The sequel improves upon so many aspects of the original, namely the open world clunkiness and side mission banality. The tedium of moving around the open world of Santa Destroy has now been stream-lined. Instead of driving from place to place, players are given a menu with various locations and fast-travel to each one. While it’s somewhat disappointing to see the developers go this route instead of improving the open world design, in the end it’s a much-needed change. It speeds things along, allowing you to quickly get to the next ranked fight. Between missions comes the greatest addition to the series. Gone are the job missions of the last game that, while fun at times, were usually a chore to get through- especially considering they had to be played repeatedly. In their place are a set of incredibly crafted 8-bit style minigames. Travis will do anything to make a buck whether it’s delivering pizzas, frying steaks for finicky customers, collecting coconuts, or exterminating bugs. All of these jobs are lovingly rendered as bygone products of the 1980s. From the visuals, the audio, and scenarios, the job minigames are so much fun you’ll find yourself going back to them again and again.

Desperate Struggle retains some of the same problems that hindered the last game. The game’s camera system can be very frustrating. In heavy combat situations, my view was often blocked by objects, walls, enemies, and more. There is no camera control other than a re-center button of which I made extensive use. Even with a lock-on system, the camera still lost sight of enemies. This is partly to do with the game’s less-than-stellar level design. Environments in Desperate Struggle felt cramped and bland. They’re usually just empty parking lots, empty buildings, or empty streets. There’s not much life in them and, at times, it felt like there wasn’t enough room to fight and maneuver. They really only serve as platforms for the combat. In a few instances, the poor level design only added to some of the frustation during boss battles. Many of the locations for the ranked matches suffer from the same claustrophobic design. It felt like there wasn’t always enough room to fight, dodge attacks, and still be able to keep an eye on what was going on. This wasn’t the case for every fight but it’s still worth mentioning.

Shinobu and Henry return from the first game as playable characters and the addition is a welcomed one. Shinobu is back from battling in Asia and has, unlike Travis, gained the ability to jump. While it mixes up her fighting style somewhat and allowed the developers to include a platforming puzzle, it doesn’t do anything drastic to the No More Heroes formula.

No More Heroes 2 does something more Wii developers should consider. It gives players the option to control the game via the standard Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo or playing via the Classic Controller. I started with the old standby but switched to the Classic Controller about halfway through and I’ll never go back to the original. Playing with the Classic Controller felt great and, even if some gamers would rather have motion controls, it’s nice to be given the option to use standard controls. This is how third party development should continue on the Wii.

In the end, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle took many of the things that didn’t work in the first game, scrapped them and, in their place, made a more stream-lined, energetic, hectic, thrilling experience. While I was initially sad to see the open world of Santa Destroy get pushed to the way-side, I can’t argue with the results. Despite still being bogged down by a clunky camera, the game feels much snappier and the 8-bit minigames are simply amazing. Add that to another great cast of epic boss battles, more oddball humor, more style than some game studios craft in a lifetime, and Suda 51 has managed to up the ante on a series I hope is around for a long time.