WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil

So I recently found out that the Klonoa 2 soundtrack is available on iTunes but only in America and Japan, and that makes me very annoyed. Come on, Namco, let me pay you money for your cool game soundtracks! Anyway, brief rant over, let’s talk about probably my favourite boss theme from Klonoa 2.

Since I was a kid when I played this game, there were a number of moments that really resonated with me and left an impact on my young mind, and the battle with Leorina was easily one of them. The game constantly teased an eventual fight between her and Klonoa, especially once she got her own ring to counter his. But when the time comes, Leorina’s own twisted desires and sorrow literally transform her into a big scary monster that, while maybe goofy looking to some, still unnerves me to this day. It’s just borderline unrecognisable, and with it comes this awesome music piece.

The slow but grand build-up is perfectly timed with the cutscene where Leorina transforms, creating a heightened sense of stress and danger before quickly seguing into the main part of the track. Unlike some other boss themes that either make the boss more threatening or pump you up to take them down, this one, while still grandiose and epic, feels much more tragic.

It almost sounds strained, as if it’s representing the pain Leorina is going through in having become this mindless creature. There’s even a brief moment where the track gets much quieter and all you can hear are the chimes of bells – maybe it’s meant to be referencing the Bell of Sorrow that Leorina rang and now it’s chiming for her? This music doesn’t make you excited to defeat the boss. All it does is make you pity her, and the only way to help her is to take her down. Also, I swear it has elements of Leorina’s own theme music in there somewhere.

Leorina does survive the battle and changes her ways afterwards but this boss fight is easily one of the most climactic moments in the whole game. I think I used to replay it a lot not just for the fight itself but so I could hear this fantastic piece of music as well.