Was NIS Classics Vol. 2 Worth It?

Nippon Ichi Software has been gradually porting their back catalog to the Switch. Today we’re covering their second collection: Makai Kingdom: Reclaimed and Rebound and ZHP:Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman. Was NIS Classics Vol. 2 worth it?

Full disclosure: We received a review code for the Nintendo Switch version of this game. Rest assured that this will not affect the quality or candor of our review.

Background

As you could tell from the huge title, this is two older games, ported and repackaged. Makai Kingdom first released on the PS2 back in 2005, and Zettai Hero Project released on the PSP in 2010. These games don’t have any connection to each other, and aren’t even the same genre per se, but characters from both games do make cameos in the larger Disgaea series.

Makai Kingdom is an SRPG in the same vein as Phantom Brave, while ZHP is a roguelite mystery dungeon title. We’re up to our ears in procedurally generated roguelite dungeon crawlers these days, but it was a much more novel concept upon release.

Disclaimer

There’s no way to future-proof a game, so going back to older titles can be awkward. It’s quite possible that people reading this review might be younger than Makai Kingdom. With that said, many of the mechanics and features are quite dated. This collection is a port, not an updated rerelease, so don’t expect any improvements or quality of life changes. Makai Kingdom in particular suffers here – you don’t even have the option to speed up attack animations.

There are a lot of design decisions in both games that are innovative, but not intuitive. I frequently found myself combing through old GameFAQs threads that were over a decade old. There’s some definite jankiness here that hasn’t aged well.

What does NIS Classics Vol. 2 do well?

Both games have novel, interesting stories, good music, and good English voice acting.

Makai Kingdom

This title borrows a lot of mechanics from Phantom Brave but arguably improves on them. You still confine characters to items, but I greatly prefer having them as persistent characters rather than limited-time visitors on the battlefield.

In a lot of NIS games, you can earn items based on how well you scored after a battle. Realistically, it’s difficult to max out the bonus gauge to actually obtain them. This isn’t the case in this title. In Makai Kingdom, you can end a battle after achieving a certain score, or you can choose to keep going. This is a great mechanic that encourages player choice: are you done with this map or do you want to keep going for more rewards?

If you have the tenacity, this game highly rewards subsequent playthroughs. There are plenty of characters to recruit on successive runs, some of whom have levels in the hundreds or thousands. This version of Makai Wars also features another game mode (Petta Mode), which previously had not been officially available in English.

Zettai Hero Project

In terms of story, Zettai Hero Project is the clear frontrunner here. It’s very earnest and it’s easy to jive with the characters. The dungeon crawling is good and even little things like your weapon choice make a big difference when exploring. Your equipment is reflected on your character, which is always a nice feature.

However, the real attraction is the Shadowgram. This feature gives you a huge amount of freedom in customizing your hero. There’s a ton of strategy and nuance to this, and I’m surprised that more games haven’t tried a similar idea.

What could NIS Classics Vol. 2 do better?

Both of these games are charming, but that only goes so far.

Visuals

These games look rough on a TV. I highly suggest playing in handheld mode, because the visuals do not hold up on the big screen. Depending on your tolerance for old sprites, this might be a dealbreaker.

Stability

NIS Classics Vol. 2 crashes so often it makes cryptocurrency look stable. Some of the crashes, such as when I tried to start ZHP, were small inconveniences. Other incidents were frustrating, such as when it crashed upon dungeon completion. In ZHP, crashing, resetting, or otherwise exiting the game counts as a loss condition, so you can imagine how annoying this was.

However, all this pales in comparison to the glaring issue: Makai Kingdom is literally unbeatable. Not because it’s difficult, but because it crashes at the beginning of Chapter 5. It doesn’t matter if it’s physical or digital – neither one works on the Switch. Ironically, the digital version gets one line of dialogue farther.

Stability, post day one patch

I reached out to NIS before release and they advised that a day one patch was on the way. The patch arrived, but it didn’t fix the huge issue of Makai Kingdom being unplayable. I actually delayed this review to give them more time to address this, but over a week after release one of the games is still broken.

Is NIS Classics Vol. 2 good value?

This is two full fledged titles in a single package. Generally, compilation titles are almost cheating when it comes to intrinsic value. However, that only applies to games that actually work. Both of these titles have grievous stability issues.

Is NIS Classics Vol. 2 fun?

Under normal circumstances, I would say that yes, these titles are fun. The characters are amusing and the stories are engaging. However, the technical difficulties are immensely frustrating. I was really starting to engage with Makai Kingdom and felt like I understood the mechanics until suddenly, it crashed. I was initially having a lot of fun with ZHP, but crashes took me out of it.

Was NIS Classics Vol. 2 worth it?

There’s a possibility that the issues might be fixed…but NIS has abandoned plenty of games with known issues (such as NIS Classics Vol. 1). Here’s the reality of the situation:

Is NIS Classics Vol. 2 worth it pre bug fixes?

A game that doesn’t work is not worth it. In mid-May 2022, the game is irrevocably broken. Clearly no one at NIS or Nintendo cared enough to actually play the game, so why should you?

Is NIS Classics Vol. 2 worth it post bug fixes?

In the event that the game does get fixed, here’s what you need to know:

• These are older games that definitely show their age.
• They don’t look great on modern TVs.
• There are few quality of life features or improvements.
• ZHP is missing content. If you were a fan of the Dengeki characters/dungeons, they aren’t in this version.

How nostalgic are you for these old titles? That’s the defining factor here. If NIS eventually fixes everything, then these titles are worth it for old school fans. Otherwise, there are plenty of other SRPGs and roguelikes on the Switch.

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