Pata-post Wednesday: Multiplayer Hotness!

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So here we are again Dear Reader, on the edge of another Pata-post, a few seconds from divulging the secrets of multiplayer that Jeff so brutishly decided to amputate from last week’s post. But before we continue with this scheduled program, I want to take a moment to answer some questions about last week’s “digital only” format announcement.

Q – What happens if accidentally erase or lose my Memory Stick?
It doesn’t matter how many times you erase, break or lose your memory stick. The magic of Patapon 2 is that can re-download it (for free) as many times as you want off the PlayStation Network using the PSN ID you bought or redeemed the voucher with.

Q – I fiendishly back-up all my digital entertainment; can I do that with Patapon 2?
Yup, you can back up the Patapon 2 game on a PC with Media Manager, a free application available at store.playstation.com. It’s easy-peazy-lemon-squeazy.

Q – How much Ka-ching will I have to drop for Patapon 2?
Patapon 2 is priced at a wallet friendly $19.99 USD for both the retail voucher and the PSN download.

It is very clear to see how passionate you guys are about Patapon 2 and we’re thankful for all your feedback and opinions. Of course there are many other questions, but since we did promise a breakdown on multiplayer, we best jump into this sweet new trailer before Jeff cuts me off again…

Now that we have raised your eyebrows, a couple of weeks back, we chatted about Hero Patapon, his mighty powers and his customization features. Today we’ll dive a bit more into customization and how to unlock new masks via multiplayer, the Patagate, Eggs and Game Sharing.

Multiplayer mode takes place in a parallel universe accessible only to Hero Patapons. The gateway to this realm is the Patagate, and it is here that you’ll join forces with other Hero Patapons in order to fight through all the levels you’ve unlocked in single player mode. This is a mortal eyeball-to-eyeball battle, and your rhythm skills will be tested as you and your three friends fight without the support of your vast Patapon army.

Patapon 2 screenshot patagate

To kick off a game, just go into the Patagate and select from one of the options: Bring Mysterious Egg, Game Sharing or Play Alone.

Bring Mysterious Egg
What are these eggs? Where do you find them? Wasn’t Easter a long time ago? Well, as you make your progress through Patapon 2 (single player mode), some of the bosses you defeat will drop an egg as part of the reward of beating them, and inside these eggs are the special masks available for Hero Patapon…so once you’ve acquired an egg, you’ve got to take it to the Patagate to crack it open and whisk the insides into an omelets of musical greatness. But before you can get a crackin’, you must first prove your worthiness by defeating the enemy you got the egg from!

Patapon 2 Multiplayer screenshot 2

The mission is simple: Work together to carry the egg from Point A to Point B within a set amount of time. Simple enough right? Trouble is, you’ll have at least one nasty boss or a ton of angry Karmen soldiers in your way. In single player, you had a full Patapon army that had your back, now it’s just you and 3 other friends…well…“super-powered” friends that is. If this sounds a bit difficult, worry ye not, victory is actually quite simple.

Patapon 2 Equip screen 1

Just make sure to outfit each Hero Patapon with the best armament available…and when in battle, make sure that you and all your friends keep true to the rhythm of the earth! If all four of you work together and coordinate when you all March, Attack, and Defend together as a unit, victory will be yours!

Patapon 2 screenshot 5

Once you and your merry band of Heroes beat all the obstacles before you, the game changes to “DON CHAKA” mode. Here you and your co-players rhythm are tested once again. By hitting the right drum beats at the right time, you will be awarded great riches that you can spend in single player. If you hit every beat, you crack the egg and get the secret that lies within!

Game Sharing
If by some horrible chance, your friends don’t have Patapon 2 (if this is true, why even call them friends?) well, then you must teach the ways of the drum via Game Sharing. This way, even if they don’t have Patapon 2, they can still help you out in your Egg breaking mission. Just fire up the Game Sharing option and have your friends download multiplayer mode from your PSP to theirs. Once that’s complete, they will be able to join you in battle in cracking the Mysterious Egg and unlocking Mask greatness.

Play Alone
But what if you happen to be flying solo for the night with no wing-man to help you out? If that is the case, just select Play Alone and fill in the other three spots with ComPons – A.I. Hero Patapons that will help you crack the Mysterious Egg.

Note: Every voyage through the Patagate requires four Hero Patapons, but don’t worry if you are short of one person for Game Sharing or Bring Mysterious Egg modes. You’ll be able to fill in any empty slot with a ComPon.

That’s about it for multiplayer and Mysterious Eggs; however, finding them in the single-player mode is not so easy. You’ll need to beef up your army with brand new warrior types who have joined the Patapon army…something we’ll dive into a little further in the next Pata-post!

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91 Comments

2 Author Replies

  • I would love nothing more than to have Patapon 2 on UMD like it should of been, selling the box with a manual and a piece of paper just doesn’t cut it.

  • this is really cool!

  • Day 1 for me, I already bought Locoroco and Jeanne from the PSN store, this will be my third

  • Wow the game looks super duper great. However Sony hasn’t provided me with a greater incentive to buy a PSP. My birthday is in May yet I refused to get it as a gift until E3. If nothing is shown at E3 I think I’ll give up hope on PSP and just play my PS3.

    However make a PS3 version of Patapon and I’ll buy it.

  • Well i’ve played it here in Europe for like a week now and i’m freakin ADDICTED, this game is much better then the first one, the addition of the Hero is very cool and adds more than you first think. In the past 4 days i thinks i played about 4-5 hours each day… can’t get enough.

    A PS3 version would be cool too :)

  • I don’t mind the DD but I think it should be a bit cheaper for the consumer…we are giving up our right of resale. The original Patapon launched at $19.99 (*https://blog.playstation.com/2008/01/21/patapon-pata-price-1999/) so a bit of a ‘deal’ is warranted imo.

    This will go nicely with the new nPSP (my terminology).

  • that is awesome! cant wait

  • won’t buy without physical media unless the price is $10 or less, period. doesn’t matter what game it is.

  • So, is the digital download only format to be a new trend? I already know a few people who have download caps that won’t even be able to consider this.

  • If I don’t have a PSP, when can I expect to be playing this on the PSP2 that I’ll be buying at launch?? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone ;)

  • Now that I know that I will only have to purchase the game one time, I am in complete support of digital downloads. I might even buy a bigger memory stick.

  • hm going to have to buy a bigger memory stick for this game…

    cant wait to pick this up tho

    also are all psn downloads like that
    “download as many times you like”…
    cuz i heard there was a max number of 5 times you can do this”

    if so i would like to hear it from hear and not random people on the net

    thanks and i cant wait for patapon 2.. made 2 levels in LBP for this game

  • @13….

    You can DOWNLOAD it unlimited times.

    You can PLAY it on FIVE systems (those systems have to be tied to your PSN ID though so you can’t download, put on memory stick and resell/trade/give the game to some one else)

  • I cant wait to get this game :D

  • I cant wait either! I’m playing the first one over again just to get in the mood. I know as soon as I finish Patapon 2 i’ll be begging for a Patapon 3. How about that Patapon prequel? hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

  • $20 dlls is kind of expensive considering how much you’re saving without making the UMD

  • Q. How do I sell it, or give it away when done with it?

  • @18

    You can’t sell it nor can you give it away unless you want some stranger to access your account. Digital downloads will never have any gain any value with time. One of the many reasons why I don’t like it.

  • Just want to voice my opinion that I won’t be buying this until I can get it on UMD. Huge fan of the first game, best of luck with this one.

  • I don’t think I’ll be paying this game any attention since it won’t even be available on UMD. Truthfully I hope this “test” fails miserably since I fully intend on abandoning Sony and any other company that pushes digital distribution so forcefully.

  • Will the download manager work on macs?

  • Does this download policy of unlimited downloads apply to all Playstation store games? I was thinking of buying a couple, and in the future getting a 16GB memory stick and downloading again to it.

  • Pata-pata-pata-pon!

    I am totally getting this game, and the multiplayer makes it seem much more interesting. Estimated file size? Anyone know?

  • will the game have online as in infrastructure online? thats one thing i can not find within these posts.

    • Chris Hinojosa-Miranda

      @ AAAChampions.

      Didn\’t mean to leave that bit of info out… but just to clarify: the multiplayer feature is ad-hoc only.

  • No UMD, no buy :)

  • for the ones that no purchase de retail (the case with the printed manual), you will release a PDF manual equal to the printed one, or at least in-game manual (but equal to the printed one)

  • Release Ad-Hoc party already dammit!

  • Extremely pleased to see this as a day one digital download. We need more of this for the PSP in order for it to survive in this digital age. I do not want to carry around a case of UMDs with me everywhere I go. I want to be able to stock my 8GB memory stick with as many games as I can and stick my PSP in my pocket.

    I see that SCEA is finally starting to publicly talk about piracy on the PSP. Perhaps we’ll finally get the chance to buy digital UMD games on PSP that are locked to the buyers account, just like say an iPhone game, PSN game, or an XBLA game. It’s time the PSP take this step. Releasing old UMD titles is not the answer. All SCEA UMD games should be digital only going forward. Save the earth by removing the waste.

  • Way to ignore questions such as “What if my download cap is so small i can’t download it?”, and “What if my friend wants it but doesn’t have a Wi-Fi network available?”

  • Let’s put this whole “price drop for digital download” idea to rest, the original Patapon had over thirty levels and only single player, but Patapon 2 has over double the levels, multiplayer, and brand new ideas and content, so a game worth fourty dollars available for download at 19.99 is a pretty fair deal

  • AAAChampions: it’s only ad-hoc multiplayer.

  • Oh and “What do i do when i finish it and don’t want it anymore?”

  • I thought the PSN download was priced at $14.99?

    Please tell me that SCEA did not raise the price on the PSN version, to $19.99, to satiate retailers (i.e Gamestop, Amazon.com, etc.)!!!!

  • @26
    I can’t believe you are so mad about no umd. You can download it unlimited times, you don’t have to worry about damaging/losing the disc, and the umd drive will no longer be absorbing all the battery power.

  • Wait wait wait…

    $20 for download and $20 for the physical version which includes costs of making the box, printing the discs and retailer profits?

    Um…Okay? That means the download version is overpriced REALLY badly.

  • Printing manuals sorry!

  • Hella sweet!

  • @almighty-slayer: you really didn’t read my post did you: You’re getting over double the content of the original Patapon, DOUBLE, for the same price.

  • I was planning to buy the PSN release, priced at $14.99, to support Sony and show them that I want my PSP games released digitally day-and-date with retail versions.

    But if the PSN price really is $19.99, I will pass on the game entirely.

  • YES!!!!!!!!!!!
    I cant wait!
    But please offer DLC

  • @waffman11

    I’m not disputing that you get double the content, sorry. I understand that. I’m in Europe i HAVE the game (on UMD, not download).

    I’m saying that the download will cost $20 – EXACTLY the same as the physicaly version of the same game. That means that the physical version is $20 when it includes the costs of making the box, printing the manual, and the retailer profit margin.

    So SCEA are ripping you off on the download version.

  • I still think the PSN version should be cheaper. There is no overhead with the PSN version. Sell it for $10 and you guys will clean up

  • no UMD no sale,

    I like collecting my games and I still hit up pawn shops and retail shops for games new and old for my Nintendo/N64/PS2. You can’t really do that with digital now can you.

  • So sad. Half the world is saying they want a UMD-less, totally digital PSP and the other half is chanting no UMD, no sale. You can’t win.

    Who’d have thought that’d happen when the internet was proclaiming UMD a failure? It must be tough being in marketing.

    Great to hear how flexible the backup options are!

  • Great Pata-post. Multiplayer sounds really good. I was wondering how it would work. I didn’t think it would just be the Hero Patapons fighting. This will definitely be interesting ^,^

  • Still not sure if I should pick this up.

  • Sony,

    This is addressed to whom it may concern:

    I would pay $39.99 for Patapon 2 on UMD. I will not be buying it unless it is on UMD. This is a giant middle finger to consumers. Thanks for nothing.

    -Physical Media

  • See normally, I wouldn’t mind the potential switch to an all digital format. However, it’s just silly to be starting now so far into the psp’s life. Now, half of my games will be umd and half will be digital. Is there any way that sony could find a way to also make the other titles we own downloadable? Like with a serial number or something? Also, I wonder if it would be a good idea to include memory sticks just the right size for one game with every digital game purchase, so that you could either have one big memory stick with all your games, or many with one game, to make up for the loss of umds.

  • If you release a version of Patapon 2 down the line on UMD I will buy until then. This is a no buy for me. Because for download only the price is high you can’t sell it. If I lose my PSN account I am out the game.

    This is the reason I never buy download only game. Pricing is to high they do not come down in price like they do at stores and I don’t really own the game.

    I am thinking about buying an imported version that would be on UMD so I can play the game. But I will wait to see how this does.

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