Day 1 BBCS2 Portable Impressions

Hello there, Cirno here. Now that I've had my hands on it for a little over a full 24 hours (ignoring my 9-3 nap ┐(￣∀￣)┌), I can give my collected thoughts on the handheld version of Blazblue Continuum Shift 2. Before I begin, I'd like to mention that I'm running everything on a PSP-2000, with Remote Joy Lite as a controllerhub for my arcade stick, and using component cables to view it on my television. It runs flawlessly. For more information on how to do this yourself, check an earlier entry I wrote.

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Initial Impressions

The handheld version sports the new BBCS2 opening, along with the song, unlike its CT counterpart. Past the start screen, you'll be familiar with the Main Menu layout.

You'll have to ignore my framerate data up there.

Your level, on the top right corner, will increase with Arcade mode, Abyss mode, Legion mode, Score Attack, Challenge mode, and perhaps Network victories. Versus mode is only for you against the computer, and Network is local ad-hoc multiplayer. There are no online battles without using Ad-Hoc Party for the PS3 or XLink Kai.

Personally, of course, I started out by grinding Practice mode with Platinum for many hours. For those who are wondering, her training settings allow her to choose her starting item, next item, and to allow auto-refilling of her current item.

Returning Modes

As far as Arcade mode and Score Attack, you can now choose Makoto, Valkenhayn, and Platinum, as well as fight them. So yes, you will still have to fight yourself in Score Attack.

While spinning, Platinum is drill-hair moe.

...and while stuck, is, well...

In Score Attack, you don't seem to fight unlimiteds anymore. Perhaps they felt it was too difficult? That's not how you unlock playable unlimiteds, either.

For Story mode, the only additions I can tell are two new pathways; EX1 and EX2.

All, save Ragna's, are locked from the beginning.

Tutorial mode I have not messed much with, but from what I have, it seems to cover most of what BBCS did, as well as the new mechanics like Wall Bounding. It's still near entirely voiced by Rachel.

Gallery is also more or less the same, but has an additional tab with Achievements/Trophies PSP-ified into Medals. This is also where Unlimited characters, additional colors, and system voices are purchased. Each color set is bought individually for each character, and you get all 12 at once. Many items are locked by a level limit, which must be achieved before buying them.

When you buy them, their "Unlimited Portrait" becomes viewable...

Which, of course, looks like the DLC Unlimited portraits.

Good looking palettes!

it　is　a　mystery...

And lastly, Challenge mode.

...there's not much to say about Challenge mode. It's what you would expect. Combos that didn't work before are changed to fit the new bill. Plain and simple.

New Modes

Although not technically new, Legion Mode 1.5 takes a new turn. Instead of difficulties, there's stages. The first being very small to the goal.

A half completed stage 1.

Fully completed!

And then stage 2 is unlocked.

Another addition, is stats. When beating a team, much like in the original Legion mode, you take one member of the other team. When that happens now, a member on your team's stats are raised. A marquee message on the bottom of the screen will tell you which of your stats will be raised for the team you defeat. Each team will give you a different stat, for one of the members on your team. It seems to be random which team member gets the buffed stats, but I'm not entirely sure.

The stats are:

• Attack (ATK) [Damage boost]
  
• Defense (DEF) [Defense boost]
  
• Speed (SPD) [increases your walk, dash, and airdash speeds.]
  
• Heat (HET) [increases the amount of heat you start the match with.]
  
  Abyss mode also uses these stats. Completely new to handheld BBCS2, Abyss mode has you fighting down a tower, to reach the lowest plane. After choosing Abyss mode, you choose your character and you're brought to a menu. With your accumulated Platinum Dollars (P$ (no relation to Platinum=The=Trinity)), you can buy a variety of buffs for your character before you descend.
  
  
  
  The bottom option being descend, and the top...
  
  
  ...being the item shop itself!

  
  
  You start at 0 depth, and against a random enemy. Every few hits you get off the enemy, your depth will increase. If you defeat them, you will fight another randomly chosen opponent. Once you reach each 20 increment of depth, "A New Challenger Has Appeared" will show up, and you'll fight a powered up enemy. During this fight, your depth does not increase. When you win, you can choose a buff for your character. The buffs will usually start out as +1 for either of the four stats, or a special skill. You can stock 3 special skills, and if you choose another after that, the first one will get overwritten for the new one.
  
  

  
  Depth 500... and it goes much lower!
  
  
  Fighting a buffed Tsubaki.
  
  
  Although she's glowing, she's no unlimited.

  
  
  Special skills I've seen so far include Auto Healing, Auto Heat Regeneration, Quarter Rapid Cancels (yes, you heard right. 25% heat RC's), and Penetration (which seems to randomly break your opponent's guard). There are likely many more.
  
  

  
  The rewards screen for beating depth 20.

  
  
  Strangely enough, when quitting Abyss mode at around depth 220, it didn't save my stats, so I had to start again. When you lose, it saves your "Max Depth", and gives you your P$ reward, and restarts you at the beginning. At the 100 depth markers, you can quit, and it'll allow you to purchase new buffs in the item shop. None of your stats are saved either way.
  
  "Not Arcade Perfect?"
  
  We've likely all heard it by now, that BBCS2 portable wasn't meant to be "Arcade Perfect". Now I'll be honest; when I first started playing, I felt like some of Platinum's moves were a bit more accessible than they seemed to be. Turns out I wasn't right. It feels perfectly fine, and I haven't noticed any combos that work here and do not work on the arcade BBCS2, or vice versa. Granted, I can't test the arcade version, but from all I've gathered since BBCS2 was released in Japan, this seems to be the case.
  
  There's a slight issue with lag, in that certain moves are more CPU intensive than others (like a lot of Ragna's effects, Mu's drive, Platinum's large bombs) will skip a beat in framerate, but it's pretty ignorable.
  
  

  
  This much will usually skip ever so slightly.

  
  
  Unlimited Platinum Impressions
  
  Of course she would get her own section. We haven't seen her at all yet, so she's completely new. And she's fantastic.
  

  • All of her drive items are powered up, and she can choose which to equip by holding a direction and pressing D when she is unequipped.
    
  • 1D gives her the fan, 4D gives her the dokoro-bludgeon, 2D gives her large bombs, 3D gives her large missiles, 6D gives her the lion, and 5D gives her the 16t hammer.
    
  • She's much faster, and her super jump goes much higher. Her airdash is faster, and longer.
    
  • Her second jump is replaced with a Swallow Moon state, which she can willingly control to fly on for about 2 seconds. Her normal Swallow Moon allows this as well. The speed is relatively quick.
    
  • She can do Mami Circular in the air, and Falling Melody hits 3 times in a quick succession, and each hit does 400 damage. Due to this, it disturbs her normal Falling Melody corner loops.
    
  • Cure Dot Typhoon sends a gigantic cat missile right after the item recovery animation, and after a short pause, sends a hailstorm of large bombs. The bombs do not chain with the missile unless you rapid and add combo filler yourself.
    
  • Dramatic Sammy knocks them directly upwards, allowing you to combo off of it.
    
  • Miracle Jeanne now causes the same rain of bombs as CDT after a brief pause.
    
  • 632146B is a new distortion input, Platinum blows a kiss to summon the same gigantic cat missile as CDT.
    

  

  A not so hidden missile...

  

  Doom would be proud.

  Platinum=The=Trinity Impressions

  Now, why the normal impressions after the Unlimited version? I figure I couldn't do anything but save this for last, considering she's been my main interest regarding CS2 since her reveal.

  The short version: she owns.

  The long version:

  Platinum's gameplay feels incredibly solid. This isn't a new fact, due to the well amount of gameplay we've gotten from Japanese CS2 players, but playing her myself puts things into perspective. Her combos aren't terribly difficult to do, and her items give her incredible versatility. While you may not always get the item you want immediately, there's almost always a use for it at that time, regardless of the situation. Combine this with her great mobility, brilliant pressure, powered up items, and above average damage output, you can believe she's in here for the long run. She only seems to be lacking in the defensive area, as her only DP is the randomly acquired drive bat.

  

  Poor Plat is only 5% of the total score.

  Her challenges, however, seemed a bit lacking. They did not even include her go-to corner hammer loop. It's possible they completed these challenges long before the BBCS2 Portable release.

  Lastly, since a lot of her better combos aren't listed here, I figured I'd take the liberty of doing them myself, and recording them. It's my first combo movie, so bear with me.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nn1Urcvmak

  And that's all I've got! As for "closing comments", I think BBCS2p is handled incredibly well for what it is, and I'm looking forward to being able to jump into console CS2 with a good amount of experience behind my belt. No built-in online capability is a bit upsetting for 3DS and PSP players alike, but PSP players can still use Ad-Hoc Party via the PS3 to play online. Till next time!