There will never be a series more perfect for just popping in and dicking around with your friends than this, this is videogames baby. Will I ever attempt an 1cc run so the game doesn't tell me I suck for rescuing 0 prisoners? Hell no, but it's still so fun for casual play despite how masochistic it feels at times.
Insane to me that SNK perfected pixel art in the 90s (and then once more with KOFXIII) and we have never reached that level again ever since. Can only wonder how the industry would be if SNK's incredibly talented pixel artists kept making cool stuff like this and didn't have to bend down to ever-changing market trends.

i didn't think 01 had particularly enjoyable gameplay but just a few hours of this already made me miss it, honestly did not expect this to have combat that somehow feels worse than fucking Dragon Quest I (1986) on the NES. legitimately some of the most frictionless, slow, poorly thought-out combat design i've ever seen, the only thing that even slightly redeems it is the turbo button but even then playing through it feels like experiencing ego death, actual kuso.

all that being said, the incredibly funny writing and flavorful translation (seriously, amazing work here) definitely helped me get through it. also much, much more enjoyable script in the moment-to-moment than 01 even if the plot pretty much goes nowhere, which i wouldn't have a problem with if it didn't feel like they just gave up having any sort of conclusion at the end. love all the witches though, excited for them to appear again.

really tried to force myself to finish this because i thought there'd be anything of worth here but outside of takada's soundtrack (which might actually be some of his best work) there really isn't.

it's like a suda game made by people who think suda's games are only composed of random movie references (90% of Sylvia's scenes in this are just an awful Paris, Texas pastiche for no real reason other than shoving her tits on your face) and over-the-top "what were they on making this 🤣🤣" humor. without suda's manic character writing and personal reflections on alienation with the repetition and aimlessness of daily life (which the methodical structure and mostly empty open world of the first game contributed to) it just feels like a cheap and exploitative power fantasy. it's noticeable suda was more hands-on with TSA because just from what i've played of it, it already feels way more self-reflective and well thought-out than this dreck.