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. Next Generation also reviewed the game prior to the Saturn's USA launch. They too were highly impressed with the game's graphics, noting particularly the "solidity" and depth of the objects, the exceptional parallax scrolling effects, and the textures of the scenery. However, they also concurred that the gameplay is "routine" and unoriginal platforming, and found the game too easy as well. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly agreed that the game was a showcase for the Saturn's graphical abilities but considered this to be a negative, with one of them elaborating that "The 3-D perspective is practically shoved down your throat. There are enough colors to blind you for life..." Two of them felt the graphics were particularly wasted because the player character cannot enter the different scrolling planes. They rated it an overall "good game" and scored it 28 out of 40 (7 out of 10 average). Similarly to GamePro and Next Generation, Maximum commented that "The graphics do look great … and the gameplay is decent enough, but playing the game is in no way a new experience. Everything you can do in Clockwork Knight, you've probably done before in a 16-bit title." However, they felt the game's worst point to be its lack of longevity, asserting that "even the most unskilled player will have seen all four levels in one session." Notes References 1994 video games Fictional knights in video games Platform games Sega Games franchises Sega video games Sega Saturn games Sega Saturn-only games Sentient toys in fiction Video games about toys Video games with 2.5D graphics Video games with pre-rendered 3D graphics Video games developed in Japan