Mega Man 2 (1989)

Mega Man 2

Hey guys! Long time no see haha. I am still alive (though Chem did basically kill me). I haven't done this in awhile so I apologize if I'm a little rusty. I figured that if I'm going to get back into this, I'll have to start back up with something major. After asking around, the general consensus has been Mega Man 2. I have to say, this game really surprised me. Lately I've been playing a lot of Wii games (Super Smash Bros Brawl - Luigi all the way!) and it's been around 2 months since last playing a game older than me, so I knew I was going to be a little bit rusty. When given the option between Normal and Difficult, I instantly chose normal for the sake of my sanity and found myself enjoy it with minimal screaming and hair-pulling.

Quickman's level was the death
of me many a time

Game Commentary: I was immediately surprised when the story was told to me in the opening scene. I'm not sure if this is one of the first games to do so, but it was nice not having to search for a manual to understand what I was shooting at. Basically, Dr. Wily is at it again and created eight robots to try and defeat you. Mega Man's job is to clear the eight levels, each having characteristics similar to the cyborg boss at the end. Mega Man then gains a power of the robot he defeats. They were really fun to mess around with, and I liked how some powers were weaknesses to other bosses. You also get upgrades from Dr. Light, but I actually didn't understand what they did until one of my roommates (who has played Mega Man before) let me know they were moving platforms.

The platforming in this game was very well done. It wasn't anything too hard and when the shooting and powers were mixed in, I found myself having a blast. I noticed pretty quickly that there is no real consequence for dying. For some reason, I chose Quickman's stage first and thought the rest of the game would be that difficult. As I was accumulating the powers, I actually felt that Mega Man was growing stronger. By the time I finished the last stage, it seemed like it was almost too easy.

I have to admit though that I could not actually finish the game. I got to the path to Dr. Wily, but there was one screen where the platforming part just destroyed me. I literally sat there trying to beat it for over an hour and could not pass it. I opted to start typing rather than break anything in frustration.

What I Loved: I really, really enjoyed this game. It was a very nice combination of platforming and run-and-gunning. Each of the levels and boss fights were really unique, which kept it interesting and fought off the repetitive feeling. I also personally love the feeling of starting off relatively weak and feeling my character get stronger as the game progresses.

What I Hated: I hated those egg dropping birds. I just want to climb huge ladder and I get assaulted by hundreds of little birds. Oh yeah, and Quickman's stage. That was ridiculous. I also didn't like how I couldn't complete the game. I know that isn't the games fault, but you can count on me revisiting this game to finish it eventually.


My General Impression: This game was very entertaining. The gameplay was really fun, the platforming was nice, the action was nice, the boss battles were nice... But that is just it. To me, this game was really fun, but it wasn't spectacular. Don't take that as me disliking it at all. Overall, I really liked Mega Man 2. It isn't the absolute best game I had played so far, but it is definitely up there.