Game Boy :: Genesis :: NES :: Sega CD :: SNES :: TurboGrafx-16 :: Complete System Listings

Mega Man 2 review

Game: Mega Man 2
Platform: NES
Genre: Action (Platformer)
Developer: Capcom
AKA: RockMan 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo (JP)

Reader review by gbness

July 08, 2004

By far the most popular game in the original Mega Man series, this is probably the most beloved of them all. Many deem it to have the best gameplay, greatest music, etc. I am one of those who disagree with that. Mega Man 2 is probably one of the better games in the series, although it's definitely not the best there is.

Just like the first game in the series, Mega Man 2 has stages to beat Robot Masters in. Once you beat all of them, you can go to Dr. Wily's castle. The biggest difference this time around is that instead of six robot masters, we have eight instead: Bubble Man, Quick Man, Metal Man, Heat Man, Flash Man, Crash Man, Air Man, Wood Man, and Crash Man (whoo, a lot of men). And just like the last game, you can battle them in any order you wish, adding a lot of non-linearity to the game.

And as usual, Mega Man 2 goes under the system that Mega Man 1 did in getting weapons: beat the boss, get his weapon. This is where Mega Man gets all of those weapons that he always uses. Some weapons are stronger than others against certain enemies, and all eight bosses have a certain elemental weakness in which you can use with one of the weapons. Probably the most innovative feature of the Mega Man series, and possibly why a lot of people like it. I personally loved this, and you likely will too.

Since this game requires quite a lot of finicky jumping and timing to execute properly (or hell, execute at all), Capcom made sure the control is good. And yes, the control is excellent, and perfectly responsive. Never will you press the jump button and you won't instantly jump. The control is just the same as the original Mega Man, move around with the left and right buttons, occasionally climb by jumping up to a ladder and pressing up, jump with the A button, and fire your gun with B.

Mega Man 2's stages definitely aren't any of the best in the series, that's for sure. Of the eight you've got, the only ones I really liked were Metal Man's, Flash Man's, and Quick Man's. In Metal Man's, you are faced with conveyor belts to go across, in a very interesting factory. Flash Man's takes you through some forgotten place full of interesting jumps, barriers, and beautiful graphics. Quick Man's also takes place in a factory, and ends up in a race to avoid several deadly lasers.

However, it goes downhill afterwards. Crash Man's stage becomes incredibly frustrating a bit into it; Wood Man's is a promising stage, but it quickly becomes a bore; Bubble Man's stage isn't too interesting, and pretty much repeats itself. The main problem with a majority of the stages is that they can repeat themselves a little more than I found other games in the series to do so.

There's also one other small problem I feel the need to point out: a lot of the stages are incredibly similar to the original Mega Man's. I mean, was I the only one who thought I was playing Ice Man's stage with fire on Heat Man's stage? The game feels really cliche after Mega Man 1, which is where it falls flat on its face and trips.

Mega Man 2 has some of the best music in the whole series. All of it is done very well, and fits the stage that it's in perfectly. Two great examples are Bubble Man's and Quick Man's. Bubble Man's has a strange way of making you feel like you're underwater, and Quick Man's is hands-down awesome, because of the fast sound in it. However, some of the music can get rather annoying after a while. I was never big on Metal Man's, and Wood Man's can get you tired of it quickly. Still, Mega Man 2 has the third best music in the series, only outmatched slightly by Mega Man 3 and Mega Man 5.

The sound isn't quite as awesome as the music is, but it is still decent, for the most part. This is just an NES game though, so you can't really expect much more than the standard beeps and blips, although some enemies make a bit of noise when they die, and their attacks make some noise. Probably the best sound in the game is Mega Man's buster, and some of his other attacks sound awesome. Nothing particularly special, but the average gamer doesn't play Mega Man 2 for sound.

MM2 has to be the single easiest game in the NES series. I almost never had any trouble with it. For example, besides Crash Man himself I beat his stage in a few minutes, without ever having any trouble. Some of the bosses are a bit tough (*cough* Crash Man *cough*) although if you know what to do or have the proper weaponry, there's no problem. Still, Mega Man 2 is far from the easiest game you'll ever play, with levels like Quick Man's and Heat Man's. Enough to keep you fairly busy.

Once you've completed it, there's no real reason to play Mega Man 2 anytime again in the nearby future, except to go through the stages in a different order and try them out against the bosses. However, MM2 can make a very good time killer, as most of the stages are fairly short, and the game is a perfect length. You can easily complete the entire game in four hours or so.

Although I've probably sounded fairly negative thus far, Mega Man 2 is still a very innovative game, and it's quite decent, but it's overrated; it's not quite as good as most people claim it to be. MM2 lacks variety within the stages (something that MM3 and MM5 really did well) but it has good graphics and sound, and has decent gameplay. Since you can pick it up for $10 or less on places like eBay, it's definitely worth a purchase. Still, it goes up from here!

Rating: 8/10

More Reviews by gbness
	Mega Man 7 (SNES) How often is it that you come across someone... or something, that at first, you like and think that it shows lots of promise? Then, it goes further and further...
	Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! (NES) Fear the man himself -- not the game. Mike Tyson, perhaps the greatest boxer ever, one to create fear in every opponent's heart! Not a bad idea at all from Nint...
	Metal Arms: Glitch in the System (Xbox) Metal Arms: Glitch in the System is one of the few games that received very little hype, ever since its release. I am not exactly sure why this was the case, si...

Feedback

If you enjoyed this Mega Man 2 review, you're encouraged to leave feedback and talk about it with members of the site's community. You don't even need an HonestGamers account to get involved in the discussion. Please remember to keep your comments respectful and on-topic or they may be deleted by a moderator. Thank you for your understanding!

comments powered by Disqus

© 1998-2013 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Mega Man 2 is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Mega Man 2, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.