1. What makes Travis' Schpeletiger new is that it is now twice as long (in addition to the better controls).
2. This has already been verified, but there have been doubts and concerns as to how Grasshopper is going to have 50 unique bosses, from their appearance to actual fighting capabilities. Suda explains to EDGE that basically there is nothing to worry about as they incorporated both the original NMH development team and the NMH2 team (many members being of both teams including the character creator) to brainstorm and according to Suda they had no problems shooting out several ideas and characters from that.
3. The name of the "schoolgirl assassin" we all know about is Kimmy. How appropriate. Suda also mentions that Kimmy wants to keep Travis "all to her self." Possible Misery references?
4. At the end of every boss fight, a 2D image of Travis will walk from one end of the screen to the other to hop onto the Schpeletiger and drive off, accompanied by some new piece of midi music.
5. The idea of Travis using other weapons, even projectiles, was considered by Suda, but ultimately canned as Suda says that the sword/beam katana is what Travis should always use. Suda calls Travis the "modern samurai."
6. It was implied that Bishop actually does not die or get killed off, as the article explains that Bishop will have a bigger role to play in the game. At the same time, Suda says that "Travis is fighting for himself" not for anyone else. Travis is fighting for revenge, but perhaps for someone else other than Bishop?
7. Speaking more specifically on the city, Suda explains that Travis had actually left Santa Destroy for those three years, and it wasn't until he came back that he had seen how much it had changed. Where Travis had gone is not said. Only a portion of the original city will be traveled, based on fan responses on the first game. The streets and sidewalks will be much more busier and cars will "get out of the way" of Travis' bike. There are construction signs and lights everywhere. One of the fighting grounds will be a "new school", "construction yard", and a graveyard. Not sure if the school is new in the sense that it is an additional one to the Santa Destroy High School or if it is just a remodeled SDHS.
8. There are still side jobs such as coconut collecting and a new one involving plumbing. Suda explains that he still wants the player to feel like he has to work hard to play the game as that is what it means to be a punk. Otherwise, he says, there is a disconnect between the videogame world and reality. Still, the side jobs are still improved and provide humor as well as entertainment.
9. It is confirmed that Destroyman comes back as a cyborg as wanting revenge against, who else, Travis.
10. Finally, the bosses themselves: it will not be as difficult, time consuming, and at times boring to collect enough money to advance to the next boss fight. In fact, Suda purposely wanted to mix things up to keep it from getting repetitive by having Shinobu and Henry as playable characters and, at times, fighting more than one boss fight, sometimes one right after the other, and sometimes simultaneously.
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robio (3m)
The NES games are very playable and infinetly preferable to the boring ass jobs in the original game IMO. Also, it's far easier to accumulate money in NMH2 over the first game. In the first game I managed to buy one new katana. In this game I have 4 katanas and a couple of expensive jackets already. And because the 8 bit games are a pleasure to pay, it never feels like the boring drudgery of the first games jobs and overworld.
They are actually very generous with the cash in this game.
Seriously you liked riding the bike around an N64 game in the first?
The Assasination missions are in the game and unlock after you beat a few more bosses, they are called Revenge Missions now and they are better than the missions in the first game by far. Mainly because there are no one hit deaths and you can retry instantly.
50 cent boss was and is the worst part of the whole game.
Graveyard boss was where the game got awesome for me and it continues on from there.
yeah i realised that about the revenge missions. they are sort of similar to the assassination missions, only so far (i have done six or seven of them) a lot less varied, ... and you get no money from them (and you do them once and they disappear). in the first one assassination jobs were for money and you could do them ad infinitum (i could make 120k with a one minute assassination mission)... i got all the katanas, all the upgrade parts (even the infinite battery charge) and very nearly all of the clothes. i can't get shit in this game. the NES games pay next to nothing and apart from the steak one they are all awful.
so far, i really like the meat of the game, but the side things are far better in the original
In the first game I would drive to an assasination mission, which was a horrible experience because of how the overworld was executed. I would sit through a load for the mission to start, it was say something like "kill everyone without getting hit" and I would get hit. And then my face was like this and I gave up on them.
The NES games here are awesome and I don't even like NES games. The steak game is the easiest one button game there is No way is that the best. The tile laying and pipe laying are my favourites and then the bug hunt.
You can accumulate a lot of cash from them, but if you don't like them then I guess you're going to miss out on the items, yeah.
Seriously though, how awesome was that haunted house boss?
I smashed most objects to give me running room, then hid like a coward in the back room to recharge.
What is your favourite outfit from the game?
I like the purple jacket with all the arty detail on the reverse.
i've bought like two outfits in NMH2, i'm constantly broke. Wish I could transfer my wardrobe from the first game, I had everything.
right now i've been wearing a black leather studded jacket and the pink panda t-shirt (because i'm cool like that).
i played just a little bit today, finished the second fight as shinobu. i don't know who or what spoilt it for me but I knew that guy would return as a boss here. but it was alright at least, played different than the first game
Er... it was probably me who spoilt that boss fight. I posted a pic. It suprised me though because there were two.
Amidst all the E3 and world cup brouhaha as well as getting SMG2 I've been playing some of this. I've made rank 3 so apparently I have just two more fights to go plus the inevitable (and mostly welcome) extra boss.
My impressions are pretty consistent with last time I wrote. The boss fights are great. As good as the ones in the first game. They present the right amount of challenge and they are pretty inventive. Everything else about this game is worse than the first game, much worse. The revenge battles are all the same 2 types. Kill everyone within the time limit, or kill one target guy while a bunch of other goons are in the way trying to kill you. Gone is the incredible variety of the assassination missions from the first game. The side jobs are stupid NES games, agh. The gym guy with the cat-suit is as funny as ryu from the original but the gym upgrades are a real pain and you can waste a lot of very hard earned cash trying to get them (in fact i've given up on the stupidly difficult strength upgrades). Money is almost impossible to come by, so no clothes for me, or light-sabre upgrades which such big time. It's a good thing you don't have to pay to enter ranked fights or I would have given up on this game long ago.
The plot (whatever plot NMH has) is also pretty stagnant for some time now. Hopefully something will happen though I doubt it'll be anything too exciting or unpredictable.
I will play it to see the remaining bosses and the ending but i'm quite a bit disappointed by this game. I guess my expectations were too high from having loved the first one so much, and everybody saying this was so much better. it's not better, not even as good.
That's weird, I hear some people with your impressions on GAF. My experience has been very different and is in line with the majority of reviews. They've cut out all the BS and boredom and make everything more awesome. I love the minigames, I much, much prefer the revenge missions over the assasination missions of the first game. I find it much easier to get cash in this game because of the side jobs being so much more pleasurable. Just really opposite to you.
The first game's weakness was the cruddy overworld, the boring side jobs, the frustrating assasination missions, the sometimes shoddy presentation. All of that has been cut out or improved. I can't find much to complain about with this game apart from the lack of proper intros and death scenes for the bosses.