NIS Classics Vol. 2: Makai Kingdom / Z.H.P. (2022) [Switch]

“As gamers, we also know how important it is to preserve and respect our gaming legacies.”
-Jason Ronald

Game preservation should be an important topic in today’s gaming landscape. There are so many games that are stuck on old hardware, falling into obscurity, with no easy way to discover, acquire, and enjoy. This is why I appreciate companies like NIS America for bringing us collections of classic and obscure titles remastered for modern consoles. One such collection is the ridiculously titled Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 2: Makai Kingdom: Reclaimed & Rebound / Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger vs Darkdeath Evilman (in the interest of finger preservation I will call it NIS Classics Vol. 2 from now on), which includes two strategy games that originally released for the PS2 and PSP respectively.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I only played a couple of hours of each game and I’m not too familiar with the Disgaea series, to which these games are closely related, so I’m not focusing too much on the intricacies of game design and individual merits of each game. This review is focused more on my initial experiences with both games and overall thoughts on this collection as a whole.

Fallen Kingdom

In Makai Kingdom, you play as a very powerful demon overlord named Zetta who had the misfortune of having his soul bound to a sacred tome. Having lost his body and netherworld kingdom, Zetta must build up everything from scratch. Starting out on an empty base you can start recruiting characters by turning objects, like rocks and bushes, into soldiers that fight for you. You’ll have the choice of a few different classes, such as witch, thief, and warrior, and can purchase equipment before heading into battle. As you progress you will unlock more classes and add buildings to your hub world for deeper customization.

Makai Kingdom is a spinoff game of the Disgaea series, so if you’ve ever played any Disgaea titles you will be immediately familiar with how the game works. It’s a turn-based strategy game where your team has to fight a group of enemies on the battlefield using attacks and abilities. However, you are not tied to a grid and are able to move each character freely within a limited range each turn. Stats, equipment, weaknesses, and special abilities all come into play in standard RPG fashion. The customizability ensures that you’ll be able to tackle the challenges however you prefer. The game also includes Petta Mode, a new storyline that stars Zetta’s daughter Petta from the future.

A Battle of the Century

The premise for Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger vs Darkdeath Evilman is a bit more difficult to describe. There is a prophesied super baby (which the game doesn’t explain very well) that will be the savior of the world. Darkdeath Evilman, who has never lost a battle, wants to destroy the world so he sets out to take out this super baby. Unlosing Ranger, who also has never lost a battle, is the hero the world depends on to stop Darkdeath. The game sets this up as being a final battle of epic proportions. However, on his way to the battle the hero is struck by a car and with his dying breath gives you, the player, the power of Unlosing Ranger, which is basically just the outfit.

The tone set by Z.H.P. (which stands for Zettai Hero Project) is silly and overly exaggerated. I chuckled at how they throw you into this ‘final battle’ but are immediately decimated. Your body is then teleported to an alternate Bizarro Earth where your training begins to be built up as the Unlosing Ranger and the game thus properly begins. Unlike Makai Kingdom, you don’t have a team so it’s just you vs everybody. The gameplay takes place in grid-based dungeons where you must plan out your moves and attacks carefully. Enemies have a field of vision that when entered begin to chase you down for an attack. But instead of being turn-based, all the movements happen simultaneously as you do;  enemies only move when you do.

A War on Two Fronts

I enjoyed the time I put into both games in the NIS Classics Vol. 2 and am looking forward to putting more time into them, though I wouldn’t recommend playing through both at the same time (as I have been). Both seem to be simple enough to get into but become more complex as you progress. Makai Kingdom will be more familiar to turn-based strategy RPG fans and I enjoyed the fact that you can build the team to your liking right from the start. While on the battlefield you can pick up items to take back with you to home base, but have to be careful not to let your characters take too much damage as you’ll need to spend money to heal or revive them in-between missions. In true Disgaea fashion, the special abilities are grandiose and fun to execute. The battles themselves haven’t been too difficult but I could see them ramping up in difficulty as characters level up.

The gameplay in Z.H.P. I found to be very interesting because of its you-move-they-move mechanics, and it’s very similar to a game I previously reviewed, John Wick Hex. As you come across enemies in the vicinity, you have to plan your move carefully since enemies will chase you down relentlessly as soon as they’re alerted to your presence. You have to leverage the use of weapons, throwable items, and special abilities that must be charged in order to make sure you don’t get overwhelmed. Z.H.P. also contains roguelike elements as all the dungeons are procedurally generated and if you die your character returns to level 1. If you perish you do get to keep the progress on certain things you’ve built up and have the chance to go back even stronger so not all is lost.

In My Isometric View

Since both of these games were released about three generations ago, you can expect certain aspects of the presentation to have aged poorly. The 3D environments are blocky and low-res, and some of the dialogue is cheesy and a bit cringe. Luckily, the pixel art still looks great and the animations are fluid and satisfying. The music in Makai Kingdom is grand and adventurous while battle themes are fast and energetic. The overall soundtrack is typical of other JRPGs of the era so it’s nothing special but some of the tracks are excellent, and I enjoyed the variety in styles. I had similar feelings towards the soundtrack in Z.H.P. though the overall tone takes a more lighthearted approach.

Both games in the NIS Classics Vol. 2 employ a comical storyline with jokes being constantly thrown at you by the colorful cast of characters. I had a couple of good chuckles with some of the jokes while others had me just sitting in disbelief at how bad they were. Obviously, the enjoyment of the comedic elements will vary from person to person, but I do admire the effort that the writers and localizers made with both games. Both games also move at a fast pace when compared to other strategy RPGs; you won’t spend an extended amount of time on any one battle, which I greatly appreciated.

Final Thoughts

As I mentioned early on, game preservation is a topic that I believe should be an important part of our discourse as gamers. I applaud NIS America for putting together this series of Prinny Presents NIS Classics collections, especially since they also made physical collector’s editions. I also own the physical version of NIS Classics Volume 1 which include Soul Nomad and Phantom Brave. And I look forward to NIS Classics Volume 3 releasing later this year which includes La Pucelle: Ragnarok and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. Both collections released so far can be found on the Nintendo eShop for $39.99 which I believe is a fair price considering how lengthy these games are and how difficult it would be to acquire original copies of these obscure titles.

I’m not saying you all need to go out and purchase these titles immediately, but it is important to support these kinds of releases so that we may encourage publishers to give us more in the future. For what it’s worth, I did have a good time with both titles, enough to want to go back to put more time into them. They are both excellent and well-polished titles that RPG fans, and especially strategy fans, will enjoy. If this is a collection that you may be interested in the NIS Classics Volume 2 gets my personal recommendation!