Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!

What is easily one of my favorite games is in so many ways one of the worst games. The very things that I like about this game are the same things that a lot of people will not like about it.

But if you manage to fit into the niche of gamers that this game is made for, you will love it. Trust me.

Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Available On: PSP (UMD and PSN)
Release Date: January 11 2011

 Ok, so I am pretty sure that we have established that I am a big fan of Prinnies. I love the Disgaea series, and I'm the founder of the Prinny Rights Movement. I might really like it. With that said, it is extremely hard to review this game without some kind of personal bias. To the average gamer, this game is pretty inaccessible.

It is a brutal 2D platformer with an emphasis on old school gaming: lots of cheap deaths and pattern memorization. So you can rule out any casual gamers. Being a spin-off of the Disgaea series, the game consists of mostly running gags from the main series. So if you aren't already a fan of Disgaea, you will be completely alienated by most of the jokes.

That... pretty much sums up the plot.

The story is fairly simple: Demon Lord Master Etna's panties have been stolen and she has sent her Prinny Squad after the thief. The Prinnies are stealing "rare items" in an attempt to lure the thief into a trap. I'm sorry if you expected more, but that is really it.

Don't know who Master Etna is? Or the Prinnies? Sorry, the game isn't that interested in telling you about them. So we're already off to a bad start for people not in the loop.

Unfortunately, it doesn't get any better. Throughout the game there will be appearances by characters from the Disgaea universe, as well as a number of references to characters and events. These jokes are hilarious for those of us in the know, but it is impossible for newcomers to understand what is happening.

So ultimately, newcomers will be alienated by the characters and humor presented by the game. So what about the gameplay? Surely this can be ignored by gamers looking for an old school platforming experience. Well...

All of these things want to kill you.

You can only take so many hits before you die, and that number is determined by the difficulty setting. Normal has you dead in 3 hits, while Hell's Finest will kill you in one. There is another setting called Baby mode. Not only is the name insulting, but in this mode, the Prinny wears diapers. So, yes, the game openly mocks you for playing on easy mode.

The game plays like any standard platformer: running, jumping, double-jumping, slashing, and hip pounding. Nothing too complicated happening there... except for the jumping. There is no pressure sensitive jumping and no changing directions mid jump. You can only alter your movement if you haven't double jumped yet, or by hip-pounding in order to drop straight down. If you have played the classic Ghouls and Goblins, you will be familiar with how this works. If your used to playing games like Mario Bros (which defined platforming physics), this takes a lot of getting used to.

Stack on top of that enemies and environments. Early stages work well to help gamers get used to the controls, but as you go on the odds stack heavily against you. Enemies deal cheap shots. Environments become death traps. Later stages seem to go on forever as you continue to die over and over again. When you finally reach the boss, you will find yourself going up against formidable adversaries that will kill you many times. Yes, you will die a lot. So it's a good thing to game gives you 1000 lives with which to complete it.

Yes, I said 1000 lives. And you will need them.

So, we've alienated people who are not familiar with Disgaea and people who aren't masochistic gamers. Doesn't leave much, does it? It's a tough sell, certainly. But for those people who get it, there is a lot here to love.

The game plays out in 10 "hours," with each level being an hour. The first six levels can be played in any order, but the difficulty and bosses (as well as the rare item you receive) change depending on what order you play them in. That means six variations for six different levels for a total of 36 variations. So anyone looking to collect all the items in the game will find a lot to do here.

There are tons of unlockables, including extra levels and boss battles for anyone up to the challenge. The game keeps the cameos and references to other Disgaea characters coming. There is even a whole other game mode that has you playing as Asagi Asagiri, a running gag throughout the developer Nippon Ichi Softwares games.

Oh, not familiar with Asagi? Yeah, the game will do nothing to explain that, but you should expect that by now. But trust me, it's hilarious.