Delicious Fruit
Download Game 
Speedrun Leaderboards Screenshots
-
by Hennkidumaru
-
by Arle17
-
by Arle17
-
by Arle17
-
by Arle17
-
by pyun
29 Reviews:
Razzor_iw
I really liked this game. This and the original Z2 are night and day in comparison, though I tried to go in this game as a normal game instead of a remake, just so I wouldn't call something good just because it's better than the original.
I played the first 3 stages on v1.0, the rest of the game I played on v1.1
The needle in the game was pretty fun, while a bit unimaginitive in a few places, it was still very enjoyable.
Stages 1-4:
All of it was fun with the exception of a few saves there and there, it's really nothing special, but it's fun so I don't really care.
Stage 5 Guest Areas:
L-Kid and PD Suisi were weird but cool and enjoyable.
BJ-Eareaf was 50% fun stuff and 50% stupid stuff, there are 2 saves where it's just doing a bunch of easy jumps and then just dying to a suddenly really hard one alot of times until you finally do it.
Just area was nothing special yet again, but fun.
Final Stage:
Absolutely amazing platforming, the gimmick is awesome, the use of it is awesome, the needle is awesome, and it's just overall great.
Now for the bosses in this game.
Boss 1:
Kinda boring boss, I didn't have that much fun with it, but it doesn't have anything bullshit in my opinion.
Boss 2:
Pretty fun and intense, the easy needle at the end of the boss is the most monkaS shit in this game.
Boss 3:
Now, I did say that I would go into the game without comparing it to the original, but holy fucking shit this is so much better. The boss is pretty much completely overhauled.
Anyway, it's exciting, fun, and overall just good.
Boss Rush:
Gumi - Long boss, it's kinda boring but it has some intense attacks there and there, overall I like it.
Dotkid Miku - Another long boss but it's not boring, though I do think it's way easier than the rest of the bosses in boss rush.
The Note - Short boss with heavy rng, really fun to play, though the pre-final can be quite hard to read sometimes.
King Slime - Fun barrage boss with attacks that are interesting to read.
Boss 4 (v1.1):
Completely original boss, it takes inspiration from Z3, making an avoidance based on the previous game's bosses.
The boss has a nice balance between interesting attacks and simple attacks, which I like alot. It's quite intense and is fun.
Boss 5-1 (HAEGOE Area):
Super intense barrage boss, though some attacks are questionable, like the first spiral attack, and the SHOOT attack, but overall it's quite a fun boss to play.
Boss 5-2 (Jebal Area):
Kinda boring boss, not that fun to play but I had some fun with it.
Boss 5-3 (Hasi Area):
By far worst boss in the game, super fucking boring, and on top of that some attacks can give you insanely garbage situations.
Boss 5-4 (Just Area):
Fun barrage boss with a pattern at the end, which isn't that bad but it sucks that it's at the very end.
Attacks are interesting.
Boss 5-? (PDPlayer Area):
Fun little barrage boss where you're trapped in the middle of the screen, nothing special but it's quite fun.
Final Boss:
Phase 1 - Fucking incredible, super fun and interesting attacks, intense all the way through, perfect for the final boss. Only attack I had a problem with the attack before the boss loops, it felt kinda bland, and sometimes dodging the aimed line can be really hard.
Phase 2 - Very intense final phase, good variety of attacks, and an ass-clenching final attack. Super fun all the way through.
Overall, I find it a really fun game, would I recommend it? I don't know.
[5] Likes
I played the first 3 stages on v1.0, the rest of the game I played on v1.1
The needle in the game was pretty fun, while a bit unimaginitive in a few places, it was still very enjoyable.
Stages 1-4:
All of it was fun with the exception of a few saves there and there, it's really nothing special, but it's fun so I don't really care.
Stage 5 Guest Areas:
L-Kid and PD Suisi were weird but cool and enjoyable.
BJ-Eareaf was 50% fun stuff and 50% stupid stuff, there are 2 saves where it's just doing a bunch of easy jumps and then just dying to a suddenly really hard one alot of times until you finally do it.
Just area was nothing special yet again, but fun.
Final Stage:
Absolutely amazing platforming, the gimmick is awesome, the use of it is awesome, the needle is awesome, and it's just overall great.
Now for the bosses in this game.
Boss 1:
Kinda boring boss, I didn't have that much fun with it, but it doesn't have anything bullshit in my opinion.
Boss 2:
Pretty fun and intense, the easy needle at the end of the boss is the most monkaS shit in this game.
Boss 3:
Now, I did say that I would go into the game without comparing it to the original, but holy fucking shit this is so much better. The boss is pretty much completely overhauled.
Anyway, it's exciting, fun, and overall just good.
Boss Rush:
Gumi - Long boss, it's kinda boring but it has some intense attacks there and there, overall I like it.
Dotkid Miku - Another long boss but it's not boring, though I do think it's way easier than the rest of the bosses in boss rush.
The Note - Short boss with heavy rng, really fun to play, though the pre-final can be quite hard to read sometimes.
King Slime - Fun barrage boss with attacks that are interesting to read.
Boss 4 (v1.1):
Completely original boss, it takes inspiration from Z3, making an avoidance based on the previous game's bosses.
The boss has a nice balance between interesting attacks and simple attacks, which I like alot. It's quite intense and is fun.
Boss 5-1 (HAEGOE Area):
Super intense barrage boss, though some attacks are questionable, like the first spiral attack, and the SHOOT attack, but overall it's quite a fun boss to play.
Boss 5-2 (Jebal Area):
Kinda boring boss, not that fun to play but I had some fun with it.
Boss 5-3 (Hasi Area):
By far worst boss in the game, super fucking boring, and on top of that some attacks can give you insanely garbage situations.
Boss 5-4 (Just Area):
Fun barrage boss with a pattern at the end, which isn't that bad but it sucks that it's at the very end.
Attacks are interesting.
Boss 5-? (PDPlayer Area):
Fun little barrage boss where you're trapped in the middle of the screen, nothing special but it's quite fun.
Final Boss:
Phase 1 - Fucking incredible, super fun and interesting attacks, intense all the way through, perfect for the final boss. Only attack I had a problem with the attack before the boss loops, it felt kinda bland, and sometimes dodging the aimed line can be really hard.
Phase 2 - Very intense final phase, good variety of attacks, and an ass-clenching final attack. Super fun all the way through.
Overall, I find it a really fun game, would I recommend it? I don't know.
Rating: 8.4 84
Difficulty: 83 83
Sep 14, 2019
Nick24
An actual masterpiece, which unfortunately received universal hate due to "lol, you are remaking a trash game without permission" and "does it matter? remake? original? they are the same thing, they are both trash!"
First things first, I wish people could actually try playing games before reviewing or even talking about them, and maybe experienced all kinds of games before too. It's the basics of opinion forming: you beat the game - you have opinion "X" on it, you beat another one - you compare it to your previous whether it was better or worse, and so on, eventually forming a rating system. It matters for this one especially, so I will be doing a lot of comparisons during this review.
Secondly, and this is where an actual review starts: let's begin by trying to compare remake with the... original...
So, if you haven't seen my review for original I'll have to do tl;dr: that was the absolute bottom of what you could do for a medley game. Please remember, that we are not talking about happil clones. Yes, that game tries to be a serious medley, but ultimately fails due to all sort of things: bs rng, literally praying, untested bugs like skipping areas, attacks so unfair you would rather play avoidance hall of fame, with the punchline of them being on the middle or in the end of a boss. The needle also didn't exist in that game, with a wonderful example of stage 4: floor ceiling double inverts, dick spikes, hourglass jumps, inverts, double diamonds - you just wrote the entirety of z2 needle. So yeah, if you beat the original and hated it, I think your opinion is one of the strongest in the community - once you experience the deepest layer of hell, nothing can get worse and you will be able to see good moments in anything. Except z2 original.
And now remember, THIS, this - is not that game.
Welcome to paragraph 3 - restoring hope in humanity.
Now that we named all the bad things, let's try finding them here, shall we?
So, let's find an unbalanced avoidance! Hmm... I... don't see it??? Huh??? They even made the bs curving attack work at the same speed which basically kills it, omg. But wait maybe if I die on a guest stage and do nothing for 3 minutes I'll perhaps skip it? Umm... It's been like 5, and I'm still on game over screen... Looks like you are forced to actually beat the content the game offers! Wow!
Alright, now let's see how they changed needle. Oh, I heard that maxim was responsible for the needle in this game, interesting, but did he actually change anything. Ok, I'm looking at stage needle and... it's... it's... real needle, it actually playes like a needle and not like a one jump save, wtf???
Yeah, ok, I guess this remake is, ACTUALLY a good remake, and was made to be a good game. And no my fellow z2 hater, good remake doesn't mean it's better by a tiny bit which ultimately makes it "still bad". In the case of this game, remake means erasing absolutely everything and rebuilding it from scratch to be good, which in the end makes an actual good game by global rating definition. I am not joking when I say that z2r is up there with such legendary medley games as cultured 2 or kamilia 2, and that it is an actual important step of any fangame player, with the difficulty being between kamilia 2 and kamilia 3.
Ok guess it's time to log in into delfruit and write a review, but let's look at the reviews, maybe I'll find something more to talk about.
Welcome to paragraph 4 - replying to reviews.
""Our goal with this game was to make I wanna Break The Series Z 2 more enjoyable, fun and accessible to everyone"
no."
Alright buddy, go play the game, surely you can beat it. You beat K3, so this will be a walk in the park. Well, the only real point is maybe that not literally every being on earth will be able to get through this game. I think the entry level required for this game is something like beating kamilia 2.
"The barrage is worse. Some meaningless bosses were added and dull attacks were all over the places,the original Z2 has a better flow of attack.
I prefer original Z2"
Bruh, alright I see you are one of those that prefer to have stuff on the trashy hard side then. I can't believe my eyes when I see someone calling the stand in the corner and pray 2 minutes in attacks as a better flow. Oh the people on the internet. This review sounds like an actual hot take of a way too good player being disappointed in the game being more accessible to other players. I also disagree with "meaningless bosses", because the first one is a compilation of z1 bosses and the second is the rework of final boss, which was literally the biggest disappointment in the original. If anything, new additions made the game feel like it has a deeper lore, with the final boss being one of the best bosses ever made.
and... I don't see any other bad reviews here, woohoo. I'm glad. To be fair upon release the hate wave was especially strong, but people kept telling what was wrong with the game, the developers kept fixing those mistakes, the game was becoming better, the reviews in conclusion, became mostly positive. The world was saved. But in deep dark corners of the universe, you can still see people trash talking this game, and that is by far the biggest hurdle we have to deal with. Hopefully, one day, we can come to global understanding of each other's interests, and not come up with a bad hot take for dumb reasons like the "clout" or "cancel culture". These games are literally free to begin with, why are you complaining without an actual reason to do so?
[5] Likes
First things first, I wish people could actually try playing games before reviewing or even talking about them, and maybe experienced all kinds of games before too. It's the basics of opinion forming: you beat the game - you have opinion "X" on it, you beat another one - you compare it to your previous whether it was better or worse, and so on, eventually forming a rating system. It matters for this one especially, so I will be doing a lot of comparisons during this review.
Secondly, and this is where an actual review starts: let's begin by trying to compare remake with the... original...
So, if you haven't seen my review for original I'll have to do tl;dr: that was the absolute bottom of what you could do for a medley game. Please remember, that we are not talking about happil clones. Yes, that game tries to be a serious medley, but ultimately fails due to all sort of things: bs rng, literally praying, untested bugs like skipping areas, attacks so unfair you would rather play avoidance hall of fame, with the punchline of them being on the middle or in the end of a boss. The needle also didn't exist in that game, with a wonderful example of stage 4: floor ceiling double inverts, dick spikes, hourglass jumps, inverts, double diamonds - you just wrote the entirety of z2 needle. So yeah, if you beat the original and hated it, I think your opinion is one of the strongest in the community - once you experience the deepest layer of hell, nothing can get worse and you will be able to see good moments in anything. Except z2 original.
And now remember, THIS, this - is not that game.
Welcome to paragraph 3 - restoring hope in humanity.
Now that we named all the bad things, let's try finding them here, shall we?
So, let's find an unbalanced avoidance! Hmm... I... don't see it??? Huh??? They even made the bs curving attack work at the same speed which basically kills it, omg. But wait maybe if I die on a guest stage and do nothing for 3 minutes I'll perhaps skip it? Umm... It's been like 5, and I'm still on game over screen... Looks like you are forced to actually beat the content the game offers! Wow!
Alright, now let's see how they changed needle. Oh, I heard that maxim was responsible for the needle in this game, interesting, but did he actually change anything. Ok, I'm looking at stage needle and... it's... it's... real needle, it actually playes like a needle and not like a one jump save, wtf???
Yeah, ok, I guess this remake is, ACTUALLY a good remake, and was made to be a good game. And no my fellow z2 hater, good remake doesn't mean it's better by a tiny bit which ultimately makes it "still bad". In the case of this game, remake means erasing absolutely everything and rebuilding it from scratch to be good, which in the end makes an actual good game by global rating definition. I am not joking when I say that z2r is up there with such legendary medley games as cultured 2 or kamilia 2, and that it is an actual important step of any fangame player, with the difficulty being between kamilia 2 and kamilia 3.
Ok guess it's time to log in into delfruit and write a review, but let's look at the reviews, maybe I'll find something more to talk about.
Welcome to paragraph 4 - replying to reviews.
""Our goal with this game was to make I wanna Break The Series Z 2 more enjoyable, fun and accessible to everyone"
no."
Alright buddy, go play the game, surely you can beat it. You beat K3, so this will be a walk in the park. Well, the only real point is maybe that not literally every being on earth will be able to get through this game. I think the entry level required for this game is something like beating kamilia 2.
"The barrage is worse. Some meaningless bosses were added and dull attacks were all over the places,the original Z2 has a better flow of attack.
I prefer original Z2"
Bruh, alright I see you are one of those that prefer to have stuff on the trashy hard side then. I can't believe my eyes when I see someone calling the stand in the corner and pray 2 minutes in attacks as a better flow. Oh the people on the internet. This review sounds like an actual hot take of a way too good player being disappointed in the game being more accessible to other players. I also disagree with "meaningless bosses", because the first one is a compilation of z1 bosses and the second is the rework of final boss, which was literally the biggest disappointment in the original. If anything, new additions made the game feel like it has a deeper lore, with the final boss being one of the best bosses ever made.
and... I don't see any other bad reviews here, woohoo. I'm glad. To be fair upon release the hate wave was especially strong, but people kept telling what was wrong with the game, the developers kept fixing those mistakes, the game was becoming better, the reviews in conclusion, became mostly positive. The world was saved. But in deep dark corners of the universe, you can still see people trash talking this game, and that is by far the biggest hurdle we have to deal with. Hopefully, one day, we can come to global understanding of each other's interests, and not come up with a bad hot take for dumb reasons like the "clout" or "cancel culture". These games are literally free to begin with, why are you complaining without an actual reason to do so?
Rating: 9.7 97
Difficulty: 85 85
Sep 6, 2019
gourdladle
cleared in 2020
The platforming is a bit better than the original, but it still sucks.
The barrage is worse. Some meaningless bosses were added and dull attacks were all over the places,the original Z2 has a better flow of attack.
I prefer original Z2
[3] Likes
The platforming is a bit better than the original, but it still sucks.
The barrage is worse. Some meaningless bosses were added and dull attacks were all over the places,the original Z2 has a better flow of attack.
I prefer original Z2
Rating: 3.0 30
Difficulty: 80 80
Sep 11, 2022
LastTISisLife
So this game has a shadow on it. Some people really thinks this game kinda not deserved to be mentioned because it's non-permission remake of original Z2. However, i disagree. When we talking about remaking Z2, we know about subject. Z2 is not great, good or even remotely decent game. It's pretty much unfinished, untested, disbalanced and annoying piece of garbage. Making this game better without strong interference in design of screens and trying to reflect spirit of original areas is quite accurate and hard work. And makers of Z2 remake complete it succesfully by making one of the best and fun medley games ever. So, idk, i don't even know how people can stand on hating this game
About game itself, it's pretty freaking good. Strong side of the game is bosses and avoidances, pretty much all of them are fun. Especially of course Final boss, it's very interesting boss with 2 unique phases that requires both some learning and reading, with really good vibes and atmosphere during the fight. Other honorable mentions - Haegoe area, which is one of my favourite barrages ever, Jebal-Ggaera area, which is one of my favourite Miku-avoidances ever, and PDPlayer pit, which is just extremely fun barrage. I also really like 4 boss, music slaps, but i wish it can be harder, feels kinda too easy after takedown bossrush. Probably, only boss that i didn't like in this game is Gumi from Catastrophe, but that's like might be my issue - i don't like music and i don't stomach long avoidances with patterns at the end
Needle from first 4 stages is kinda not that great as bosses, but it still manages to be enjoyable and not trigger player at any point. Gray apples are interesting to find out and collect, they are placed in good way. Secrets are kinda easy, which i didn't like, but secret 4 was fucking awesome, good pick and great reimagination! Guest needle stages are mostly fine, not specifically awesome, but very good and has good ideas in it and decent balance. Final stage is awesome tho, great gimmicks and fun gameplay
And this is how i feel about this game. It's just fun and complex, feels rewarding to beat and making progress in it. My lasts words will be: you shouldn't love this game because it's basically perfect Z2, you shouldn't hate it as well
About game itself, it's pretty freaking good. Strong side of the game is bosses and avoidances, pretty much all of them are fun. Especially of course Final boss, it's very interesting boss with 2 unique phases that requires both some learning and reading, with really good vibes and atmosphere during the fight. Other honorable mentions - Haegoe area, which is one of my favourite barrages ever, Jebal-Ggaera area, which is one of my favourite Miku-avoidances ever, and PDPlayer pit, which is just extremely fun barrage. I also really like 4 boss, music slaps, but i wish it can be harder, feels kinda too easy after takedown bossrush. Probably, only boss that i didn't like in this game is Gumi from Catastrophe, but that's like might be my issue - i don't like music and i don't stomach long avoidances with patterns at the end
Needle from first 4 stages is kinda not that great as bosses, but it still manages to be enjoyable and not trigger player at any point. Gray apples are interesting to find out and collect, they are placed in good way. Secrets are kinda easy, which i didn't like, but secret 4 was fucking awesome, good pick and great reimagination! Guest needle stages are mostly fine, not specifically awesome, but very good and has good ideas in it and decent balance. Final stage is awesome tho, great gimmicks and fun gameplay
And this is how i feel about this game. It's just fun and complex, feels rewarding to beat and making progress in it. My lasts words will be: you shouldn't love this game because it's basically perfect Z2, you shouldn't hate it as well
Tagged as: Medley
[2] Likes
Rating: 8.5 85
Difficulty: 77 77
Sep 6, 2022
xva
I wanna break the Series Z 2 is one of my least favorite games ever made, and that is no secret. I have a burning, spiteful and vitriolic hatred for it. the original Z2 is a horrendous, borderline-unplayable, unremarkable, below-mediocre luckfest. I can confidently say it’s one of the worst, most relentlessly miserable games I’ve ever played. it should be a requirement to at least experience the horrors of the original Z2 before playing its remake. I’m not suggesting that you should beat Z2 - that is a horrible idea. I recommend at least reaching stage 4 to see just how atrocious this game’s father of sorts truly is. Z2 Remake improves on absolutely everything to such a high degree, that it’s practically not even the same game. this game accomplishes the impossible: improving on Z2. I didn’t believe my eyes once I saw everything this game contains. it was truly, truly beautiful
Z2R improves on just about absolutely everything from Z2. every single save that sucks is now playable and fun. every single boss attack that sucks or is horrendously luck-based is remade into something actually interesting and… good. I was in shock for every aspect of this game as to just how good it was compared to Z2. it’s odd, uncanny, strange, bewildering - to see something that is usually so insanely bad being actually quite good. Z2R’s only quality I somewhat dislike is the style in which the needle is remade. it’s all the same type of needle that’s clearly made in the same style. even the hades-likes of stage 4 are turned into borderline consistency needle. this sort of ruins the game’s structure and makes all the needle feel homogenous, which isn’t a nice feeling. Z2’s needle also feels same-y at times, but in a much worse sense. not to worry, though - this is my only major-ish complaint about the entire game. the rest of the alterations are completely fine, acceptable and most of all good
Z2R improves upon what is essentially the meat of all medleys: the bosses. if we were speaking in literal terms: if Z2 was meat, it would be rancid, rotten, decomposing meat, to the point where it’s practically indistinguishable and looks like black slop; while Z2R is a well-cooked, well-seasoned, decent-price steak that looks presentable and appetizing. the level to which the bosses are improved is as if their quality between Z2 and Z2R is entirely reciprocal. in Layman terms: they’re as good in Z2R as they are bad in Z2. this is a slight exaggeration from my point of view, but it’s mostly true. the specific changes are rather obvious - bosses 1 and 2 have the luck elements removed and have more unique attacks. boss 3 is overhauled completely and is entirely indistinguishable from its Z2 equivalent. it goes from being the 2nd worst boss to being one of the middle-ranged/decent ones. boss rush is improved the most in the areas it’s the weakest, that being The Note and Blue King Slime. these two are still not great, but are marginally better than their Z2 counterparts. Dotkid Miku is simply more well-made, with the walljump bug being fixed. oh yeah, did you know Z2 is so poorly coded that the dotkid walljump bug is present? yeah, awesome right? boss 4, or Z1 Reminiscence, is the first actual brand new boss addition, being exactly that: a boss sort of like the one from Z3 which features bosses from the previous game in the series. this is one unique thing about Z-series games that isn’t often talked about. either way, it’s just some fun RNG attacks, nothing more. the guest stages are greatly improved - but unfortunately not visually. they’re still a bit of an eyesore to look at. also, the stage 5 stage select room is so cool?? I feel like it isn’t acknowledged enough, I honestly really really like it. either way, Haegoe (the first avoidance area of Stage 5) is much harder for whatever reason. this one’s not changed too much, since it’s already quite good in the original game. moreover it’s like finding an air pocket while drowning in an ocean of flaming diarrhea. Jebal-Ggaera is still the hardest boss in the game, however the competition is a little closer this time with the addition of the final boss. we’ll get to him later, but Jebal-Ggaera area is now less luck-based and feels less like one of those ‘so much shit in a row needs to go right’ avoidances. by this I mean, all the difficult chokepoints are essentially removed. this comes at a cost of about -8.0 points of difficulty, but at a great profit of a whole ton of quality. Hasi area has all the luck removed and is essentially now a fully RNG miku fight with one pattern at the beginning. unfortunately doesn’t utilize the goofy ass pattern layout too much but hey, you take what you can get from a remake of this area. Just area still kinda sucks, it’s a lot harder and is still a bit luck-based. the removal of HP simply doesn’t benefit this avoidance. on top of all this, I really don’t like this avoidance in the first place. it plays very poorly and the song isn’t great. it’s the worst area of Stage 5, even with all the nothingburger needle areas in it. and then, after all this - the bottomless pit of regret (Z2 version). it sounds pretty bad, but it’s actually alright. it’s a few different needle screens with some interesting gimmicks (kind of like in Z3). it’s some of the hardest needle in the game - as I feel it should be. after the needle, you reach PDPlayer area, which is still a bunch of RNG barrage attacks. this time it’s harder and longer and even more fun. I’m aware some people take issue with this area and find it strangely hard and luck-based at times. while I personally don’t see it, even in the original Z2, I can understand where they’re coming from
now, the best worst boss of them all - the final boss. I think something inspired SUDALV to make this final boss the best it can be on purpose, just to counteract how horrible it is in the original game. it goes from being the genuine pinnacle of misery and being the worst boss in the game, to being an absolute banger of a fight with many different attacks, tons of fun RNG, a great theme and fitting music. it truly feels like what it should be - a final and ultimate fight against the creator himself. a fight against some sort of purple supernaturally-powerful being by the name of PDPlayer. this boss is just extremely fun. there isn’t much more to it, it’s just amazing. it’s fair, fun and something very new for Z2. it’s not an easy fight per se, it’s still in the 75-80 range for sure. again, it’s a whole lot more skill-based and well-made than the original, which I am very thankful for time and time again
there’s also some additions in the form of an actual secret 4 in the form of a TAS 2 screen and some new and better hidden cherries. the secrets also actually do something, which is nice. secret 5 would’ve been cool, no matter what the idea would’ve been. just the addition would have been enough, as I would really like more content in this game. imagine if this game was equivalent to K3 in terms or content: EX Stage, hidden bosses, extra boss rush, extra guest areas, etc. I’ve heard there’s something like an EX Stage being worked on but I’m unsure of what the odds of it actually being finished are
overall, just a fantastic game. this is what Z2 should have been; or in other words:
Z2 could have been good.
[1] Like
Z2R improves on just about absolutely everything from Z2. every single save that sucks is now playable and fun. every single boss attack that sucks or is horrendously luck-based is remade into something actually interesting and… good. I was in shock for every aspect of this game as to just how good it was compared to Z2. it’s odd, uncanny, strange, bewildering - to see something that is usually so insanely bad being actually quite good. Z2R’s only quality I somewhat dislike is the style in which the needle is remade. it’s all the same type of needle that’s clearly made in the same style. even the hades-likes of stage 4 are turned into borderline consistency needle. this sort of ruins the game’s structure and makes all the needle feel homogenous, which isn’t a nice feeling. Z2’s needle also feels same-y at times, but in a much worse sense. not to worry, though - this is my only major-ish complaint about the entire game. the rest of the alterations are completely fine, acceptable and most of all good
Z2R improves upon what is essentially the meat of all medleys: the bosses. if we were speaking in literal terms: if Z2 was meat, it would be rancid, rotten, decomposing meat, to the point where it’s practically indistinguishable and looks like black slop; while Z2R is a well-cooked, well-seasoned, decent-price steak that looks presentable and appetizing. the level to which the bosses are improved is as if their quality between Z2 and Z2R is entirely reciprocal. in Layman terms: they’re as good in Z2R as they are bad in Z2. this is a slight exaggeration from my point of view, but it’s mostly true. the specific changes are rather obvious - bosses 1 and 2 have the luck elements removed and have more unique attacks. boss 3 is overhauled completely and is entirely indistinguishable from its Z2 equivalent. it goes from being the 2nd worst boss to being one of the middle-ranged/decent ones. boss rush is improved the most in the areas it’s the weakest, that being The Note and Blue King Slime. these two are still not great, but are marginally better than their Z2 counterparts. Dotkid Miku is simply more well-made, with the walljump bug being fixed. oh yeah, did you know Z2 is so poorly coded that the dotkid walljump bug is present? yeah, awesome right? boss 4, or Z1 Reminiscence, is the first actual brand new boss addition, being exactly that: a boss sort of like the one from Z3 which features bosses from the previous game in the series. this is one unique thing about Z-series games that isn’t often talked about. either way, it’s just some fun RNG attacks, nothing more. the guest stages are greatly improved - but unfortunately not visually. they’re still a bit of an eyesore to look at. also, the stage 5 stage select room is so cool?? I feel like it isn’t acknowledged enough, I honestly really really like it. either way, Haegoe (the first avoidance area of Stage 5) is much harder for whatever reason. this one’s not changed too much, since it’s already quite good in the original game. moreover it’s like finding an air pocket while drowning in an ocean of flaming diarrhea. Jebal-Ggaera is still the hardest boss in the game, however the competition is a little closer this time with the addition of the final boss. we’ll get to him later, but Jebal-Ggaera area is now less luck-based and feels less like one of those ‘so much shit in a row needs to go right’ avoidances. by this I mean, all the difficult chokepoints are essentially removed. this comes at a cost of about -8.0 points of difficulty, but at a great profit of a whole ton of quality. Hasi area has all the luck removed and is essentially now a fully RNG miku fight with one pattern at the beginning. unfortunately doesn’t utilize the goofy ass pattern layout too much but hey, you take what you can get from a remake of this area. Just area still kinda sucks, it’s a lot harder and is still a bit luck-based. the removal of HP simply doesn’t benefit this avoidance. on top of all this, I really don’t like this avoidance in the first place. it plays very poorly and the song isn’t great. it’s the worst area of Stage 5, even with all the nothingburger needle areas in it. and then, after all this - the bottomless pit of regret (Z2 version). it sounds pretty bad, but it’s actually alright. it’s a few different needle screens with some interesting gimmicks (kind of like in Z3). it’s some of the hardest needle in the game - as I feel it should be. after the needle, you reach PDPlayer area, which is still a bunch of RNG barrage attacks. this time it’s harder and longer and even more fun. I’m aware some people take issue with this area and find it strangely hard and luck-based at times. while I personally don’t see it, even in the original Z2, I can understand where they’re coming from
now, the best worst boss of them all - the final boss. I think something inspired SUDALV to make this final boss the best it can be on purpose, just to counteract how horrible it is in the original game. it goes from being the genuine pinnacle of misery and being the worst boss in the game, to being an absolute banger of a fight with many different attacks, tons of fun RNG, a great theme and fitting music. it truly feels like what it should be - a final and ultimate fight against the creator himself. a fight against some sort of purple supernaturally-powerful being by the name of PDPlayer. this boss is just extremely fun. there isn’t much more to it, it’s just amazing. it’s fair, fun and something very new for Z2. it’s not an easy fight per se, it’s still in the 75-80 range for sure. again, it’s a whole lot more skill-based and well-made than the original, which I am very thankful for time and time again
there’s also some additions in the form of an actual secret 4 in the form of a TAS 2 screen and some new and better hidden cherries. the secrets also actually do something, which is nice. secret 5 would’ve been cool, no matter what the idea would’ve been. just the addition would have been enough, as I would really like more content in this game. imagine if this game was equivalent to K3 in terms or content: EX Stage, hidden bosses, extra boss rush, extra guest areas, etc. I’ve heard there’s something like an EX Stage being worked on but I’m unsure of what the odds of it actually being finished are
overall, just a fantastic game. this is what Z2 should have been; or in other words:
Z2 could have been good.
Rating: 9.3 93
Difficulty: 83 83
Mar 31, 2025