Mega Man II

"Wow, it's just like all the sequels Disney is cranking out!"

When a game becomes a hit, it's a joyous event for everyone: For the developers, the fans, and even the homeless. It means that at a time when people are getting tired of washed-up ideas, someone has broken through with something that presents said washed-up ideas in a much more coherent way. It usually also means the game is going to get a sequel. With this, rumors begin to pour out and screenshots become all the rave of the viewers. However, after the sequel, we often see a large wave of milkings and rehash in an attempt to cash in on the success of what could have been a one-trick pony. Shortly after the success of Mega Man on the NES (the PC ones did not garner that much attention), it began to divide like an ameba. Much like an ameba, you've seen one, you've seen them all. While not every Mega Man game past the first was really that bland, many of them were pretty much the same game with new levels and weapons and maybe one or two new features. The Gameboy Mega Man titles suffered the worst of this plague. Many of them were really no different from the NES MM titles, but what was worse was Capcom's decision to just rehash 8 previously used bosses from other Mega Man games. The one we are looking at specifically here is Mega Man 2 on Gameboy. The game is more of a rushed fast money-maker than a standard Mega Man game. What's even more shocking is that it was released with a Player's Choice label. Thankfully, I only paid about $12-15 for this game because of that.

Same story, same world. Dr. Wily has somehow escaped again and instead of building new robots, he decides to try to get more work out of 8 robots that previously failed him. This proves once and for all that he's no mad genius, he's just an idiot. So, bosses from Mega Man 2 and 3 from NES, Metal Man, Wood Man, Air Man, Crash Man, Needle Man, Magnet Man, Hard Man, and Top Man, have all risen from their ashes to once again have their buttocks handed back to them. Mean while, Wily schemes about building yet another secondary fortress for yet another secret operation. Some mad genius. He puts together hostile takeover plans like Lifetime Network puts together movies. Just use the same formula from before, but change about two or three elements.

From the beginning, many people will just say, ''WEE! It's a Mega Man game!'' It has all the makings of one. All the familiar traps, all the familiar enemies, hell even familiar bosses. The graphics are also a bit familiar. This is a complement in a sense, since it's incredibly to see nice bold shades used in a Gameboy game to almost recreate an NES look, sans the color. The game provides all the similar enemy and boss designs as well without having to dumb down the graphics just to fit that of Gameboy. The only thing missing, as with many Gameboy Games, is background. There are far too many levels, like Crash Man's stage, that have just open space filled in by one solid shade (or color if you're actually using Super Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, etc.). One thing worth noting is that the game looks superb when played on an illuminated GBA SP.

The only thing unfamiliar from the start is the music and sound (unless you played the first Gameboy Mega Man). This had to be dumbed down a bit. Not that I'm completely blaming Capcom in this case, but the music in MM2 conveyed nothing. It sounded like random beeps and blips that a child could create on a basic music generator or using MIDI software. Other pieces on the soundtrack (like Metal Man's level music) are a bit more elaborate, but still ineffective in delivering any sort of an atmosphere. The sound effects did not suffer as much, though they too have their annoyances at times.

Similar even in gameplay from physics to concept. Let's face it. It seems all they did was take the engine used to make the first few and just build new levels. This makes the game seem more like a lazy attempt than a genuine game. Every level is just run around, shoot at enemies, fight a boss, gain his weapon, and test it out on the other bosses. If you've played Mega Man 2 and 3 on NES prior to playing this, then you won't even have the excitement of trying to test out new weapons on the other bosses, as you should already know what is and isn't effective against them. This, in a sense, defeats what is actually fun about the other Mega Man games. It wasn't the fact that we were playing as some schmoe in blue armor, it was trying to guess at what weapons would hurt the new opponents every time we powered up. Basically, this is just a needless add-on to the other games (see also: Spear of Destiny). Not all add-ons are really that bad, some are incredible (see also: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City). Those ones usually include new features or something that does not make the game feel like it's just a clone of the original.

Well, let's put aside the initial impressions and graphics of the game. After you've gotten far enough, many Mega Man fans will grow tired of this game. Reason being: You can probably play it blindfolded. Seriously. It's probably the easiest Mega Man to date. Even after giving a half-assed attempt, I had the game completed within a week. With the other Mega Mans, I usually at least bump into a spot with a really hard boss battle or something incredibly frustrating. Not here. This could very well be another sign that Capcom really slacked on this game.

Several agents really could have improved this game and made it feel more like a genuine title than just another cash-in. This can probably also be said for a few of the other Gameboy MM titles. First of all, let's ditch the idea of creating new robots. Yes, this sounds unreasonable, considering how many Mega Mans there are on Gameboy, but Capcom should have tried to create something new. Instead, it's the same old tired enemies, back from the dead and waiting to be slaughtered again. Something that could have improved the original Mega Man series as a whole (and something that did by Mega Man 7 and 8) would be the change up the levels a bit. How many times does someone have to let out a big sigh every time we see a part in a Mega Man game that looks identical to ones we've seen previously, with maybe a few parts placed in different locations? We've already seen the 1000th time the appearing/disappearing blocks, the platform with a face on it moving across a large pit/spike bed, the underwater scene completely lined with spikes, the narrow hallway with the corncob-shaped drill enemies that come out of the ceiling and floor, the blind fall which you must decide quickly or land on spikes, the long straight shot full of gigantic enemies, the tiny room guarded by another gigantic enemy or mini-boss... The list goes on and on. It also wouldn't hurt to turn up the difficulty rating a bit. No one likes to put money into a game that they speed through in a few days and find an ultimately unfulfilling ending sequence that all the early MM games have.

It's sad to see how the early Mega Man series turned out and to see how long it took Capcom to wake up and realize, ''Hey, maybe we should do something new with the series instead of just throwing in a new character or a new item feature.'' Thankfully, this brought about the advent of several new series of Mega Man including the X/Zero series, the Legends series, and the .EXE/Battle Network series. The only problem that they seem to be facing nowadays is making a Mega Man game with balanced difficulty. Instead of the games being way too easy, many complain that they're almost unbearably hard. No matter. Mega Man 2 on Gameboy is probably one of the weakest contributions to the series as a whole. Only play this if you are a diehard Mega Man fan and just cannot live without playing them all. Even then, you might get bored of this game as almost any other Mega Man game can fulfill your wants in the same way that this one does, except much better. My personal advice: Skip this one and just get Mega Man 3 on NES, the magnum opus of the first series of Mega Man.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Booming with the usual life that most of the Mega Man games have, just missing some backgrounds 8/10
Sounds: Uninteresting and bland, though the sound effects are decent 6/10
Controls: Great response, not too stiff, not too responsive 10/10
Plot/Storyline: Does not provide anything for the game 3/10
Gameplay: Offers nothing new that wasn't already given to us before 5/10
All Together: 5/10

Perks
*New levels
*Great controls
*Sufficient graphics

Downers
*Lack of innovation
*Old bosses
*Lacking audio quality
*Too easy

Recommendations
As stated before, skip it and grab the third one on NES. Only the diehard Mega Man enthusiast can really appreciate this game.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/03, Updated 07/30/03