The game is officially out now so I thought I'd start this thread.  I haven't begun playing yet, have to finish a couple other games first.  Anybody playing it yet?

Even though I haven't even popped the disc in yet, I thought I'd kick this thread off with some nifty information.  While attempting to rip all the music from the game disc (my Glory of Heracles rip inspired me ), I discovered something pretty awesome.  Akira Yamaoka's name is on four of the tracks in the game's music directory!  His tracks total up to about 15 minutes of play time and from what I've skimmed through, they're a little on the Shin Contra side, as in half metal and half techno.  Also listed in there are a few tracks from the No More Heroes Dark Side album, two tracks by some band called Missile Chewbacca, four tracks by something/someone called Neutrino, and a few tracks from Taku Yoshioka (who has worked with Takada in the past).  A couple other names I see are Sugiyama, Watanabe, and Hagio.. not sure who they could be though.  So to say the least, we now know that Takada didn't handle this soundtrack all on his own, which I figured would happen, but we also learned that NMH2 is Yamaoka's first official non-Konami project, nice!

I think shoes (from Let's Tap) is a member of that group.

What does the music sound like? Impressions?

This is a fabulous time for my Wii to be acting up again.  Same symptoms as the first system, with Wiimote syncing constantly dropping.  Seriously, what on earth am I doing wrong with this system?

I'm waiting to play the game before I really dive into the soundtrack but from what I've skimmed so far, there are some great tracks on here.  Oh and just to clarify, I discovered that three of the four Yamaoka tracks are technically the same track with slight variation, so there's really only two tracks from him.  I think some of the other tracks I mentioned are like that too.  The way they set these files up on the disc is really strange.  Though I did find a bunch of awesome chiptune music.

That's not surprising, if you've seen some of the advertisements for the game (like on gamefaqs) it becomes clear why.

Stop cockblocking and start ripping!

I think I had a similar problem, and it turned out my Wiimote's signal kept being blocked by my wireless Headphone's signal. Maybe you have some other wireless device near your Wii?

Hahahaha!

For you, anything.

Here are some treats..

NMH2 - Akira Yamaoka tracks

NMH2 - Chiptune tracks

Steak House = pure awesome.

Played about two hours' worth today, getting past the first real boss, and man was he a pill. I would've started sooner, but last night I was seriously overtired and I spent most of today around kids, so I had to be - *ahem* - Fashionably Late. Color-coded spoilers ahoy!

The story seems quite a bit more serious this time around, what with the Beef Head guy getting killed right away and all. There was no call from Diane after either battle, and I'm seriously going to miss that. Moreover, Sylvia seems to be telling most of the story in retrospect to somebody, so there's a bit of mystery going on as well.

The good news is there's plenty of weird humor still around, or all this would be a big turnoff. At this point, my favorite thing in the world is helping Jeane out with her diet. One of my cats has also become Buick-sized in the last year, so watching Travis strain to pick her up for stretches while I spam on Ais the funniest thing I've seen in ages. Also, fourth-wall busting and speeches from severed heads...this is the game I remember, all right.

As far as the non-combat parts go, it's a little bittersweet for me. See, I loved roaming around town on the bike, looking for dumpsters and driving off cliffs for no reason at all, but I accept that most people didn't and I'll get over the free-roaming world's absence in time. But why make the buildings free-roaming areas pointlessly when you streamline everything else?

The new minigame set-up is a fair trade, though. I won't go into it, even though it's hard to call it a spoiler if it can be clearly seen on the back of the case.

Anything else? Well, the music's OK so far, but I'm hoping it gets wilder as the game proceeds, as with the first. The map's a good deal more helpful now, and the ability to switch weapons on the fly is nice. Oh, and if you're having trouble with the first real boss, Nathan Copeland, try pressing him into the far right corner for some easy hits outside of turret range, and using his bedroom to recharge the katana.

Great game, looking forward to more of it.

I finished it over the weekend. The game play (though I"m a little annoyed that it's more difficult to Dark Step and recharge your beam katana) and graphics are definitely improved, but the story and new characters aren't as interesting. The finale in particular was pretty lame, IMO. Apparently Takada didn't work on the game, so the music isn't as varied, either. Still, despite missing some of the original's charm, it's still a damn good sequel.

I do have the wireless router set up in the same room as my consoles - but it's always been on, and I haven't had problems prior.  It's worth a shot, though; I'll try turning it off and see what happens.

Thanks! I just did my exercises on Shin Contra a few hours back:) I gave the Yamaoka tracks a quick spin: the first three were basically the same track, shincontra-ish but with a twist. Yeah pretty tight. The last track came off a bit too much like a Squarepusher rip-off right now, I might give it a more proper listen again tomorrow orso.

I've gotten a bit further (Ranked 24, and I've become somewhat ambivalent. There's been some good ideas (like Ranking Challenges, which were only alluded to in the original's fake ending and TIGER RAMPAGE) but at this point two problems are coming into sharp relief.

1. I'm playing 8-bit games way more than anything like NMH1.
It'd be one thing if I had the option to redo Revenge Missions to my heart's content, but those are one-shot deals, and most of my playtime has been spent vacuuming bugs and playing Mach Rider: Delivery Boy. I realize that they're largely skippable, but collecting pointless crap was half the charm of the original (one of my favorite things was dumpster-diving for new shirts...damn, I miss the overworld). I'll also admit most of the games are entertaining, but it's not the game I thought I'd be getting.

and 2. the game is just too danged easy.
Seriously, since Nathan Copeland it's been a cakewalk, and the only time I've died in the whole game was when I was trying to get the hang of the Mech Fight mechanics. The rank-and-file enemy portions are over in a flash, and the last boss, Matt Helms, didn't even get my life bar down halfway. At this point, I'm considering skipping the Gym just to make things tougher.

I'm sticking to it, but I'm also hoping they're holding back the tough and wild stuff for the Top 10, like before.

Could you elaborate more on this? Also, what have they added to the combat?

So they made the highest difficulty you can initially select "normal" again?

According to Grasshopper's official English Twitter account, NMH2 will receive a soundtrack release later this year.

"Keep an eye out for the CD this year! @omegaro I never really listened to the No More Heroes 2 soundtrack until now, but it's really great!"

http://twitter.com/Grasshopper_EN/status/14216509070

YES. Total agreeage. I thought it was strange that they let you actually walk around buildings, when those were menu-based in the first game, but then turned city-exploration into menu-based, rather than letting you drive around yourself.

If they were going to make the city menu-based, they should've kept the menu-based interface with the buildings and shops, too.

I only played up to the first mission; is the guy in the intro ("Skelter Helter") supposed to be a parody of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII? It's subtle enough, but it sure looks that way; I'm hoping someone can confirm whether this's really the case, or just a coincidence...but between the guy's appearance and weapons, and his over-emotional attitude (namely, with wanting to avenge his older brother), this's why I draw this conclusion.

Really enjoying the 8-Bit style mini-games (side jobs); they're a lot more fun than the jobs in the first game!

...

There wasn't a commercial soundtrack release for this game, was there? Enjoying the music ALOT more than I did the first game's soundtrack! Not that I HATED the music from the first game, I just...never felt the occasion to the listen to the music out-of-game, and when I tried to, I just didn't care for it...