REVIEW: Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded


Title	Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded
Developer	Engine Soft, Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher	NIS America
Release Date	October 13th, 2020
Genre	Platformer
Platform	Switch
Age Rating	Teen
Official Website

When NIS America announced they were bringing the fantastic Prinny platforming titles to the Switch in a collection called Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded I got pretty stoked. I had a ton of fun with these titles back in the PSP days and getting a second crack at them on Switch was something I could really sink my teeth into. Let’s see how these two hard as balls platformers hold up today and if anything has been done to polish them up.

Each game features a top quality story with that classic Disgaea humor we all know and love. The first game, Prinny: Can I Really Be a Hero ,has the prinnies going on a quest for the ultimate dessert. This all came about because someone stole Etna’s Dessert and being the forgiving demon she is, the prinnies were sent on an almost impossible mission to gather ingredients to make a new one. The second game, Prinny: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood ramps up the crazy to a new level. A mysterious rare item collector has stolen one of Etna’s most prized possessions, her panties! The prinnies are tasked with retrieving them, but the mysterious item collector will only show up if a rare item is present for the taking. They begin questing around the Netherworld to obtain some of these items as bait, but as usual, this will not be an easy task.

Graphically, Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded holds up really well. The environments and characters sprites all have that unique Disgaea style and look great on the Switch screen. You can tell these were PSP titles, but that doesn’t mean they look bad in anyway. NIS has put some love into upscaling these titles and cleaning up the sprites a bit. The game runs at a smooth framerate in handheld mode or docked, so you will get the best platforming experience possible.

The music here is very typical of whimsical music the Disgaea franchise is known for. The music is always one of my favorite things about a Disgaea release and these titles will not disappoint. The games contain both English and Japanese voice acting. I didn’t realize how badly I missed the old prinny voice actor until I fired up the first game and heard it. Both casts do a great job, so which voice option you choose really comes down to your preference.

The gameplay of both games here is pretty much the same, Prinny: Dawn of Operation Panties Dood does add a power up system for attacks and a baby difficulty. Each stage is pretty much your typical side scrolling affair where you start at point A ,try to survive till point B and then a fight the boss. While this may sound very simple, but nothing could be further from the truth. Prinnies have a slashing attack on the ground, an air attack and a ground pound. This will allow you to not only stun enemies but sometimes bounce off them to reach higher places. The ground pound is essential in every boss battle, since you use it to stun them for extra damage. Normal attacks will deal with most enemies on the stage, but there are times you may have to stun them first to do damage.

Playing on normal difficulty prinny can take three hits before he explodes, but if you are true masochist, you can play these on Hell’s Finest where a single hit will end you. The worst part of the platforming here is the fact that you cannot adjust a jump once you’re in air. This means once you leave the ground you are committed, and you best hope you lined it up well. You can fix this with the double jump sometimes, but more often than not that just makes it worse. Combine this with enemy knockbacks and there will be some very heated “Gamer Moments.” Thankfully, these games are very generous with their checkpoints. You will die a lot, but you won’t have to redo huge chunks of each level.

Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded are two of the most challenging platformers you will ever come across. This should be pretty obvious when they start you off with 1000 lives if I am being honest, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t fun. I have to say, even though I was very frustrated several times during my playthrough of each,, I found myself having fun more often than not. This was due to the excellent gameplay and level design.

At the end of the day, your enjoyment of these games will come down to how well you like platforming, and if you’re a Disgaea fan. Fans will find a lot to love at the $19.99 asking price for each title. While these adventures do clock in a bit on the short side at around 8 hours each, you will need multiple playthroughs to unlock all the hidden goodies in each. NIS has also included all the DLC for each title as well, which is a fantastic bonus. While these games certainly are not for everyone, but they will cater to the audience that loves these types of games in grand fashion.