While Nanostray was a solid side-scrolling shooter for the Nintendo DS, it wasn’t without its fair share of problems, the most glaring of which was the endless continues, that made the game far less of a challenge than it could of been. Along with requiring the touch screen for weapon selections, these two features bogged down what could have otherwise been the perfect little handheld shmup. Now Nanostray 2 is still a couple of months away, but from my time with the preview build of the game Majesco was kind enough to send my way I can say that it triumphs over the original in every way. More »
Nanostray was a lovely little shooter for the Nintendo DS, but certainly not without its faults. The touch screen controls were a bit iffy, and unlimited continues meant you could finish the game even if you were really, really horrible at it. While it might mean that I won’t be able to finish the game, Majesco assures us that these issues have been addressed and improved upon in the upcoming sequel, aptly titled Nanostray 2.
The game now features a standard control scheme on top of touch screen, and continues are no longer unlimited – you have five, and earn extra as you progress. The game is now played from a top-down perspective as opposed to the angeled view of the original, with levels alternating between horizontal and vertical, bringing to mind the old classic Vanguard.
They’ve even fixed the leaderboards so they use Nintendo Wi-Fi instead of the old method of inputting a code at the website. It’s nice when a developer listens to gamers and fixes problems. It’s even better when they fix them and then keep going. Nanostray 2 could very well turn out to be a must-have for shmuppets everywhere. Hit the jump for more details on the sweeping changes. More »
Shin’en’s space shooter Nanostray was by no means a hit with critics, but apparently there were enough Nintendo DS owners hip to the first one to warrant a sequel. Today, Majesco officially announced Nanostray 2 will ship in “early 2008″ and features some nice improvements over the first. Two-player co-op, two-player versus, traditional and touchscreen control options, even a swell VR Missions-like mode dubbed the Simulator have all been added.
The DS doesn’t have much in the way of shmups, so this horizontal and vertical combo shooter is a welcome addition to the library. The fact that it comes well after the holidays makes our wallets happy. More details at the official site.
