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Mega man 2: go! blue man go!
There were many games on the NES that were so successful they spawned sequels. While some of the sequels were disappointing like Zelda II and Baseball Stars II, others like Tecmo Super Bowl vaulted its name into gaming immortality. Mega Man 2 was one of those titles.
Mega Man 2 successfully improved upon the issues with its predecessor while adding in some interesting new features. The result was a great game that stood on its own as one of the most fantastic titles for the NES. The mesh of fantastic gameplay combined with a strong graphical engine and an updated musical score was the key to Mega Man 2's success on the NES and was one of the major reasons why Capcom created 6 Mega Man games for the NES, mostly in the twilight years of the NES's life span.
Story
The story of Mega Man 2 doesn't exactly break new ground in the history of video games. Dr. Light, the creator of the hero Mega Man, has an antagonist called Dr. Wily. Wily in turn has created 8 different robots in an attempt for the ever-popular world domination. It's up to Mega Man to stop him once again.
Gameplay
Mega Man 2 is your basic side scrolling platform shooter. You run around a collection of stages, shooting at baddies, while jumping on platforms and avoiding traps and obstacles. The goal is to go through each stage and to eventually defeat Dr. Wily before you run out of lives. You have a life meter that goes down each hit. When it runs out or you fall down a hole or hit an instant death trap, you lose a life. Each stage follows a specific theme that is wonderfully portrayed through the graphics, music, sounds, enemies, traps, and even the final boss. Stages can be selected in any order based on which boss you want to fight.
Stage layout is one of the best aspects of Mega Man 2. Despite the dissimilar themes, many stages follow a commonality in that they have different areas that change pace. In one series of screens you might be faced with a series of timed jumps that increase in difficulty while just around the corner you could face a small army of enemies that can be defeated in one shot, then just around the corner you could face off against a series of mini-bosses that take several shots to defeat. The stages have built in save points when the stage changes pace. At the end of each stage is the boss fight, but more on that later.
Mega Man 2 has many different enemies that can be defeated one of many ways. An particular enemy's difficulty is determined by their placement, toughness, and offensive attack. The littlest enemies can pose a problem when they attack in large numbers or from a hard to reach spot. Whereas other more formidable mini-bosses can be easily defeated when hit from a safe platform. The variety of enemies is good, but not the best I've ever seen. Many enemies can be found in multiple stages though there are quite a few that are exclusive to a certain area. Overall it's a decent variety with many different dynamics.
Bosses are a representation of the theme of the stage, however they require their own unique strategy to defeat them. They will attack, dodge, and move is specific and easy to recognize patterns. You're job is to recognize them and react to them properly before you lose all your energy. After you defeat a boss, you gain their weapon to use in the future and even on other bosses. The biggest stipulation is that it comes with its own energy bar that wears down after repeated use. In addition, some bosses have other utility items that allow you to access far away platforms. These platforms contain some useful powerups and items.
Speaking of powerups, there are many different kinds of items scattered throughout each stage. There are small and large versions of energy replenishment for both your life and special weapon. Defeated enemies most commonly drop these. Enemies also will occasionally drop an extra life as well. However, you can also find extra lives scattered throughout the stage too. Finally there are energy tanks that replenish your life energy. These are rare and take skill to obtain, though they are worth it if you can do it because enemies do not drop energy tanks.
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