I was hesitant to start this topic because I know none of you have played it. Let's not forget the atrocity that was my Dead Space thread. So I'll make the OP really short.

The combat is really fun and relatively varied. It would definitely appeal to anyone who liked DMC, Ninja Gaiden, MadWorld, or any of the major action titles of our era. It's sufficiently refined (as was not the case in the first game) and has its own place in the tapestry of the aforementioned generalized brawler genre.

The bosses in general are pretty interesting. Though one or two are too easy, none are super-frustrating as were a couple in NMH. The better ones play like a 3D arena fighter and even the worst are only weak by virtue of their traditional simplicity.

The minigames are awesome. I was worried that people were just jizzing all over the place because they saw 8-bit graphics, but these are genuinely good 8-bit games that would be fun regardless of the nostalgia value. There are seven (the eighth minigame is a carry-over from the last game and is horrendous): a Mach Rider-style racer (fun but with cheap difficulty), a memorization-heavy steak color-matching game (very simple but fun for a few runs), a side-scrolling coconut-platformer (really great), a tangrams-esque puzzler (anyone else remember tangrams? Oh elementary school), a Pipe-Dream inspired puzzler (actually the game is exactly to Pipe Dream what Wario's Woods is to Puyo Pop - bask in that analogy), and Bug Out! and Get Trashed! which are too complex to describe but probably the best of the group. Each game has four levels of increasing length and difficulty. There are also two "work-out" minigames which are used to increase your stats - each has seven levels, but once you beat a level you can't go back. One is terrific and the other is simple button-mashing suck salad. The games are definitely more arcadey than anything, but that's perfectly fitting for the setting.

Okay that paragraph got a little lengthy. The point is that it's a great action game with just enough retro minigames to feel almost like one of those Namco or Midway arcade collections. So even if you thought the first was stupid or something, it's something you should definitely think about if you're looking for a new brawler. And if I was the kind of cockpuncher who had a "buy this damn game, you homos!" sig, I would feature this.

WarioFan, you know what you must do.

For the record I do have both games.

Aw, I'm touched. It's like I'm "one of us" now. Though I will miss my half-finished Phil Collins photoshop.

I do too.

Also, "homos" should be changed to "fuckheads."