Classic Game Reviews - Mega Man 2 - The Beginnings Of A Retro Legend..............

Greetings everyone, hope you're having a great day, and welcome to my review of the classic NES game, Mega Man 2! So many people who love the world of videogames grew up playing and loving this series. I know when I was young I would play Mega Man all the time, especially this one. Thinking back on those days though, I began to realize that I don't believe I had ever finished any of the games in this franchise. The mechanics are very easy to understand, and so much fun to play, but extremely difficult to master. If you don't know the "correct" order of which levels to choose at the start, you can easily get discouraged. Now with the release of the Mega Man Legacy collection, I've been able to go back and replay this on a modern console. So I figured this is a great time to talk about such an amazing retro classic.

Mega Man 2 is an action platformer game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was originally released in 1988, and in Japan it goes by the name of Rock Man. The first Mega Man game is still a great experience, but this second installment in the series is where the development team really began to hit their stride. Critics praised the audio, visual, and gameplay improvements that were made, and many people consider this one to be not only the best in the series, but one of the best games ever made. I'm not sure I totally agree with either of those statements, but it is definitely a timeless classic that still holds up today, and an important part of gaming history.

This one picks up a year after the original, as the antagonist, Dr. Wily, creates a team of Robot Masters to take out Mega Man once and for all. At the beginning of the game you get to choose from one of eight robot bosses to take out first. Air Man, Bubble Man, Metal Man, Quick Man, Crash Man, Flash Man, Heat Man, and Wood Man must all be defeated, before moving on to the final areas of the game. Each Boss has their own distinct level that you must get through first before you get the chance to fight them. Once you complete a level, and destroy the Boss, you acquire that Bosses special weapon, that can be used from that point forward at any time.

Certain Bosses are very weak to a particular weapon, so completing the levels in a certain order will make the experience much easier. Without knowing this you might have a very hard time taking out the eight main Bosses, as some of them can be quite tricky, and you only get a limited amount of lives. If you're having trouble beating any of these games I would suggest looking online, and figuring out what order is most effective. The order that worked best for me was, Air Man, Crash Man, Flash Man, Quick Man, Metal Man, Bubble Man, Heat Man, and finally Wood Man. Getting through all of these Bosses was a lot of fun, and something I was never able to accomplish when I was young. But that's not the end of the game, after that it gets so much harder.

When at last you are able to acquire all of the eight main weapons, and the three "items", which are various platforms that can be used like a normal weapon, you then have to put all of these to use in the final stages of the game. Now that all the Robot Masters are vanquished, you move on to Dr. Wily's Fortress to complete six more extremely challenging levels. Not only are these tougher than the rest of the game, but in order to finish it you have to know what weapons to use, and when to use them, or else you might get stuck, with no other choice but to start over. Some people might be able to get through them without much trouble, but even with the help of a guide I still had a hard time with it. It's no wonder I never beat this when I was a kid.

The first game in the series kind of flew under the radar, and even hard core Mega Man fans don't really hold it in high regard, but this one is what put Mega Man on the map. This game developed such a strong fanbase that it spawned eight more sequels, and eventually led to Mega Man X, which had eight more games of it's own. This is a legendary title that helped turn countless young people into lifelong videogame fans, and for such a simple game, the series still holds up even today. If you have any interest in playing this I would suggest picking up the Legacy Collection 1&2 that was recently released for the Nintendo Switch. Not only does it contain all 10 original games, but it has save slots, and a rewind feature that lets you back up and try again if you make a mistake. This is such a wonderful game that I highly recommend playing, and I'm going to give Mega Man 2 a grade of...…………………

Thank you for checking out my review of the classic Mega Man 2, I hope you enjoyed it!