Time for one of the most epic games of all time, Dood!

Nippon Ichi's Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded is the double-whammy of the previously Sony PSP exclusive platformer titles Prinny 1: Can I Really Be A Hero? and Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!

So what the heck are these games?

First, the basics. in the world of Disgaea – more on that in our previous Weekly Penguin entry – evildoers who end up in the Netherworld have to make up for their wrongdoings. To do this, their souls are stuffed into plush penguins and become Prinnies – the slaves of the Netherworld. After working their penance is done, they can re-incarnate into the world of the living again.

The first Prinny adventure picks up soon after the end of the first Disgaea, with Master Etna having taken over the Netherworld. And someone has stolen her desserts! Etna being the master of Prinnies, she tasks them to recover the legendary Ultra Dessert as compensation – or else the entire Prinny-dom has hell to pay. Literary.

However, the plush bodies of Prinnies can barely contain the souls within, making them very explosive. They can't realistically do this – but Etna grants one of the Prinnies with an enchanted scarf, making the wearer less volatile. And so, the fate of all the Prinnies rests on you, the unlikely hero of the Netherworld.

The sequel follows a similar story formula... except this time someone has stolen master Etna's panties. A new adventure awaits!

The games themselves are finely tuned platformers based directly on the moves, the animations, the mechanics and the graphics engine of Disgaea. The 2.5D visual style of the series makes for a beautiful game with tons of soul and the deliberate movements of the Prinny makes for a thoughtfully challenging platformer. While great deal of the art and music is from the Disgaea titles, the different gameplay and angle on everything makes everything so fresh you might even miss it.

So, if you have a Nintendo Switch, go get yourself Prinny 1•2: Exploded and Reloaded. In fact, go get it it even if you don't have a Switch. That's what I did – I bought the latest Nintendo system just so I can get to play this and the brand-new Disgaea 6.

Pictured here is the game's 'Just Desserts' Collector's Edition exclusive to the NISA online stores. The pack features – in addition the games – the soundtrack, an art book and naturally the Prinny Block from last week.

Also worth noting; I lack any kinds capture hardware, so sadly I couldn't cook up a proper gameplay featurette on the games. But instead, here's Nippon Ichi president Sohei Niikawa demonstrating what the games are about – while dressed up in Prinny gear and wielding a sardine.