Mega Man 2

"Choose your own butt-kicking adventure!"

Pros:
Great mix of fast-action, strategy and dexterity; awesome music and graphics; wicked replay value.

Cons:
A little too easy on "normal' mode; a little too hard on "difficult" mode.

The Bottom Line:
This is one of the few games that is a true mix of fun action and adventure.


Mega Man 2 not only incorporated multiple genres, it did it surprisingly well. It's a fast-action game that not only requires dexterity and reflexes, but a real sense of strategy as well. Plus it looks and sounds terrific and never grows old – sounds like a perfect game to me.

PRESS FIRE TO START

This cart is actually a sequel to the lesser-known and harder-to-find game Mega Man by Capcom. Both games have essentially the same premise: you play as robot superhero “Mega Man,” created by Dr. Light to fight eight evil robots let loose on the world by the vile Dr. Wily in a quest for world domination.

What's such a great feature about this game is you have the option to play the eight stages in any order you wish. Each stage is guarded by an evil robot boss (i.e. “Metal Man,” “Quick Man,” “Crash Man”) with a special weapon which you'll add to your arsenal after you defeat them. Additionally, every robot has a weakness in one of the other robots' weapons. This gives Mega Man 2 a higher level of challenge since you'll have to experiment to see which weapons work best against the bosses. And considering there are 40,320 different ways to play the stages, deciphering their weaknesses is crucial.

The game is typical side-scroller or platformer in that each stage is a direct start-to-finish path, although some stages do have easier routes and shortcuts. Every stage has its own collection of enemies, layout, obstacles, mini-bosses and other features such as water, ice and moving floors.

PLAYER 1 – READY!

Mega Man 2 is such a great game for many reasons, but what it all comes down to is that it's just really fun to play. Few games have this perfect balance of dexterity and challenge. The action never stops, and yet it's never overwhelming, either. In fact, I might fault it for being perhaps a little too easy since most of the fighting relies more on rapid firepower than precision and timing (although there are times these approaches will be crucial as well).

What I appreciate the most is that every stage is beatable whether you have the power-ups from the other stages or not. Of course, having said power-ups in the right place at the right time really helps with the gameplay, as there are many points throughout the game which are extremely difficult without the appropriate items earned by completing other stages.

Half the appeal to this game is that figuring out which path to take relies on keen judgment and trial and error. Traditional side-scrollers in the Super Mario Bros. tradition can be great, but being able to “choose your adventure” really gives the player a sense that they are in control of their own destiny.

JOYSTICKING

Games that rely on constant running, jumping, firing, ducking and other such combinations of dexterity and quick-thinking must have great controls to even be playable. With Mega Man 2 the play-control isn't just great, it's perfect. If this was a slower-paced game I might not have even noticed or cared about the controls as much, but because it's so fast-paced the controls are must be very responsive. The controls are neither tight nor loose, but flawless. I'd say play-control has as much to do with making this a great game as the basic challenge and premise.

SPRITES & PIXELS

I've always felt too many games for the Nintendo NES emphasized “realistic” graphics instead of having truly stylized visuals. Mega Man 2 is an example of why a game doesn't have to look chiseled with detail to look good and that a cartoony style can go a long way.

It's clear this game is inspired by the Japanese manga and anime traditions of large characters with plenty of curves and very little edges and corners. The graphics are able to convey a real sense of weight, height and material without cluttering the screen with unnecessary lines. All the enemies simultaneously look like robots and cartoon characters, and yet they still invoke a sense of malice. The backgrounds are comprised of brilliant color schemes and have a simple but effective look. All moving images on screen are animated fluidly, without any stuttering or flickering. I also love how Mega Man blinks his eyes if he stands still for a few seconds.

CHIPPED TUNES

This might be one of the only games where I would consider the fact its music always gets stuck in my head to be a good thing. Every stage has its own unique score, but they are all catchy, upbeat and easy on the ears. Some are so good they make me want to play the stages again just for the music!

INSERT COIN TO CONTINUE

Although I did find Mega Man 2 to be a tad easy, the fact remains it's a game with unlimited replay value. Games that are too easy often grow boring quickly, but considering you have the option to play the first eight stages in any order you want, it never feels repetitive. Having a password feature also means you can experiment with your approach without feeling trapped in a routine.

GAME OVER

One of the surefire signs of greatness is the ability to stand the test of time. Mega Man 2 was one of my all-time favorite games as a kid, and it's still just as fun and challenging to play as an adult. I can't say the same for most games of the era.

Recommended:
Yes

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/04/09

Game Release: Mega Man 2 (US, June 1989)