Mega Man Battle Network 2

"Great game,but you have to play the first one to understand the story."

I borrowed this game from my friend who loves imports. I guess I'll a little review to share my experience with it.

Gameplay 10/10: I look for originality when I play games,but this takes the cake! Not only that it follows the RPG engine as well as the action engine. There is a 3x3 grid. You see Megaman on one side and your enemy/enemies on the other. You can move Megaman around the panels on his side and attack with your megabuster with the B button. Your enemies will basically do the same thing,but most of them don't have a megabuster. You see MegaMan's HP displayed on the top screen,you can increase it by buying HPmemories. You can do the same thing with the power of your megabuster by buying power ups. You also get chips,which allow you to execute powerful attacks that can dispose of those nasty enemies quickly. One thing to keep in mind about this game is that unlike the first battle network,you don't recover all of your HP after a fight.
Sound 5/10: Well I can't say much about the sound seeing as comes out of those tiny GBA speakers. The sounds are really nothing,you will basically hear the shots of the Megabuster.
Music 6/10: The enemy music leaves something to be desired. The same thing goes for the boss music. This is nothing unexpected seeing how it is a GBA game.
Story 8/10: The story is one of my favorite parts,but if you did not play the first battle network,you'll have a hard time understanding the sequels story. I played the first battle network so I was able to grasp the story,despite the fact that it was in Japanese. I won't spoil the story for you either.
Graphics 10/10: Wow this SNES material! The out of battle graphics are convincing enough to look real. The in battle graphics are just as good. The effects of the chips will bring a smile on your face,at least they did for me. Megaman also looks different than in his 1980-1990 days of thwarting Dr.Wily.
Challenge 9/10: I did'nt exactly get far in this game because I borrowed it,but getting to where I got was hard enough. When you use a chip,you have to get another one,you don't recover HP. You really have to think and plan some strategies alot more. The first battle network was a cake walk compared to this sequel.
Replay value 7/10: There were 175 chips to collect in the last battle network,I think there are over 200 in this one! Getting all of the chips is'nt my idea of great replay value,but there are optional bosses you can fight after you beat the game.
Buy/Rent: Well I would strongly recommend buying the English version of this game,which is coming out in 1-2 weeks. You can bet that I am gonna get the English version as well.
Well I gotta get off the net now,happy tralis!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/11/02, Updated 06/11/02