Nanostray 2 - it's finally out in the stores

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I played up to the first level mid boss in Hard mode. Some enemies like those big ships at the beginning shoot forwards and there's more turrets here and there. The reason I just couldn't stand playing in hard mode was because the midboss took half a day to beat.

[jp]

Bosses just have more life.

And thus, I will never ever play this game on Hard.

[Frederik]

Bosses just have more life.

And thus, I will never ever play this game on Hard.

If you don´t like the midboss chore than just stop here. The last level midboss takes forever. And since he is similar to the Gradius wallwalkers (where you have to slip between the legs) you can easily leave a life or two there. Definitely the weakest point in the whole game. As I already said, if there were at least some scoring opportunities...

This being said, I just rushed through Easy mode to unlock the arcade mode, which is a lot more enjoyable (and the mutlipliers and wave bonuses are displayed there). Do yourself a favour and stick to the arcade mode, join in on the WiFi leaderboards. It´s a lot more fun this way

---

One thing I noticed is that the stages vary in how high the score potential is. Shinkai Bay seems to be almost purely about destroying waves, in Kohai City I frequently run out of weapon energy (Hashman, how do you get over 40.000 more points than me there? I can´t see what I missed there, aside from not getting any secrets. Maybe I didn´t figure out how to chain these little snakes properly...). Naizoh Habitat and Kigan Belt, however, have much more stuff to exploit in them.

One thing I did in on some levels that I already memorized a bit was suiciding to get a new full weapon gauge again to milk these flying blue cells in Naizoh Habitat or to destroy more of the huge ships in Kigan Belt. The latter stage is pretty easy on the survival side, so a little Raizing-like "trade in a live for more bombs" (or weapon energy in this case) is pretty exciting.

Did anybody notice what triggers 1-UPs? I thought it was purely the score at first, but it MIGHT be when you run low on lives before the boss

The game also doesn't appear to have any way to differentiate between hitting and not hitting enemies. Is this true?

What do you mean?

[jp]

Bosses just have more life.

And thus, I will never ever play this game on Hard.

If you don´t like the midboss chore than just stop here. The last level midboss takes forever. And since he is similar to the Gradius wallwalkers (where you have to slip between the legs) you can easily leave a life or two there. Definitely the weakest point in the whole game. As I already said, if there were at least some scoring opportunities...

Alright. Well, given that I'm now starting to hate the game (the more I play it), I guess I will sell it or trade it away.

[Frederik]

You get an extra life when you're at 1 ship... One per continue, assuming you kill a wave with one ship left and pick up the 1up.

Found this on the "official forum" (read: GameFAQs). So it DOES seem to be some sort of "self-adjusting difficulty"; could be interesting to exploit since and extra life on the last life means free weapon gauge.

[Frederik]

Alright. Well, given that I'm now starting to hate the game (the more I play it), I guess I will sell it or trade it away.

Do you really dislike it that much? I would have loved some additional competition on the leaderboards, seing that you scored so high at NS1, but if you can´t stand it even in the arcade mode... I would give the scoring system a try. I wouldn´t like the game nearly as much if it wasn´t for the arcade mode. Then again, if you really don´t like it, it´s no use.

[sfried]

And thus, I will never ever play this game on Hard.

If you don´t like the midboss chore than just stop here. The last level midboss takes forever. And since he is similar to the Gradius wallwalkers (where you have to slip between the legs) you can easily leave a life or two there. Definitely the weakest point in the whole game. As I already said, if there were at least some scoring opportunities...

Alright. Well, given that I'm now starting to hate the game (the more I play it), I guess I will sell it or trade it away.

I think it also depends on what kind of weapon you use. I know for starters the Raydion seems to kill more enemies instantly that the Ionstrike, so perhaps they can ship away more at midbosses faster.

[DBHashman93]

(Hashman, how do you get over 40.000 more points than me there? I can´t see what I missed there, aside from not getting any secrets. Maybe I didn´t figure out how to chain these little snakes properly...)

Well I'd tell you....but then I'd have to kill you. Haha jus playing....but you've gotten hard to keep up with. I stopped playing earlier this afternoon, maybe I'll try to bump up my scores a bit in a few days (it's midterm time for me). The big thing that I figured out (and man...why am I purposely making the gap between us larger?!) is that the enemies in the beginning who fly straight up, hit the ceiling, and then fall back down are worth 500 each. I think by the end of that initial descent I had 70k pts.

[Frederik]

(Hashman, how do you get over 40.000 more points than me there? I can´t see what I missed there, aside from not getting any secrets. Maybe I didn´t figure out how to chain these little snakes properly...)

Well I'd tell you....but then I'd have to kill you. Haha jus playing....but you've gotten hard to keep up with. I stopped playing earlier this afternoon, maybe I'll try to bump up my scores a bit in a few days (it's midterm time for me). The big thing that I figured out (and man...why am I purposely making the gap between us larger?!) is that the enemies in the beginning who fly straight up, hit the ceiling, and then fall back down are worth 500 each. I think by the end of that initial descent I had 70k pts.

Yeah, I noticed that too! It´s funny how some smaller enemies can bring you a lot points. In the Naizoh Habitat there are also some small "bugs" in certain parts that have a lot of base value,too. I think that in the beginning of Kohai suiciding after running out of weapon energy to further milk these enemies might be a good strategy, since you get no blue coins from them (hardly ever in the whole stage, actually). I have yet to try this, though.

And aw geez, you´re back on top I´ll have to take a little break myself too, I´ve been playing the game way too much in the last few days, so it´ll just be the occasional Lockjaw Tetris for me today or else I´ll kill this game for me But aside from Armed Police Batrider this is the first time I participate in highscore challenge, so this is pretty interesting to me. A little head-to-head challenge is hge fun. See you again in a few days!

PS. Some guys are already reaching obscene scores in Teppeki dock, one has over 1 million points I haven´t really figured out that stage, but I really wonder how someone can reach TWICE as much points as I did there... I´m waiting to see a FAQ pop up, seems there is still a lot of stuff I´ve not figured out yet.

[fixjuxa]

I didn't see anyone comment on the co-op in this game. I've spent a fair amount of time with it so I'll guess I'll throw my two cents in. I agree with the consensus of the bosses being the weakest aspect of the game. Funnily enough, when you play with another player the bosses go from taking too long to beat to going down in a matter of seconds. With two players you potentially have two full bars of secondary weapons to use. Unloading two full bars of shockmines on any midboss will whittle them down to next to nothing if not completely destroy them. Same thing applies to end bosses though to a lesser extent at times. The continue system is a bit strange. You have three continues between the two of you but when one is used both players get a full stock of lives. So, if you have 2 lives left when your friend dies you'll get an additional 3 lives along with the 5 that he gets but only one continue is used. Also, in co-op you have to share options which means only one per ship. This means you now have to click the R or L button six times to cycle through all the different option positions....at least I think.

I'm not nearly as hardcore as anyone that post here but I'm loving this game. I don't generally play for high scores(outside of Geometry Wars since that's the entire point). My skill level simply doesn't allow it. I'm more of a "let me see if I can beat this game without using more than the alotted continues" kind of a guy. I'm more into traditional shmups like R-Type and Gradius than the bullet hell kinda of stuff or games with complex scoring mechanics that everybody here get's crazy over. I really like playing these kind of games cooperatively as well and have already spent a lot of time playing it with a friend. Anyway, the fact that this game takes place in true 2D planes makes it infinitely more enjoyable than the first game. That invisible border crap just pissed me off to no end. And while I don't care that much about scoring I hated how the last game penalized you for using your weapons. I really like that much of the game seems to be an homage to popular franchises/games in the genre. I, too, am a sucker for the multi-directional scrolling levels so I'm hapy to see a bunch of that in this game. Overall, a nice improvement over the first game.

Also, I've played a bit on hard mode and I thought it was signficantly more challenging.

[DBHashman93]

Well one poster at the Gamefaqs forum is saying that there's an action replay code that gives you a ton of lives for the first level. Apparently that can be used to get an obscene score, which is really unfortunate if it's true.

[Frederik]

Well one poster at the Gamefaqs forum is saying that there's an action replay code that gives you a ton of lives for the first level. Apparently that can be used to get an obscene score, which is really unfortunate if it's true.

That would explain the extremely high score.

1. three14 1,044,300 2008-03-16
2. Kevin-H- 636,300 2008-03-15
3. daeth ?? 531,100 2008-03-15

I really can´t imagine how else you could score so high in that level, unless I am completely missing something. And is it ONLY for the first level? This "three14" dude has no other scores submitted, which seems odd to me.

[DBHashman93]

Yeah the 1,000,000+ score has been removed apparently, and the gamefaqs poster said that the released code only works for the first level however people may figure out how to use similar codes for the other levels. It's good to see that some cleanup is happening on the scoreboards, but now other top scores are being called in to question as well! I don't know whether to be flattered or frustrated, but it's definitely ridiculous that people would rather assume others are cheating before admitting that others have legitimate higher scores. Welcome to the world outside the shmups forum I suppose...

[Frederik]

Welcome to the world outside the shmups forum I suppose...

Yeah, the mere idea of using fucking ACTION REPLAY codes to cheat my way up the leaderboards would never cross my mind. I guess the devs have an idea what the possible maximum score of any stage could be and act accordingly.

I´ve never played Halo, WoW or similar stuff, but I imagine thing being a lot less civilised than here, were people actually have some idea of diginity.

[sfried]

I wish Shin'en would've devised a proper bios encoding into their upload stream so that you would only be able to send legit scores. This would also break emulators, but then again, emulating seems like a form of cheating anyways... (with save states and all).

[DavidHolliss]

Having to upload scores via Wi-Fi rather than a code should eliminate the PC Emulator players no ? assume the site could tell if the signal had come from a DS or not ?

[sfried]

Keikan outpost must be my favorite level right now. Not only does it have awsome music, but it has that nice balance of difficulty and pacing to it that I can't seem to find in other stages. I have only the last level to unlock.

[DavidHolliss]

I'm having trouble completing Stage 3 on Arcade Mode, finding the difficulty really ramped up compared to Stages 1 & 2.

Great game I'm really getting into now

[Herr Schatten]

I got the impression that midbosses in general are much harder than the bosses in this game. The midbosses are smaller and move around a lot. The bosses are easy once you get their pattern of 2 attacks (3 for the first boss) down.

[Frederik]

I got the impression that midbosses in general are much harder than the bosses in this game. The midbosses are smaller and move around a lot. The bosses are easy once you get their pattern of 2 attacks (3 for the first boss) down.

Especially at the parts where the stage rotates around you - once you run out of weapon energy you have a hard time hitting the midbosses properly. The midboss in Kohai City (the one with the two shooting tentacles) has a pretty obvious semi-safespot in the upper left corner where you can just shoot at the eye and only need to dodge an occasional stray bullet.

Overall the midbosses are a pain since they hinder the otherwise nice pace. It´s also a shame that neither the midbosses nor the bosses bear any scoring potential (multiple destroyable parts for example), which makes them the most uninteresting parts in the arcade mode.

[szycag]

I like this game about as much as the original. The videos looked great but in the end it still has a lot of design choices I don't like, like having to pick one kind of special attack or adjust your pods. In shmups I like as much freedom FROM choice as possible, not the other way around. The stages are a bit more disappointing in this one too.

I can't beat the A challenges 6 and 8, and I've tried both about 40 times each. It's ridiculous. The worst part about 6 is crashing into the walls trying to avoid the mess, I hate that so much.

[Kaspal]

I like this game about as much as the original. The videos looked great but in the end it still has a lot of design choices I don't like, like having to pick one kind of special attack or adjust your pods. In shmups I like as much freedom FROM choice as possible, not the other way around. The stages are a bit more disappointing in this one too.

I can't beat the A challenges 6 and 8, and I've tried both about 40 times each. It's ridiculous. The worst part about 6 is crashing into the walls trying to avoid the mess, I hate that so much.

while i found the challenges from the A and B sections the harder, overall, all of the challenges are WAY EASIER than in the original nanostray (it took me like 2 hours to complete them all, and im really outta shape for playin any shmup)... once you find the right setup for your ship and weaponry, that is.

[sfried]

In shmups I like as much freedom FROM choice as possible, not the other way around.

I thought they nailed the balance between freedom from choosing and customizablity this time around by making you commit to your choices rather than shuffle them around. If you're really that good, you'd probably brush over the weapon select screen and just do with what you have, since alot of the enemies can be destroyed by the regular forward-firing laser and pulse.

And the Challenge A-something where there are two panels on your side can also be destroyed with just forward-firing lasers.

[rockaroller]

Just finished it, and all I can say is: didn't like it at all. The gameplay doesn't feel right, the controls are very imprecise and the overall design is poorer than the 1st.

Just my opinion, though.

[BrianC]

I'll probably be getting this on Sunday. Sounds like it improved in some areas, but went back to simpler bosses. The new scoring system sounds cool. I'll give my impressions when I get the game. I liked both Nanostray 1 and Iridion II quite a bit, so I can't wait to play this.

From what I heard about the controls, the speed is adjustable. I heard it controls better with the speed lowered a bit rather than the default.

[Frederik]

From what I heard about the controls, the speed is adjustable. I heard it controls better with the speed lowered a bit rather than the default.

Speed 2 is excellent, Speed 3 is very twitchy, never tried Speed 1. 2 is exactly the speed a ship in a game like this should have. People complaining about it being imprecise obviously need to "learn 2 play" - especially the hitbox is very generous this time around.

I have to add while this game played like a blast the first days, it kind of gets old pretty fast, not sure why though. Maybe because it´s too easy to be a pure 1cc title, while the scoring isn´t deep enough to warrant sinking your teeth into it after a while.

Aside from that, while most things are very nicely done, things like mimiking the ring boss from Ikaruga, the bio stage from Gradius V etc. makes you feel like you could have these things, but better, in the original games.

One the one hand you could say it´s an outstanding game for an handheld title and by a western developer, but in the end you´ll compare it to the top shmups, and obviously NS2 can´t hold a candle to these game. I´d just say it´s nice for "what it is".

[BrianC]

edit: should have read that last post better. I quoted out of context. doh.

It is nice that a developer is putting shmups on the DS, but I wish that more would contribute. Space Invaders Extreme, for both the PSP and DS, sounds extremely nifty, though. I also heard that Bangai-O DS may have turned out extremely well, though that's more of a borderliner.

Another thing I noticed is that there really aren't too many good western designed shmups on handhelds (aren't too many western designed handheld shmups period). Shin'en's are actually among the best of the western designed handheld shmups, which is kind of sad.

[szycag]

the Challenge A-something where there are two panels on your side can also be destroyed with just forward-firing lasers.

I figured that one out after a couple tries.

[Rob]

I haven't enjoyed a new shooter this much in like 2-3 years. It's pretty good.

[Twiddle]

My "to buy" list on my first paycheck just grew 30 bucks.