Mega Man 2: Relitigated

The plot of Mega Man 2 is very simple, considering it’s an NES game. After the first game, Dr. Wily returns with his own newly constructed Robot Masters, and Mega Man has to defeat each one before taking on the mad doctor himself at his fortress. Mega Man does so, defeating the Robot Masters in each of their respective stages before storming Wily’s castle. At the end of the castle, Wily seemingly transforms into an alien, which Mega Man also defeats. The “alien” is revealed to actually be a hologram put up by Wily, and the doctor begs for mercy as his plans are brought to an end. The plot is explained through little to no dialogue. However, the story is not the primary reason people continue to adore this game.

The gameplay of Mega Man 2 is still fun and intuitive to this day, over 35 years after its initial release. The game is a side-scrolling platformer, in which Mega Man can jump and shoot his way through the eight Robot Master stages in any order you choose. It is very similar to its predecessor, using the same platforming physics and even the same sprite for Mega Man himself. The use of the same sprite across all six NES Mega Man games has led to it being one of the most iconic character sprites of the NES era, leading to its return in Mega Man 9 and 10 years later. 

The eight Robot Masters are as follows: Metal Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Flash Man, Heat Man, Crash Man, Wood Man, and Quick Man. Defeating each one of these bosses earns Mega Man the ability to use their weapons and abilities, with each of the Robot Masters being weak to certain other Robot Masters’ weapons. This means that although you can play the stages in any order, there is an optimal route for getting all of the bosses’ weaknesses and defeating them more easily. This leads to the one real downside of this prolific game, the balancing. Defeating Metal Man, which is easy enough to do right away with only the Mega Buster, unlocks the use of the Metal Blades, which are incredibly powerful. These saw blades, which Mega Man can fire in eight directions, make the game much easier. Pretty much any enemy that surrounds Mega Man can be dispatched with the Metal Blades, and they are also super effective against multiple other Robot Masters. Although it is pretty fun to fire spinning saw blades all around you, it also takes away some of the challenge, which has always been a main selling point for Mega Man as a series. In order to have more of a challenge, players may want to restrain themselves from using the Metal Blades. Even with this weapon, the game offers a good amount of difficulty, especially in Quick Man’s stage, Heat Man’s stage without Item-2, and the Wily Fortress stages. The difficulty is especially apparent when playing without save states like I did.

Graphically, Mega Man 2 holds up very well among its NES peers. As mentioned previously, the sprite for Mega Man himself is perhaps the most iconic portrayal of the character. The large, simple sprites for the enemies and bosses also hold up very well, as do the background environments. There’s not too much going on with it, and the details that are there add to the overall aesthetic. Despite its age and the hardware it was released on, Mega Man 2 is graphically timeless.

Perhaps the best part of Mega Man 2 is the soundtrack. This game’s songs are among the best ever made on the NES, and are among the first things brought up whenever the game is discussed. The soundtrack is incredible from the jump, with the iconic intro theme as the camera pans to above the cityscape, building anticipation for the action to begin. From there, every track is a banger, from the menu themes to literally every theme for each of the eight Robot Master stages. Easily the most well-known song from the game is the Wily Fortress Stage 1 theme. This fast, exciting track sets the tone perfectly for Mega Man’s march on Dr. Wily’s fortress, and it’s truly impressive that such a song could be composed on the NES sound hardware. It’s easily the most well-known Mega Man track, and although it may be a tad overplayed, it has its legendary status for a reason.

To conclude, Mega Man 2 is still an incredible game. The tight, intuitive gameplay, pleasing graphics, and all-time great soundtrack all hold up very well, and it has aged more gracefully than many of its NES contemporaries. However, it is not a fully perfect game, with its Metal Blade balancing issues and some jank that is still present from the first game. The Mega Man formula would continue to be expanded upon after this game, with the additions of the slide and charge shot in subsequent entries. Despite some minor issues, Mega Man 2 is still one of my all-time favorite games, and one that I will continue to play and enjoy for decades to come. It’s available on a near-endless amount of platforms, such as the Wii Virtual Console (where I had this most recent playthrough) and compilations such as the Mega Man Legacy Collection, which is available on every modern platform.