large, fully polygonal boss in a one-on-one battle. The game has 13 levels, including boss levels. The levels take place in four different rooms (Betsy's Room, Kevin's Room, the Kitchen, and the Attic) with two normal levels and one boss each, plus a final boss. After beating the bosses of the first three worlds, the player can opt to participate in a bonus game called Soltian Roulette, ran by Soltia the perfume bottle in which Imperial Crowns (silver coins found commonly throughout the game) are spent for a chance at gaining extra lives in a shell game. If Pepper loses all his lives, the player can continue from the beginning of the current room by spending Crowns. If the player does not have enough coins to continue, the game is over and the player must start from the beginning of the game. Development 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. Sega made several modifications to make the game more difficult for its North American and European releases, such as increasing the number of hits required to defeat the bosses, as well as increasing the number of Imperial Crowns needed to play the Soltian Roulette bonus game. Producer Dante Anderson explained, "For some reason, Japanese audiences like to beat their games very quickly, but Americans want more challenge, and Europeans like the games tougher still." Further alterations were also made, such as removing before-level cutscenes (in which Pepper would receive advice from his various friends and family) and changing the skin tone of the game's first boss, a top hot-toting doll named Dandy Bob, to blue due to the belief the fight would resemble a toy attacking a human child. Reception 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.