We continue our series of Mega Man reviews with none other than the sequel itself! Mega Man 2 follows up on what’s been established already while making some interesting tweaks, such as giving Robot Masters more than one weakness!
However, multiple other, somewhat questionable, tweaks were also made. For reference, our previous review went into great detail about enemies. This may not be present here. Because enemies in Mega Man 2 are a shockingly huge downgrade from 1, having far more basic and uninspired patterns that are nowhere near as memorable or interesting to dissect. Unfortunately, this may become a theme. Because the different weakness structure isn’t the only thing influencing this review, but also the frankly inferior weapon selection.
Rockman 2 is a game with a lot to unpack, so let’s not waste time. A route with the new weakness chain in mind will be considered here. We’re also shifting the format a bit, instead of images for the robot masters, we’re linking videos. It should be a workaround for the attachment limit and should provide you with a few neat remixes. I’d say we’re all winners today. Without further ado, onto the review!
Flash Man
some Sniper Armors may give you trouble but… that’s it. Yeah get used to Mega Man 2’s underwhelming levels be a recurring theme today!
You Got - Time Stopper!
Time Stopper isn’t as bad as people say, it’s actually worse. Jokes aside, the weapon is a joke. No, for real, there’s only a few specific instances where it’s handy (outside of Quick Man, who’s next on the list). Those instances include stopping a few not-so-friendly Frienders in Wood Man stage, stopping the Goblins in Air Man stage and Press in Metal Man’s… That’s it.
Let’s just move on.
Quick Man
You might already know about the lasers. It’s up to you whether you choose to use Time Stopper on them or save them for Quick Man. I wouldn’t blame you either way with how finicky the lasers are, as with everything in this game.
You Got - Quick Boomerang!
A mediocre weapon by the franchise’s general standards but fantastic within the context of Mega Man 2, and possibly the second best. It’s fantastic for taking out specific enemies and nice to have as early as possible. Will also make Metal Man’s stage, who’s next on the list, much more of a breeze.
Metal Man
Then comes Blocky, he’s the reason we’re playing on Hard aside from the fact it’s, y’know, the intended way to play. Blocky is only annoying when he catches you off-guard so don’t worry, a lot of us find him a bit silly.
You Got - Metal Blade!
Metal Blade shoots upwards and diagonally, and has low ammo consumption. It lacks hit-power though, so if you want to one-shot enemies like Sniper Armors, use Air Shooter if you have it. This weapon should also help give you a more dynamic weakness chain, due to Mega Man 2’s unique weapon weakness system.
Wood Man
Wood Man is our first display of MM2’s multiple weakness system. Normally, Wood Man is weak to Atomic Fire, but why on earth would you torture your ears with the charging sound?
Woodman has a relatively dynamic stage. We already mentioned you can use Time Stopper to bypass Frienders, but you can use Pipis to refill weapon ammo!
Wood Man himself is a terrible fight, but with his weakness he should be no problem.
You Got - Leaf Shield!
Despite Leaf Shield being slightly better than people give it credit, it’s still terrible compared to even the tiny shield Fire Storm gave you in Mega Man 1. Still, MM2 isn’t without sections where you’ll need it and being able to shoot it is still helpful! When it’s not being deflected, that is…
Air Man
You Got - Air Shooter!
Sniper Armors will no longer pose a threat to you! And a couple of other enemies too. Air Shooter really packs a punch and should make our next target a breeze. Onto Clash Man!
Crash Man
Don’t be shy of using Leaf Shield to take out Telly enemies. They’re also fantastic for farming. Pipis return once more but they pose no threat. Clash Man has also a relatively easy pattern.
You Got - Crash Bomb!
You’ve actually already missed out on the biggest use for this if you’ve already beaten Flash Man, but it’s ok, it wasn’t gonna be that useful anyways. You’ve already acquired all your essentials, Clash Bomb is just an inferior version of all the other weapons in the game and a cause for many well-deserved criticisms later on.
It’s quite hard to think of something interesting to say to hey, did you know Clash Man and Flash Man only have one different letter? Hyadain made a joke about this.
Bubble Man
Cards on the table, Bubble Man is easily this author’s favorite robot master from the game. Sorry Metal Man. How can I not pick him? He completely sold me on his tragic backstory.
It’s actually really tough picking a favorite track in Mega Man 2, as they’re all beautifully composed by Takashi Tateishi. But there’s a special place in this Author’s heart for Bubble Man. Hyadain did a fantastic job of recontextualizing it as sad and tragic track. And for that, I truly appreciate it.
You Got - Bubble Lead!
I’d rather not be hard on my buddy, Bubble Man. But the arc Bubble Lead shoots in is quite awkward, and you already have Air Shooter for hard-hitting stuff. Not to mention, Mega Man 2 is such a generous game with its weapon consumption that you’ll never run into issue where you need it.
Heat Man
The final of the eight robots. Sadly, Heat Man leaves a lot to be desired. Now, as someone who doesn’t really find the disappearing block puzzles to be as hard as people make them out to be, there’s still no real purpose in taking them head on when Item 2 bypasses it all.
You Got - Atomic Fire!
Hello again, Super Arm! What, think I’m exaggerating? Atomic Fire can only be fired a whopping total of 2 times. Shoot too early and you’ve got a pathetic little fireball that makes Dan Hibiki blush.
Super Arm, we were too hard on you. At least you didn’t have a screeching charge sound effect!
Final Notes 
While Mega Man 2 offers a lot of unique quirks, such as a dynamic weakness chain unique to this entry, but MM2 sadly fails to deliver on a lot of qualities that make Mega Man interesting. The enemy patterns are far more braindead and resemble something Inti Creates would make in MM9-10, because they unfortunately used this game as basis. The weapon selection and level design does not give you a lot to praise and latch onto.Mega Man 2 was made in the devs’ free time, so it has a feeling of being “unfinished” similar to what you find in MM1 and 3, and while you can absolutely toss that critique towards those two, the reason they get away with it is because 1 and 3 are just more interesting and more fun to go through. They’ve a far superior wraps selection that easily blows 2’s out of the water any time of the day and the levels, while similarly short, offer way more variety and things to actually tackle that are unique and interesting. Enemies with legitimate patterns, gimmicks that do offer a unique puzzle. MM2 gives you very little. I can remember the entirety of MM2 like the back of my hand not necessarily because it’s memorable in and of itself, but because the game is so barebones and has little to offer besides a few neat concepts.
While it was fun to tackle this, we can at least reassure readers that the worst is over (well, until we get to Mega Man 8), from here on out, it all goes up from here.
The format for these reviews is still somewhat being experimental. It was really fun coming up with solutions to issues that were present in the MM1 review, we hope you had a good time today! Look forward to the eventual reviews of Mega Man 3 through 6, and hopefully even further beyond if we could manage! With all that said, the review concludes here and we’re now moving to the score tally. Do you have any memories of Mega Man 2? Toss a Clash Bomb in the comment section below!
Pros
- + Unique weakness system
- + Phenomenal soundtrack by Takashi Tateishi
- + A few memorable bosses
- + A few fun stages
- + Some fun weapons
Cons
- - Weapon balance is all over the place
- - Weakness system makes no sense
- - Lackluster stage design
- - Uninteresting enemies
- - The three new items are mostly forgettable
- - A few tracks can feel a bit repetitive
6
Gameplay
Mega Man 2 is a step down in almost every regard here. Weapons, enemies, stages, etc.
6
Graphics
While similarly pleasing as MM1, MM2 suffers from uninteresting layouts and out-of-place enemies. Stages either have a weird identity or none at all. (Ice physics with Flash Man? Really?)
3
Story
There’s so little to piece from what 2 gives you. Mega Man fights 8 more robots… and that’s it.
8
Sound
Undeniably great, can’t sleep on Takashi’s scores.
6
Replayability
Out of the six NES games, I dread replying this one the most. But it’s at least quick and easy to get done.
6
out of 10
Overall
Mega Man 2 gave us a lot to remember, multiple weaknesses, fantastic music and robot masters, it’s just such a shame that it was not only a downgrade from 1, but each NES game after it is a gigantic upgrade in fun replayabilty.
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