Baladium boss fight with scrapped second phase - Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (October 1997 prototype)

On the late-development prototype that was dumped in April 2021, the Baladium boss fight had a second phase. Why it didn’t end up making it into the final release is unknown. After completing the fight, the game freezes trying to load the inexistent assets of the next cutscene.
I didn’t use savestates, you did.
風のクロノア ～door to phantomile～ プロトバラディウム戦【二フェーズ】
Played on mednafen 1.27.1 and recorded with FBX Game Recorder on a very average PC (sorry about the dropped frames). Kudos to The Hidden Palace for preserving this PSX gem.

[@Poyostar]

Man, this is some intriguing stuff. Between the music and the context, Baladium had the perfect set-up to be one of the best bosses in the game, so it's a shame that this second phase was ultimately cut from the final game and subsequently not brought back for neither the Wiimake or Phantasy Reverie Series. Ah well.

[@KirbyCurbwhy]

Everybody gangsta til Baladium becomes a ghost

[@HyperSonicXtreme]

Baladium: I'M GOING GHOST!!!!

[@betterthanbrooklyn5806]

woah this is really cool. I don't think I remember a boss using the foreground like that!

[@CB-L]

The boss becoming ghost form was already terrifying, and then it uses the FOREGROUND to launch attacks!
I don't recall any boss in the series using the foreground - this would've been really awesome on actual complete version..

[@KnottsBear-yTalesPreserved]

This is really cool! Such a shame it was cut, but it makes sense why they did it.

[@elikeyscdx9067]

I think why they minus out the 2nd phase is because it was probably too long for regular boss fights? Don’t know, but it seems if you die to this boss's 2nd phase, you have to do it from the beginning of the fight. I think they thought it was too tough for little kids to deal with a 2 phase boss fight, so they just left it to a single phase boss fight instead. That’s my theory anyway.

[@nateoscar2950]

It makes sense because it can take up to 8 hits to defeat Baladium

[@kylestubbs8867]

That would explain it. Only the final boss in this game has more than one phase.

[@Cumawmeelluh]

@@kylestubbs8867 Actually, pretty much all the bosses change behaviour based on how much health is left. An obvious example would be Ghadius who will shift phase after nearing 50% health and again at a lower percentage, it even prevents the player from making his hp bar lower than 50% before shifting phase. Same can be said for Joka, who shifts behaviour periodically or when it hits certain health percentages.
The above mentioned fights are significantly longer than Baladium's or any other boss except Nahatomb and I feel like both Baladium's and Rongo Lango's fights are way too short, despite them having some of the best pieces of music in the game, along with mad Seadoph's.

[@CB-L]

Fun fact : this actually was mentioned in one of the Developer interviews("relay essay", if I remember correctly). Apparently Baladium's 2nd phase was intact till 2 months before game's release.

[@gtkruntime5520]

oh my god, what??? i need to read this!!!

[@CB-L]

@@gtkruntime5520 "Klonoa Relay Essay" will give you needed results.(Original is written in Japanese though) Hideki Tanaaki(田名網 英樹)'s page(essay 08b) mentions Baladium's design motif and the elusive 2nd form.

[@CB-L]

@@gtkruntime5520 One of the Graphic designers, Hideki Tanaami, mentioned it in his Klonoa relay essay. Including the part that it existed till 2 months before release date.

[@garretts6678]

1:00
Once you choose your path, you never go back!
Fools run, but I will choose to attack!
The harshest winds waiting for the storm
Free us from the chance to mourn!
When you look to the wind and you touch the sky
When you look at a world that dreams not to fly
Will the touchdown rip the tears from your eyes?
Will it give you reason and drive?
With the wind at our back, we are flying free
In the sky, the one thing they won't take from me!
Soaring on to the place that I'm meant to be!
I will fly! I WILL FLY!
2:01
When the charming ends, the cobra will strike!
The sun falls, so launches the dragonfly!
The harshest winds trapped in which you swing
Upturn your everything!
When you look to the wind and you touch the sky
When you look at a world that dreams not to fly
Will the touchdown rip the tears from your eyes?
Will it give you reason and drive?
With the wind at our back, we are flying free
In the sky, the one thing they won't take from me!
Soaring on to the place that I'm meant to be!
I will fly! I WILL FLY!

[@charada642]

Que nostalgia !!
😢😢😢😢

[@XX-sp3tt]

Whao. I had no idea. How did you find this?

[@gtkruntime5520]

just by playing the prototype through hehe. there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there

[@surnachi]

u are so noob at klonoa but that is okay ❤

[@gtkruntime5520]

hahahahah i suck at videogames even though i’ve been playing my whole life x)

[@Aki_master720]

L