Mega Man 2 Review
Mega Man 2 marks the moment when the franchise entered the stratosphere of gaming, effectively making Mega Man a God of the NES. While a lot of franchises on the NES would have disappointing sequels on the same system that strayed too far from their initial formula (Super Mario Bros. 2 US and Zelda 2 in particular were big disappointments at the time), Mega Man 2 remains largely the same game as the original in terms of gameplay mechanics. Only much, much better.
You’ll notice how much better this game is the instant you get to the title screen. No longer is it an awful, soundless old school title screen. Now you witness Mega Man in all his helmet-less glory, standing on the rooftops, wind blowing his incredible thick head of hair. The accompanying music makes it even better, marking the first time in Mega Man where you truly feel the metal/rock influence that Capcom initially was going for.
Mega Man 2 also marks the first time Capcom uses the eight Robot Master formula, upping the total from the six initial Robot Masters in Mega Man 1. It might not seem like a major change at first, but the addition of two more bosses really helps make the game feel like a bigger and more fleshed out title. You’d think that with the addition of two more Robot Masters, a few would be lost in the shuffle like many later Mega Man titles, but just like Mega Man 1, each and every Robot Master is unique and infinitely memorable.
The level aesthetics create a much greater sense of scope than anything in the original Mega Man. From the gears grinding in the background in Metal Man’s stage to the creepy-faced airships in Air Man’s stage, Mega Man 2 might not be the most graphically impressive of NES titles, but it certainly feels like one of the most grand. It all culminates in Wily’s Castle, in full view here as a skull-laden behemoth, equipped with a Guts Man bulldozer, and most famously, a dragon chasing you across painfully placed platforms.
The level design has especially seen an evolution from the original, making a far more balanced and less frustrating experience than the first. The game never feels too hard, but it never feels too easy either. It is perfectly balanced, and to this day remains the only perfectly balanced Mega Man game in terms of difficulty.
Mega Man 2 is considered the greatest of all Mega Man titles, and rightfully so. The soundtrack is one of the most renowned in video game history, the levels are perfectly designed both aesthetically and in terms of difficulty, and the entire game flows with much greater ease than the original. Time has been good to Mega Man 2, and in the nearly 24 years since its release, it shows no signs of aging. It truly is one of the greatest of the NES era.
Grade: A