Few developers in the industry have as much enthusiasm than Hiroyuki Kotani. I’ve seen passionate developers and enthusiastic producers, but I’ve rarely encountered a person so deeply ingrained in and excited about their creation. Even more amazing was the observation that Kotani seems to be energized by creating a sequel that looks, for all intents and purposes, a game created entirely around the response from the first game. More customization, more diverse game mechanics, a longer experience, and, yes, four player multiplayer are all finally a part of Patapon.
The most exciting of which was, of course, the multiplayer session. We were treated to real time demonstration, with Kotani summoning four volunteers to help him romp through a level. Despite some unfamiliarity with the game, everyone was eventually able to work together and clear the level. As best I could tell, everyone had to input the command to advance forward, but then each individual Patapon could input individual commands and, as long as they were in sync with the beat, would act accordingly based on what they needed to do. The original game was begging for this option, and it was wonderfully fulfilling to see it actually happen. The best part? It was all done through game sharing; only one copy of Patapon 2 was required for four people to play.
In addition to that, the game also looks to introduce a few more Pokémon-like elements to the classic rhythm /strategy/tactic hybrid of the first title. Bird Riders, Robots, and Wizards look to join the ranks of your soldiers, and an evolutionary system is in place to develop up to 48 types of rare Patapon. In fact, more of everything appears to be on the menu for the sequel, as kindly illustrated by this graph I photographed right out of the presentation:
I was lucky enough to grab a brief interview with Kotani, and his enthusiasm, as I expected, was seemingly limitless. I asked whether or not the game was created as a fan response, and he revealed that yes, it was created to satisfy fan’s desires, but was also the product of new ideas and new concepts he wanted to insert into the Patapon universe. He explained that Patapon was born out of a dream he had, complete with the basic pata-pata-pata-pon beat and drum sample, and it seemed that the sequel was an extension of the inspiration from his original dream.
