Mega Man 2
From TheConsoler
Mega Man 2
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| Publisher: | Capcom |
| Developer: | Capcom |
| Rating: | ESRB - E for Everyone |
| Release date: | day/month/year |
| Genre: | Platformer |
| # Players: | 1 |
| Platform: | NES |
| Media: | Cartridge |
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
Mega Man 2 is a platformer and action game like its predecessor, Mega Man. The player controls Mega Man, a boy robot who fights for peace, as he travels to defeat the Robot Masters of Dr. Wily. Mega Man gains the signature weapon of each Robot Master after defeating him. The Robot Masters have weaknesses 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.
While matching the Robot Masters' weaknesses to one another is an important component of Mega Man 2's gameplay, an additional component is the superiority of many of those weapons to Mega Man's standard weapon. The Quick Boomerang, for example, is able to kill some enemies that no other weapon can. And the Metal Blades are capable of attacking in all eight directions, and are much wider than Mega Man's regular weapon, making it much easier to deal with flying enemies. Either weapon, though particularly the blades, can make formerly difficult sections of the game much easier.
Unlike the original Mega Man, the game no longer keeps a running score for the player. This also removes the score pellet drops; drops only consist of energy and weapon energy. The player is also unable to return to Robot Master levels once they have been completed; although, unlike Mega Man, there are no hidden special powers that would make the ability to replay levels important.
Mega Man 2 introduced a password system. After defeating each Robot Master a password is displayed, 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 E-Tanks that the player has accumulated.
Mega Man 2 adds a new item to the series, the E-Tank. The E-Tank allows a player to refill Mega Man’s health at any time.
After completing certain Robot Master stages, Mega Man is given, in addition to the weapon of that Master, a special item. These items are platforms that allow the player to go places that the he or she would not otherwise. Item 1 generates up to 3 platforms that slowly rises in the air. Item 2 creates a platform that constantly moves forward, while Item 3 creates an elevator platform that climbs up walls.
After defeating the eight Robot Masters, the player proceeds to Dr. Wily's fortress, which consists of six levels that are taken linearly. These levels have restart points, such that if Mega Man dies, the player restarts from that point. Unlike the Robot Master levels, the area before the boss of the level does not have a restart point, so if the player loses fighting a boss, the he or she must restart from the level's restart point halfway through the level. This process would be continued on Mega Man 3 and Mega Man 4.
As in the original Mega Man, the player is required to fight each Robot Master a second time in Dr. Wily's fortress. However, in Mega Man 2, these battles take place in a single room with teleportation devices that lead to each Robot Master. The devices can be entered in any order, but the devices are not labeled. The order of the Robot Masters' weapons in Mega Man's inventory are the same order as the teleporters when taken counter-clockwise.
The North American release of the game has two difficulty modes: normal and difficult. The "difficult" setting is the standard difficulty level that was used in the Japanese version, while the "normal" setting makes all enemies and Robot Masters weaker. Re-releases in North America do not contain this feature. The choice of difficulty mode has no effect on the password system.
[edit] Development
Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune claims the development of Mega Man 2 was a "rogue effort". The first Mega Man game did not have a large enough success to lead to an immediate sequel. The Mega Man 2 development team spent their own time on the project to improve upon the original by adding more levels and weapons, as well as improving the graphics.
[edit] Story
In the year 200X, the robot Rock, a project by Dr. Thomas Light, was created. What followed in the series was a close sister named Roll, along with eight (six in the original) industrial brothers. It was an age where humans live side-by-side with robots. However, Dr. Light's rival, Dr. Wily, revolted and took Light's creations for himself, leaving the "useless" robots Rock and Roll. He reprogrammed those robots and used them in a robotic army to take over the world. Just when things looked bleak, Rock volunteered to be converted into a fighting robot. In this form, he became known as Mega Man.
Mega Man went after his brothers, though it was painful for him to fight them. He managed to only deactivate them, rather than destroying them. Dr. Light repaired them erasing the evil programming. When Dr. Wily's stronghold was discovered, Mega Man penetrated its defenses. He was surprised to see his brothers again, but he realized that they were clones once he had reached the Copy Robot. He had to face many powerful creations, but Mega Man still triumphed. He had reached Dr. Wily and had destroyed his Wily Machine. Wily begged for mercy, and Mega Man gave it. Because of his efforts, the world was at peace.
Just when everyone thought they could live in peace and that an age of prosperity had dawned upon them, Dr. Wily revealed that he had built a new fortress and an army of robotic henchmen, led by eight new Robot Masters of his design. He unleashed them on the world for revenge against Mega Man. Once again, the populace called on Mega Man to stop the chaos before the world was engulfed in the flames of destruction.
Mega Man crushed the eight Robot Masters and then set out to Wily's new fortress, where he had to face more creations and Wily. In the final fight, Wily morphed into an alien, but Mega Man discovered that it was a hologram. Mega Man let Wily go. Mega Man took a long walk to think things through, and later returned home.
[edit] Robot Masters
The following Robot Masters appear in this game. The character designer is listed after the robot.
| # | Robot Master | Designer | Weapon | Sprites |
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| 09 | Metal Man | Masanori Satou | Metal Blade | 
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| 10 | Air Man | Youji Kanazawa | Air Shooter & Item 2 | 
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| 11 | Bubble Man | Takashi Tanaka | Bubble Lead | 
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| 12 | Quick Man | Hirofumi Mizoguchi | Quick Boomerang | 
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| 13 | Crash Man | Akira Yoshida | Crash Bomb | 
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| 14 | Flash Man | Tomoo Yamaguchi | Time Stopper & Item 3 | 
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| 15 | Heat Man | Toshiyuki Kataoka | Atomic Fire & Item 1 | 
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| 16 | Wood Man | Masakatsu Ichikawa | Leaf Shield | 
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[edit] Reception
Mega Man 2 was named by GameSpot as one of "The Greatest Games of All Time". It was also honored in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever" list, ranked at number 33. Creator Keiji Inafune clamis the success of Mega Man 2 is what made the Mega Man series a hit that continues to spawn sequels.
[edit] Legacy
Many of the conventions of the classic Mega Man series were defined by Mega Man. Mega Man 2 added its own conventions, which were retained by the series. The traditional number of Robot Masters for Mega Man games is eight as used in Mega Man 2, rather than the six used in the original. The Game Boy versions used eight Robot Masters, but they were divided into two sets of four.
The E-Tank was used in most entries in the series, though the Mega Man X series required that the player fill the tanks manually. The teleporter room where the player confronts all of the Robot Masters for a second time has become a staple of the games, replacing the preset sequence used by Mega Man.
Mega Man 2 initiated the idea of movement items. Though later Mega Man games would introduce Rush as a container for these different platforms and special movement modes, the genesis of the idea was in Mega Man 2. Rush's abilities, much like Mega Man 2's items, are acquired from defeating a particular Robot Master.
[edit] Re-releases
[edit] Rockman Complete Works
Mega Man 2 was re-released for the Sony PlayStation in the second of six Rockman Complete Works discs, in Japan only. It is largely identical to the original NES release, with original graphics and glitches intact, except the soundtrack is a recording of the original instead of an emulation. A Navi mode, which presents the player with a slightly re-made version of the game, is also included.
[edit] Mega Man Anniversary Collection
The game has been re-released for the Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox in Mega Man Anniversary Collection. It is identical to the re-release contained in Rockman Complete Works, though the game runs at a different screen resolution on the PlayStation 2.
[edit] Novelization
Mega Man 2 was made into a novel in the Worlds of Power series. The one major difference is that Dr. Light fears Mega Man's chances against Dr. Wily's more powerful new robots and while attempting to duplicate him, accidentally turns him into a human being.
[edit] Gameplay Video
[edit] Cover Art / Packaging
[edit] US Cover Art
Much like the first Mega Man, this second installment to the series features a bizarre cover design. The first and most obvious difference from the game and the cover design is the fact that our beloved hero Mega Man isn't using his trademark built-in blaster arm, but instead wielding some sort of pistol. Unlike the first Mega Man, they at least got his armor color correct, where as in Mega Man (original) they had him in Blue and Yellow armor, this time they have him in all blue as he is in the game. Regretfully, they miss the mark in the type of outfit Mega Man wears in the game. Featuring a more cloth style outfit with a helmet and visor, making the hero appear more like a generic space fighter, than a armored mega man.
In the background you can see a rather well done Dr. Wiley, however further in the background you can see what can only be assumed as Dr. Wiley's base. Instead of being his infamous mega evil castle HQ, it appears to be a floating Deathstar looking space station.
Mega Man 3 was the first game in the series to get the cover design to accurately represent the hero and the game's feel.
[edit] European Cover Art
The European version of the game had a much different art style for their cover of Mega Man 2. While getting the 'blaster arm' more accurate, the missed the mark by styling Mega Man more after the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz than Mega Man in the game, by putting him in shiny silver armor.
[edit] Credits
Masanori Satou (Metal Man Design)
Youji Kanazawa (Air Man Design)
Takashi Tanaka (Bubble Man Design)
Hirofumi Mizoguchi (Quick Man Design)
Akira Yoshida (Crash Man Design)
Tomoo Yamaguchi (Flash Man Design)
Toshiyuki Kataoka (Heat Man Design)
Masakatsu Ichikawa (Wood Man Design)
Yasukichi (Character Design)
Keiji Inafune 'Inafking' (Character Design)
Tom Pon (Character Design)
Nagineko (Character Design)
2m03cm Man (Character Design)
A. K. (Character Design/Planner)
Ogeretsu Kun (Sound)
Manami Ietel (Sound)
Yuukichan's Papa (Sound)
H. M. D. (Programmer)
Hiroyuki Maetani (Special Thanks)
Tatsuya Kasai (Special Thanks)
Mamoru Asoshina (Special Thanks)
Junichi Kanda (Special Thanks)
Masahiro Takahashi (Special Thanks)
Akimitsu Tsubata (Special Thanks)
Yoshiaki Gotou (Special Thanks)
Kazunari Suzuki (Special Thanks)
Yuu Yamazaki (Special Thanks)
Tomohiro Hosoya (Special Thanks)
Yoshiaki Nanki (Special Thanks)
Yasuhito Sasaki (Special Thanks)
Jun Kato (Special Thanks)
Seikou Jougan (Special Thanks)
Kenji Kinoue (Special Thanks)
Takashi Umezawa (Special Thanks)
Kazuya Wakazuki (Special Thanks)
Masashi Yamauchi (Special Thanks)
Makoto Ogoma (Special Thanks)
Seiji Tanaka (Special Thanks)
Hideaki Kawai (Special Thanks)
Ryouji Yasuda (Special Thanks)
Takayuki Wakisaka (Special Thanks)
Takumi Yoshinaga (Special Thanks)
Yasuto Nakamura (Special Thanks)
Shin Ienaka (Special Thanks)
Hirofumi Moriiwa (Special Thanks)
Tetsuya Miura (Special Thanks)
Michinari Satou (Special Thanks)
Yukio Hasegawa (Special Thanks)
Hiroyuki Tannai (Special Thanks)
Michiaki Hama (Special Thanks)
Takeo Morimoto (Special Thanks)
Masaki Satou (Special Thanks)
Youji Miyamoto (Special Thanks)
Shigehisa Iinuma (Special Thanks)
Yoshitomo Kodama (Special Thanks)
Taketsugu Wakabayashi (Special Thanks)
Toshiteru Ogura (Special Thanks)
Takeshi Arai (Special Thanks)
Fish Man (Special Thanks)
