Prinny (PSP)

[Vexorg]

For those of you in that Disgaea thread earlier this week, this one looks right up your alley:

Website:
http://prinny.jp

Screens:
http://kotaku.com/5045764/here-are-your-prinny-screens

Trailer:
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/05/disga ... for-japan/

I get the sneaking suspicion there's no way that this one is going to make it out of Japan, but this might actually be worth importing. After all, how many side-scrolling platformers do you get with exploding evil penguins these days?

[Dremark]

For those of you in that Disgaea thread earlier this week, this one looks right up your alley:

Website:
http://prinny.jp

Screens:
http://kotaku.com/5045764/here-are-your-prinny-screens

Trailer:
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/05/disga ... for-japan/

I get the sneaking suspicion there's no way that this one is going to make it out of Japan, but this might actually be worth importing. After all, how many side-scrolling platformers do you get with exploding evil penguins these days?

I'd be pretty surprised if it stayed in Japan honestly. Anything Disgaea related seems to sell well in the US.

Assuming it comes out here i'll pick it up because i'm a total whore for anything N1 develops. If not i'll consider importing it, although i'd rather play it on something other than a PSP.

[BulletMagnet]

Mark me down as another likely customer for this one - I'm a N1 fan to begin with (currently playing La Pucelle actually), and a platformer on the PSP sounds like something I wouldn't mind having...if it turns out decently, anyways. Has N1 ever done a regular ol' side-scroller like this before? I think they used to do mostly puzzle-ish stuff before getting into the strategy games, but offhand I can't recall any efforts along Prinny's lines.

[Elixir]

I love the title. Prinny: Is it okay if I'm the main character?

It will probably be localized, since Disgaea is N1's leading series, but that won't happen until '09. But I'll check it out regardless.

[Vexorg]

A US release for this is now confirmed, although no date is provided:

http://www.siliconera.com/2008/09/23/he ... tion-game/

[MX7]

in thar us

[BulletMagnet]

Cool news, let's hope the game turns out good to begin with, heh heh.

[nlen83]

Can't wait. Excellent news...

[Lordstar]

I get the sneaking suspicion there's no way that this one is going to make it out of Japan, but this might actually be worth importing. After all, how many side-scrolling platformers do you get with exploding evil penguins these days?

Oooooh cool I cant wait to atone for my past sins! I will have to purchace a PSP at some point now. I was holding out and holding out but . . . ya know

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I'm several levels into this, and it's very good. Your prinny has a limited set of abilities and so far I haven't gained anything new. However, the game makes you use every move you have and that's great because I hate redundant stuff. It's also very challenging on Normal difficulty; not quite as much as say Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins but will make you want to throw your PSP sometimes.

Environments are 3D like UGnG and very beautiful. Enemies are sprites in the same style as Disgaea. I am not a fan of the style and the washed out look, but I know other people love it.

[Drascin]

...Goddamnit, I might just have to steal my friend's PSP now, if this comes to Europe. It looks awesome.

[BulletMagnet]

@UFO - I'm curious how the "thousand lives" setup works...or has that setup been ditched?

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

It's still there. Each Prinny is a life, which pretty much means infinity lives, but you'll need them because the game gets really tough. Each time you get killed, you restart at a checkpoint as a new Prinny (they look and talk the same tho.)

[BulletMagnet]

Heh, the "infinite lives" phenomenon of 3D platformers has come to 2D, it would seem...though according to you it's still fun, so hopefully I'll agree with you come February...

[MX7]

in thar us

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Heh, the "infinite lives" phenomenon of 3D platformers has come to 2D, it would seem...though according to you it's still fun, so hopefully I'll agree with you come February...

I'm close to the end (I think) and the difficulty reaches Ghost and Goblin levels... There's this boss I spent 90 prinnies on. What a goddamn pain in the ass. A cute easy 3D platformer this is not.

Edit: currently down about 250 prinnies.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Review

Prinny is a old-school style platformer. Things are pretty much boiled down to the necessary. You have three attacks: slash on the ground, jump-and-throw-sonic-booms downwards at a 45 degree angle and the butt stomp. You can slash faster by mashing the square button faster and make enemies dizzy with the butt stomp for more damage. For maneuvering you can double jump (realistic jumping), crouch (can't attack) and rotate. You're invincible while rotating but you get dizzy if you rotate too much and you can also interrupt the rotating and run. Every move in this game is necessary and you'll need to master every one of them to succeed. You don't learn anything else, but it's not necessary.

The game reminds me a lot of Ghost and Ghouls. It starts easy but gets very hard very fast. You can select which level you want to start with and with each level you pass the game gets harder. If you play the easy levels first, the hard levels will totally RAPE you. Luckily you get 1000 lives (Prinnies) and you'll need them no matter what difficulty you play. I was down about 600 Prinnies by the time I finished the game in "Normal." Nippon Ichi devs come from a dimension where "Normal" means "damn fucking hard."

Now that we're over with the good, let's get to the bad. Bosses can get extremely annoying because you need to dizzy them and do hardcore button mashing to deal a decent amount of damage. You're also under a 3 minutes time limit which is barely enough for the later boss battles. WTF!? The worst of all the bosses is the last because you can't dizzy him and to do ANY damage you have to mash on the attack button like your life depended on it. I had 7 fucking seconds left when I killed him and I was mashing so fast I turned red and had to take a break mid-battle. Would it have killed them to add an auto fire option? GEEEE.

7 because the button mashing got annoying.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Guys, you may want to pick up a Hudson mash button trainer thingie along with this game. You'll need it.

[Minzoku]

hey Ash, where are you Plug your work!

http://djbooks.easystorecreator.com/ite ... s/list.htm

[BulletMagnet]

Guys, you may want to pick up a Hudson mash button trainer thingie along with this game. You'll need it.

Having picked up the game I can attest to this - UFO, you are a better man than I am, because I don't think I'll ever go back to the game and try to beat that last boss. I have plenty of lives left, but he's just WAY too infuriating for me - not even remotely fun.

The rest of the game was hard, but manageable with some persistence - this guy is just digital masochism incarnate.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Don't know about being a better man or anything like that, but oh, how I wish I could use my HRAP while playing this. The hardcore button mashing ruins the game since the PSP just isn't made for that kind of fast finger action in the middle of battle.

The ending is nothing special and the game kind of gives you the middle finger during the credits. They show about every sprite used in the game but without the horrid blur-o-vision filter. They look way sharper and detailed. There's also the extra battle with Asagi if you collect all the letters and start a new game. It's cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWXLfjs9gw0

[BulletMagnet]

The lame ending or whatever doesn't bother me - it's just that the infuriating final boss (memorize his attack sequence and mash like mad whenever there's an opening - screw up and you'll probably fall off a cliff and have to start all over) completely ruins not only my desire to complete the game once, but any "replay value" it might have had otherwise, since to go through the alternate stages and whatnot I'll end up working my way to him and having to drive myself nuts all over again. To put it bluntly, I'd just rather play something else - if that makes me a girly-man or whatever, so be it.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I wonder who exactly Nippon Ichi created this game for. I know Disgaea fans are hardcore, but it's the grind-all-day kind of hardcore, not the hardcore that will try a boss battle 200 times (which is about how many times I tried.) I beat the last guy just to get done with the game, but I was about to throw out the damn game and vaporize it with my eye lasers. The padlock guy and the last guy were infuriating.

[BulletMagnet]

The challenge itself isn't what puts me off, but rather the KIND of challenge being offered here - it has very little to do with nimble fingers/reaction time (aside from slash-mashing, if that counts), and nearly everything to do with rote memorization, considering how little leeway you're given when it comes to executing anything "off the cuff" (i.e. the [mostly] non-adjustable jumps, boss time limits, set-in-stone patterns, down-to-the-pixel precision requirements to pass some areas, etc.). Basically, you have to figure out a very exact plan of attack (while dying repeatedly in the process) and then execute it all near-perfectly to pass any given area/battle. And before some lunkhead slouches in here and bleats "ALL games do dat, skrub", I'm well aware, but this bugger takes it to the point where I'm all but completely "taken out of the experience," for lack of a better phrase. After awhile it's no longer a game, but an endurance test.

I'm in the middle of writing a review for this, maybe I'll link it once it's posted.

vaporize it with my eye lasers

Sorry, but you're officially a better man than I am.

[lilmanjs]

I've never played any of the games in the series. so what is a good jumping off point since I really need games for my PSP. this platformer looks amazing. I will have to get it.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

The gameplay is similar to Ultimate Ghouls and Ghosts, but bosses require you to memorize their every move and you do crap damage without dizzying them and mashing the attack button VERY VERY VERY (extreme emphasis) FAST. The last boss is extremely annoying to kill because you need to hit him like a gazillion times in 3 minutes all while avoiding all sorts of cheap attacks that knock you off a platform about 1/3 the width of the screen.

Don't bother if you aren't an EXTREMELY HARDCORE gamer. You'll die hundreds of times through the game. I died something like 600 times.

[captain ahar]

this game is a vicious bitch monster. i actually like it but i doubt i'll be playing it much.

Perfect round against final boss on youtube
---->i assume it is the actual final boss, since i will NEVER have the opportunity to face him.

[No_not_like_Quake]

I wonder who exactly Nippon Ichi created this game for. I know Disgaea fans are hardcore, but it's the grind-all-day kind of hardcore, not the hardcore that will try a boss battle 200 times (which is about how many times I tried.)

Yeah really... do hardcore Disgaea fans even have twitch skills?

[E. Randy Dupre]

I know plenty of people who're into Nippon Ichi games and who are also beasts at beat 'em ups, DMC, arcade racers, etc.

And, y'know, Shmups.com. It's not like those of us who were discussing Disgaea in the other thread come here for the RPG talk.

[Damocles]

For anyone interested, Best Buy is selling the LE for the standard edition price.