Mega Man 2, known in Japan as is a 1988 platform game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was released in Japan in 1988 and in North America and PAL regions the following years. Mega Man 2 continues Mega Man's battle against the evil Dr. Wily and his rogue Robot Masters. It introduced graphical and gameplay changes, many of which became series staples.
Although sales for the original Mega Man were unimpressive, Capcom allowed the team to create a sequel. They worked concurrently on other Capcom projects, using their free time to develop the game and incorporating unused content from the first game. Takashi Tateishi composed the soundtrack, with Yoshihiro Sakaguchi serving as a sound programmer.
Mega Man 2 received critical acclaim. Reviewers praised its audio, visuals, and gameplay as an improvement over the first game. Many publications rank Mega Man 2 as the best game in the series and one of the greatest video games of all time. Its soundtrack has also been considered one of the greatest of all time. It was a commercial success, with more than 1.51 million copies sold, and remained the best selling Mega Man game until it was surpassed by Mega Man 11 in 2019. It has been included in several game compilations such as Mega Man Legacy Collection, and rereleased for mobile devices and console emulation services. A sequel, Mega Man 3, was released in 1990.
Gameplay
In Mega Man 2, the player controls Mega Man as he traverses eight stages to defeat the bosses, Dr. Wily's Robot Masters: Metal Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man, Crash Man, Flash Man, Heat Man, and Wood Man. Each Robot Master features a unique weapon and a stage related to their weapon's power. For example, Air Man shoots small tornadoes and is fought in a sky-themed level, while Wood Man can use a shield of leaves and is found in a forest-themed stage. After defeating a boss, their signature weapon becomes available to the player. Each Robot Master is weak to the weapons of certain other Robot Masters; therefore, choosing the order in which the levels are played is a vital component of the gameplay. After completing certain stages, Mega Man receives a special item. These items create platforms that allow Mega Man to access areas that he otherwise could not.
After defeating the eight Robot Masters, the player proceeds to Dr. Wily's fortress, which consists of five levels that are played linearly. As in the first game, the player is required to fight each Robot Master a second time in Dr. Wily's fortress. However, these battles take place in a single room rather than a series of linearly connected rooms. The room contains teleportation devices that lead to each Robot Master. The devices can be entered in any order, but are not labeled. Once the bosses are defeated again, the player must fight Dr. Wily.
Mega Man 2 features a few gameplay changes from the original Mega Man. A new item, the Energy Tank, allows a player to refill Mega Man's health at any time. Also introduced is a password system. A password is displayed after defeating each Robot Master, allowing the player to return to that particular point in the game after restarting the system. The password stores the particular list of completed Robot Masters, as well as the number of accumulated Energy Tanks. Unlike the first game, Mega Man 2 does not feature a score counter, and the player is unable to return to Robot Master levels once completed.
Plot A year after his initial defeat, series antagonist Dr. Wily creates his own set of Robot Masters in an attempt to counter Mega Man: Metal Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man, Crash Man, Flash Man, Heat Man, and Wood Man. He also constructs a new fortress and army of robotic henchmen. Mega Man is then sent by his creator, Dr. Light, to defeat Dr. Wily and his Robot Masters. Mega Man defeats the eight new Robot Masters and then challenges Wily himself. During the final fight, Dr. Wily flees into the caves beneath his fortress. When Mega Man follows, Dr. Wily attempts to trick Mega Man into believing he was impersonated by an alien. Mega Man defeats the alien, revealing it to be a holographic projection device with Dr. Wily at the controls of the now malfunctioning device. After the scientist begs for mercy, Mega Man spares Wily and returns home.
Development
The first Mega Man game—released in 1987—was not successful enough to justify the immediate development of a sequel. According to Roy Ozaki, director Akira Kitamura had wanted to make a sequel to Mega Man, but producer Tokuro Fujiwara was against it. Kitamura then sought permission from Capcom's vice president at the time to make the game. The development team were given permission to develop a sequel on the condition that they work concurrently on other projects as well. The staff spent their own time on the project to improve upon the original by adding more levels and weapons, as well as improving graphics. Kitamura invited Keiji Inafune to the sequel's development crew; Inafune was working on a separate game at the time. On the previous game, Inafune worked as an artist and character designer but became more involved in the production process of the sequel. "Working on [Mega Man 2] marked my second year at this, and I even got to mentor a 'new kid', which opened up a whole new world of stress for me," Inafune recounted. The development time for the game was only three to four months.
Due to the limited amount of cartridge space available for the first game, elements such as planned enemy characters were omitted from the final product. The unused content was later transferred to Mega Man 2. The team was limited by the graphical capabilities of the Nintendo Entertainment System, and designed characters as pixel art to maintain consistency between the designs and final product; some design elements, however, were lost in the transition. The gameplay system from the original game was kept for Mega Man 2, but the team included more traps for the player to navigate. The game's three support items were added to aid the player because of complaints from consumers and Capcom's marketing department regarding the original game's high difficulty. Kitamura was "especially unsure" about the usefulness of the Energy Tanks.
The first game did not have any influence from fans, but for the second game, Kitamura wanted to get ideas from players and put them in. The developers allowed input from the public by including boss designs created by fans. Capcom received 8,370 boss submissions for the game, although even the designs for the final eight Robot Masters were "tweaked".
Inafune intended his artwork for Mega Man 2 to be more "anime-ish" than in the first game. A second difficulty setting was added for the North American and European releases. The original version was labeled "difficult", and a "normal" setting was created that made the "arm cannon" and boss weapons more powerful. Veteran video game cover illustrator Marc Ericksen painted the North American box art, which included Mega Man firing a pistol instead of his trademark Mega Buster. Ericksen explained that he was unfamiliar with the game and was directed by Capcom America to give Mega Man a pistol.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Mega Man 2 was composed by Takashi Tateishi (credited as Ogeretsu Kun), with Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae (credited as Manami Ietel) included for having her work on the credits theme from the first game repurposed for the title screen, and for co-composing a minor part of the melody for Air Man's stage. Matsumae had been moved to the arcade division, considered more prestigious at the time, which necessitated a new composer. Matsumae and Tateishi worked closely during their time at Capcom, with Tateishi assisting Matsumae with U.N. Squadron in a similar manner during the period, albeit uncredited. Tateishi's musical background was unusual compared to his contemporaries at Capcom, in that he had not been classically trained but was instead drawing on his experience performing in a band. He sought to consciously move away from the more classical sounding themes that were common at the time. He was also relatively new to the games industry, having only been hired by Capcom earlier that year for Mad Gear (1988). Tateishi would not remain with the franchise after Mega Man 2, as he and Kitamura both resigned from Capcom soon afterwards to work on Cocoron.
Tateishi's initial compositions for the game were of varying moods, with some of them being considered "too cute" by Kitamura, requesting them to be changed to fit in with the rest of the soundtrack. A single fragment of this declined concept remains in the game as Crash Man's stage theme. Tateishi has indicated that "no one has" the earlier, softer score. Stylistically the score was influenced by Mezzoforte and Yellow Magic Orchestra.
The widely praised piece used for the first two Wily stages was heavily compromised due to data limitations, with Tateishi being forced to use the first eight measures of the song multiple times throughout it. Tateishi intended to compose a song exclusive to the second stage, but also abandoned this idea for the same reasons.
As with the previous game, the sound programming was handled by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, credited as Yuukichan's Papa.
Reception
Though the first Mega Man game had relatively low sales, Mega Man 2 was a huge success. Since its 1988 release, Mega Man 2 has sold over 1.51 million copies worldwide. The game is the second highest selling in the Mega Man series.
Mega Man 2 was critically praised. Electronic Gaming Monthlys four reviewers—Steve Harris, Ed Semrad, Donn Nauert, and Jim Allee—rated the game favorably, each scoring it 8 out of 10. They stated that it was better than the first Mega Man, citing the improved audio-visuals, new power-ups, and password system. Nauert and Allee, however, expressed disappointment that the game was less difficult than the first game. Nadia Oxford of 1UP.com complimented its aesthetics and gameplay. She further stated that Mega Man 2 improved the gameplay of its predecessor by removing excessively difficult elements. Mean Machines two reviewers, Julian Rignall and Matt Regan, praised several aspects of the game. Rignall lauded the gameplay, citing its addictiveness and the puzzles. Regan praised the difficulty and called the gameplay balanced. Both reviewers complimented the graphics, calling them detailed and stunning, and described it as a great platform game. Retro Gamer editor Richard Burton described it as a "must-have" game for the system, comments echoed by two of Electronic Gaming Monthlys reviewers. Zach Miller writing for Game Informer attributed the success of the game to the players' option to defeat the stages in the order of their choosing. He praised the simple control scheme and the variety of weapons and items. Computer Entertainer found it superior to the first Mega Man game, specifically praising its depth laying in its variety of action, themed levels, and surprises.
GamesRadar ranked it the third-best NES game ever made, calling it "the pinnacle" of the 8-bit Mega Man games.