Mega Man 2 review - Nintendo Entertainment System

Dr Wily is a bit of a naughty chap, isn't he? After somehow escaping the near-fatal pasting you gave him in Mega Man 1, he's back - but with eight more mechanised meanies to protect him. Enter Mega Man, a streetwise super-robot fresh from success in the original game. He decides that the evil Dr Wily must be taught a lesson once and for all.

Before departing on his voyage of destruction and platform leaping adventures, Mega Man pauses only to scoop up his Electro-Death Cannon and communications unit, so he can keep in touch with his creator, Dr Light. There are nine levels in Mega Man 2. Eight of them are the stomping grounds of Wily's robo-cronies and these can be played in any order. Level nine (Wily's domain) can only be visited when the other eight have been conquered and there's plenty of surprises still to be uncovered once you get there.

What the Mean Machines staff thought

Every time I play Mega Man 2, I just seem to like the game more and more! Everything required to make a platform game incredibly entertaining has been crammed in. The graphics are varied and possess amazing detail. The sprites are probably the best I've seen in a Nintendo game. The sound can't be faulted either with great effects and tunes. But it's the playability that really makes this game so brilliant. The programmers must have spent months racking their brains to come up with the mind-warping puzzles seen here. I'll put this simply. Mega Man 2 ranks as one of the greatest NES games I've ever seen, with unsurpassed addictive qualities. Buy it as soon as possible.

Wahey! Mega Man is back, and this time he's brought... er... I don't know. What has he brought? Well, fab graphics for one thing. The sprites and backdrops are absolutely stunning - just feast your eyes on the screen shots and see what I mean! My favourites are the fire-spitting robo-dogs which wag their tail when they're roasting you! Like the original Mega Man, the gameplay is beautifully balanced, letting you get just a little bit further into the game each time you play. There are some incredibly tricky parts of the landscape to negotiate, and you have to do a fair bit of thinking to work out how to get past them - but there's always a way! Mega Man 2 is one of the finest platform games ever seen - invest your Christmas money in it now!

Buy Mega Man 2 from Genki

Retrospective comments

I played this to death at the time. What a superb game. The password feature really kept it alive for me. The bosses have are funny too with their silly names and powers.

In retrospect this game is rock hard! (hence the Japanese name, Rockman!) By all means seek this killer game out but prepared to have your butt kicked. Pixel perfect jumps and mercyless restart points await! ^_^

Have your say about Mega Man 2

Chris - 28 Feb 2008, 14:50 GMT

A fantastic game with some fantastic bosses and amusing enemies! It had some of the best graphics that I remember on the NES at the time, and perhaps the best soundtrack that was ever made for any game on the NES too! This was one of the first games that was downloaded onto my Wii virtual console, but I find it easier on there than I remember! Have I just improved as a gamer? Definately worth playing as this was the height of the Megaman series for me!

Sean Wilson - 03 Aug 2008, 21:34 GMT

this is the best game i have ever played to this day still, i loved it wen i was growing up and still do now, actually brought a NES again jus to play it

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