Patapon 2: Don Chaka is a 2009 "Command Carnival" Rhythm Game created by Sony Computer Entertainment. It's the sequel to 2007's Patapon 1, and the second game in the Patapon series. It was followed by Patapon 3.

Picking up soon where the previous game left off, the Patapons find their ark that they constructed with the help of their newfound friends the Zigotons destroyed by a terrible sea monster, leaving them stranded in an unknown land. It is up to you, the Almighty Patapon, to guide their step so that they might continue their search for Earthend and IT, and maybe just uncover some old long-forgotten secrets about their civilization...

The most prominent new mechanic in the game aside from expansions on established ones is the addition of the Hero—a versatile unit that can fill any designated role and has a powerful Super Mode which lets him singlehandedly win engagements. In addition, the Hero can be sent with other heroes using LAN-based Co-Op Multiplayer into the Patagate, a new structure in Patapolis that holds unique encounters and rewards.

Tropes:

• 20 Bear Asses: Since item drops have been massively increased from the first game but the new Evolution Tree also requires large multiples of increasingly rare items to upgrade various Rarepons, you will likely end up doing a lot of boss farming for rare resources if you end up trying to evolve a Rarepon all the way to the maximum level 10.
• Anti-Debuff: The Ballad of 1999 acquired in the middle of the campaign allows you to clear any status effects on your army by playing PATA PON DON CHAKA, which causes them to start dancing so hard that they dispel whatever was affecting them. This move is invaluable against enemies and bosses with Status Infliction Attacks.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • In Patapon 1, there was no reliable way to get Ka-Ching, forcing you to grind hunting missions or hope for the Hoshipon event. Patapon 2 introduces Shuraba Yapon and Koruru Beruru, who give you Ka-ching in exchange for mundane items and beating their minigame, in addition to the 5-to-one parichari conversion rate in the Patagate.
  • You will not longer be instantly thrown out of Fever if you hit a single incorrect or mistimed note. Instead, you get one safety measure (illustrated by a warning siren and a little danger symbol) if you play a somewhat incorrect measure, which allows you a little more room to regain your rhythm.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Leveling up a Rarepon to level 10 grants them huge stat bonuses and unique abilities in combat, but it also requires an absolute ton of materials and Ka-ching, necessitating a lot of grinding. Therefore, it's not hugely worth it to try and create an entire army of high-level Rarepons, and it's better to only level up one or two so that your Hero can use their abilities or to add some variety to your army's loadout.
• Boulder Bludgeon: After being freed, the Hero chucks a boulder into Dodonga's face to scare it off, earning you the Dodonga Egg in the process.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Defeating Dettankarmen and Zuttankarmen in the Paragate eventually rewards you with the Masks of Turbo Strength, which massively boost two different sets of your hero's stats and make him Purposefully Overpowered, as well as two powerful Komupons. The only problem is, since these bosses are encountered at the very end of the game, there's not much left for you to use them on.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Specifically, call a creature which looks suspiciously like an ordinary rabbit a "Rappappa".
• Can't Drop the Hero: No matter what changes you make to your army's composition, you can't remove the Hero from it, only change what unit type he is.
• The Chosen One: The Hero. Or thought to be this at first by Meden. The climax of 2 has Ormen Karmen reveal that the Hero was originally a lowly Wakapon that was tricked by Ormen into breaking the World Egg, eventually leading to the fall of Pata-Pole. Disgusted by his actions, he dons a mask that wipes his memories. 3 eventually plays this straight when the Almighty Patapon combines with the Hero to create the Uberhero.
• Cool, but Inefficient: In addition to the returning Barsala (now called Sabara) and Mogyu Ultra Rarepons, there is a new third type of Ultra Rarepon called Gyaba, which is the absolute strongest possible kind of Rarepon you can make. It feels awesome to have them in your army, but because they require you to work your way through the entire evolution tree and have the most expensive upgrades, they're ultimately not worth investing in at all unless it's on a unit type that you use a lot for your Hero, so that he can use it as well. And what do your units get from turning them into Gyabas? A mere increase in their health and damage as well as slightly higher fire damage. They do prove their worth if you manage to get them to max level, but just like Sabara and Mogyu, good luck getting them to that point.
• Cumulonemesis: Cloud Demon Pharamatara, a huge cumulonimbus-shaped monster fought in the Momokkun Cloud Sea. He blows freezing rings from his mouth and damages your army with his disembodied floating hand.
• Dance Party Ending: A rare gameplay-integrated example. Completing a mission in the Patagate will allow you to do the DON CHAKA, a ritual that will crack open the mission egg you've been carrying. The DON CHAKA consists of a rhythm minigame not unlike the juju summon ritual, but with various stipulations for harder missions. Doing well in this minigame will unlock you new masks and Komupons depending on the mission.
• Decisive Battle: Like Mt. Bachikoi for the Zigotons, the Karmen's defeat at their Sokshi Gate fortress is when the war really begins to turn against them. The Patapons are now deep into their territory with little in the way of stopping them from reclaiming Pata-Pole and the chain of command is all but wiped out after the three Karmen generals have been killed in battle trying to stop the Patapons from using their Zigoton-built catapult.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • If you enter "Karmen Fortress in Usso Forest" while already having three different squads of units (something that would normally be impossible by this stage in the first game), Don Yumipon will kill himself and offer his Memory to you at the beginning of the mission since you won't need his deliberately unbalanced Yumipon damage to clear the mission anymore.
  • Though you're supposed to lose the first battle at Sokshi Gate, you can actually destroy the nigh-impenetrable Karmen fortress at the end of the level and clear the mission. If you do manage it on the first try, the fortress drops both the Sealed Scroll^note unlocks Cioking and the DON CHAKA Ballad of 1999 that it normally drops as well as the Square Wheel^note unlocks Dokaknel you would normally obtain after defeating the staff-bearing General Hukmen, since clearing Sokshi Gate on the first try makes the game skip all the missions where you must defeat the Three Karmen Generals to bring the catapult to Sokshi Gate and the story missions pick back up with Meden's kidnapping.
• Dual Boss:
  • Similarly to the previous game, the Dark One (who is Makoton/Scorpiton reborn as a Sasoritan) is fought alongside Demon Gate Bababaan.
  • Kuwagattan is fought alongside Matango in the mission "At Ground Zero".
  • Karmen general Kimen brings in his pet Gancheek when you encounter him at the Moakan Desert. Downplayed as the Gancheek doesn't actually attack your units, but moves at an absolutely glacial pace and prevents your army from moving forwards.
• Fog of Doom: Presented both as normal fog and as a dust storm, it prevents you from seeing any enemies coming at you until they're right at your feet. Both weathers can be dissipated through rain, though you can also counter it by checking the expression of your long-range units...however, this still won't allow you too see exactly what is coming to get you.
• Fungus Humongous: Sentient demonic mushroom Matango is a colossal mushroom that releases deadly spores and assists General Kuwagattan in battle.
• Gainax Ending: An especially weird variant, considering it's mostly the same as the first game. Everything is wrapping up the same as the first with a few changes; the Big Bad is defeated, the final boss is revealed to be an uber-powerful demon, and you and your army kill it. Then the patapons find what they think to be Earthend and IT, but it turns out it isn't, And the Adventure Continues. The issue is that the first game has much more closure, with a reconciliation between Queen Kharma and Meden and a definitive implication that there's more to the Patapons' story with a stinger showing the Patapons and Zigotons building a ship to cross the ocean together. 2 just kind of ends with the Patapon Princess telling the Hero that he will bring balance to the world in some nebulous, undefined way, then there's a Dance Party Ending and another stinger showing the Patapons and Zigotons building a bridge to the next place, now assisted by the Karmen. This is further confusing by the fact that Ormen Karmen is dead and the Karmen were never given the same sympathetic backstory as the Zigotons, so the Karmen have literally no reason to be at all friendly to the Patapons. as a result, the whole ending just kind of...happens and doesn't really leave you with a Sequel Hook for Patapon 3.
• The Ghost: With his dying breath, Kuwagattan makes reference to a "Kumotan" not arriving in time to help him. Given that "Kumoton" is General Spiderton's original Japanese name in Patapon 1, the implication is that Black Hoshipon resurrected Spiderton as well (to complete the trio of Zigoton generals encountered in the first game), though he's nowhere to be found in the game.
• Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: Zig-zagged. The normal bosses aren't very tough in comparison to the much longer and more attrition-filled army levels, which can create this effect on your gameplay experience. However, most of the Optional Bosses are much harder than normal (especially the handful of Superbosses), so there's still plenty of challenge to be had.
• Harmless Freezing: This game introduces a new status effect alongside Fire, Stun and Sleep in the form of Freezing, where a unit will become encased in a block of ice and be completely unable to move before breaking free after a few seconds. This will happen constantly on a mission where it is currently snowing.
• Hero Unit: The Hero is a powerful solo unit that can enter a Super Mode after you play a perfect measure and stay in it for as long as you continue to play perfectly. How you equip your hero and what class you choose for him will drastically affect the lethality of your army.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The first fight against the Karmen Gate Sokshi is intended to be this, expecting you to fail or quit out so Meden can tell you about the Zigoton catapult that will help you against it. While it is possible to destroy it on the first try, doing so locks you out of obtaining the Heaven equipment from the three Karmen generals.
• I Know Your True Name: After you name the Hero Patapon in Patapon 2, the Hero says that he has to serve you because you named him. Also, right before you name him, he declares all of you are insane in the membrane.
• In a Single Bound: The Jump song (DON DON CHAKA CHAKA) allows your army to jump a terrific distance into the air, avoiding certain boss attacks that can't be dodged with the normal Retreat song and are basically suicide to try and Defend through.
• Inconsistent Spelling:
  • The Paragate has been variously called the Patagate, Paraget and Paragate across different versions of the game. (For what it's worth, the original Japanese word is パラゲト; "Parageto").
  • "Karmen" is used as both a singular and a plural word (i.e. "the Karmen" vs. "the Karmens") in different instances of the game's translation.
• Jack of All Stats: The Kanokko rarepon is billed as this, having decent abilities all around the board, such as decent strength, as well as good critical and stagger capabilities, but pales in comparison to more specialized rarepons.
• The Legions of Hell: The Sasoritans and their leaders, Dark One and General Kuwagattan(The resurrected Makoton/Scorpiton and General Beetleton, respectively} answer to the mysterious Black Hoshipon, having been brought up from the Underworld at her command.
• Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Mahopons, who are weak at first until you get access to the later-game staves that have much stronger and heavier-hitting spells: lightning, which hits everything 3 times (more so if it's a large target), blizzard, which spams ice, and fireblast, which is your own little nuke. Of course, the hero chaincasts meteor. That doesn't even cover the support abilities.
• Mama Bear: Pekkora are cute, fluffy, sheep-like creatures that inhabit the snowy levels of Patapon 2. Usually, they have a Gentle Giant demeanor; they will refuse to attack their offenders, and will simply try to run away at a slow pace along with their little Pekkorako. But, kill any of their children, even a single one, and they will turn into a terrifying monster with massive maws, in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge... right at your army.
• Manual Leader, A.I. Party: In the Paragate, if you don't want to or are unable to play with other human players, you can equip a number of different Komupons (a portmanteau of "Computer" and "Patapon") that can be earned by playing various different Paragate missions for the first time. Komupons are AI-controlled allied Hero Units made up of a variety of different classes, Rarepons and equipment that each have their own unique "personalities" that determines when they like to enter their Hero Mode. This allows the Paragate to still be used freely in singleplayer so that you aren't excluded from its rewards.
• Mask of Power: The Hero is powered up through numerous different masks he can wear that you can collect by clearing levels and doing well in the DON CHAKA minigame in the Patagate, ranging from elemental resistances to across-the-board stat boosts.
• Mission-Pack Sequel: Almost the entirety of Patapon has been recycled into Patapon 2, meaning about a third of Patapon 2 has the same content, but with additional mechanics and Zigotons swapped out in story mode with Karmen.
• Mushroom Man: The newly-introduced Mashu rarepons have large fungal caps on their heads.
• Necessary Drawback: The Tatepon Hero's ability renders your army completely invincible to just about every attack, but your Hero cannot attack during its duration, which can greatly reduce your army's overall DPS.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!:Your Hero unit is the lone Patapon who broke the magical egg at the world's core and caused the downfall of the Patapon empire.
• No Cutscene Inventory Inertia: In the few cutscenes of Patapon 2, your hero unit always appears as a normal Lv. 1 Yaripon wearing the Shuba mask, no matter what class, level, rarepon, and mask you have him as.
• Ominous Floating Castle: After making their way through the Momokkun Cloud Sea, your army comes across Sky Castle Amaterra, a floating fortress in the clouds where the Karmen are holding an ancient deity captive. With the help of Gong the Hawkeye you manage to free this deity from its prison, but the level also serves as the first introduction to Black Hoshipon and the Sasoritans, as they unexpectedly come to the Karmen's aid during the battle.
• One-Man Party: The Hero is so strong in some cases that he can completely solo bosses if you give him the right equipment, meaning it's perfectly viable to design an army purely around supporting the hero if you make certain investments.
• Premium Currency: In the Patagate you do not earn Ka-ching, but instead a different substance called "Parichari". Parichari can be used to open a number of unlockable chests at the end of a mission that contain random mission-relevant items, but it also has a five-to-one exchange rate with Ka-ching and you can choose to convert any excess Parichari into Ka-ching for normal use in Patapolis.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: All the Magic weapons created by forging Adamantine are named after various mythological beings or weapons. You've got your obvious reps from Classical Mythology and Norse Mythology like Labrys, Chronos, Gungnir and Sleipnir, but there are also some more obscure references. For instance, the Magic Javelin is called Gaebolg after the spear of Cú Chulainn, and the Magic Bird is called Onmoraki after a type of ugly birdlike Yōkai.
• Sealed Good in a Can: Both the Patapon Princess and the magical center of the world are contained in eggs. Breaking the latter proved disastrous, however, as it wound up destroying Pata-Pole.
• Shout-Out:
  • You first encounter the Hero as he is trapped under an immensely heavy rock—identically to how Tripitaka first comes across Sun Wukong in Journey to the West.
  • The description for the Meraachiize mask you can get from Fenicchi's Paragate battle mentions "the smell of Napalm in the morning"
• Socialization Bonus: Playing missions with other players in the Paragate rewards you with the Friendship set of equipment, rare unique items that increase the health of the Patapon wielding them. (In the versions of the game with no multiplayer, these are given out by default.)
• Soundtrack Dissonance:
  • There are several levels after acquiring the Karmen catapult where the Patapon use it to bulldoze their way through some Karmen defenses, killing hundreds in the process. The music for these levels is "Totechitentan's Theme", which is a goofy silly-sounding march that completely contrasts the Curb-Stomp Battle you're delivering to the Karmen. It plays again when you fight the Zugagang, making the intimidating Karmen tank seem like a trivial joke.
  • Fighting Zuttankarmen in the Patagate treats you with the goofy, vaguely psychedelic-sounding "Pikkurakotta's Theme" which is humorously unsuited for a boss of that level of danger.
• Super Mode: Playing four perfect notes in a measure will activate your Hero's hero ability and can only be sustained by continuing to play perfect measures or the ability will peter out, making it a more straightforward example of this trope.
• Stealth-Based Mission: Surprisingly for a rhythm game. The first part of "Masked Country and Three Generals" requires you to listen on the Karmen Generals' conversation without disturbing them by activating Fever, then charge in for a big ambush. This mission is also the introduction of Big Bad Ormen Karmen and his powerful sorceries.
• Storming the Castle: Sokshi Gate fulfills the role of Mt. Bachikoi from the first game as a heavily fortified and well-garrisoned enemy fortress that requires additional firepower to capture. Namely, the Zigotons build a catapult for your army to use against its walls, and also reinforce your assault with their own Ziggerzank.
• Swiss-Army Hero: Pretty much the whole point of the hero unit, where besides being able to change into any rarepons and classes you have already unlocked, you can choose between different 'masks' to emphasize some combat style over another.
• Tech Tree: The Rarepon system has been heavily revamped into an Evolution tree, where you can upgrade the various individual stats of each of your specific Rarepons using a variety of Ka-ching and materials. These upgrades also increase the overall stats of the unit (such as movement and attack speed or various damage resistances), meaning it can still be worth it to upgrade weaker Rarepons just for the stat boost.
• Timed Mission: Patagate missions are all on a timer, as you need to escort the relevant mission egg to the end within the time limit to be able to break it open by doing the DON CHAKA ritual.
• Threatening Shark: Ujis, who are sharks that can burrow into dirt and sand and try to gobble up your patapons for an instant kill. Strangely, they're some of the only huntable animals that returned in 3.
• Unexplained Recovery: Gong returns from definitely being killed early on. Exactly how is never stated, but perhaps defeating Gorl returned the Zigotons to what they once were?
• Unique Enemy: "Battle at Ekkora Oasis" features Robomen Tower (a structure analogous to Dekaton Tower from the previous game) that continuously spawns Robomen until you destroy it. This is the only time that Robomen appear in the series.
• The Worf Effect: In the first game, you need to build a sizeable army in order to stand a chance against Dodonga. Here, you beat it while your army still consists of the 3 default-equipped Yaripons, to show the unrivaled One-Man Army power of your new Hero.
• You Bastard!: The huntable Pekkora creature. The tips not only mention that killing the Pekkora without killing its children gets you a better quality fur, it actually encourages you to do it. Then you actually do it, and are immediately rewarded with the sight of the little Pekkorako crying over the limp body of their mother in the background. Hope the single uncommon fur you got from that hunt was worth it. Alternatively, if you're powerful/cruel enough, you can use a wide ranged attack to kill both of them in one go, reaping the maximum rewards.