Well... getting better, anyway. Mega Man looks like a grizzled old cop, but other than that, pretty solid.
Fantastic cover art, yet again, for the Famicom version.
PLAYERS: 1
PUBLISHER: Capcom
DEVELOPER: Capcom
GENRE: Action
RELEASE DATE: June 1989
The original Mega
Man may have kicked off the series, but the success of Mega
Man 2 ensured its longevity. Because the sales of the original
Mega Man were pretty weak (GEE WONDER WHY IT DIDN'T SELL WELL
IN AMERICA, CAPCOM), Capcom wasn't exactly thrilled to greenlight a
sequel. They eventually agreed to it, but only if the development
team used their spare time to work on it. Basically, Mega Man 2
would never have been made, if the developers didn't have the drive
and motivation to work extra-long hours to complete it. But they did.
After three-to-four months of brutal twenty-hour work days, Mega
Man 2 was born and the still-burgeoning gaming world had a new
classic.
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Mega Man II takes
the original's gameplay – beat bosses in any order you want, then
go fight Wily – and streamlines it for an all-around smoother
experience. Much of this has to do with the well-balanced and
significantly reduced difficulty (unless you're playing on Difficulty
mode – more on that later). In the original, some stages (Cut Man)
would be a cakewalk, while others would be a nightmare (Ice Man, Dr.
Wily Stage 1). There's difficult moments in Mega Man II,
certainly, but they're moments: elements within a stage that are
easily conquerable with a couple extra tries. On the start screen,
there's a Normal Mode and a Difficult Mode; the latter is actually
the original Japanese version of the game. In Normal Mode, which is
what I played through this go-round and what I imagine most players
have beaten, Mega Man's attacks deal twice the damage against the
Robot Masters, and regular enemies hit points are halved*. These are
the only differences I could find between the two modes, but there
might be more. Also, Capcom really goes over and above with the
power-ups on this game. E-tanks (in their first appearance) and extra
lives are scattered everywhere, it seems, while extra health and
weapon refills, are freely given from the corpses of enemies. The
prevalence of the power-ups is certainly welcome after the
stinginess of the original. New features include the aforementioned
E-Tank, a life refill, and three items designed by Dr. Light to use
throughout the levels; these items have power meters, and the more
you use them, the more power drains, just like the boss weapons. The
first item is a little helicopter you can use to stand on and take
you upwards to unreachable items or ladders; the second is a
propulsion platform that you can use to fly across chasms and spikes;
and the third is a weird little bouncy elevator that acts exactly
like the helicopter. These items were later refined into the design
of Rush, Mega Man's adorable, transformable robot dog.
*I
have also vanquished Mega Man 2
a couple times on the Mega Man Anniversary Collection
for the Gamecube, and apparently, "Normal" difficulty on
the Collection is
actually "Difficult." This would explain why Mega
Man 2 on the Nintendo seemed
incredibly easy to me. The more you know!
I
should mention the intro cinema, as it's one of the greatest video
game intros of all time. A city at night, covered in oppressive
black. One tall building stands out in the foreground, while the
history of Mega Man, Dr. Light, and Dr. Wily is told via text below.
A slow lullaby plays softly in the background. Suddenly, the camera
scrolls up the tall building, and the music changes to a questioning
tone. The camera reaches the top, the music explodes into a mission
statement, and there's Mega Man, helmet off, black hair blowing in
the wind, and a ever-determined visage. How could anyone resist Mega
Man 2 after such a build-up?
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In
Mega Man 2, eight
Robot Masters await to bring about your demise: Metal Man, Flash Man,
Quick Man, Wood Man, Air Man, Crash Man, Bubble Man, and Heat Man.
The order in which I listed them is the particular order in which I
beat them, but like the original, there's no set standard. If you're
Mega enough, you could beat them in any particular order.
Metal Man... isn't
that a little redundant? If Metal Man is a robot, one could conclude
that there is some metal in him somwehere, and certainly if he was
built in the earth-ravaging, go-go Eighties. Unsurprisingly, Metal
Man's stage is an Industrial Facility, which means cogs and gears and
darkness oppress you at every turn. The majority of the level is made
up of conveyor belts that either push you forward faster or make it
more difficult to progress. The music propels you
immediately, despite the conveyor belts. It's an intense dance number
where there is no happy ending - unless you keep moving. Spike stompers are the first enemy you see, then an entire alley of
drillbits that come at you from the ceiling and the floor. Just keep
shooting and collecting that delicious blinking life. Next come a
series of goofy Jugglers riding cogs, but this ain't no sideshow.
Blast 'em! Blast 'em all! A couple more serious jumps, while avoiding
the slinkies and you're ready to, woo hah, light this boss on fire.
Metal Man throws saws at you – presumably metallic – and jumps
around a fair amount, but he's nothing a warm meal of Plasma Cannon
can't fix. Afterwards, you're rewarded with the Metal Blade, one of
the greatest weapons in the game.
Flash Man's stage,
the Crystal Caves, brings Mega Man further down into the rave. Every
inch of the stage sparkles and gleams different shades of blue, while
a harsh two-step beat and a throttling melody give life to the
dancing robots within. The Caves are slippery and Mega Man can slide
for days, until projectile spewing robots stop him. Eventually, you
run into your first of many Mech Robots. It's a robot within a robot.
Once you take down his legs, all that's left is a brief plasma
thrashing. Falling further into the caves can lead you in one of two
directions. Fall to the ground and face the wrath of too many Mech
Robots. Fall to the ledge slightly above the ground and you have a
chance to hop your way across precariously placed pulsating blue
bricks to Flash Man. Speaking of Flash Man, he resembles a football
player with a grinder for a hand. He's slow, he doesn't know how to
use his weapon properly, and he'll take all of the plasma abuse
you've got. He's the easiest boss of the game. His Time Stopper will
come in handy for the next stage, and you've also gotten the third
item, the elevator.
Quick Man's
Underground Laboratory continues the theme of glitchy techno, while
adding a grindhouse background. Seriously, this place feels less like
a laboratory and more like a robotic slaughter-mansion. It doesn't
take long before the pain begins and Quick Man's laser beams of
horrible, cleansing death shoot from the sides. It's not that the
lasers are one hit kills or that they're as fast as lightning. It's
the precision with which Mega Man has to avoid them. One misstep and
you're orbs in the sky. Thankfully, you have the Time Stopper, which
you will want to keep as charged as possible for this entire level.
Once you start the Time Stopper, it goes until its energy is
depleted, which means, once you reach the Flaming Torch guys, you
should shoot them until they give you enough weapon energy to
re-charge it. The second half of the level, with beams flailing
akimbo, is the hardest part of the game. In this section, I recommend
getting as far down as you can without using any of the Time Stopper.
Then, right before a beam nails your face, use it. If you descend far
enough without using it, the Time Stopper should give you a safe
journey the rest of the way. After dealing with a couple of Mech
Robots (and hopefully, recharging your Time Stopper), engage Quick
Man and his mighty boomerangs. He's fast, but if you get his life
down about half way with your plasma cannon, the Time Stopper will
take care of the rest, and his Boomerang will be yours.
Wood Man's
Preserved Forest Base is a gentle respite from the previous
nightmarish world. Gentle Bubble Bats and Robo-Rabbits pretend as if
they're as scary as Quick Man's beams, which will forever haunt your
dreams. Every forest deserves a good jungle beat, and Wood Man's
theme only half-delivers. Certain notes that echo through the forest
are haunting, but the rest sounds like recycled motif from previous
themes. Thankfully, this stage is cool enough to cancel out the
sub-par ditty. You descend downward into what appears to be a carved
out tree (or trees). Awesome! You also run into a wave of initially
intimidating Heat Dogs, who spews lines of curved fireballs at you.
Thankfully, their fireballs have a pattern and it's easy to jump over
them and shoot directly at the dog. Once you're back outside, you're
crossing bamboo stick paths and shooting obnoxious Mecha Monkeys and
even more obnoxious birds who drop eggs at you. Shoot the eggs before
they hatch or you'll get a swarm of baby birds in your grill. More
rabbits, more Heat Dogs, and a wave of Atomic Chickens are all on
your plate before Wood Man shows up to dole out some leafy greens.
I've never liked Wood Man, but not because he's difficult. His design
is as ugly as a station wagon with faux-wood paneling: chunk of wood
for the body, two squatty legs, and a mug only Mother Earth could
love. Ah well. Naturally, he can't stand the Metal Blade so pump him
full of that and acquire his Leaf Shield.
Welcome to
beautiful Sky Ridge. Please watch your step as you can fall to your
doom at any given moment. Mind the giant Air Tikki heads that eject
their horns and mini-Tikkis at you. Air Man's theme is the soundtrack
to a fighter pilot duel in the sky. There's zig-zags, sudden turns,
and an all-around sense that the music could go anywhere – and it
often does. Indeed, this stage is all about timing. If you can jump
from Tikki to Tikki, and steal the Lightning Lord's clouds so you can
get across the wild blue yonder, then you're pretty much set. More
birds will show up to hatch their eggs on you (what horrible mothers
to just leave their babies behind), and giant Fan Fiend's will try to
push you off platforms... and FAIL because you're Mega Man. Air Man
is a saucy one, a giant fan who blows mini-tornadoes at you for fun.
If you can equip your Leaf Shield and touch him a couple times, he's
dust in the wind. You've now got the Air Shooter and Item #2, the jet
platform. Giddyup.
Crash Man's
approach to stopping Mega Man is a little more... unorthodox. His
Pipe Station is a swirling mess of pipes and ladders and those
adorable hard helmet guys! At no time during this stage will you ever
feel threatened. The goofy, carnival theme lends itself well to the
non-threatening atmosphere, although it's a throwaway track compared
to the mechanical beauty of, say, Flash Man's theme. When you begin
the stage, it's obviously day-time in the background, but the farther
up you climb, it turns from dusk, into a starry night. Birds drop
eggs on your face as you climb and Prop-Tops (helicopter robots that
jump incredibly far) await you at the top. Crash Man has drills for
hands and shoots out bombs (what is a Crash Man anyways?) and
he has a distaste for little tornadoes. Once he's had enough of the
wind gusts, he'll submit his Crash Bomber to you, and away you go.
Bubble Man is a
controversial figure. Not many people are fond of the fact that his
Bubble Lead is the weapon used to defeat the game, nor are they fond
of the reduced gravity in the underwater portions of his stage (those
spikes...). As weird as this sounds, I kinda like him, but I'm also a
fan of the Outcast Robots (just wait until we get to Tomahawk Man –
boy howdy!). Underwater portions aside, Bubble Man's stage is one of
the most entertaining, and the serene, melancholy music is perfect
for a deep sea dive. Look how cool the waterfall background is too!
That's 8-bit pixel art in serious action! Mind the large Lantern Fish
who want you to taste their shrimp and the ever-present spikes
underwater, and you should be breathing fresh air in no time. And by
that I mean, fighting Bubble Man like the boss that he is. Bubble Man
also can't stand the fresh taste of metal as it slowly rusts into his
mouth. Pump him full of saw blades and call it a swim.
The dueling
melodies and rump-rattlin' beat really turn up the thermostat, in
this, the last Robot Master fight before the ascension of Wily's
Castle. Heat Man's stage is aptly named the Furnace, and with a river
of lava everflowing at the bottom of the stage, it's easy to see why.
Bouncing from platform to platform while shooting those ridiculous
twirling heads is your first challenge. Eventually, transient bricks
get thrown into the melting pot, though they're not nearly as
obnoxious as the fickle ones in Ice Man's stage. Finally, you
approach the last river of lava. You could hop along the line
of disappearing bricks above the lava or you could just equip Item #2
and fly across the lava in style. I'd choose the latter, so as to
live and live well. One mo' Mech Robot and then it's Heat Man,
looking every bit like a flaming trashcan thing (what is his body
supposed to be, anyway?). Heat Man gets weighed down by the Bubble
Lead, so toss a couple of those bad boys his way. He'll cool off and
you'll get his Atomic Fire and Item #1, the helicopter.
DR. WILY'S CASTLE
Stage 1's music is
a timeless work of art that amplifies the weight of fighting Wily
once again. It suggests that the last eight bosses were but a blip
and that Wily's castle is where the real adventure begins. There
would be other great Mega Man themes to come, but none so perfectly
captures the hardship and sadness that Mega Man carries with him
every time he goes to defeat Wily. The stage itself is standard fare.
Shoot, rinse, repeat. There is one section where you need to use
several helicopters to reach a ladder, and once that's over, you're
in a dark room. You begin to bounce brick by brick, wondering why,
until an enormous dragon comes from behind you and starts chasing
you. Eventually, you arrive at three bricks, each higher than the
other. Jump to the top and Quick Boomerang the dragon's face in. If
you're quick enough, he'll be dead before you are.
Stage 2 contains
nothing less than a bed of spikes that you must fly over, a plethora
of energy tanks, lives, and energy refills, spike stompers, and most
strangely, a Killer Wall that attacks you with pieces of itself. The
stage is a mess of contradictions that only goes to show how insane
Wily really is. The best is yet to come...
More perfectly
timed underwater leaps await you in this short, but deadly stage.
Everything tastes like wine and smells like roses (check the out of
place metallic fish thing – begone from here, you worthless
vagabond!), until the part where you have to manuever Mega Man
through waves of spikes in sewage water. It's a disgusting and
difficult drop, but once you land, you're basically at the third
boss. It's Guts Dozer, an insanely modified Guts Man who... spits out
pellets. He's more intimidating to look at than to fight. One hot
batch of Quick Boomerang pancakes ought to upset his guts all over
the place.
Deep purple is one
of my favorite colors (though not one of my favorite bands...), thus
my eyes look upon this purple-colored level with great joy. Riding
the platform as it wanders hither and yon, while twirling head jerks
constantly re-appear is somewhat of a nuisance, but easily conquered.
Keep your head down, don't fall on the spikes, equip the Leaf Shield
if you have to. Once you're at the Boobeam Trap (yes, that is the
bosses' actual name), use your Crash Bomber to take out the barriers
and the Boobeams themselves. It's obvious the programmers are very
tired, as this boss makes little to no sense. Once a winner is you,
it's off to...
The bosses again?
Of course! It's a time-honored Mega Man tradition. Beat them, and
then get ready for Wily. Equip the Metal Blade to shoot Dr. Wily's
machine and expose him for the jerk-face we all know him to be. Once
his glass shield is destroyed, he'll deliver bouncing balls of light
your way. Try to avoid them and keep hitting him with the Metal
Blade. His machine will be destroyed, but he will fly away, safely
ensconced in his UFO. What a bastard.
Mega Man wanders
silently down a cave-like hallway, filled with dripping acid and
narrow corridors. He reaches a black room. Wily is there. He jumps in
the air and morphs into... an alien? None of us saw this coming back
in the day, I'll bet. Forgoing all logic, Mega Man equips his Bubble
Lead and gives the alien his fill of heavy chemical bubbles. It does
the trick. Wily was controlling a hologram of an alien all along, and
now, like last time, he begs for your forgiveness. Mega Man does it,
begrudgingly, and the game is over.
Mega Man
contemplates letting Wily go. He said he was sorry, but that's what
he said last time. Who knows if he actually means it; if the
destruction of his castle and his eight robots is enough to prevent
him from unleashing a new reign of terror. As the seasons pass and
Mega Man continues to ponder, he can only be thankful that, for now,
his journey is over.
What
can I say. Mega Man 2
is a fantastic game, and one worthy of the classic status. It has
epic music, much-improved graphics, tighter control, and more dynamic
bosses/stages. The inclusion of two difficulty levels adds replay
value to a game that already has it in droves. The passwords,
E-tanks, and special items are all worthy inclusions; nothing that
was added into the sequel was unnecessary, unlike later entries. All
in all, Mega Man 2's
development team once again deserves massive props for being able to
craft such a timeless game on little to no sleep. Let us hoist our
E-tanks in thanks!
Thank you sir. This made for exciting bedtime reading.
ReplyDeleteWatching these videos reminded me how taken-in I was by the fine details that (subconciously, I think) made the games what they were. For instance, I always loved how MM would stop with each power-up while they refilled their respective bars–a pregnant pause to gain one's bearings (heh, bearings). The little noise he made when he landed. I remember the splashing sound effect. Rack up this much (and more) attention to detail and you've got a winner on your hands.
Lookin' forward to 3!
this was one of the best NES Game Arcade of all time I've got lot of frustration with this game.
ReplyDeleteExcellent review, and one of my favorite NES games of all time. Just reading about Metal Man made me grin as his versatile gear weapon was easily my favorite and usually the 2nd one I got behind Airman every time I played. My favorite in the series, hands-down.
ReplyDeleteThis game is not that hard. I played it recently and was shocked to see how easy it is. There are health drops galore! great review.
ReplyDeleteit's not hard until you get to the later stages, then there are some serious cheap kills, but still one of the greatest of all time
ReplyDeleteThe spike things that drop from the ceiling in Metal Man's stage are NOT one hit kills. Also I believe that in Difficult mode the power up drop rate is significantly reduced. Great review though. Having played these levels in the same order for as long as I can remember, it is interesting to see someone else's path.
ReplyDeleteQuestion about Bubble Lead. Is it pronounced lead like the metal or lead as in to lead a group of people? Ive only ever seen it written not said. Also I see you mentioned the anniversary edition for Gamecube that I commented on last time. How did you get over the reversed control issue? Maybe I just need to pull it out of mothballs and try again.
ReplyDeleteBubble Lead is lead as in lead people. Presumably because they are used to reveal hidden pits in one of the Wiley stages.
ReplyDeleteLead people? They must be really weighed down by life.
ReplyDelete"Anonymous", you're ribbing me right? HAHA Bubble Lead the people? C'MON!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my top 10 favorites. I actually played it last weekend, but turned it off when the dragon killed me just one time. I can usually make it to the last Stage of Wily's castle, but I've never beaten it. Some day I will.
ReplyDeleteAnd I always thought Heat Man was a giant Zippo-type lighter.
good review, but how can anyone not love woodman's theme?
ReplyDeletealso, how can anyone not love deep purple? :)
One of the greatest games ever made, and one of my Top 5 personal favorites. This and MM6 are my favorites out of the NES Mega Man series. But this one just had it all, the graphics, the gameplay, one of the most rockin video game soundtracks of all time. Everything is there.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is Bubble LEAD, because Engrish is fantastic, and the bubbles do "lead" along the ground in front of you. *shrugs*
Probably the best nes game of all time, out-mega-ing Mario3 and Zelda. Was I the only one to shart me drawers the first time that dragon appeared in Wily's first stage? I'm glad I got to experience this game before the shear difficulty of Mega Man 3 forced me to smash my NES console/controller into mega-bits.
ReplyDelete