Garluch, although seemingly inadvertently. The Japanese ending
of 2 mentions he may have sold his heart to an evil force for power, but it's unclear on who that force was. Either, way, defeating his dragon body seemingly cures him and he has no memory of his evil deeds. - Big Damn Heroes: Ginger saves Pepper and Chelsea from falling in the second game's ending.
- Bilingual Bonus: Le Bon's name is French for "good", which fits his happy-go-lucky personality and status as one of the good guys.
- Boss-Only Level: All of the boss levels in both games contain only a boss fight, and nothing more.
- Blush Sticker: Chelsea has these. The knights all have rather ruddy cheeks as well, but theirs jut out instead of being flat like the trope namesake.
- Boss Rush: The second game has a game mode called "Bosses Galore", where the player must fight all of the bosses from both Clockwork Knight games, one by one.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Garluch and the rest of the toys after a spell is put upon them by a mysterious force.
- Built with LEGO: The second room in the first game, Kevin's Room, seems to have a motif of LEGO-built platforms going on.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: In the intro to the first game, when the lights go out, Pepper and Ginger are in the shot and their eyes are the only visible objects.
- Cliffhanger: The first game ends with Chelsea being rescued, but found to not be waking up. The second game starts right at this cliffhanger.
- Captain Ersatz: Double Jetter is an obvious copy of Optimus Prime of Transformers, being a red-and-blue mecha that can turn into a vehicle. Only difference is he turns into a jet rather than a truck.
- Cheat Code: In both games, there are codes for a level select and maximum lives. Exclusive to 2 are codes that, when entered at the right time, will allow the second player to take control of the first two bosses.
- Clock Tower: The final world of Clockwork Knight 2 takes places in one, complete with swinging pendulums and moving gears.
- Cock Fight: Downplayed. While Tongara and Ginger do compete for Chelsea's love in the opening, it isn't really all that hostile (aside from Ginger sneering at Tongara when he fails). Admirably, despite their love of the princess, they never let their love distract them from their goal of rescuing her.
- Collection Sidequest: The second game adds playing cards scattered throughout the levels, with each stage (except boss levels) having four cards. Collect them all, and you'll be taught the level select command.
- Compilation Re-release: The Japan-exclusive Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchau no Fukubukuro, which bundles both installments with new game modes and extra minigames.
- Continuing is Painful: There are no checkpoints whatsoever, so losing a life pushes you back to the beginning of a level; even worse, continuing after running out of lives pushes you back to the first level of a room and resets your score to 0.
- Cool Helmet: All of the knights save Oneon wear one of these, with Garluch's in particular especially counting due to how ridiculously ornate it is. Just look at how huge its crest is!◊
- The helmet of the Katchin' enemies also count.
- Creepy Doll: Dandy Bob, a ventriloquist's puppet that carries a giant top hat.
- Damsel in Distress: Chelsea.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: This happens to more than half of the bosses in the series. A worthy example is Double Jetter's rather dramatic explosion. Justified somewhat though due to the fact that a lot of them are mechanical in nature.
- Detachment Combat: Of the involuntary sort; during the second phase of Iron Kong X's boss battle, he breaks apart into various bits after falling from a temporary brick platform, and his torso seemingly electrically moves them around, trying to hit Tongara.
- Difficulty by Region: In the Western versions, not only the bosses are tougher to defeat; playing the Soltian Roulette game and continuing after losing all your lives is more expensive as well.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Crazy TV.
- Dragon Rider: Garluch is sort-of one. For all intents and purposes, he's moreso fused with the Dragon in the last battle of Clockwork Knight 2.
- Easter Egg: In the Japanese version of the second game, a secret exit in the second Clock Tower stage features a guest appearance by either idol Hiroko Nakayama (Training/Normal difficulty) or Hirokazu Hamamura (Hard difficulty), both of whom were a part of the Japanese TV show "Game Catalogue II".
- Easy-Mode Mockery: In both games, the game ends after defeating the fourth boss when playing on Easy/Training mode. The final bosses and true endings are not shown.
- Edible Theme Naming: All the knights and Soltia's names are based on spices—Pepper and Ginger's are pretty self-explanatory, Oneon's is based on onion, Garluch's is based on garlic, and Soltia's is based on salt.
- Pepper's first name, Tongara, is based on the Japanese name for the capsicum annuum chili pepper, togarashi.
- Embedded Precursor: Bizarrely, the Clockwork Knight 2 released in America is actually the Japan-only compilation of the two games with the first one disabled. The code to unlock the first game (Up, down, left, up, left, down, right, up, L, R, L, R) was only discovered in late 2023 despite being hinted at by official magazine previews.
- Enemy Roll Call: 2 has one, though it leaves out a lot of enemies (like Mark, Bull Tong, Vamprella, etc.) and has enemies that were only present in the first game.
- Every 10,000 Points: Scoring the first 50,000 and 100,000 points (and then intervals of 100,000 points thereafter) nets you extra lives.
- Evil Laugh: Though not as diabolical as other video game villains, Funky Snaky lets out a maniacal laugh whenever you manage to land some hits on him.
- Captain Octopus lets out one when you get hit by his soap or fall into the water in his boss fight.
- Flash of Pain: Many of the bosses do this, like Iron Kong X, Captain Octopus, and the final boss of Clockwork Knight 2, Garluch the Dragon.
- Flunky Boss: They're few and far between, but they do exist, with the most prominent example being King Gears.
- Gag Nose: The Pepperouchau family all have odd, hexagonal noses of differing size. Ginger's rather pointy nose isn't too far off the mark, either.
- The Goomba: Pierron, a clown-in-a-can that merely meanders forward, can only feebly attempt to attack you with its party horn, and more often than not goes down with one hit. Katchin' also qualifies to an extent to it being the weakest commonplace enemy (Pierron isn't near as common), though it requires being wound up or thrown to be killed, making it more analogous to a Koopa Troopa than a Goomba (both in the sense of the trope and literally speaking).
- Graceful Loser/Earn Your Happy Ending: In a sense. At the end of the second game, Ginger discovers that Chelsea is actually his sister. Completing the game on Hard Mode shows an extra scene where the other toys are celebrating Pepper and Chelsea becoming a Happily Married couple. Ginger looks at them briefly before tossing them a bouquet of flowers, showing them his support.
- Gratuitous English: All of the songs in both games have all of their lyrics in English, even in the Japanese versions of the games. Not only that, but the singer's accent is so heavy that some people may have trouble understanding some of the lyrics.
- Humongous Mecha: Well, to the other toys at least, Double Jetter and Iron Kong X are certainly this.
- Invincibility Power-Up: Star spheres make you invincible for a short period of time.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: Oneon wears magenta armor and is rather effeminate. He's different from Garluch in that he's lived a life without adventure, and is more of the artist in the family as writing is one of his hobbies. He's also very gentle, understanding, and kind to Tongara and treats him with respect.
- King Mook: King Gears from the second game, both literally and figuratively. He's a castle that transforms into a robot that resembles the common enemy Katchin', and even releases them from his chest in battle.
- Konami Code: A variation of it is used to unlock Ginger in Pepperouchau no Fukubukuro and the US version of 2, with the only difference being that the code ends with L-R-L-R instead of B-A.
- Law of 100: For every certain Imperial Crowns you keep until you lose all your lives (5 in the Japanese versions, or 20 in the international versions), you'll be given a chance to continue playing.
- Living Toys: Well, duh! All of the characters are toys, or at the very least some other kind of inanimate object.
- Losing Your Head: A key aspect in the Iron Kong X battle; after being dismantled, Tongara must use the head of Kong to hit his torso.
- This also applies in the battle with Garluch the Dragon. After being hit enough times, the dragon will be left with just its head— one that blasts around breathing fire, mind you.
- Love Interest: Chelsea is Pepper's love interest. Also, Pepper himself is the love interest of Soltia the perfume bottle.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: In the second game's ending, Garluch reveals that Ginger is actually Chelsea's brother. He's shocked at the revelation.
- Mecha: Double Jetter and Iron Kong X.
- Mecha-Mooks: Crimson the red toy robot, and Bull Tong, a shielded robotic knight.
- Minecart Madness: The stages with Barobaro in 2 have this style of gameplay, with enemies on the tracks and gaps that need to be jumped over.
- Mook Maker: Golden crates in 2's Study Room stages. They produce the rocket enemy Edwards, which is handy since you'll need them to bust open certain parts of the stage.
- Oddly Shaped Sword: The swords that Pepper and Ginger carry around are shaped like keys.
- 1-Up: The blue helmet item gives you an extra life, and its much rarer red counterpart gives you three extra lives.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Garluch the Dragon, who is made up of various bits of junk and is fused with Pepper's grandpa.
- Painful Pointy Pufferfish: The second stage of the Bathroom world has blowfish on fishhooks that Barobaro can hit out of the way.
- Previously on…: The opening FMV of the second game revisits the events of the first game, ending before the battle with that game's final boss. The reason? The Japanese and PAL versions of the second game open with you fighting an easier version of it.
- Punny Name: Pa Zur's name sounds a lot like "puzzle".
- Racing Minigame: Le Bon hosts a few in the sequel, where upon winning he grants you a golden health key. In the second Clock Tower stage, it is Prunchau who races you, and defeating him will net you an even bigger key that permanently grants you a 5 hit points.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Tongara and Ginger respectively are this; Tongara is very energetic and impulsive, while his companion Ginger is far more calm and professional. Amusingly, this is reflected in their swords; the crossguards and pommels of their swords are red and blue respectively.
- Regional Bonus: The American version of Clockwork Knight 2, which was the last to be released, features the new modes and cheat codes added in Pepperouchau no Fukubukuro.
- Retired Badass: Garluch.
- Retro Rocket: Edwards is an anthropomorphic example of the trope.
- The Rival: Ginger serves as one to Pepper as they both compete for Chelsea's affection, and Ginger is more sauve and a better fencer than Pepper. His steed Silver also looks more sophisticated while Barobaro is rumored to come from a trash can. Unlike most examples, Pepper and Ginger are not really that hostile towards each other, and both set out to save Chelsea for the greater good of saving the toys.
- Rocket Punch: Crimsons are able to shoot them from their chests. They're not anything special though, as they're quite slow and can easily be destroyed.
- Say It with Hearts: The effeminate Oneon's speech is peppered with these in the before-level conversations (which is exclusive to the Japanese editions of the games). Soltia also uses them as well, even more frequently than Oneon.
- Sdrawkcab Name: Barobaro's name, when read backwards in Japanese, comes out as "Robaroba." Roba is the Japanese word for donkey, which is what Barobaro is.
- Secret Character: Ginger can be unlocked in the second game by using a code in Pepperouchau no Fukubukuro and the U.S. version. However, the levels involving Barobaro revert him back to Pepper.
- Sequential Boss: The boss of the Study Room area in the second game, Paper Morphy, is a piece of paper that forms into different animals for each of its three phases. The first phase is a gorilla, the second phase is a leopard, and the third phase is a bat.
- Snakes Are Sinister: The Chain Snake enemy type in the Attic world of 1 count, given their red eyes and their habitat.
- Subverted with Funky Snaky—he's definitely one of the bad guys, but his design is pretty wacky.
- Spell My Name With An S: Depending on the region, Pepper's grandfather is referred to as "Garluch" (USA/Europe) or "Galuch" (Japan, although interestingly the credits to Clockwork Knight 2 in all regions and its corresponding strategy guide use the former spelling).
- Spike Balls of Doom: In the second game, these appear in two places: the first boss Funky Snaky is partially made of them, and the second boss Paper Morphy, when changed into its bat form, drops them from above (which in turn burst and leave behind eggs).
- Stylistic Suck: The hidden minigames in Pepperouchau no Fukubukuro all have a childish, hand-drawn style for most of the graphics.
- Toy Time: It's not just one level that qualifies as this; as both games are about toys in a house, pretty much the entire series falls under this.
- Villainous Harlequin: The rather dopey-looking Pierron is this, being a rather pitiful foe.
- Waterfront Boss Battle: The battle with Captain Octopus in the second game takes place in a bathtub, with a few turtle shell platforms for Pepper to stand on while the captain attacks from the water.
- Wind-Up Key: Pepper and his fellow knights have these on them. Wind-up keys also appear as a power-up that increases the player's health.
- It's revealed they also have a bigger purpose in the second game's ending: Ginger's key is used to wind Chelsea back up and break the spell of the dark power.
