Mega Man 2: The Mystery of Dr. Wily released in 1988 for the NES, and since then it has been cited as one of the best games of not only the series or the console, but of all time. Will I find the same resolution, or will this be one of the most overhyped games I’ve ever played? Let’s Press Start to find out!
Mega Man 2: Story
Unlike the first game, Mega Man 2 starts with an actual cutscene. Overlooking the city, we are given a recap of Mega Man 1’s story.
“In the year 200X, a super robot named Mega Man was created. Dr. Light created Mega Man to stop the evil desires of Dr. Wily. However, after his defeat, Dr. Wily created eight of his own robots to counter Mega Man.”
After, we’re hit with one of the most iconic Mega Man songs, which is a running theme with this game’s soundtrack. Once we hit the title screen, we’re given the options of normal and difficult selections.
For any major coverage of a game, I feel as if you need to tackle the default setting of a game, so we'll go with difficult mode.
In Rockman 2, there was only one difficulty, but when being translated, the developers added an easy mode. Instead of labeling it as easy, they labeled the default as “Difficult.”
Wily's New Robot Masters
After selecting our difficulty, we are met with the boss select screen, a major difference from Mega Man 1’s selection.
Gameplay is the same as Mega Man 1, so if you want a detailed explanation, I recommend giving that review a read. (You can do so Right here!)
Now, as with most Mega Man games, you can start with any boss you want. However, anyone who’s played this game will tell you to start with Metal Man.
Who do you start with?
- Bubble Man
- Air Man
- Quick Man
- Heat Man
Metal Man
With spike traps and conveyor belts, Metal Man’s stage is not a simple breeze. However, this stage shows how Mega Man 2 added the best feature for a difficult game to have.
E-Tanks can be found lying in certain spots for you to collect. You can only hold 4, but each act as a health pack, restoring all of your lost health without having to grind enemies.
After beating Metal Man, we are shown this symbol. This is the second major addition to MM2, The Password system.
In Mega Man 1, while there was a continue feature; there was no save feature. While it isn’t an automatic save, these passwords can help against replaying old stages when revisiting the game.
After Beating Metal Man, we are rewarded with the strongest weapon to ever grace Rock’s Weapons System, the Metal Blade. Now you might be wondering, what’s so good about this one saw blade?
How about piercing through most enemies, or being able to throw 3 at a time, or the fact that you can throw 8 blades before any ammo is taken?
Where as Mega Man 1’s weapons should only be used for special occasions, you should spam Metal Blades from the moment you receive it.
Now comes the option of which boss to tackle next, because, of course, Metal Blades are strong against multiple bosses. Metal Blades are strong against Flash Man, Wood Man, Bubble Man, and Metal Man Himself.
I would provide a weakness order, but this chain is more of a necklace with how all over the place it is.
Flash Man
Going with the the next best weapon, I went through to Flash Man first. While providing hard-hitting Sniper Mechs and multiple paths to explore, Flash Man’s stage is pretty simple. With Metal Blade, his boss fight is nearly nonexistent.
Defeating Flash Man gives us 2 new Staples of the Mega Man franchise. The first is his weapon, Time Stopper.
This weapon freezes time, stopping any basic enemy in their tracks. The counter is that we cannot shoot while time is frozen. The second is Item-3, which is a support item meant for platforming only.
Bubble Man
Next up is Bubble Man. Before we continue, I will say that the Legacy Collection starts with an epilepsy warning, and this stage is a prominent reason why.
The stage starts with a waterfall background, which causes rapid movement across the entire screen. For those with these problems, don’t search for footage of Bubble Man’s stage or any of the Wily stage bosses.
For those who read the first Press Start, I made a joke about how water physics didn’t apply to a boss. This level has segments with these physics; hold jump longer and you’ll go higher than normal.
The stage is littered with spikes, which kill Mega Man in one hit. With careful timing, you can make it to Bubble Man and use a few Metal Blades to take him out.
His weapon is Bubble Lead, which surfs across the ground, and that's it. Moving on!
Wood Man
To finish off Metal Blades Weaknesses, we head to Wood Man. Wood Man’s stage introduces the first Mid-Boss with these fire dogs.
Once we make it to Wood man, he spawns a leaf barrage and shields himself from your blasts.
While Atomic Fire is his intended weakness, Metal Blades easily cut through Wood Man. His weapon is the Leaf Shield, which can be launched forward.
However, our version does not deflect any bullets, making the SHIELD part of the name very misleading.
Air Man
After getting Leaf Shield, we head to Air Man’s Stage. Clouds in the foreground block your view, which you need to see the moving platforms
Air Man is one of the hardest starting bosses in series history. Thanks to his random air gusts, some of his shots are literally undodgeable.
If you’re unlucky and low on health, you're forced to lose a life. After 3 gusts, he’ll hop over to the left, where you can spam leaf shield and shred him.
You’ll get the Air Shooter, which is an angled upwards shot, and item-2, a platform that acts as a jet.
Crash Man
After beating the unbeatable, we head to Crash Man’s stage. These moving platforms are surrounded by respawning enemies, which you need to avoid to progress.
This stage is similar to Elec Man’s in that it’s a vertical climb where one hit sends you back down.
Even with his weakness, Crash Man still hits like a truck. If you aren't careful, you'll end up wasting ammo in the attempt.
The trick is to jump when firing Air Shooter. Crash Man jumps when you shoot, so if you jump before firing, he jumps face first into the weapon.
After sending Crash Man flying, we gain the Crash Bomb. Once this hits a wall, it becomes a timed explosive. There are certain walls that can only be destroyed by Crash Bomb, so spare using it if you want some goodies.
Quick Man
Quick Man’s Stage has these laser sections that you have to fall past. If you’re too slow, have fun going back because these are insta-kill lasers.
You can use Time Stopper for extra safety, but you’ll need it for Quick Man. Just memorize the pattern and Go.
After the Laser Show, you find a room lit by fire enemies. If you kill the fire bots, the room will be covered in instant darkness. Thankfully, the only bottomless-pit is near one of the flame bots, giving you ample time to dodge.
Only certain weapons will damage Quick Man, including Crash Bomb. Once he’s at half health, use Time Stopper and watch as the Fastest Robot Master is too slow to react.
Quick Boomerang is the fastest weapon, but one of the weakest. However, you can spam it to instantly kill enemies.
Heat Man
Heat Man is our last opponent before the Wily Stages. Luckily, the only difficult part is a disappearing block room that we easily skip with Item-2.
Once we get to Heat Man, he shoots 3 flames at us, and he will continue to do so until we fight back. Once we hit him, he raises a flame shield and then dashes towards Mega Man. Use Bubble Lead to douse the Fire Box.
We get Atomic Fire and Item-1. Atomic Fire acts as a charge shot, while Item-1 acts as a rising platform.
Wily Stage 1
The Wily stages open with a map screen, showing where Mega Man goes throughout the castle. The first sections of the stage involve Mega infiltrating the castle using the support items.
Once you reach the top, you find yourself in an auto scroller over a bottomless pit before you’re ambushed by the Mecha Dragon
Use Quick Boomerang to kill it as fast as possible. It makes for fast damage depending on how rapidly you can mash the fire button.
I must state once again, if you have any condition that would make flashing lights a problem, DON’T SEARCH OUT THE FOOTAGE! Every hit on all of the Wily fights will flash the background, causing a strobe effect when you're spamming shots.
Wily Stage 2
Wily Stage 2 starts by using Item-2 over a spike pit. If you wait until the last minute to jump, you can score 2 E-tanks for the price of some Crash Bombs.
After falling a bit, you’ll reach the boss, PicoPico-Kun. Blocks from around the arena will merge and form different segments. These segments will fly towards Mega Man, but fall to 2 or 3 Metal Blades.
Wily Stage 3
Wily Stage 3 has you going through a flooded spike trap. After making it through that and some more grinding, we reach Wily’s Upgraded Guts Man.
He either shoots Mets from the square in his chest, or he shoots pellets from his mouth. Use Quick Boomerang to put him out of his misery. (Once again, Flashing Background, Be advised)
Wily Stage 4
Wily Stage 4 has these fake platforms. While it seems that you can just walk across, if you hit certain blocks, you’ll fall through.
After some more moving platforms over spike pits, we reach one of the dumbest fights in series history, Boobeam.
Boobeam’s bubbles can only be destroyed by Crash Bombs, so if you run out, you’ll have to game over and start the stage over again. By using a conserving ammo, you can destroy Boobeam with not a single bomb to spare.
Wily Stage 5
Wily Stage 5 is the boss rush stage. By using these teleporters, we’ll be sent to an arena against one of the eight Robot Masters.
Using the same strategies as before, we clear through the bosses 1 by 1. When one is killed, it drops a large health pick-up, so grab that before teleporting back.
When it comes to the Boss rush, I prefer this style compared to Mega Man 1’s style in terms of gameplay. While it is cool that they are throughout the stage, I prefer to choose who to fight first.
Once all 8 are dealt with, a new pod appears, sending us to the Wily Machine 2 fight.
The Wily Machine has two phases. The first involves him shooting orbs in a downward arc. Once you drain his health, the shell breaks and his orbs now bounce on the ground. If you have any E-tanks, now's the time to use them.
Drain his health using Metal Blade and Quick Boomerang before he finally goes down...
Wily Stage... 6???
Wily Stage 6 starts with you falling into an underground area of the Wily Fortress, with the only obstacles being falling water droplets.
Once we reach the Boss door, we’re confronted by Dr. Wily, who turns into an alien.
Bubble lead is the only weapon that can damage Alien Wily, so dodge and shoot until the health bar is drained.
After short-circuiting his hologram with Bubble Lead, Wily finally surrenders.
The game ends with Mega Man walking through different seasons, as he leaves his helmet in a field. Thinking about how this could have been the last Mega Man game, this ending makes complete sense. After a triumphant victory, the world moves on from both Dr. Wily and Mega Man…
Mega Man 2's Impact
But, this is not the end of the series, far from it. As I stated in the Mega Man 1 Review, Mega Man 2 was developed by the team behind 1, under a condition by the higher-ups at Capcom.
After Mega Man 1 under-performed, they would only publish 2 if they made it under their own free time.
Final thoughts of Mega Man 2
Mega Man 2 is what most people think of when the Blue Bomber is mentioned. However, as the title of the Review states, Mega Man 2 is not my favorite Mega Man title, and that’s okay.
Mega Man 2 is a fantastic game. For most of the review, I’ve done nothing but praise it. However, I find at least one to be better, but we’ll have to get into that another day.
If you want to play through the first 6 Mega Man games for yourself, Mega Man Legacy Collection is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/Series X, PlayStation 4/5, and Steam.
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