Check that: "VISTA" on Fierce Cheering officially destroyed me twenty times over, before I limped to the finish.  I had that same feeling of victory when I passed Shanghai Honey on Insane. 

Good catch!  It makes sense that the location of the final stage is smack-dab in the middle of the city, between the two turfs.  As for the stage itself, I'll agree with the both of you that, while the song isn't nearly as good as RSG or JJF, the scenario itself is indeed extremely cool.  But crap, that's some level of disaster happening there.... o_O

I love its usage in some songs, while despise them in others.  For instance, they're a lot of fun in Kibun Jojo and Music Hour, where they flow into one another, but in something like VISTA..... your reaction time has to be quick enough to recognize if it's either a single slider or a back-and-forth one before it launches into the next set of hit markers.  Devious.

The stage managed to surprise me as well.  I think iNiS is becoming even more confident in their storytelling abilities, especially given the media they're working with.   They've always been awesome that way, and I'd love to see them do something again for console.

My favorite songs are definitely pegged; Julia ni Shoshin comes out on top, followed by Glamorous Sky, Real Life Real Heart, Kibun Jojo, and.... Monkey Magic!  ^_~

I got this yesterday and I'm stuck on the last level Insane, but it should fall here pretty soon. At first I was extremely underwhelmed as I experienced blah song after blah song. I didn't experience this with #1, where pretty much every song I enjoyed immensely. This feeling lasted a long while and I started getting upset at the game. Then I got to the 3rd bonus stage, and it was the most marvelous Ouendan experience out of all 3 games (particularly on hard, where it's more involved than Normal but not frantic like Insane). Totally redeemed the game for me. I also warmed up to the final song which initially seemed incredibly out of place. I think I like it as much as RSG. However I still like only 1/3 of the songs, while in #1 I loved all except 2. My favorites are Samurai Blue, Kibun Jojo, POP STAR, Shounen Heart, and the last song.

Difficulty wise, I found I could breeze through pretty much everything up to where I am now. I stumbled over the last song on hard for a while, and I'm having about the same amount of trouble with it on insane. I had more trouble with EBA I think, and the original Ouendan took the most time to complete. I guess after 2 whole games, you're better able to handle songs on the fly.

I finally made time to beat the game on Normal and play about half-way through Hard Mode today.  I have to say that of the three titles, this one has the least impressive song selection.  There are only a few songs I like, though I haven't heard the second two bonus songs yet.

I had the dubious privilege of unlocking Samurai Blue during my first run on Cheergirls -- and I had a devilish time trying to beat it before I was able to get to the final stage.  I love it, though; it's clearly the "Survivor" and "The Sun Burns" of Ouendan 2, with its delicious onslaught of hit markers.

I initially thought Samurai Blue was a Kishidan song when I first heard it; it sounds so similar to One Night Carnival, doesn't it?

Yeah, I had to practice Samurai Blue on hard before I could beat it on insane Going in blind on insane yielded quick failure.

I had the same experience. I was too stubborn to try "Samurai Blue" on one of the easier levels, so I just kept trying until I just barely passed. After getting used to the song, though, I've found it to be one of the easier ones. The markers do come at you as rapidly as in "Survivor," but the timing is a lot more constant, with few of the odd pauses that made "Surivivor" so difficult, IMO. I think it'll be one of the easier songs to S Rank on Insane + Hidden. Of course, I don't mean to imply "Samurai Blue" isn't tons of fun, because it truly is. The section with the barrage of phrase markers really threw me for a loop the first time, but it's now one of my favorites.

I initially didn't like SSAY, thinking it was too slow and not "hard rock" enough. However, I've grown to love it, particularly during the chorus. Plus, I love the way the scenario plays out. Spoilers follow: In Ouendan, the focus of the final stage was to destroy a meteor. In EBA, to destroy an evil, invading alien force. But Ouendan 2 takes it in another direction by focusing on creation/love/life instead of destruction instead. Sure, it's a tad cheesy, but I think it's a welcome, refreshing change. Besides, "Countdown" already had a heckuva lot of devastation. Spoilers end.

So, has anyone tried out Hidden mode yet? It's not too bad on Insane, but it's one hell of a challenge on Easy.

I'm rubbish at the Ouendans so I wouldn't let myself play this until I had beaten both RSG and JJF on Hard (yes just Hard, not Insane). Well, after finally managing JJF yesterday and RSG today (which turned out to be easier than JJF), I've bailed through about ten tracks on Ouendan 2.

Layout and presentation is great and it's nice to get back to the Ouendan style. Shame they don't let you straight into hard mode though. Going from RSG and JJF on Hard to Normal Ouendan 2 is a bit of a chore. So far, I'm not massively impressed with the tracks. Nothing here with the character of the Ouendan tracks and, even though I felt EBA had some real stinkers, I actually think the EBA tracklist was better. That's so far anyway, more tracks to come.

Stories are mental as always but, without knowing Japanese, I'm having a harder time figuring out what's going on than I did in Ouendan, where the pictures totally told the story.

Ultimately, it's more of the same and, for me, that's a good thing.

What's in the hidden mode?  I've never beaten any of these games on insane, so I doubt I'll ever be unlocking it.

I think the hidden mode is where it hides the timing circles for the beats. I can't imagine how the game could be played like that but, like you, I'll probably never unlock it. Having said that, I got through a few tracks on the Elite Divas and, having completed Hard, Insane is actually easier than I expected.

To be clear, unlocking Hidden Mode doesn't constitute having to complete Insane.  The requirement is attaining a total point score of 50 million - which means, theoretically, you can unlock Hidden even before unlocking Insane..... so long as you gain high enough scores on the prior modes.

Anyway, I did give Hidden a couple of tries, and it's definitely not easy -- especially on the easier modes.  The memorization of rhythm and flow just comes more naturally on the harder modes. 

It also frees up a surprising amount of estate on the touch screen - you'll be able to see the Ouendan so much more clearly without all them timing circles.  ^_^

The character models seem to have taken a step backwards, especially those guys in blue. The original character models were fine but EBA really brought it up a notch. These seem sub-Ouendan 1 though. I really notice it when I'm doing rubbish in Hard mode because that dreadlocked guy is always in my face.

The thing that struck me as strange was the inclusion of their mouths opening and closing on their close-ups.  It wouldn't be so freakishly-weird if their mouths weren't so insanely huge. o_O

Yes, the dreadlock guy is so freaky when he's going all D: at you.  :\

Oh, is that what it does?  Don't think I'd stand a chance in hell there.

That last song on Hard is driving me insane. Doesn't help that it's a godawful track.

Is Glamorous Sky the only good track in the game?

I'm clearly in the minority here, but I'm of the less-than-shared-opinion that Ouendan 2's soundtrack is just as good, if not better than the first.   Maybe it helps that I've become so musically invested in the game, but then who doesn't become invested just by the very nature of the gameplay?  No, I really do dig the songs themselves.  It's certainly more varied between its ratio between rock and pop, from the hip yet honeyed Kibun Jojo, to the power-rock ballad of Glamorous Sky, and the jazzy-brass hooks of Julia no Shoshin.  That mind-sticking axe grind chipping in Real Life Real Heart?  The dance-infused beat element of Music Hour?  The hip-hop goodness of Shounen Heart that's currently battling Ouendan's Kokoro Odoru for my personal better?  And Zoku.... fast has it become my ultimate guilty pleasure track to play, both in and out of the game.

Yeah, the music is awesome.  I don't get the hate.

So, anyone else kinda upset about the announcement that EBA characters can be downloaded into Ouendan 2? I was hoping they'd make it in, but the fact that you have to go to a download station in Japan to do it seems a bit harsh. I mean, iNiS must have known that Ouendan 2 would be imported in mass quantities, so why screw importers over? Hopefully they'll announce an alternate way of getting the characters in the future.

I guess I'm in the minority, too, because I immediately took a liking to most of the songs in the game. By comparison, most of the tracks from the original Ouendan actually took much longer to grow on me. I also like that there are a greater number of songs with female vocals, which the original was sorely lacking in.

The only song that I don't quite like is "Shounen Heart," partly because "Kibun Joujou" has a better rap, but also because of that dastardly final section that doesn't match the music at all >_<  Oh, and I'm not crazy about the cover of "Bambino," though I love the original and I do think the song works well in the game.

Screw the Agents..... there's BOWL CAT!!  I guess there was truth when rom hackers found the sound byte file for Agent J.  So that means the characters are already programmed into the game, and Nintendo and iNiS are only now making them accessible via the download.   Maybe an Action Replay code or online save file will soon become available? 

Too bad the Divas aren't in there, though. :(

Aw man, that sucks. It really does. I'd love to have the EBA agents in there. In fact, I was really surprised there seemed to be no crossover. I really hope there turns out to be some other way to unlock these guys.

Wow, the code's already been cracked via Action Replay.  Fine time to misplace my USB cable that plugs into the device, so I could try these out:

Game ID:
AO2J-B9A91626

(M)
00009BC6 414A324A
646E1BB7 612A35AE

EBA Mode:
220D7397 00000001

Heh, I stand corrected:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFcIj3zGKXw

Not only do the Divas show up, but also Chieftain and Spin on their respective difficulty modes of Hard and Easy.  All the Agents are skin swap, so everything other than the in-gameplay character models remain the same, including the opening sequence for each stage, voices, choreographed moves, and the occasional screen pop-in of the Ouendan faces.   As you can see by the video, in the case of SSAY, the blue team leader is replaced by Bowl Cat.

So do you get to choose to swap them in, or once you download it do they permanently replace the Ouendan crew?  And is this one of those things where if you shut off the system you lose the download?  I'm tempted to try finding a download station.

You should still be able to choose between the EBA and Ouendan crew.  Apparently, a new button selector shows up on the main menu -- much like the Hidden Mode -- which you can toggle on and off.

And the download should be permanent.  For those who are relying on the AR code, though, it's said that you need to activate the auto-save from somewhere in the game.  That's easily achievable by simply changing a setting like left-hand/right-hand mode in Options.

Tried out the code and it worked (*hugs Action Replay*). It turns out that the EBA crew will replace both red and blue Ouendan teams, except during the final two stages. In those, the blue backup members will be present, but the team leader will be replaced by Neko the cat. The neat thing is, depending on the difficulty level, Neko will be sporting a wig that mirrors the usual blue team leader's hair.

I'm now really hoping for an Ouendan x EBA crossover.

So I've only just begun watching the music videos for these songs, and so far, "Zoku" has been my favorite.  Massively entertaining, in its full campy glory; is this how baseball is going to be played in the future?

"Real Life Real Heart" is cute 'n trippy, and Mika Nakashima's performance in "Glamorous Sky" is energetic and fun to watch.  Next I'll check out "Music Hour" and "Samurai Blue."

Zoku:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qtessYAKqjI

Real Life Real Heart:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cFAeeqIJgPw

Glamorous Sky:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oRuBZQeKMnM

Gamasutra has a new interview up with Yano from Microsoft's Gamefest event.  As usual, it's an intelligent and engaging read, with Yano this time touching base on the current state of music games, his stake in MS, East/West developer relations, and the international phenomenon of EBA/Ouendan:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1 … php?page=1

No word on an EBA2 yet, but iNiS is reportedly working on something for 360.

The latest issue of Nintendo Power has another article that was demanding enough for me to make a scan, thereby allowing me to continue spreading the good word.  It's a feature on the best "Japan-Only DS Games That Every True Nintendo Fan Should Know About."  Guess which two games head up the list?

I think I just love the way the boxes look, side-by-side:
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/6112 … dangk8.jpg

Agreed, though my anal, obsessive compulsive self is still most impressed that they remembered the first Ouendan was like the only game to have the "Nintendo DS" on the label with a black background instead of white and kept that little quirk for the second title.