Game:

Power Stone 2 (2000)

Duration: 14:21

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The Power Stone Collection for the PSP includes both Power Stone 1 and 2, plus a lot of extra content including new items and modes. The two bosses from the first game were also ported into Power Stone 2, making them candidates for this series of videos as well.

I'll start off by saying that I'm in no way used to playing this game on the PSP. That wouldn't be too much of a problem despite the fact that Kraken and Valgas were pasted from the first game nearly 1:1. The general strategy for every character needs to be changed for these two since they are still working by the first game's standards.

There are a lot of negatives. The biggest issue comes with recovering in the air. The window to do it is very slim and, and you cant attack after recovering like other characters so you are vulnerable on the fall down. Another big issue is that they have very few i-frames and can't get knocked into walls to slide down safely. This means getting hit could lead to large combos and some Power Fusions like Ayame's shurikens or Ryoma's crescent slashes will hit you for every hit if you get caught. The two also have trouble with mobility and jump height, and wall jumping in itself is more difficult and less floaty than the rest of the cast. This especially makes the Pharaoh Walker and Dr. Erode a pain. Krraken and Valgas also wield many items in this game as how they worked in Power Stone 1, so that they will walk when holding them instead of running. This adds to the strain of mobility that they already face. As for gathering Power Stones, they can both only use one Power Fusion instead of an average 2 like the rest of the cast, and they eat up meter very quickly with normal Power Drives. Not to mention actual transformation is still based on the first game, so it takes almost twice as long to finish the animation.

But there are a few upsides. For one, they retain their pure strength output from the first game, with their air throws and Power Fusions doing massive amounts of damage if connected. And unlike the rest of the Power Stone 2 cast, Kraken and Valgas retain both the aerial stomp and the godly diagonal dive attacks, perfect for mobility and knocking Power Stones out of opponents. They also have the great dodging abilities from the first game to boot.
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Personally, I don't think this is possibly with Kraken. Normal opponents are easy enough, but getting past the Pharaoh Walker alone is a challenge in itself. Because of the low jump heights, Kraken can't grab onto its underbelly to swing to the top and use the laser, so he can either try to grab under its head (dangerous), use the wall to jump (difficult to setup), or wait for it to do its spin. Even when it spins, it is difficult to actually get UP there because the jump is off.

Since he has a godly dive attack, that will be his main form of attack outside of being powered up. When powered up, his Bomb Cannon Power Drive works a bit better against the AI than trying to aim the Pincer Claw. As for his Fusions, they are both pretty situational. Spirit Skulls is a projectile which has a big vulnerable period on warm-up and is better for bigger stages or relatively safe situations. Engorge is the more useful of the two, since it is guaranteed big damage on anyone caught in it.

Why I say I don't think this is possible with Kraken is because of the final boss, Dr. Erode. With his power jumping, Kraken really relies on the Power Stones and can hardly use items against Erode because of it. Problem is, Kraken can only use one Fusion while powered up, and it HAS to be Spirit Skulls. I tried getting in Erode's face with Pincer Claw and Bomb Cannon, but Kraken drops too fast to get much of anything done. In order to get this done, more luck than both Ryoma and Galuda would be needed in order to dish out enough damage before time runs out. So for the moment this is the best I could do with Kraken, unfortunately.

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