Preview

Patapon 2: Don Chaka

By Travis Moses
October 13, 2008 14:53 PM PST
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Patapon 2: Don Chaka marches into multiplayer with three different game modes.

TOKYO, JAPAN: Day one of the Tokyo Game Show 2008 kicked off for senior editor Chris Morell and I with two big PSP titles: Patapon 2 and LocoRoco 2. As we decided, I would cover Patapon 2: Don Chaka and Chris will cover LocoRoco 2 (soon to come).

The demonstration began with a Power Point presentation that reviewed the first Patapon game, which is a PSP exclusive for those that don't know. In Patapon, players command an army of warriors through rhythm-based button presses. Depending on the input command, the Patapon march, attack, or defend against other armies and bosses, such as dragons and giant sand worms.

Patapon 2 follows in the same footsteps, but there's so much that's been added. The biggest addition being multiplayer, obviously. We watched as four players joined forces to cooperatively play in a multiplayer mode called "Mission." The goal of Mission is to get the rhythm right among all players and carry a giant magical egg to safety. On their trek, these fearless warriors (demonstrators) were harassed by a new boss that resembled an enormous stork bird. With a little help from the audience, que everyone chiming in with the attack command "Pon Pon Pata Pon," the Patapon warriors were able to carry the magical egg to safety and rewarded with its innards.

Other multiplayer modes include Parageto, where the objective is to obtain magical eggs which open a gate into another world, and Don Chaka, a drum session that requires a groovin' performance to open, yet again, a magical egg. These two multiplayer modes where not demonstrated.

Patapon 2 by the Numbers

There are 48 types of new a rare Patapon in Patapon 2: Don Chaka.
For example:
Bird rider - Toripon
Robot - Robopon
Wizard - Mahopon
The number of weapons and equipment is doubled reaching over 500 unique pieces.
There are 23 bosses, where Patapon 1 had 11.
Patapon 2 is packed with 80 missions compared to Patapon 1, which had 31.