Keio Flying Squadron 2 is a 1996 platform video game developed and published by Victor Entertainment for the Sega Saturn. It is a direct sequel to Keio Flying Squadron (1993). In a departure from the first game, a side-scrolling shoot 'em up, Keio Flying Squadron 2 is a platformer with shooter sections. The story follows series protagonist Rami Nanahikari as she joins a race to find the Secret Treasure.
Development began in 1994 for the Sega CD. Initially conceived as an enhanced version of the first game, the project was moved to the Saturn and evolved into a full sequel with new graphical features. Although 3D games were gaining popularity in the 1990s, the team decided to retain 2D gameplay and transitioned from a shoot-em-up to a platformer in order to implement new sprites that would show off the characters more prominently. Several planned features, including 3D bonus stages, were cut during development. As with the previous title, the game's animated cutscenes were produced by Studio Pierrot.
Keio Flying Squadron 2 was released in Japan in May 1996, with a release in Europe following in September. It received mixed reviews, with praise for its graphics and music but criticism for its controls. The game was followed by ' in 1998.
A year has passed since the apocalyptic disaster known as the "Ark Catastrophe", which left a great crater in the center of Edo. The destruction wrought major economic consequences and while much investment was poured into the public works for the new Edo Castle, the citizens were all feeling the pinch of the recession.
Dr. Pon Eho was no exception. Although a freak of nature with an astronomical IQ of 1400, hard reality forced the genius tanuki to become a laborer in the construction of the new castle. One day, while he was shoveling away some gravel near the center of the crater, he unearthed the Secret Treasure Scroll and one of the Six Magical Orbs (called Jewels in the Japanese version). With the knowledge that the six Orbs together would bring him an enormous amount of treasure, he quickly left his job in search of the remaining five Orbs listed on the Scroll's map.
Meanwhile, Himiko Yamatai, "the 13th Queen of Yamatai-koku", makes a dramatic appearance at the Nanahikari family's dinner table and grabs the family's Magical Orb. But before she can get away, Dr. Pon ambushes her and steals it. Of course, Rami makes chase and joins the race for the great treasure, starting her on her new adventure.
The game mainly consists of side-scrolling platformer stages. Two of the stages retain the shoot-'em-up style of the first game, but the Homing Spot Jrs. can be obtained as bonuses only. Besides the platformer and shoot-'em-up stages, there are vertically scrolling bonus stages, a rollercoaster stage and an underwater stage, classifying the game as a multi-genre platformer.
Several bonuses can be collected including three weapons:
Rami can also bounce on the heads of enemies to defeat them, as well as Kappas to reach higher places. Being damaged without holding an item results in the loss of a life. Background objects can be pick up and thrown at enemies to defeat them. Some background objects can also have a utility use. There are three difficulty levels which alter how many enemies there are to defeat and how quickly weapons disappear after being damaged.
Points Orbs can be collected throughout the game. Defeating some enemies also rewards points, but there are some enemies that are considered passive and will instead deduct points when defeated. A reward system accessed from the main menu unlocks helpful hints and behind-the-scenes extras depending on the highest and lowest scores achieved through playing.
Japanese names are given in the Western order, given name first.
After Keio Flying Squadron was released to critical acclaim, the developers at Victor Entertainment started talking about developing a sequel. Production on the game began in 1994 with the titleàKeià  Yà «gekitai 2, with director Yasushi Endo, game designer Satoru Honda, programmer Teruhito Yamaki and composer Tsukasa Tawada getting the ideas together. 3D video games were popular at the time, but the developers chose to stick to 2D, initially developing the game for the Sega CD. This was due to them having little experience in 3D game design and considering the idea of turning anime characters into polygon models terrible. Six months later, the developers heard of Sega's plans to release the Saturn in November, so they changed course. However, they did not know the console's technical specifications, and could not really use the development equipment even when it arrived. They were so focused on learning how to make games on the Saturn that they could barely think about doing 3D polygon graphics. Over time the Saturn and PlayStation began focusing primarily on 3D polygon graphics, which angered them. They decided that they would never use the Saturn's capabilities.
The game was going to be a graphically enhanced version of the first game, but was made into its own game with a different story. The developers felt that because the previous game was a shooter, it did not allow time to look closely at the characters onscreen, making it difficult to bring out their charm, with Rami Nanahikari being the only exception. Because of this, the game was changed into an action platformer to allow for larger sprites. The game's art and graphics were done by Naomasa Kitatani, Kenji Kawashima, Yoshiyuki Ozaki, Nobuyuki Ikigame, Daisuke Fukuda, Akito Kuroda and Masaru Yokà Âra, while the character designs were done by Hiromasa Ota. The characters originally had sprites that were more in line with their anime designs, and Rami would have also carried a Frog Hammer. The game was planned to have different features, including video backgrounds, 3D bonus stages, and real photographs for most of the items that the player would pick up. The specifications for the Saturn had changed a lot at the time, so the developers spent time testing the console's capabilities. Keio Flying Squadron 2 was Victor's next big project, although they were also developing a couple of other Sega Saturn games: Metal Fighter Miku and a port of 4D Sports Boxing (later Center Ring Boxing). The game was considered for release in February 1995. However, development continued past that month. The game was later renamed Keià  Yà «gekitai: Katsugeki-hen, and the video backgrounds, 3D bonus stages and photographed items were cut. The characters' sprites had to be redrawn in 2.5D due to limiting the range of movement and making parts of the platformer stages almost unusable. The game would make use of sprite scaling, squashing and rotation, digital photography, transparency, shading and 3D elements.
The enemies in the first game originally exploded when defeated; this was changed in the sequel to them flying away only in the platformer stages. The Sumida River stage was originally going to be a platformer stage, but was changed to a shooter stage when Endo had issues implementing Kusatsu, the Arrow of Hope. Due to this, the bow and arrow set has stationary locations throughout the stage and cannot be obtained. An "extra mode" and score display were added late in development before the game was finalized. The bonus stages were originally planned as a series of minigames based on Japanese fairy tales, such as Urashima Tarà  and Momotarà Â, but the idea was dropped due to time constraints. Sasuke Sarutobi, a ninja monkey, was planned to appear as an enemy in the game, but was cut. The Martial Arts Tournament was planned to have seven participants, but five of them ended up being scrapped, with only Benkei Musashibà  and Missionary Xavier making the final cut. They include:
In contrast to the first game's fast-paced score, Keio Flying Squadron 2s soundtrack had a "relaxed"-sounding tone. Tawada wanted each stage to have their own different music, with the platformer stages having patterns that ranged from sounding Sonic the Hedgehog-esque to Disney-esque. The musical instruments, which included koto, shamisen, percussion instruments and drums, were recorded using the Yamaha SY99.
The game features animated cutscenes produced by Studio Pierrot, who also produced the cutscenes in the first game. The Japanese voices were recorded and directed by Susumu Aketagawa at Magic Capsule and Avaco Creative Studio. Rami was the only character in the first game with spoken dialogue during gameplay, but this time the enemies and bosses also had dialogue. In response to overwhelming requests, Miho Kanno, who was appearing in advertisements for the Victor V-Saturn and releasing singles under Victor's music label at the time, reprised her role as Rami, reuniting with JÃ Âji Yanami and Keiko Yamamoto, who reprised their roles as Dr. Pon and Grandma, respectively. Kanno stated that upon hearing about the game, she felt a sense of parental affection because Rami was popular and loved by everyone at the time, considering her a character close to her hometown of Saitama Prefecture. Producer Toshiyuki Nagai took care to create an atmosphere in the recording booth so that she could enjoy her sessions. Yanami also replaced Yusaku Yara as the voice of Grandpa. Mika Kanai provided the voice of Himiko and replaced Akiko Hiramatsu as the voice of Spot. Additional voices were provided by Yamamoto, Kae Araki, Keiji Fujiwara, Nobuo Tobita, Wataru Takagi, Dai Sasahara and Hikiko Takemasa. For the boss characters, Tawada used a sample of his own burp from a sound effects library for Musashi Sakaimari, and created Daidarabotchi's (the game's final boss) voice and sound effects by recording Fujiwara's voice and applying various effects to it, such as pitch-shifting it down. A lot of the voice clips were recorded on Digital Audio Tape, with Tawada using about three-fifths of the samples. At one point he recorded the 3-meter Alien's voice at the wrong sampling rate, resulting in it being sped up when imported into the game. Subtitles were added for players to understand the Alien's dialogue. Tawada planned to use the Saturn's built-in sound engine for everything, including the music, but the voice clips took up a lot of memory space on the disc, so he decided to use Compact Disc Digital Audio instead. The English translation and voice recording was done at Watanabe-Robins & Associates and Music Annex, with the voices provided by Samantha Paris, Roger L. Jackson, Elaine A. Clark, Toby Gleason and Don Robins. Clark performed several different characters in the game, including Himiko, Hannya, Otafuku, the 3-meter Alien and Yoshiko Oroshiya.
As part of a marketing campaign for the game, fans could apply to win goodies (including a colored paper with an autograph signed by Miho Kanno, cels used in the game's cutscenes, a 30-minute promotional video, and a telephone card) by answering a questionnaire postcard and entering their gift's number before May 31, June 30, July 31, or August 31, 1996. Others could apply to win goodies (including a copy of the game's script signed by Kanno, a voice actor message board, a stamp poster set and a sweatshirt) by entering the number and attaching an application form before November 27, 1996. Merchandise such as T-shirts and sweatshirts with Rami's face was also being planned by JVC at the time.
The game contains a debug mode, which can be accessed by entering a cheat code on the start/options screen.
Keio Flying Squadron 2 was released on May 17, 1996, for the Sega Saturn in Japan, and in Europe and Australia in September later that year. It was originally set for release in March of that year, and was considered for a North American release.
was a "not for resale" Sega Saturn disc only available in Japan in 1996. The disc contains higher quality versions of both the opening and ending FMV cutscenes of the first game, two cutscenes related to the second game, demo levels from the second game, a sound test including voice clips for Rami, Spot, Dr. Pon and Himiko, a showcase of the aforementioned scrapped Martial Arts Tournament participants, and an art gallery available both in-game and separately, being accessible on the CD via a personal computer.
Prior to the game's Japanese release, was serialized in the magazine Virtual Idol ReâÂÂCoâÂÂMix in volumes 2-5, running between January 8, 1996 and May 5, 1997. The manga was written by Tatsuya Mitamori. Set after the first two games, it follows Rami's adventures during her time at junior high school.
On July 27, 1996, Victor Novels published , written by . The book adapts and expands the plot of the game, with the addition of a new character; Tokai Niimi, the son of gaikoku bugyà  Masaoki Niimi and a master of Western magic who joins the race for the Secret Treasure. The scrapped Martial Arts Tournament participants and Sasuke Sarutobi appear in the book as clones created by Dr. Pon.
Upon release, Keio Flying Squadron 2 was met with average critical sentiments.
Ryan Lockhart, Dave Halverson and Casey Loe of GameFan praised the game for its graphics and music, with Halverson stating, "Few will play Keio Flying Squadron 2, as only the craziest gamers search out and buy import games." Sega Saturn Magazines Sam Hickman felt that the game had very generic and overly easy gameplay, but was still somewhat fun to play, largely due to the intriguingly strange graphics. However, she concluded that most people would not find it worth the retail price. Total Saturn called it a "playable, refreshing game after the mayhem of Nights into Dreams". Marcus of Mean Machines stated, "Quality platform games are difficult to come across these days and, while the difficulty is level here is obviously pitched towards younger players, there's enough trickery and Japanese kitsch to keep older ones amused." GamesMasters Alex Cox deemed it "a good, solid, mental platformer that'll give you a laugh if nothing else". Ryan Butt of Saturn+ admitted that it was mostly a platformer, likening the ability to pick up and throw objects to Astal. However, he praised the game for its "cunning puzzles and sick, deranged humour factory that make playing through to the end compulsory". Lucy Longhurst of Cybernet said that the game would "keep any platform-loving gamer going for quite a while", adding that it "should have an even wider appeal with its cute characters, fast action and funky gameplay". In 1998, Saturn Power rated the game 88th on their Top 100 Sega Saturn Games, summarizing, "A bizarre Japanese platform game that, somehow, manages to impress all that come into contact with it. The graphics are fairly primitive, but the gameplay's excellent."
In 2000, the game received a 7.7413/10 score in a reader survey conducted by the Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine, raking among Saturn titles at number 469.