(Originally published to Glitchwave on 2/27/2023)
[Image from glitchwave.com]
Mega Man 2
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre(s): 2D Platformer
Platforms: NES
Release Date: December 24, 1988
On the surface, Mega Man 2 doesn’t improve on its rough template too much with considerable deviation. Our charismatic robot boy sees himself on another valiant quest to defeat the deranged Dr. Wily and his league of themed Robot Masters and save his futuristic world from total chaos. The key difference this time in relation to the first game is that Dr. Wily has cooked up this new batch of Robot Masters himself and there are eight of them instead of six. Once again, the player has the choice of routing Mega Man on a course of destroying the robotic menaces, while briskly being directed towards a sensible trajectory depending on the elemental powers Mega Man absorbs from them. Mega Man 2 is not a reboot disguised as a sequel like the Evil Deads of the world, but it is an indication that Mega Man has solidified a formula that will persist with each entry. The problem with the first Mega Man was obviously not a case of an ill-conceived idea falling apart at the seams. Mega Man needed some significant sanding down and refurbishing in order to bloom as the exemplary 2D platformer series on the NES. The effort to polish Mega Man was not a painstaking overhaul, but the slight improvements made a world of difference.
Unlike the three Super Mario games on the NES, the Mega Man series did not receive a new coat of pixelated paint with each new title. At first glance, Mega Man 2 is a carbon copy of the first game from an aesthetic standpoint. However, one can discern a substantial amount of detail by squinting at the graphical intricacies in the fine mineral textures in the pixels. This level of refinement is displayed as early as the game’s pre-menu introduction which sees a sprawling, futuristic metropolis in evening shade, with the deep color palette perfectly capturing the tone of the scene. Scrolling up the skyscraper sees Mega Man standing on its roof sans his helmet, and the wind of the high altitudes ruffles his black hair. It’s the most indelible image of the game and quite possibly the whole series, and it sets a precedent for how the game has improved upon Mega Man’s visuals. For one, Mega Man himself has been treated to a subtle hint of refinement that many might not catch. Mega Man’s pixelated outline is no longer as pronounced as an unplucked eyebrow, as it has been shaved down with an 8-bit thin razor. Along with the blue bomber, the foregrounds, and backgrounds of each stage look like they’ve been on the operating table in the year between Mega Man 1 and 2. They’ve been transformed to more appropriately fit the theme set around the specific Robot Master. Metal Man’s stage has a crop of rotating gears to set the scene of an industrial factory. Wood Man’s stage is an auburn color with a wavy, timbered texture to simulate venturing through the insides of an immensely-sized tree in the forest. The background of Flash Man’s stage is bright and glitzy, aptly enough for the Robot Master who resides in it, and the sweltering atmosphere of Heat Man’s stage radiates strongly off the red brick walls enough to make Mega Man sweat, (if he had those glands, anyways) as opposed to the stage of the warmth-themed Robot Master from the previous game. Stages in Mega Man 2 feel much more immersive thanks to the great strides in detail compared to the empty blue and black backgrounds and globular foregrounds of the stages in the foreground in the first game. Mega Man looking less like he has a thick layer of filth around him is also a bonus perk.
The overall level design in Mega Man 2 is as intricate as the visuals. In the first game, most of the levels were focused on precision platforming, whether they be trying to keep Mega Man’s footing over a pit of perilous spikes or falling into the abyss. While that’s still a prevalent aspect of Mega Man’s level structure here, the focal point of each stage in Mega Man 2 is also better centered around the theme of each Robot Master. Accompanying the clockwise rotation of the gears in Metal Man’s stage are conveyor belt platforms, a reasonable trope of factory settings that either accelerate or slacken Mega Man’s movement in the undesired direction. The urgency of Quick Man’s stage is highlighted by an infamous section involving a series of energy beams that jet out of every corner of the screen, disintegrating Mega Man on impact if they catch him. Many abhor this section because of the unpredictability of where the beams will appear and how rapidly they zoom out to blast Mega Man in the face from potentially anywhere. While I can understand their grievances, the tense reaction time needed to avoid the beams evokes the thrill of being chased. Once Mega Man plunges into the lake below the gorgeously roaring waterfall of Bubble Man’s stage, we learn that Dr. Light was insightful enough to equip Mega Man with a resistance to water. Even though his robotic pride and joy can withstand being submerged in the drink, Mega Man’s buoyancy is tested by the physics of his standard jump being manipulated. Acclimating to the rate of movement underwater and adjusting it to avoid the stinging, deadly-as-spikes sea urchins takes some time to master. Keeping afloat in Air Man’s stage is reminiscent of platforming challenges where Mega Man falls to oblivion in Mega Man 1, but the course of the cloud platforms and the drill barriers of the strange tiki heads is consistent and easier to learn. Reappearing block sections make their return in Heat Man’s stage, and their patterns are much less unhinged and demanding compared to the asymmetrical, almost avant-garde patterns seen in Ice Man’s stage. Inhibitors while climbing ladders in Crash Man’s stage don’t knock Mega Man down to the previous screen, and enemy placements can be detected far in advance before they pounce. Returning attributes to Mega Man’s stages have been made much more manageable, and the variety of the new attributes offer a fair challenge without seeming like irritating gimmicks.
If one couldn’t tell from their names or descriptions of their levels, the eight new Robot Masters are another ragtag crew with an eclectic range of physical differences. While these differences are apparent, the player must once again surmise a logical matching of their powers to inflict on one another like a more puzzling game of rock, paper, and scissors. The reasonable path in the first Mega Man game was based on elemental tropes like earth, wind, fire, and ice, but the characteristics of the Robot Masters in Mega Man 2 are less conspicuous. No, the rhyme scheme between Flash Man and Crash Man does not correlate with their weaknesses. The path to Dr. Wily that defeating all eight Robot Masters leads to involves more clever consideration. Examples include using Air Man’s multiple cyclones on Crash Man because turbulence can cause a crash, clogging up Air Man with Wood Man’s leaves like a jet turbine, and Flash Man stopping time to halt Quick Man’s speedy maneuvers. Or, you can do what everyone does and seek out Metal Man first, for his Metal Blade weapon is a force to be reckoned with. The projectile saw blade can be tossed in eight different directions, deals twice the damage of the standard blaster, and barely expends any amount of energy. Imposing it on most of the Robot Masters also tends to make the health bars plummet like the 1929 stock market. You know the old adage not to bring a knife to a gunfight? I have a new saying: do not bring any weapon against the Metal Blade, for you will be smote by its power. For those who do not revel in the almighty awesomeness of the Metal Blade, they tend to argue that the pervasive use of this item compromises on the utility of each weapon, but I was feeling too righteous and badass while using it to care. Besides, the other weapons have their own uses as well, whether it’s a matter of the game forcing it on the player or not.
Mega Man 2’s considerable leap in quality may boil down to the developers making the experience easier, which may draw some contempt from NES purists who might contest the game’s legacy and mock players like myself who couldn’t handle the consistent onslaught of torment the first game bestowed. Considering how abundant the amount of energy/health items and extra lives are on the field of Mega Man 2, their arguments aren’t baseless. However, I don’t think Mega Man 2 is a breezy cakewalk to Dr. Wily’s domain. I’ve already expressed that the challenges leading up to him in the Robot Master’s levels involve considerable skill to surpass. The developers have made a substantial effort to balance Mega Man’s difficulty by aiding the player through the rudimentary regulations of the NES era. A password system is instated instead of expecting the player to finish the game in one sitting, the most primitive form of saving progress that did not persist past the pixelated eras. Password systems at least put one’s progress into consideration, but writing down a jumble of codes on paper is not my idea of being accommodating. Because losing one’s progress is still a harsh reality in Mega Man 2, the developers offer a smattering of aid trinkets to keep the player in the fray. Among the excess of automatic replenishing items, Mega Man 2 sees the birth of the series staple Energy Tank, with no relation to the item of the same name from Metroid. Mega Man pops these cerulean cans as Popeye does to spinach, and they revitalize his health to its maximum capacity. Mega Man can carry up to a total of four at a time, and the precarious placements these tanks are placed in offer a risk-reward incentive. The awkward implementation of the “optional” Magnet Beam from the first game has been reconfigured into three support weapons, and each of them serves to mitigate the hazardous and or tedious sections of the game far more comfortably than their prototype. Dr. Light also rewards Mega Man with one of these support weapons after a certain number of slain Robot Masters, cementing their importance and assuring that Mega Man won’t be hopelessly stuck *ahem.* Mega Man’s developers aren’t rewriting the NES rulebook, but I appreciate that they’re willing to bend it a bit to express concern for the player’s well-being.
Unfortunately, good intentions ultimately fall flat when those performing those noble deeds don’t think things through. Once again, a Mega Man game eventually accelerates headfirst into an impervious wall. Actually, in this context, Mega Man 2’s impenetrable force is more like falling down a one-hundred-foot well. Also, this impediment occurs at Dr. Wily’s Castle, but at least it isn’t as early as the first section while crossing the fortress’s lawn. Up until the fourth section, Dr. Wily’s castle seems to have reduced its security measures. The first section greatly utilizes the three support items, and the dark arena with the sparse, airborne grounding in which Mega Man fights the dragon is tense enough that one slip will signal Mega Man’s doom. When the arena itself is the boss of the second section, it makes the player use the Metal Blade more shrewdly, and the third section allows the player to practice more underwater jumping. Then, the fourth section comes along to ruin everything. The boss that awaits Mega Man in the final stretch of the fourth section is not another cybernetic behemoth, but a series of five electrical domes situated along the walls parallel to the arena. These domes are impervious to everything in Mega Man’s arsenal except for the Crash Bomber, and nothing before this would’ve warranted using this weapon. Even if Mega Man’s Crash Bomber meter is full, his attempt to blow out all of these domes will most likely result in failure. The Crash Bomber can only be fired seven times, and four of the five domes are protected by Crash Bomber walls. Eight shots exceed the total energy capacity of the Crash Bomber, so the player must consider a more analytical strategy when destroying the domes, almost like a puzzle. However, it’s unlikely that the player will anticipate something this cerebral in an action-intensive 2D platformer, and considering an approach to this bizarre boss fight while the domes are also firing energy balls at Mega Man is disorienting. After the player is unprepared for this demanding duel, depleting all of the Crash Bomber’s energy gauge will result in a stalemate. Leaving Mega Man without any further recourse will ultimately force the player to restart the entire game, making all the progress up to this point all for naught. Regarding the fiddly circumstance surrounding the Magnet Beam, at least the player can die and come back fully prepared. Here, the player is left crestfallen in a void of defeat that takes drastic measures to escape. I don’t think the developers deliberately designed this boss to hornswoggle the player, for I can use the dozens of aids they implemented that were intended to help the player survive as evidence of their altruism. All this boss needed was some serious beta testing, and the fact that this remained overlooked is egregiously inexcusable.
The Dome boss dilemma could’ve been solved via the Energy Tanks replenishing both health and energy. In fact, this would’ve been a convenience at other points in the game, namely in the section that follows if the player managed to surpass the seemingly unsurpassable. Similarly to the first game, Mega Man will have to face a gauntlet of the eight Robot Masters, only the player somewhat has a choice of the order to tackle them in. The Crash Bomber isn’t necessary during this battle royale, as the designated Robot master Quick Man is the most vulnerable to the traditional blaster out of the eight. Even if the Dome boss taught the player a lesson in conservation, the Wily Boss that follows will make that a moot point. The energy of every weapon doesn’t replenish after completing a level, and guess which of Mega Man’s weapons Wily’s floating ship is weak to? The fucking Crash Bomber. Even though other weapons will deal damage to Dr. Wily’s aircraft, the barrage of undodgeable orbs from the airship's cannons make this a match of conflicting damage output that should ideally end sooner than later with the Crash Bomber. The final fight against Wily’s alien form which turns out to be an Oz routine is made into a facile joke with Bubble Man’s weapon, but what if the player expunged all of the weapon’s juice while fighting Heat Man? Not every weapon has the sustainability of the Metal Blade, you know. If the game isn’t going to grant the player a refuel item for the energy meter, then it should at least fully restock every weapon after the level is completed. Sounds reasonable, right?
It hurts how close Mega Man is to 2D platforming perfection. Forget for a second about the incredible strides the game makes to dwarf its predecessor in every conceivable fashion. Mega Man 2 is almost the golden standard of the NES library, ascending over its contemporaries by crafting a smoother, more accessible product that still provided a steep challenge that wouldn’t alienate the masochistic NES audience that took pride in playing games equivalent to eating a bowl of nails. To everyone’s dismay, that damned NES-era abrasiveness made another unceremonious appearance in Wily’s Castle, and a betrayal hasn’t cut as deep since Fredo fucked over Michael . Even the most seasoned NES enthusiasts find that particular section to be harsh. While Mega Man 2, unfortunately, exudes undesirable qualities that show the series needs more time baking in the kiln, I can still forgive the notorious point of no return that was inflicted upon me. You see, everything leading up to that point finally met my expectations for Mega Man that were almost dashed by the consistent punishment that the first game dealt. Mega Man 2’s well-ordered execution of the prevalent 2D platformer genre erased all narrow preconceptions I had for games released before my time. For that, I am eternally grateful.
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