Mega Man 2 (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of Capcom's 1989 action game for the NES, Mega Man 2.

Played on the "difficult" setting.

Despite the original game not selling enough copies to warrant an immediate follow-up, Mega Man 2 saw its initial release on the Japanese market a mere twelve months after Mega Man‘s initial publication (   • Mega Man (NES) Playthrough  ). Completed in a mere four months, Mega Man 2 was to become an industry-wide symbol of the passion and dedication that went into many early NES projects. Capcom would not fully support the production of the sequel to a fairly recent, modestly-successful title, but it would allow for the development team, already fully engaged in other “official” projects, to develop the title on their own time.

In retrospect, granting this boon to the passionate creators of the franchise was one of the smartest decisions Capcom made in console-development during the 1980s – Mega Man 2 stands today as the best-selling title in the series with over 1.5 million copies sold across all regions, and it was Capcom’s second best-selling title released on the NES.

Following a dramatic introductory sequence and difficulty select, Mega Man is confronted with a new set of eight robot masters. Like in Mega Man, you chose the order in which you'll tackle each of the initial stages. The recommended order, however, largely depends on the vulnerabilities of each of the robot masters. There are several viable ways to approach the first eight stages, and this need for strategy extends the game’s replay value significantly.

New to Mega Man 2 is the addition of special power up items that are received upon beating certain stages. After destroying Heat Man, in addition to Atomic Fire, Mega Man will receive Item-1 from Dr. Light, granting the ability to place up to three floating platforms in mid-air. When Air Man is destroyed, Item-2 become parts of Mega Man’s arsenal, allowing Mega Man to use a hover board to fly over hazardous terrain. Finally, the defeat of Flash Man brings Item-3 which will provide a platform that can scale walls. Energy tanks are also introduced in this sequel, allowing you to refill Mega Man's life gauge at any time from the menu.

These new items provide opportunities for some light puzzle elements. Without them, some power-ups and paths will remain inaccessible in the early stages, while areas in Dr. Wily’s castle require the judicious use of each to make any progress. This unfortunately introduces one of the game’s few major stumbling points: unless you know what lies ahead, it's likely that you'll become stuck after running out of energy for a required item or weapon. The most egregious offender is Wily’s Castle’s Stage 4 boss which requires that every shot of the Crash Bomb (the only weapon that has an effect) connects if you're to complete it before running out of ammo.

As Mega Man 2 is a fair bit longer than the first game was, a password system has also been introduced. After completing a level and receiving a power-up, a password is given that will record which weapons, items, and energy tanks have been acquired thus far. The passwords, the new difficulty selector, and the energy tanks have earned Mega Man 2 some criticism for being easier than the original, and while this is true, it also makes the game accessible to a wider range of players.

Of all the changes made for the sequel, the most readily apparent lies in Mega Man 2's aesthetics. Instead of the flat, single-color backdrops that defined the first game's look, Mega Man 2's are carefully detailed and tailored to suit the theme of the boss robot, and the sprite work is a marked improvement. Enemies have more animation games to better convey a sense of personality - the gear-riding clowns, fire-breathing dog robots, and the gyro-copter robots that pull their own wind-up strings are real stand-outs. The real technical wizardry, however, is reserved as a reward for making it to the final areas. Bosses become screen-filling mechanical monstrosities: the huge fire-breathing dragon chase, the Guts Man tank, and Dr. Wily’s spaceship all impress in how they dominate the playfield.

The soundtrack is upbeat, catchy, and often shifts gears to suit the tone of the action. I don't think the music is quite as consistently top-notch as the first game's, but the majority of the songs are insanely memorable and loaded with heavy bass beats and driving synth leads. Quick Man, Wood Man, and Bubble Man’s stages are all toe-tappers, and Dr. Wily’s castle stage theme is regularly called out as one of the best Mega Man themes ever.

There's a lot to love about Mega Man 2. It's not perfect, nor is it even the best Mega Man NES game (in my opinion, at least), but the improvements Mega Man 2 offers over the first game makes it a must-play for any NES fan.

For more Mega Man, check out my playlist here:    • Mega Man Playthroughs  
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.