Ouendan 2 Is Go!

This is good news. I never played the original Quendan, though I wanted to. Played the ever-loving shit out of Elite Beat Agents. Could this mean a sequel to EBA is going to come stateside? I'd love to see that.

XLord007 wrote:

Well, that's two more DS games I'll be preordering.  I do wonder how Nintendo will bring Panel de Pon to America this time.  Yoshi?  Pokemon?  Something else?  Should be interesting.

Nintendo Puzzle Collection never did come out in the States, did it? I wonder if the fact that it didn't have Pokemon characters had something to do with it?

From the screens I've seen of Panel de Pon DS, the interface is pretty plain. Hopefully they'll just release it as is with a Touch Generations label over here, although I wouldn't mind them giving it a Wario Ware touch.

Yano's keynote presentation was today, and 1up.com did up a live blog:

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=793 … Id=5844217

As far as the future of iNiS's games are concerned, they do seem to be very interested in working with the Wii.   There's a strong hint that an EBA2 is in the pipeline.  And while there's no release date for Ouendan 2 yet, there is confirmation that there will be a "rival" group in the game, and that there are "new features designed for hardcore players."  Kotaku also snapped two screenshots:

http://kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007 … ndan_2.jpg

And then there's the Famitsu scan, which, although of poor quality, does seem to reveal that not only do Ryuta, Saito, and Suzuki return from the first game, but also Tsuyoshi from the stage "Exam Crisis!"

http://img171.imagevenue.com/img.php?im … _194lo.jpg

Last edited by Angela (Mar 07, 2007)

...there are "new features designed for hardcore players."

I hope this means a mission mode, similar to what DDR has now. It would be a great way to extend the life of the game even further. However, I'm praying that they don't add an SS rank.  I think I would lose my sanity trying to get all 300s.

The addition of a rival group is interesting, though I wonder how they'll actually affect the gameplay. My first thought was that they'd be anti-Ouendan, cheering against you and handicapping you as in multiplayer mode, but the screenshots don't seem to indicate that.

Nintendo World Report's got a 23 minute audio interview up with Yano, which you can check out as an mp3 here:

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/spec … rtid=13112

This is the first time I've ever heard the man speak, and his English is indeed fluent; not at all surprising, since English is one of his first languages.  Can't wait to listen to the whole thing during my lunch break!

Fantastic interview. You can really tell how much passion Yano has for making and playing games, yet he isn't at all pretentious about any of it. His laugh is truly infectious, and you just get the sense that he'd be a great guy to hang out with.

Ya know, I still don't really get the spinner hate. I mean, I don't regularly get 20000 bonus points, but the only spinner I've ever had trouble on was the final spinner in "The Anthem" on Hard Rock. To this day, I think the best I've gotten on it was 100.

Most surprising revelation for me: iNiS isn't pronounced eye-nis. The proper pronunciation actually sounds surprisingly like the tagalog word for "annoyed." In fact, I just realized it's spelled the same way, too. Does anyone know the true origin of their name?

Ryu wrote:

Apparently it will be sans license as the U.S. release is being called Planet Puzzle League.  Due out in June, I think.

Oh, I saw that on a release list, but it didn't occur to me that it would be the localized version of Panel de Pon. I wonder why they've abandoned the Tetris Attack name?

shdwrlm3 wrote:

I wonder why they've abandoned the Tetris Attack name?

Well, the Tetris name now has to be licensed through The Tetris Company and there are restrictions on how many Tetris games can come out during a given year to prevent brand spamming.  Of course, Nintendo only called it Tetris Attack the first time it was released on SNES and GB back in 1996.  Then it was Pokemon Puzzle League on N64 and Pokemon Puzzle Challenge on GBC in 2000 and then just Puzzle League on GBA in 2005 (the 2003 Cube version never came here).

I don't mind it not having the Tetris branding or the Yoshi/Pokemon motifs, but I have to say the screens make it look pretty dull without any sort of theme.

This is more for Angela than anyone, but I guess we should all be pleased to see Reggie's comments in his recent Newsweek interview with N'Gai Coral concerning Ouendan 2.  Sorry I don't have the actual link, but he basically says he expects the series to continue to expand its fanbase and thinks it'll have greater acceptance than EBA.  Not really sure why he's comparing EBA to Ouendan 2 unless he's basically admitting that some variant of Ouendan 2 will head stateside, but who knows.

Ouendan 2 gets a release date: May 17th!  YES!

From Kohler:

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Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 -- aka the sequel to the Best Game Ever -- is hitting Japan on May 17. That's less than five weeks from now. Get very excited.

EDIT: Here's the final tracklisting, as we know it now:

Sukima Switch - "Zenryoku Shonen"
Kaela Kimura - "Real Life Real Heart"
FLOW - "Okuru Kotoba"
Ken Hirai - "POP STAR"
The Checkers - "Julia ni Shoshin"
Home Made Kazoku - "Shonen Heart"
Going Under Ground - "VISTA"
mihimaru GT - "Kibun Jojo"
SMAP - "BANG! BANG! Bakansu!"
Hotei Tomoyasu - "Bambina"
AI - "Believe"
Hitomi Yaida - "Go My Way"
Orange Range - "Monkey Magic"
NANA starring Mika Nakashima - "Glamorous Sky"
ZZ - "Samurai Blue"
Kishidan - "Zoku"
Porno Graffitti - "Music Hour"
Hyde - "COUNTDOWN"
Sambomaster - "Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobunda ze"

---

I'll be hittin' up a pre-order faster than you can say "OSU!"

Last edited by Angela (May 18, 2007)

I'll be pre-ordering as soon as NCSX starts taking orders.  And yes, this is much earlier than I was expecting as well.

Angela wrote:

They've begun taking pre-orders. Go for it!

Done and done.  And I love the box art ripped from other games!  I recognize the Rhythm and Damsahi rips, but do you know which games they pulled the Moreo and Nekketsu things from?

Angela wrote:

You're talking about the boxart that Kohler mocked-up, right?  The "Moero!" is from Pro Yakyuu, the Japanese equivalent of Jaleco's Bases Loaded, but I'm not certain where that "Nekketsu" comes from.  Something from the Kunio-kun series, perhaps?

Oh... ha.  I didn't realize that was a mockup he made.  Too bad.  He did a great job with it.  Maybe I should have actually clicked on your link to the real box art before replying.  Whoops.