"Still fun to play, even today"

Introduction
The Mega Man series has always been one of my favorite video game series of all time, mainly because of the fun factor that the series has provided over the years. The games in the series have not exactly been the most innovative, as most of the games in the series follows the same basic pattern with few changes. The biggest change from game to game, in my opinion, was the jump between the original Mega Man and its sequel, Mega Man 2. Of all the Mega Man games released on the NES, the second one could well be my favorite. It really is a fun and entertaining game and improved a lot over the original, which really didn't need too much improvements to begin with. What a great game.

Graphics (9/10)
The graphics in the original game were pretty good, but it is safe to say that the sequel improved on the graphics a lot. The title screen looks better, as it features Mega Man in the lower right hand corner without his helmet on. The boss selection screen is much improved as well, as I like the design of it a lot. The stage designs themselves are great, although you can tell they look kind of old. The backgrounds are varied and definitely look better than they did in the original, but I felt they could have been done a little bit better. Everything else looks great, from the enemy designs to the character designs. Overall, the graphics in the game are nicely done.

Music and Sound Effects (8/10)
The Mega Man series has always been known to have god music and sound effects, and the second game surely did have good music and sound effects, but I was a little letdown by the whole experience. Regardless, they still are pretty good. The music in the game is classic, as I especially like the music in Flash Man's stage. However, one or two stages featured disappointing (in my view) music which is a shame because if all of the stages had cool music then it would have been so cool. Sound effects in the game are top notch, as I liked most of the sound effects in the game, especially the sound when Mega Man's buster charged up. It sounded really cool. Overall, the music and sound effects in the game are awesome, although I would have liked to see better music in some of the stages of the game.

Gameplay and Control (9/10)
This is where the biggest improvements to the series came into play. In the original Mega Man, you fought six bosses. In this game, you fight eight. There is automatically an improvement. Also, the cool part of Mega Man was that the game kept track of a score for you. There is no score in this game, which could be considered an improvement in most people's eyes. Still, a lot of the improvements (like Sliding, Rush, charged powerbuster) really didn't take place until the third game in the series, not the second. So, this still plays like an old Mega Man game. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Overall, the game features classic gameplay and good control.

Replay Value: Medium
First off, you gotta realize all of the Mega Man games that have been released over the years. I think there have been over twenty games released in the series over the years. And with so many out, and me enjoying a lot of them more than this one, I really did not play this one as I expected to. I played it for a while, but nowadays I don't really play it that much. It is fun while it lasts, however. Overall, the replay value in the game is decent.

Challenge: Difficult
The Mega Man series has always had decent challenge, but this game can prove to be quite a challenge. First off, most of the bosses in the game are quite challenging if you do not beat them in a certain order. The biggest challenge in the game is the stages after you beat the eight bosses. Some of them stages are really complicated. Overall, this game is a pretty difficult challenge.

Overall (9/10)
This is one of the best games in the NES series. It showed a lot of improvement over the original game, which is all I could ask for in a sequel. Then it delivered the same classic and fun gameplay that made the original so much fun to play. Well worth a purchase.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10 | Originally Posted: 07/09/00, Updated 07/09/00

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