Clockwork Knight

This game is a side-scrolling platformer in the vein of the Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog series. Unlike those games, however, the game uses prerendered digitized 2D sprites of high-resolution 3D models similar to the Donkey Kong Country series, or Killer Instinct, on top of fully 3D levels (and with fully 3D bosses).

Pepper attacks enemies and opens passages with his key. A quick tap of a button will thrust it out horizontally. Likewise, repeatedly tapping the button over and over will cause him to twist the key around and around. This makes it a bit more powerful (e.g.: an enemy could be knocked out temporarily with a simple jab, but running into the key when twisting it will instantly take it out). He can also pick up unconscious enemies or objects such as footballs or springs and toss them; vertical tosses are possible.

Sir Tongara de Pepperouchau III ("Pepper" for short) is a toy soldier. He is in love with the Clockwork Fairy Princess, Chelsea, whose voice wakes up the toys of the house every night at midnight. But he is clumsy and something of a laughing stock, especially when compared to his friendly rival Ginger who is also after Chelsea's heart.

One night Chelsea is stolen away by an unknown force, which also hypnotizes some of the lesser toys to become fierce minions and stand in the way of anyone who would try to rescue her. If there is no voice to wake them up anymore then the toys will never live again, so Pepper and Ginger head off to find Chelsea before it is too late.

According to producer Noriyoshi Oba, Clockwork Knight took over a year to create. Before deciding on a world of toys, the development team thought of utilizing a much darker and serious swords and sorcery theme, but after many revisions it was dropped due to it being deemed unsatisfactory. After the switch to the fantasy toy setting, development sped up considerably. Designer Katsuhisa "Kats" Sato cited Mickey Mania as an influence on Clockwork Knight. The game's full motion video sequences were designed by freelance artist Masayuki Hasegawa.

The game was an early example of a 2.5D platformer, combining traditional side-scrolling gameplay with pre-rendered character sprites and three-dimensional polygonal environments and obstacles. Designer Kats Sato explained that the Sega Saturn's limitations in rendering large numbers of polygons influenced his decision to retain a side-scrolling format, while Prince of Persia inspired the use of environmental traps.

On release, Sega Saturn Tsūshin awarded the game a 29 out of 40. Famicom Tsūshin followed this up with a score of 32 out of 40 eight months later, giving it a 10 out of 10 in their Reader Cross Review.

USA-based magazine GamePro reviewed the Japanese version of the game prior to the Saturn's launch in the USA. They highly praised the responsive controls and graphical effects such as the scaling of enemies when they move to and from the background, but criticized the game for lack of gameplay innovation, concluding that it is "excellent-looking" and "enjoyable to play" but "once the initial look of the game wears off, you're left with a game you've been playing for years." Their later review of the North American release was more forgiving. Though they criticized the music, controls, and low difficulty, they acknowledged that the game was a strong showcase of the Saturn's graphical features and concluded that younger gamers might enjoy it.

According to Traveller's Tales co-founder Jon Burton, Clockwork Knight influenced the development of the studio's 1995 video game adaptation of Toy Story.

Clockwork Knight also influenced the development of the original Grand Theft Auto. DMA Design programmer Mike Dailly was impressed by the game's use of three-dimensional perspective within a side-scrolling platform game and experimented with recreating the effect on PC. Dailly subsequently realized that the side-on perspective engine could be adapted into an overhead view by adding a floor, producing a prototype that was used as the basis for Race 'n' Chase, the project that became Grand Theft Auto.