Mega Man X2 (SNES) review "The battle is always uphill, it’s just a question of degrees."

It only took me a few minutes to remember just how demanding this title was for my rusty skills. Released just a year after Megaman X, the knobs are all cranked, some further than the SNES can handle. In fact, it was necessary for Capcom to enhance the performance of the system with a DSP for the tricks it couldn’t do, like sprite scaling, and so forth.

The opening does more work, since we’re expecting story, that’s what we get. Text along with action promising graphics including a massive purple mech as the introductory boss. X has retained two of his upgrades: The ground dash and an enhanced buster shot. You might consider these as “core” to how he works, and so he does as well.

The war continues, naturally, and it is larger scale than ever. A new foe is turning Reploids into Mavericks. This is where X’s roll as a Maverick Hunter becomes more clear, and required as a factor in his lore. He has allies, though the one we see is window dressing. We might imagine there are more, but X is the only one that matters.

But that’s no more true than saying that he’s the most powerful in the room, or this game. You learn pretty quickly that the death of your ally and friend, Zero, might not be a permanent condition. Mind you there’s no surprise in that. As a heroic character, he’s entitled to at least one of those, though he does get several, just like other red coloured robots we know and love.

The pattern here is the same as previous, but with a higher difficulty curve, more complex and varied environments, and the same Achilles heel approach to the enemy Reploids. Just as before, each has their weakness, but until you discover them, each has a special boost attack that is going to make defeating them all the more annoying.

You’re not handed upgrades on a platter, either. We might imagine there are story reasons for this, but players of the first game won’t be satisfied with the same old pattern of improvement acquisition. We’ve done that before, what’s different?

Apart from what we’ve discussed so far, traversal gets a nice improvement, with another new option. The helmet upgrade is useful for about ten seconds before it is reduced to mere protection. There’s another buster upgrade, arguably one of the best in the series. The torso has a nice feature that does more than just absorb damage. Mechanically, most of the upgrades are more than a cool looking enhancement.

The music is as nearly as catchy, and certainly helps to keep the tension on an upward curve. However, as a stickler for smooth performance, perhaps its because of all the new shiny effects, but MMX2 does not perform as fluidly as its predecessor. You’ll find numerous occasions when things don’t respond the way you want and feel sluggish. A little bit of tryharding gone wrong, methinks.

What option did Capcom have? More of the same wouldn’t have sufficed. Unfortunately, we begin to see the limitations of the SNES: It’s days are numbered. There are many reasons why Megaman X is touted as one of—if not—the best games in the series.

Spark Mandril, in MMX, had a condition that rendered him completely powerless against Shotgun Ice, and every single boss in this game has something quite like it, to varying degrees. On the other hand, some bosses laugh at their weaknesses and put you through a grinder anyway. The battle is always uphill, it’s just a question of degrees.

Fortunately, the developers haven’t broken the mould any more than necessary. You can collect heart containers to boost your maximum health, a weapon tank to refill special weapon energy, and four health energy tanks for that, as well. Search around and you’ll locate convenient places in levels that provide quickly respawning enemies for the occasions when you need to refill all of them after expending all of your extra lives.

It’s easy to have quibbles with this title, as mentioned, but sequels are risky business. Megaman X was a masterclass introduction to a new series, and Capcom was quite accomplished at sending out the greeters. Unfortunately, we’ve seen all of this before and, frankly, the opening boss is ridiculously easy to defeat. You’ll get knocked around some, but that’s because its moves off screen and there’s no pattern to read.

Which makes it an overproduced waste of pixels. Sure, its impressive. However, there may be a story driven through-line for all of this mechanized flimsiness: As you’re dash jumping through the introduction level, you’ll notice that it is a factory, pumping out slap-dash Mavericks on a literal assembly line. Everything is thrown together in a hurry, and nothing is quite as sturdy as our hero. That checks out, given recent history.

The attention to detail is impressive, that’s certainly true. The enemies you fight are repurposed from their tasks and redesigned on the fly to oppose everyone who would stop them. Well, can’t say much about that, but this time we have secreted foes who are directing everything behind the scenes. Find the right path in certain levels and you’ll have a chance to spoil their day and learn more about their plans.

Sigma promised he would return, and he does indeed to so, sporting his infamously enormous chin. How that all plays out will be for you to discover, but the pattern doesn’t change much. This is X’s nemesis, after all. If you’re expecting a sweeping plot with nuance, this ain’t it, but it will give you more of what you came for: Mechanical carnage, good friends and hope.

What more can a gamer ask for?

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Community review by hastypixels (August 18, 2025) Wisdom comes from effort and mistakes.