Clockwork Knight 1 & 2

What if the toys in your room came to life the moment the lights went out? Clockwork Knight turns exactly this fairy-tale notion into an adorable platformer that SEGA sent into battle as one of the Saturn's early enticements. You play as the clockwork knight Pepperouchau and journey through a world of living toys to rescue your chosen one.

The game bet on pre-rendered graphics: the characters and environments look like digitized plastic toys and gear-and-ball mechanisms, which gives it an instantly recognizable and cute look. This approach, where 3D models are rendered in advance and placed into a 2D platformer, was a popular way in the mid-nineties to achieve a new, "more spatial" impression without the game abandoning the proven 2D fundamentals of gameplay.

In terms of gameplay it's a classic side-scrolling platformer with collecting, jumping and boss fights against giant living toys. The second installment develops and refines the mechanics further, so the pair of games together offers a rounded view of how SEGA wanted to build a childishly playful yet technically impressive face for its new console.

Clockwork Knight was among the titles meant to define the first impression of the Saturn, and together with other 2D gems it showed the console could handle charming, craftsmanlike platformers too. Today it's a reminder of an era when pre-rendered graphics felt futuristic and when toys coming to life were a safe path to players' hearts.

Why play: For the charming world of living toys and the pre-rendered graphics that made the Clockwork Knight duo one of the faces of the early Saturn.