Mega Man 2

aka: Mega Man II, Rock Man 2, Rockman 2, Rockman Complete Works: Rockman 2: The Enigma of Dr. Wily
Moby ID: 5084
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Description official descriptions

After defeating Dr. Light's six robots that were reprogrammed by the villainous Dr. Wily in Mega Man, it seemed like the world was safe. But it was not to be. Dr. Wily has escaped from prison and is madder than ever, this time creating eight new Robot Masters of his own to take over the world and crush Mega Man! Is the world doomed?

Mega Man 2 is the sequel to the NES game Mega Man. In this game, Metal Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man, Crash Man, Flash Man, Heat Man and Wood Man are Dr. Wily's eight prize creations that have been sent to take over the world. As Mega Man defeats these bosses, he can steal their powers and use them for himself. Each Robot Master is weak against another's weapon, and through experimentation, Mega Man can gain the upper hand by using the weapon they're vulnerable against.

Other additions to the game include the 'E-Tank' - an item that can be used at any time to completely refill Mega Man's energy, and a Password System, which allows players to continue their game by recording which Robot Masters have been defeated and how many E-Tanks they have. Mega Man 2 also removes the scoring system from the original game.

Spellings

  • ロックマン2 Dr.ワイリーの謎 - Japanese spelling

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Credits (NES version)

61 People (20 developers, 41 thanks) · View all

Box Cover Illustrator (USA)
No. 009: Metalman
No. 010: Airman
No. 011: Bubbleman
No. 012: Quickman
No 013: Crashman
No. 014: Flashman
No 015: Heatman
No. 016: Woodman
Character Designer
Sound Programmer
Programmer
Planner
Producer (uncredited)
Special Thanks
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 89% (based on 38 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 181 ratings with 5 reviews)

The game that launched the franchise!

The Good
No, I am not mistaken. This is not only one of the best Mega Man games made, it is one of the best video games ever made.

"This reviewer lies," you say. "Never did such grace touch the Earth."

This is because you weren't there when the game originally came out. At the time, when you (or any of my friends when they came over) played Mega Man 2, the reaction was, "OH MY GOODNESS!! THIS GAME IS TOO GOOD!!" It is so charming that I would recommend this game to anyone who wants to experience the Mega Man universe.

So why was this game so darn good? Well, it took the strengths of Mega Man, made them better, cut out the bad stuff, added a password, and was extremely consistent with it.

-Password-

Although it wasn't a save feature, it did allow the player to stop anywhere in the game and resume. The password would remember what bosses you defeated, how many energy tanks you had, and if you got the special items.

-8 Robot Masters-

The original Mega Man only had 6 levels and bosses. Now there were 8!

-Immersive and unique levels-

Each level was oh so very different, had its own theme, and its own twist in the gameplay. Let's go through them:

Bubble Man (The stage starts you off battling robotic frogs over waterfalls. For the rest of the stage, you are underwater where your jump capability shoots you to the top of the screen! Unfortunately, there are spikes on top of the ceiling so you must be careful. Mega Man battles a fun variety of aquatic themed robots from shrimp to giant fish.)

Air Man (As you would expect, this stage takes place in the skies. Flying enemies are constant and they are mostly robotic birds. At the end, you move through taking over Zeus-imitating robots' flying platforms.)

Quick Man (There are only a couple of enemies in this stage. This is the strangest stage in the game and, indeed, it emphasizes 'quickness'. Beams of light would fast shoot from the sides of the screen and you had to move through the area as fast before they would connect as one touch will kill you. You jump, fall quickly as you rush to keep ahead of the beams.)

Heat Man (For most of the stage, you battle fire monsters and hop over lava. The latter part of the stage returns Mega Man 1's dreaded appearing platforms. However, these are much less frustrating this time. You must hop from appearing platform to appearing platform across a LONG area of lava.)

Wood Man (Ahh, the most innocent of levels. Robotic chickens, bunnies, bats, gorillas, among others appear here. The level goes through a forest, goes underground, and returns to the forest again. This is as close to a normal level you can get.)

Metal Man (The infamous Metal Man stage!! The entire level is composed of moving belts that either push you faster in the direction you want to go, or pushes you in the wrong direction which you must struggle to outrun. The vertical flying drills and the dropping weighted spikes also add nicely to the level, as do the clownish robots on giant gears. This level is genius.)

Flash Man (This level is all ice letting Mega Man slide around. What is unique about it is that there are multiple paths through this level, some featuring nice item rewards avoiding some enemies while others do not.)

Crash Man (Crash Man's stage is completely vertical. You start at the bottom and go up, and up, and up. You must ride lots of platforms and ladders to get to the top. Thankfully, this stage is no where near as insane as Gutsman stage was.)

-Very Useful Boss Weapons-

In Mega Man 1, some of the boss weapons weren't too useful or practical. Gutsman's strength? Even Cutman's weapon wasn't too useful.

Each weapon in Mega Man 2 (except for bubble man and flash man) is extremly practical. Quickman's shortrange boomerangs give small range, fast attacks. Heat Man's fire ball could be held down and released, unleashing a larger fireball! Metal Man's blade was the best weapon of the game as you could throw it in 8 directions around you. Woodman's circular leaf attack could be used as a type of 'shield'. Airman's tornadoes could get those annoying enemies on the ceiling. The weapons were very practical and are used throughout the game more than the other Mega Man titles.

-New Items-

In addition to getting weapons from each boss, three bosses gave you an extra item. These were not weapons but were used by Mega Man to overcome obstacles. One is a platform that climbs walls. Another is a jet sled. And a third is a flying platform. These were required in several puzzle like areas of Wily's Castle.

-Charm-

This game is very... HAPPY. The music is very strong and draws you in. The graphics are very cartoonish, colorful, and shiny. The game never gets frustratingly hard (unlike Mega Man 1. Those who complain about Quickman's stage are wimps.) The sound effects are very crisp. But more important the game stays consistant. The game stays fun throughout the very beginning to the very end, never losing momentum. While Mega Man 1 became a cult classic, Mega Man 2 turned into a red hot blockbuster. It is the game that launched the Mega Man franchise.

The Bad
Surprisingly little. There could have been more instances in the game when Flash Man's weapon was more useful. I really liked how they made Bubble Man's weapon useful by having it detect trapdoors (you would watch the bubbles fall into the spikes).

The game has quite a bit of content, yet you wish there was more because it was so good. There is nothing wrong with this title.

The Bottom Line
Just as some games reach a practical 'perfect' status such as Super Mario Brothers 3, Mega Man 2 reaches it with its consistant colorful fun that never wanes throughout the game.People argue that Mega Man 3 is superior. It may be, but it cannot be debated that Mega Man 2 is the most charming of Mega Man titles.

NES · by Jonathan Hollas (24) · 2005

Platform gaming in its finest, most pure form!

The Good
The Nintendo Entertainment System was where the platform genre reigned back in the late 80's and early 90's. The grey, 8-bit beast saved console gaming with Nintendo's own pack-in smash hit Super Mario Bros., probably the most recognisable game in existence.

Many companies tried to make their own platform gaming hits on the NES in an attempt to mimic the quality of Nintendo's game. Some were successful, many were not. One of the games in the first category was Capcom's Mega Man, a challenging action-platformer praised by gamers for its tight controls, pretty graphics, great music and challenging level design. It's most clever and distinguishing feature, though, was its rock-paper-scissors system, wherein each weapon you got from a defeated boss robot was strong against one of his companions in another level.

While a great game, the commercial success of the game was fairly moderate. Capcom didn't think it was successful enough to warrant a sequel. The game's creator, Keiji Inafune, however, still saw potential in the series, and begged that the company would allow him to produce a sequel. His wish was granted under the condition that he and his team would develop the game solely in their spare time, keeping the focus on more urgent projects.

Inafune agreed, and boy, was it a great decision. The result was Mega Man 2, released in 1988, a year after the first game. It was a game that improved upon its predecessor in many ways and quickly turned into the smash hit Capcom had been looking for a year before.

The story is simple: Dr. Wily, the evil scientist Mega Man defeated in the first game, has escaped prison to resume his plans for world domination. Mega Man goes after him. In order to stop Mega Man, Dr. Wily has built eight more Robot Masters, similar to the ones Mega Man fought in the original.

The game is mostly similar to the first game. Like in that game, Mega Man needs to traverse a series of levels at the end of which he must defeat the Robot Master. An important addition in this game was the fact that there are eight of these as opposed to the six in the original game. Ever since this game, eight Robot Masters has been the standard for the series.

The eight bosses include: Air Man, Wood Man, Quick Man, Flash Man, Bubble Man, Crash Man, Metal Man and Heat Man. Like in the first title, you can select which level to start with and beat all of them in whichever order you like. Each boss, however, has a weakness to at least one of the weapons you receive after beating one of his buddies, forcing you to figure out which item works best on which bosses. As a result, playing the levels in a certain specific order makes the bosses much easier to defeat than with Mega Man's basic arm cannon. The weapons range from a boomerang to a saw blade and from a bubble gun to bombs. This rock-paper-scissors system is something you don't see often in the platform genre. Figuring out this order is one of the most fun elements in any Mega Man game.

This element also comes back during your trips throughout the levels themselves. Each level has its own tricky parts but figuring out how to avoid certain difficulties using specific weapons is half of the fun and it adds up to the game's replay value. Each world reflects the theme of the boss that resides in it. From Bubble Man's stage, which is largely underwater, to the fiery bowels of Heat Man's stage and from Metal Man's steel factory to Wood Man's jungle, each stage has its own distinctive theme, traps and enemies. There is lots of variation and each level is unique and designed with care. They are designed in a way that is challenging but not unfair or overly frustrating.

An major addition is that you can collect certain items that allow you to create helpful platforms. While something slightly similar was available in the first game, this is the game that really worked it out as a game-changing feature. There are three to collect: a flying surfing board, inflatable platforms that stick to walls and platforms flying upwards. Later games would implement these kind of features in the form of the robot dog Rush, but this is the game wherein it first made its big mark on the series. Another addition that originates in this game are the collectible energy tanks, making the game more manageable because they allow you to replenish Mega Man's health.

Controls are tight and responsive, which is something you badly need in this game. While not as tough as the first game, Mega Man 2 is by no means an easy game when you first boot it up. It really feels like a platformer in its purest form. Mega Man can't jump as far or as high as Mario, but he has a trusty arm cannon and shooting is a much more important part of the game than in Nintendo's franchise. Quick reflexes and quick decisions are pivotal to survive, especially when you defeat the eight bosses and infiltrate Dr. Wily's challenging fortress, which is split up into several levels. Thankfully, this game also introduces a password system to the series, allowing you to continue where you left off.

Graphically, Mega Man 2 looks similar to the first game. That was a very pretty game for its time, however. While Mega Man's sprites and animations where reused, they are so well-designed you don't mind. Heck, his original design would be used in many sequels after it, spanning various systems. It is still to be found in Mega Man sequels in recent years, such as Mega Man 10, which is a testimony to how defining the graphical style in these early titles truly was. In an age when many games had empty backgrounds, Mega Man 2 impressed with detailed and animated background textures. The game has vibrant colours, detailed character designs and fluid animations.

Sound is just as impressive. As far as 8-bit music goes, there are few games that sound better than this one. The theme that plays in Dr. Wily stage 1 and 2 is a fan favourite. Mega Man 2 has one of the most impressive, if not THE most impressive 8-bit soundtrack.

The Bad
Certain items make some hard parts ridiculously easy. In Heat Man's stage, for example, there is a very difficult part wherein you need to navigate across disappearing platforms over a huge chasm. Anyone who's ever played a Mega Man game will recognize these sequences as some of the most challenging parts of the game. When you whip out Mega Man's surfboard, however, you can completely skip this whole sequence.

This also makes the rock-paper-scissors mechanic in this game unbalanced. Once you defeat Metal Man and receive his weapon, the Metal Blade, the whole game is a lot easier. The Metal Blade is incredibly powerful against half of the bosses, including Metal Man himself. It can shoot in eight directions and doesn't deplete as quickly as other items. Some bosses are weak to multiple weapons, while others have just one weakness. This makes the order in which to beat the levels really vague and not as clear as in the other Mega Man games.

Another weapon-related issue comes in the form of the Crash Bomber. This weapon is powerful against two of the later bosses but it depletes so quickly, it most likely forces you to lose all your lives and then choose continue. This replenishes your Crash Bombs but forces you to replay the entire level as well. And naturally, these later levels are anything but easy.

The western release has an easy mode for beginners, but the difference is barely noticeable most of the time. There are a few enemies and bosses that take a few extra hits, but that's about it. It feels like it was rushed into the game at the last moment, right before the western release.

The Bottom Line
Out of the enormous library of NES platformers, choosing the good ones can be difficult. With Mega Man 2, however, you can't go wrong. It is not the hardest game in the series but that makes it a good point to start and it certainly is not an easy game either. Many still consider this game the series' peak. While some say that Mega Man 3 is better, Mega Man 2 is certainly one of the most defining of the Blue Bomber's adventures, and a game that no platform gaming fan should be without.

NES · by Rensch (203) · 2011

The perfect continuation of the series

The Good
Okay, first of all, almost everybody noticed that series that started on the NES often begin with a game considered as great, classic, etc... and then the company behind it decides to do a sequel, but changes too much things in it and eventually the game goes overlooked. Remember Zelda 2 where the game have a weird world map and all happen in side-view ? Remember Final Fantasy 2 where there is no levels ? Remember Castlevania 2 with it's unlinear gameplay and weird night-day system ? Remember Fire Emblem 2 where you can chose where you go on a weird world map before doing your missions ? Oh, and I did not mention Super Mario Brothers 2 (because it's actually a fake Mario game). (n.b. I didn't say the games mentioned above were bad, I just say they are considered weird by most people). Well, does Mega Man 2 try too much weird stuff from the original and end up being overlooked and considered not as fun as the original ? The answer is NO ! The only change from Mega Man 1 (except levels and bosses, of course) is that the game is much larger, have much better music, better graphics, added passwords, added a cool intro, gameplay glitches are fixed and the useless score is removed. The only "weird stuff" that was added is the selectable difficulty level, which I'll cover later when it'll be time.

Mega Man 2 is just the perfect sequel to Mega Man 1. Capcom just couldn't make the series go in a better way. The game is downright fun to play ! You have to defeat 8 cool elemental bosses in their respective elemental stages, take all their weapons and go defeat doctor Wily in it's fortress using your large choice of weapons at good use.

The graphics have changed a bit singe Mega Man 1. They look less sci-fi, and more... artistic. One thing I loved is the giant faces that pops up in Airman Stage, the animated lava in Heat Man and the infamous Dragon miniboss of doctor Wily's stage 1, to mention the most memorable scenes of the game.

The music is amazing ! Most song are based on techno beats and have cool solos in them. The boss music is sort of terrific, and add a lot to the overall fun when those bosses shows their nasty face ! And the music of the first two doctor Wily's stage is the BEST music I've ever heard on the system !!

They added a password feature, but I really don't need it to beat the game (at least in Normal Mode). I guess less experienced gamers will be happy to have it when discovering the game for the first time. Yes, the game is really not very hard, at least not until the last few stages. If you found the original Mega Man was hard, you'll found your bliss here (I personally think both are beatable if you have some skills in your fingers).

The Bad
There is nothing terribly wrong with the game, just one major complaint : One particular boss in a Wily's fortress is impossible to beat without dying once. So, no matter how good you are at Mega Man 2, you just cannot beat the game without loosing a single live because of this. And if you reach that particular boss with no live left, no matter what will be your performance, you'll run out of mana without beating the boss and have to start the whole stage again. That kind of add strategy to the game, but I don't think this was a very good idea overall.

One other complain : There is two difficulty levels, and I think the "Normal Mode" makes the first 8 bosses way too easy (some bosses can be defeated in TWO HITS if you pick up the good weapons), but finishing the game in "Hard Mode" is almost impossible (or at least it is much more a challenge than finish Mega Man 1). Couldn't just they put one single difficulty level and made it well-balanced ?

Oh, both the American and European covers SUCKS ! However, I'm pretty sure the Japanese cover is much better, and actually feature Mega Man on it (instead of that ridiculous robot that miserably fail to represent the cool blue bomber we all know).

The sound effects in the PAL version of the game are a bit glitchy, but that is only in the PAL (i.e. European) version, not is the NTSC (i.e. American) version.

Last complaint : All weapons are cool and useful (like in the previous game), except one particular weapon, the Flash, which is totally useless. It just freezes enemies, but make you unable to do anything but move around until your mana is expired, and then you cannot use that weapon again (until you restore it's mana). It is useful only in Quickman stage if you want to stop the lasers, but come on, that is cheating. Avoiding those lasers isn't really that hard.

The Bottom Line
Mega Man 2 is an awesome game. If you like the Mega Man series, or if you just like platformers, I strongly recommend to play it. Download it for your NES emulator, and if you found it on a garage sale, buy it ! For collectors, I recommend importing the Japanese famicom version instead (called Rockman 2) because art for the western versions sucks.

NES · by Bregalad (937) · 2007

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Development

Keiji Inafune actually had to create Mega Man 2 on his own time, to a certain extent. The original game hadn't been successful enough to warrant a fully produced sequel, but he so wanted to create another Mega Man title, that he was given permission to work on it so long as it didn't interfere with any of his other scheduled work.

Reception

Mega Man's creator Keiji Inafune considers Mega Man 2 his favorite Mega Man game. Thanks to its creative levels, cool weapons, excellent bosses, and fantastic music.

Sales

According to publisher Capcom, Mega Man 2 has sold 1.51 million copies worldwide since its initial release (as of June 30, 2016).

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • December 1989 (Issue 5) - Best Sequel to an Existing Game (tied with Ghouls 'N Ghosts)
    • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #73 (Best 100 Games of All Time)
  • Game Informer Magazine
    • August 2001 (Issue 100) - voted #32 in the Top 100 Games of All Time poll

Information also contributed by Andrew Shepard and Nick Rycar

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Related Sites +

  • Howard & Nester do Mega Man 2
    A regular feature in Nintendo Power magazine, Howard & Nester was a comic strip about two game whizzes who would one-up each other, while disclosing hints and tips, in the settings of various recently-released games for the NES platform. In the September/October 1989 two-page installment, Nester competes against a robotic version of Howard in a trivia contest organized by Dr. Wily -- hints and tips abound.
  • Mega Man 2 Trivia
    10 question quiz to test fans' knowledge about Mega Man 2.
  • OC ReMix Game Profile
    Fan remixes of music from Mega Man 2.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Satoshi Kunsai.

Wii U added by ResidentHazard. Nintendo 3DS added by CrankyStorming. Android, iPad added by Sciere. DoJa added by Kabushi. Wii added by gamewarrior. iPhone added by Ben K. Browser added by glik.

Additional contributors: PCGamer77, Shoddyan, chirinea, Alaka, gamewarrior, Pseudo_Intellectual, formercontrib, CalaisianMindthief, Thomas Thompson, A.J. Maciejewski.

Game added October 4, 2001. Last modified March 17, 2024.