The original Project X Zone, released in 2013 in the west, is an insane game made by crazy people at Banpresto and Monolith Soft. It is a sequel to the Japanese-only PlayStation 2 game Namco X Capcom, and features characters both familiar and obscure from Capcom, Bandai Namco, and Sega franchises. It’s kind of a tactical RPG, with individual units moving around a board, but actual battles look more like a traditional 2D fighting game. The gameplay is a little shallow, but the real draw of Project X Zone is the localization as something like 90 characters are represented and the dialogue between them is a real hoot. You get familiar characters like Devil May Cry’s Dante fighting alongside Rikkiya Busujima. You have no idea who Rikkiya Busujima is – he’s from a Dreamcast brawler called Zombie Revenge from 1999 – but it doesn’t really matter because it’s so fun. This is the appeal of Project X Zone.

Unfortunately, Project X Zone lasted about 20 hours longer than it needed to. By the end of that game (if you make it that far), you hate the game, all the characters, the game mechanics, and yourself. Almost four years removed from that playthrough, I can safely say I genuinely enjoyed the game, but I was a little worried about the sequel—would it be more of the same? Turns out, yes: it absolutely is.

Project X Zone 2 features many of the same characters as the original (and reuses their assets as well), but also a couple Nintendo characters because why not? You’ll find Chrom and Lucina from Fire Emblem Awakening and also Fiora and Metal Face from Xenoblade Chronicles. The game’s new characters, both allies and enemies, could be round up and labeled “Deep Cuts,” especially for American audiences. Do you have any idea what Captain Commando is? How about Star Gladiator or Summon Night? Remember Taki’s blonde student in Soul Calibur V? And new characters crop up constantly throughout the lengthy story. Sakura Shinguji, Gemini Sunrise, and Pai Chan show up around hour 20. It’s nuts. There are enemies named Ton Pooh, Pei Pooh, and Sai Pooh. They are from Strider, allegedly.

Eventually you control a roster of seemingly 100 characters, including pair and solo units, which are two different unit types that can be paired together. Figuring out which pair units mesh best with which solo units is part of the fun, so swapping between missions is encouraged. You’ll also want to experiment with equipment and accessories, a process that takes forever because you have so damn many characters. New to this sequel, you earn “CP” points in battle and can use those points to boost a character’s attacks and buy new skills. Characters learn new attacks and skills as they level up. This encourages you to use every pair/solo unit judiciously, and not just play favorites.

The gameplay is otherwise exactly the same as in the predecessor. Move your units around a grid, attack enemies with the A button plus a direction, the L and R buttons to call solo units and allies, and the Y button for special attacks. A few characters can attack multiple enemies from the map, which is handy, although doing so drains a precious resource (XP, as opposed to HP or SP).

My biggest complaint about Project X Zone 2 is that it’s exactly like what came before: you start a stage that has relatively few enemies, you have a couple fights, and then more enemies and more story exposition pops in. Then MORE enemies pop in, and there’s MORE dialogue and once the level actually starts, there are SO MANY enemies, half of which are bosses. This sequence repeats for virtually every level. It just becomes predictable and it quickly devolves into an array of “boss rush” levels that I’m not too fond of.

But, weirdly, you don’t really play this for the gameplay. You play it for the ridiculous team-ups and chuckle-worthy dialogue. You play it to listen to Strider, Shinobi, and Zero all debate the best way to get up a vertical wall. You play it to hear Morrigan call Nana Kazuki (from God Eater 2) “basically topless” (which is the pot calling the kettle black). You play it for the left-field Vanillaware references. You play it to hear Leon S. Kennedy question the power of Dance Energy—which is totally backed up by Captain Commando.

Like its predecessor, I got enveloped in Project X Zone 2 and kind of hate myself for it. But I enjoy the hell out of it, and if hearing Chris Redfield call Leon “Future Leon” with a straight face is wrong, I don’t want to be right.