Space Channel 5: Part 2 - Gameplay

Gameplay

Much like the previous game, players take on the role of Ulala as she uses her funky dance moves and shooting skill to fight against the Rhythm Rogues. Players must repeat actions acted out by their opponent in time to the music, using the four directional buttons and two call buttons, 'Chu' and 'Hey'. In this game, 'Hey' is now used to distinguish rescuing hostages from shooting during rescue segments and serves as its own move during dance sections. Also new to this game, certain commands call for the player to hold down a button to do a charged move. For example, when someone says 'Chuuuuu---', players hold down the 'Chu' button. There are also segments where characters play instruments, which is controlled using any of the directional buttons along with 'Chu' and 'Hey'.

During each section, players are given a set number of hearts. If a player makes a mistake during a line, they will lose a heart, along with some of their ratings. Losing all hearts result in a section being failed, usually resulting in the loss of a captive hostage. If a player's ratings drop below 0%, the game will end. During certain areas, such as boss battles, the player's rating will be converted into stars, which act the same way as hearts, albeit if the players loses all of their stars, the game ends. The viewer rating percentage in the corner works as the score, which changes depending on how well the game is played and the number of hearts or stars at the end of a scenario. There are also secrets at certain points in between gameplay where players press buttons to make Morolians spring up from the corner. Players need to find all these secrets in a level in order to get a full 100% rating at the end. (The last level has a possible 200% rating.) Clearing certain objectives can unlock new costumes for Ulala to wear during stages.

Elsewhere, there is a 100 stage battle mode, known as Ulala's Dance or Ulala's Dancing Show, in which players have to play 100 consecutive lines, with only one heart. There is also a 2 player mode, where one player controls directions and the other controls actions, and an alternate story mode where characters and costumes are new and dance moves are harder. Other improvements include replacing the rendered backgrounds of the first game with real time environments.