Nanostray 2: For the 7 fans on PA boards!

AlphaTwo

http://www.nanostray2.com/

Trailer
http://www.nanostray2.com/files/shinen_nanostray2_video1_divx.avi




For the 7 Nanostray fans, looks like we're getting the sequel soon! And this looks awesome too. Bonus: Seems like they've dropped the pseudo-3D perspective, and have went for a full top-down/side scrolling view.

TheSonicRetard

Whoa!

I guess that means Nanostray was released!

LewieP

looking good.

glad to hear publisher has had less influence over the devs this time round, no forced touch screen controls. And the "full top-down/side scrolling view" sounds better from a gameplay perspective, even if less showier for 'the masses'

Tuoma

I read this is going to have wifi, is that still in the game now?

Kinda liked the first one even though it needed some polishing, will buy it no mather what simply because the ds lacks shmups.

BTP

BITCH! You beat me to this! I was even going to include "GIANT ENEM--AW, F**K IT." with this pic.

BTP

NeoGAF has YouTube'd the trailer for those of you that can't watch it.....like me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4-5NGSBVsY

Gosh damn.....PW2, Pokemon Diamond, and Nanostray 2. I think I could be happy enough with just those three DS games for this year.

I need to save money anyways.

mausmalone

YES

Drez

I hope this one is actually good. The first one kinda blew. (Yes, I have it - hunted around for it. :-/)

Neo Rasa

This is totally rad. Anyone with DS should get it when it comes out.

PotU

I don't like the first one.

Neo Rasa

PotU wrote:

I don't like the first one.

This one looks superior in every way, if you have a DS you ought to try it out when it's released.

Vicissitude

I bought the first one, played it for a few days, and put it down. I'll probably buy this one when I can get it on the cheap.

Kewop Decam

this game looks great. Is the first one this good?

guidedbyvices

I liked the psuedo 3D.
And the last boss was pretty fun. Sorta. I guess. :P

racyrefinedraj

Thought the first was pretty meh until I started on the challenges. Those were fun++ would play again. Any word on whether 2 has a similar "challenge mode" style option?

smallmouth

The first game is really difficult. I never did find any videos online of how to high score stages.

I'm glad they dropped the silly pseudo-3D; It made an already hard game more difficult. The touch controls were crap too and could have easily been mapped to buttons.

Someone needs to develop a top down shooter that uses both screens.

ArcticXC

YES!!

I remember hearing that they were changing the style to be more gradius-like, so I'm glad they actually went through with it.

I really can't stand the pseudo-3d (or the evil that is the invisible bars at the edges of the screen) but this looks to be a vast improvement, especially in terms of gameplay. The controls felt too clunky in the first one, but this looks to be a bit more smooth.

Of course, I still wish that there were more shmup options out there, especially on the DS. I might even have to buy a 360 depending on what treasure puts out.

Cronus

Wow, I'm one of seven. I feel so special.

It looks good that they took out the touch screen controls, as those were just annoying. I hope this one will have more levels, as my main complaint about the first one was that there wasn't enough replay value. I also hope that they are going to market this one better, as Nanostray got very little mention anywhere on the tubes.

mausmalone

smallmouth wrote:

The first game is really difficult. I never did find any videos online of how to high score stages.

I'm glad they dropped the silly pseudo-3D; It made an already hard game more difficult. The touch controls were crap too and could have easily been mapped to buttons.

Someone needs to develop a top down shooter that uses both screens.

Actually, on that note, there's some gameplay video floating out there of Raid Over the River. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8859251871838045458 Yeah, yeah, I know. It's Nibris, a company known for being total frauds because they don't show their stuff very often. I don't know how that makes them total frauds, but apparently it does.

BigJoeM

I'm eagerly anticipating this game i liked the first one quite a bit.

I'm glad there's no more touchscreen controls those really sucked.

METAzraeL

Vicissitude wrote:

I bought the first one, played it for a few days, and put it down. I'll probably buy this one when I can get it on the cheap.

Yeah, it's alright for a bit, but it doesn't really hold up.

jeffc

:^:

The first one took me a while to get into, but once I did it was a totally awesome experience. I don't think I've cleared all of the challenges yet, either.. those were tough as hell.

From the trailer, it looks like they've got a little Gradius thing going with the energy balls around your ship. I'm not sure if I like the idea of ship upgrades, but I guess we'll see how it works out in the end.

I also hope they do something better with multiplayer. A co-op mode would be like a wet dream.

Dodge Aspen

Hot damn this game is pretty.

Masume

Count me in as one of the seven. I love the first game, despite nothing entirely radical about it, it was a good title. Now if they only converted Mars Matrix to the DS, I would be one happy monkey. Until then Nanostray 2 looks sweet.

slash000

Am I number 6 or 7? I'm in there some where.




Nanostray on the DS is awesome. At first, I thought it was 'meh' at best.. but once you understand how the Challenges work, you start getting into the game, big time.

The Challenges add tons of replay value to the game. It's awesome.


And then, once you've nailed a few challenges, it's a blast to go back and play through the game in Normal and Hard settings. Hard gets tough.



I really enjoy the smooth presentation and music, and the variety of locales. As far as gameplay, I really like how they use the Chains of enemies to recharge your special attacks. There's also a good variety of weapons, one to use for all the various situations. Once you get good at knowing what weapon to use and when, you start to rip through the game. It becomes great fun.


But beating Challenges is a whole other ballpark. Beating the campaign is all about using your various weapons and dealing out damage and destruction. Challenges are all about precision and conservation.






I very much look forward to Nanostray 2, and I appreciate the fact that they're removing the 'tilted' playing field. The tilt was the only fault I really had with the game.

Mugenmidget

I'm stoked, but does anyone know about the multiplayer this time around?

Lunker

slash000 wrote:

I very much look forward to Nanostray 2, and I appreciate the fact that they're removing the 'tilted' playing field. The tilt was the only fault I really had with the game.

The perspective really fucked me up. I had the same problem with Iridion 3D. I'm normally at least passable with shmups, but I would crash into things all the time. The more traditional screen format plus the removal of those infernal touchscreen controls equals an instant buy for me.

As much as I disliked the first Nanostray, it was a stunningly beautiful game. Can't wait to see what they pull out for the sequel.

slash000

I'm a little worried though, because the second set of screenshots in the OP have what appear to be slightly tilted playing fields in the shot.



Also, I loved the touchscreen controls. I felt it was better than scrolling through the weapons with L and R shoulder buttons.

That was mostly due to knowing what weapons I would need coming up and being able to switch to the right one in the interim between waves of enemies. But eventually the key weapons went to muscle memory.



Ultimately, I don't care how weapon switching is handled, I'd be fine with it either way. But I loved having access to all the weapons at all times, instead of the way Iridion II did things.

cj iwakura

This looks far more up my alley than Nanostray 1 did.

Shows the pure potential the DS has for curtain fire shmups if someone decides to take advantage of it.

Castle Shikigami DS? Sold.

Einhander

I remember the old NanoStray ads that were on a few websites back before it was released. They said "Real gamers play shooters", and I was all like "Fuck you, real gamers play games that don't have tacked-on horseshit control schemes".

My roomate has a Lite, and I'm always on the lookout for a good shooter. He's thinking about picking it up once it's released, so here's hoping.

BTP

To everyone who hated the controls to the first game...........please tell me you honestly tried the game while using the L button for firing instead of A.

I had a hard time at first just like everyone else, but once I realized L could be used, it all just made sense and became much more comfortable on your hands.

SageinaRage

BTP wrote:

To everyone who hated the controls to the first game...........please tell me you honestly tried the game while using the L button for firing instead of A.

I had a hard time at first just like everyone else, but once I realized L could be used, it all just made sense and became much more comfortable on your hands.

That sounds...worse. Holding down the triggers for any length of time is a pain for me, especially while trying to use the d-pad.


Anyway, I liked Nanostray a little, not quite to recommend it on the wiki. But removing the pseudo 3d and the touch controls? Those are my two biggest gripes with the game, and make the sequel a must buy.

Neo Rasa

The "tilt" this time around doesn't look any worse than say, Captain Skyhawk, Shin'en's own Iridion II or any other solidly vertical shmup.


The only game to really get that very tilted angle right is Axelay. The tilted levels wrap around horizontally so there is no "wall."

Man of the Waves

Nanostray was okay, but it didn't last long before I put it down. The main game was hard to get into, but once I discovered the challenges, I enjoyed it more. Then, I only played the main game to unlock more challenges. I only got to the second set of planets, though.

LavaKnight

I made the mistake of starting the first one in the mode where you have to beat everything all the way through, got through one and a half levels, and promptly put it down after a couple of failures.

I liked it, though, so this looking a lot better only bodes well.

sethsez

The tilt just looks like the background doing dramatic sweeps. It doesn't appear to affect the actual gameplay at all (same as the camera in Ikaruga, Shikigami no Shiro, etc), which looks far better than the original.

Einhander wrote:

I remember the old NanoStray ads that were on a few websites back before it was released. They said "Real gamers play shooters", and I was all like "Fuck you, real gamers play games that don't have tacked-on horseshit control schemes".

Blame Majesco for that, not Shin'en. Shin'en hated that scheme, and it was revamped for the Japanese release that Majesco had no control over. Additionally, they're self-funding this one specifically so no publishers can force them to cram in shit they don't want, like the touch screen controls in the original.

Beck

So, coming from someone who never played the first game, those little glowing bubbles around the ship...Were they in the first game? If so, did they work in a similar way to the ones in Gradius V? Because, well, if so...My frothing demand for this game increases!

sethsez

Beck wrote:

So, coming from someone who never played the first game, those little glowing bubbles around the ship...Were they in the first game? If so, did they work in a similar way to the ones in Gradius V? Because, well, if so...My frothing demand for this game increases!

They were not, so we have no clue. To me it looks a bit more like R-Type-ish bits, but I wouldn't put money on that.

Freezie KO

I didn't buy the first because of the touchscreen controls, which I read were awful. I will get this.

sethsez

Freezie KO wrote:

I didn't buy the first because of the touchscreen controls, which I read were awful. I will get this.

Hatred for it was a bit overstated in my opinion (you just used the touch screen to switch weapons, which you rarely needed to do), but it was needless. If you're interested in the original game but refuse to play it due to the touch screen controls, you might see if you cant rack down the Japanese release which didn't use them.

Freezie KO

sethsez wrote:

Freezie KO wrote:

I didn't buy the first because of the touchscreen controls, which I read were awful. I will get this.

Hatred for it was a bit overstated in my opinion (you just used the touch screen to switch weapons, which you rarely needed to do), but it was needless. If you're interested in the original game but refuse to play it due to the touch screen controls, you might see if you cant rack down the Japanese release which didn't use them.

That's pretty cool that the Japanese release didn't have them. Is it an expensive import? Is there any language barrier? Probably not since it's a shooter, but just in case...

I might consider it since '07 looks to be slower than '06 for the DS.