Nanostray 2 - it's finally out in the stores

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:13 am

They've been selling new on ebay for as low as $12 (total w/ shipping).

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:52 am

IGN reviewed it. I don't get it. They previously gave a whole bunch of coverage to the game and then nothing until today, about a week after release. This isn't the worst review I have seen at IGN, but it feels kind of slim given the amount of coverage the game has been given and the fact that places like EGM got review copies early.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:03 am

I have this now. So far, I'm liking it. I agree the bosses take too many hits, but I feel they are well designed aside from that, though I miss the way they were done in Nanostray. Having at least one of the formations with the two pods shooting forward at the very front of ship helps the bosses die a little faster. I feel some changes are for the better (less useless weapons, one hit kills, less stingy scoring system, smaller hitbox, less cramped than Iridion II) while others are for the worse (bosses being more of a throwback to Iridion II, but taking more hits). I like the level design so far and they don't feel sameish to me so far. Levels seem somewhat more obstacle oriented ala Iridion II, though.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:13 pm

I'm pretty impressed. The last one I really played was Iridion 2, and though I have only played the first four levels of this, it seems much tighter. I like that there seems to be plenty of replay value both in the form of scoring and also all the mini diversions you can unlock. I know it's hard to strike a balance between a game that the more serious/ocd shooter fans will like and a game which can be enjoyed by the mainstream, but this pulls it off quite well. Like BrianC said above, fewer useless weapons. My only beef is that the firing rate is quite slow.

Plus, rocking tunes.

Inkvisitor · Post by **Inkvisitor** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:25 am

DBHashman93 wrote:I'm ranked #1 on the leaderboard now! C'mon shmups members, I know I haven't been scoring THAT well...you guys need to get on there and knock me down a few pegs!

I will sure as hell try

but first it has to arrive in the mail. Ordered it today from play-asia. Finally some shmup action on my DS!

Inkvisitor · Post by **Inkvisitor** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:12 am

Nanostray 2 is in my DS Lite at all times now. I've unlocked a couple of stages and perticulary like the vertical ones. They remind me of Gradius a lot.

The DS 4-way dpad is somewhat limiting but you get used to it. Instead of moving in diagonals you can anticipate the bulletpatterns. Tho when fighting bosses a small press on the dpad can result in moving too far. If there was a 8-way DS I'd buy it.

Can someone make a GBA-port to arcade stick adapter and make it work with this game ?

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:18 am

Inkvisitor wrote:Nanostray 2 is in my DS Lite at all times now. I've unlocked a couple of stages and perticulary like the vertical ones. They remind me of Gradius a lot.

The DS 4-way dpad is somewhat limiting but you get used to it. Instead of moving in diagonals you can anticipate the bulletpatterns. Tho when fighting bosses a small press on the dpad can result in moving too far. If there was a 8-way DS I'd buy it.

Can someone make a GBA-port to arcade stick adapter and make it work with this game ?

The d-pad is flat, but it still does diagonals. It's not a four way pad. Some DS Lites do diagonals better than others, but I never heard of one not doing diagonals at all. Both the DS and DS-Lite are 8-way, not 4-way.

bostongeorge · Post by **bostongeorge** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 12:13 am

I just got this (along with a new DS) and I really like it. I haven't put in much time yet but I plan to.

I saw the first one for $10 at Gamestop, is that worth picking up too?

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 4:11 pm

bostongeorge wrote:I just got this (along with a new DS) and I really like it. I haven't put in much time yet but I plan to.

I saw the first one for $10 at Gamestop, is that worth picking up too?

it might not be as good as N2, but you might aswell enjoy it too... i like it, and is still on my NDS-L all the time.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:03 am

Sorry to reviving an ancient thread about a seemingly not too popular game...

I really dislike part 1

But... I just wanted to say that the horizontal stages of this sequel game are easily the best shmup action levels I've played since Border Down.
Everything about it oozes quality and is extremely addictive.

The vertical stages do that too but comfirm my preference for horis once again.

Major kudos to Shinen and hopefully they'll get to make a part 3 independently.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:24 pm

It'd be nice if Shinen could do a Nanostray 3 shmup game for the NDS again...that'd be ace. Glad to hear that you're enjoying Nanostray 2, Super Laydock. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

MathU · Post by **MathU** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:55 am

I wish they would do an official soundtrack like Iridion's already.

the2bears · Post by **the2bears** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:20 pm

Maybe 3rd time will be the charm? At least the game improved from 1 to 2.

Bill

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:52 pm

the2bears wrote:Maybe 3rd time will be the charm? At least the game improved from 1 to 2.

Bill

QFT. ... there were a lot in that game that reminded me of Gradius 5.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:44 pm

PC Engine Fan X! wrote:It'd be nice if Shinen could do a Nanostray 3 shmup game for the NDS again...that'd be ace.

Well, since I was curious about it I have e-mailed Shinen about this possibility.

However they replied that at this point in time they felt that the sales of Nanostray 2 weren't enough to warrant another sequel.

Such a shame.

guigui · Post by **guigui** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:05 pm

Super Laydock wrote:
PC Engine Fan X! wrote:It'd be nice if Shinen could do a Nanostray 3 shmup game for the NDS again...that'd be ace.
Well, since I was curious about it I have e-mailed Shinen about this possibility.

However they replied that at this point in time they felt that the sales of Nanostray 2 weren't enough to warrant another sequel.

Such a shame.

Indeed !

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:09 am

guigui wrote:
Super Laydock wrote:
PC Engine Fan X! wrote:It'd be nice if Shinen could do a Nanostray 3 shmup game for the NDS again...that'd be ace.
Well, since I was curious about it I have e-mailed Shinen about this possibility.

However they replied that at this point in time they felt that the sales of Nanostray 2 weren't enough to warrant another sequel.

Such a shame.
Indeed !

well.... you can always play some Tyrian DS.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:19 am

Well it had pretty good stage design but the boss fights were boring, and it didn't really have any big hook in terms of scoring. They'd need to do something a little better for NS 3.

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:59 am

lol really?
i hated the stage design and found the bosses to be okay.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:37 am

Really? For me, the bosses took way too long to kill (especially on hard), and reused the same 2-3 boring attack patterns over and over. :/

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:50 am

I agree that the bosses were the weak point of Nanostray 2. If only they reacted at least a little bit to what the player was doing instead of just going through their 2-3 patterns over and over.

I found the stage design to be fine, too.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:29 pm

Herr Schatten wrote:I agree that the bosses were the weak point of Nanostray 2. If only they reacted at least a little bit to what the player was doing instead of just going through their 2-3 patterns over and over.

I found the stage design to be fine, too.

Suppose if Shinen applied Raizing's brand of AI for it's Nanostray 1 and 2 end-stage bosses, then those repeating patterns wouldn't be necessary -- would require the player to keep on their toes to bring them down quicker.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~