Patapon 2 is infinitely better than Patapon. In Patapon it always felt like a waste when you had to dismiss a unit to replace him with a better unit. No such waste ever occurs in Patapon 2. Each individual unit can learn to be all of the rarepons and switch to that version as needed for given battles as well as level them up (with materials) individually. It's kinda like the job systems in FF III/V/T.

Farming is less of a chore. The drops from farming and boss battles are significantly magnified. Even though there's more to spend materials on, you always feel like you're making significant progress. Also, gear drops are plentiful and you can replay the locations of certain story battles to farm equipment, which is very useful.

Also, in the first game it seems almost a waste after focusing on making good Tatepons, Yumipons and Yaripons to use resources to make Kibapons, Dekapons and Megapons. This is especially true as they may not do a much better job than your established group. This isn't true in P2. There are levels that require you to use the other units for strategic reasons and since materials are plentiful, it feels less like a waste of resources.

It's just a stellar game.