''Project X Zone 2'' is a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

tactical role-playing game Tactical role-playing games (abbreviated TRPGs), also known as strategy role-playing games and in Japan as (both abbreviated SRPGs), are a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical ( turn-b ...

for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generati ...

developed by

Monolith Soft trading as Monolith Soft, is a Japanese video game development studio originally owned by Namco (later Bandai Namco) until being bought out by Nintendo in 2007. The company was founded in 1999 by Tetsuya Takahashi with the support and coop ...

and published by

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California an ...

. Despite the game being the sequel to ''

Project X Zone (pronounced as "Project Cross Zone") is a crossover tactical role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Monolith Soft with assistance from Capcom and Red Entertainment and published by Namco Bandai Games. The game is a follow up to t ...

'', the plot is a homage to the events of its spiritual predecessor, ''

Namco × Capcom (pronounced as "Namco Cross Capcom") is a tactical role-playing (RPG) crossover video game developed by Monolith Soft for the PlayStation 2 and published by Namco in 2005. The gameplay combines tactical RPG and action sequences during battles, ...

'', while retaining a standalone story. The game is a crossover between various franchises from

Bandai Namco also known as the Bandai Namco Group and generally Bandai Namco, is a Japanese multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, formed from the merger of Bandai and Namco on ...

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', '' Mega Man'', '' ...

, and Sega, with special guests from Nintendo. The game was released in Japan in November 2015, and worldwide in February 2016.

Plot

It is set after the previous game's events. Members of the secret agency Shinra investigate the appearance of mysterious golden chains in multiple worlds, which are soon revealed to be connected to the villainous organisation Ouma. The game's story starts with Reiji and Xiaomu, the game's protagonists meeting with Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. While investigating Kamurocho, they stumble across Heihachi, Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey, and Goro Majima being attacked by zombies, and before long, they also meet up with Kazuma Kiryu. From there, they eventually meet up with several other characters on their own journeys to investigate these golden chains.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, ''Project X Zone'' is a tactical role-playing game in which players strategically maneuver their characters across a field to battle with the enemy. Characters are paired up into Pair Units, with Solo Units consisting of a single character able to assist them when linked together. In battle, players use well-timed attacks and combos to do as much damage to the opponent as possible before their turn ends.

Characters

Like its predecessor, ''Project X Zone 2'' features pairs of characters from three Japanese video game companies (

, and Sega), as well as solo characters who can provide assist attacks during combat. The game also features Nintendo characters as special guests for the first time. A total of 58 characters are playable in the game.

Pair units

* Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu from ''

'' *

Jin Kazama is a fictional character of the ''Tekken'' fighting game series created by Bandai Namco Entertainment. He was introduced as the protagonist in the 1997 game ''Tekken 3'' and has been the central character of the series from that game onwards. T ...

and

Kazuya Mishima is a fictional character in Bandai Namco's ''Tekken'' fighting game series, first featured as the protagonist in the original 1994 game and later became one of the major antagonists and antihero of the series. The son of worldwide conglomerat ...

from ''

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and Haseo from ''

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Yuri Lowell is a fictional character introduced in the 2008 role-playing game '' Tales of Vesperia'' by Namco Tales Studio. The protagonist of the story, Yuri is a young adult from the Lower Quarter of the Imperial Capital, Zaphias. He leaves the town with ...

and Flynn Scifo from ''

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'' * Ciel Alençon and Nana Kazuki from '' God Eater 2'' * KOS-MOS and Fiora from ''

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'' and ''

Xenoblade Chronicles is a series of action role-playing games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It is a part of the '' Xeno'' metaseries created by Tetsuya Takahashi, but was formed after Nintendo's acquisition of Monolith Soft in 2007. The seri ...

'' * Chris Redfield and

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Ken Masters , originally spelled in kanji as with his original full name being unknown, is a fictional character in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' series. Ken is the best friend and rival of Ryu, who has also appeared in all ''Street Fighter'' games. Ken's go ...

from ''

Street Fighter , commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...

'' * Demitri Maximoff and

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from '' Darkstalkers'' *

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from ''

Devil May Cry is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom. The series centers on the demon hunter Dante and his efforts to thwart various demon invasions of Earth. Its gameplay consists ...

'' * X and

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Strider Hiryu is a fictional character jointly owned by Capcom and Moto Kikaku. Although primarily known as a game character, Hiryu (''飛竜'', "Flying Dragon") debuted in 1988 as the protagonist of a Japan-exclusive manga titled ''Strider Hiryu,'' publish ...

and Hotsuma from '' Strider'' and ''

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Ling Xiaoyu Ling Xiaoyu (; ja, リン・シャオユウ, translit=Rin Shaoyū) is a fictional character from the ''Tekken'' franchise by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Following her debut in ''Tekken 3'' (1997), she has appeared in every subsequent game in th ...

from ''

'' and ''

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and Goro Majima from ''

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'' * Chrom and Lucina from ''

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Solo units

* Heihachi Mishima from ''

'' * Natsu from '' Soulcalibur V'' * Aty from '' Summon Night 3'' * Valkyrie from '' Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu'' * Alisa Illinichina Amiella from '' God Eater'' * Estellise Sidos Heurassein from ''

'' * Captain Commando from ''

Captain Commando is a 1991 futuristic side-scrolling beat 'em up originally developed and published by Capcom as an arcade video game, and later ported to several other platforms. It was the seventeenth game produced for the company's CP System hardware. The g ...

'' * June Lin Milliam from '' Star Gladiator'' *

Leon S. Kennedy is a character in '' Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. He debuted as one of the two player characters of the video game '' Resident Evil 2'' (1998), alongside C ...

from ''

'' * Phoenix Wright and

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from '' Darkstalkers'' *

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from '' Capcom Fighting Evolution'' * Axel Stone from ''

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'' * Hibana from ''

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'' * Segata Sanshiro * Ulala from ''

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from ''

'' * Leanne from ''

'' * Ryo Hazuki from '' Shenmue''

Development

On April 8, 2015,

Famitsu.com formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both we ...

launched a teaser website with a countdown that would expire in five days, revealing a secret project from Bandai Namco Entertainment. Before its expiration, ''Project X Zone 2'' was announced early to attendees of Bandai Namco's "Level Up" press event in

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

on April 10, which was prematurely posted on Italian news website E-duesse before being retracted. The game was officially revealed to the public three days later. It was confirmed in an interview that the game will address the criticisms of the original (such as the story) and that there will be some "surprise" announcements. The game was originally going to have a simultaneous worldwide release, but the North American and European releases were later delayed to early 2016. Unlike the previous game, the western versions features no altered content from the Japanese version and are in multiple languages. The game's opening and ending themes, "Sekai wa Hitotsu no Butai" (All the World's Stage), and "Tsuki Akari no Curtain Call" (Moonlight Curtain Call) were both performed by

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. The lyrics were written by director Soichiro Morizumi, and the themes were composed by

Yuzo Koshiro is a Japanese composer and sound programmer. He is often regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune and video game music, producing music in a number of genres including rock, jazz, symphonic, and various electronic genr ...

. Koshiro had previously composed the theme of ''

,'' Brave New World, and this time Morizumi asked him to compose a song that was more akin to battle music. Koshiro decided to go with a rock theme, and found that marina's vocals were perfect for the song. marina expressed that while she found the song difficult to sing, she thought it turned out very well. The game's opening animation was produced by

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and directed by veteran animator Yasutoshi Iwasaki.

Reception

''Project X Zone 2'' received mixed to positive reviews, receiving a score of 73/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, with critics praising the game's cast of characters and improvements to issues present in the first game, but criticizing the game's easy difficulty and the fact that many assets were reused from the first game. The game received a 32/40 from Famitsu. Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4/5 saying, "''Project X Zone 2'' is a funny, charming and amusing title. It sets out to entertain video game fans of all stripes and allows the player to jump from world to world to get a taste of other titles they may have been missing. Just based on the built-in "Crosspedia" encyclopedia database, the stack of games that I really want to try out has grown (Resonance of Fate, in particular). It's not challenging, but it was never meant to be. The gameplay is simply the vehicle to deliver the true focus of this title: dumb fun. Players who don't need everything to bristle with a dark malevolence will find a great time in this one."

Sales

The game sold 37,000 copies in Japan on its first week, selling through 60% of its shipment. The game made the #2 spot in the UK 3DS sales charts.

Legacy

In an interview with Nintendo Life, Kensuke Tsukanaka stated that he would like to continue the series. Hideki Kamiya of

PlatinumGames PlatinumGames Inc. is a Japanese video game developer that was founded in October 2007 as result of a merger between two companies, Seeds Inc. and Odd Inc. Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba, and Hideki Kamiya founded Seeds Inc. after the closure of ...

has stated he was approached about having Sega character

Bayonetta is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya and developed by PlatinumGames. The franchise was introduced in 2009 with '' Bayonetta''. Two sequels were released, '' Bayonetta 2'' (2014) and '' Bayonetta 3'' (2022), as well as ...

included in this game, to which he refused as he wanted Bayonetta and Dante from ''Devil May Cry'' to meet "on his own terms". However, he has stated he has come to regret this decision due to realizing how the fans would have loved the two interacting, and that if there is a ''Project X Zone 3'' he would be all for Bayonetta's inclusion.

Notes

References

External links

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