Mega Reviews: Mega Man II Pt. 2

[Magnet Dood]

After getting all five of the Game Boy Mega Man games, I decided that I would examine them and share my views on the games. I will be reviewing all Mega Man games that I've played along with perhaps a miscellaneous game or two that isn't Mega Man if I feel like it. Currently, I'll be reviewing Mega Man Dr. Wily's Revenge and going through the series until I reach MMV. Feel free to read and post any comments/questions you have. Here's the first game, which I completed just last night.

MEGA MAN: DR. WILY'S REVENGE
Released: July 26, 1991 in Japan, December 1991 in North America
Platform: Game Boy
Genre: Platformer

When I was sick for a week about a year or so ago, I had recieved a 3DS points card for the fairly recent 3DS shop. As I perused the shop for any original titles, nothing seemed to catch my eye as I was highly unfamiliar with most of them. Turning my attention to the Virtual Console page (which had probably 8 or so games on it at first), I found Dr. Wily's Revenge. At this point, I was highly unfamiliar with the Rockman World Series, or as they're designated in America, the Mega Man Roman Numeral games. The price was appealing at three dollars, and it seemed like a fairly fun little time waster. Thus I pressed the purchase button and plunged right into my first portable Mega Man adventure.

Flash forward to about a week ago. I was looking around eBay for anything that might seem worthwhile to purchase. I thought about the Mega Man games for Game Boy, said "why not", and took a look around for them. Lo and behold, there was a lot of all five games and the boxes and inserts for the first two at $150. After waiting a few days, I placed my bid at the base (for some reason, nobody bidded on it before) and managed to get it at that price. Tomorrow will be my first week of getting them.

In with the juggernauts that are 3, 4, and 5 was Dr. Wily's Revenge. After checking them all out, I decided that I would beat them all again in order during my Christmas break. This having not started yet, I figured I might as well shake off the rust and beat the first again as a warm-up. To my suprise, the game went down in about 4 hours. I had beaten all four Robot Masters within an hour and I probably only used 3 continues throughout the entire game. Thus, I decided to review this game which pulled me through being sick and how the difficulty had dropped so tremendously.

Overview

Being the first game of the Game Boy series of Mega Man, Dr. Wily's Revenge put into practice some of the widely used traditions in the series. The most notable, of course, are the bosses- the game uses four from the first Mega Man game (Elec Man, Cut Man, Ice Man, and Fire Man) and four from the second (Flash Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man, and Heat Man). Obviously this calls for a bit of reworking on the weakness chain- 2's Robot Masters are all weak against a certain weapon of the first four (Flash Man, for example, can go down fairly easily to the Ice Slasher) and Cut Man is now weak to Fire Man's weapon instead of Guts Man's, who is absent. The boss order is also important, as it introduced the idea of "four first, then four later". Interestingly, the second set does not recieve stages, but this is excusable as this is the first game in the series. This would not become introduced until the 3rd game (technically, it started in 2, but the Robot Masters did not recieve a stage select). The story goes that Dr. Wily is trying to take over the world again by reviving his old Robot Masters and creating the terrifying new Mega Man Killer, Enker. The game has six stages- four Robot Master stages and two Wily stages.

The game was clearly pretty popular, as it has seen three rereleases over its 21 year- life span: once as a Nintendo Best-Seller in 1996, again as a release on the Nintendo Power Catridge service alongside its four sequels during 2001, and most recently on the 3DS Virtual Console shop last year in March.

Elements

Music: The music in this game also set a standard on the majority of the series, seen in the first, third, and fourth games. It remakes the NES music into the Game Boy soundchip, and for the most part it sounds just like the NES game's music (which can be both a good and bad thing). However, this game was different in the fact that it slightly remixed the Robot Master themes- Elec Man's theme was put into a higher octave, Fire Man's theme is a bit faster and jumpy- and it definitely sounds pretty good. The Wily themes in this game, like the others, are superbly made- the Wily Base theme's progressive bass switches from regular to soft to delayed always gets a kick out of me. The credits theme is also pleasing to listen to, but I prefer the later ones.

Weapons: There are a total of 11 weapons in Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge: The Mega Buster, Fire Storm, Elec Beam, Rolling Cutter, Ice Slasher, Time Stopper, Quick Boomerang, Atomic Fire, Bubble Lead, Mirror Buster, and the utility weapon Carry. Most of the weapons are the same, so I'm just going to go over the Mirror Buster. This is Enker's special weapon that allows you to rebound shots back at the attacker. Although I didn't try it until the final boss, it's most likely amusing to use on enemies like Joes and Mets... if you can get it out fast enough. Also useful is the low energy consumption and there's no need to hold down the fire button after it's out- the energy does not deplete and it only disappears after recieving a shot. The other weapons are all pretty standard tier, but they do allow a few more places in Wily's Space Fortress for Time Stopper to show its worth, something that was dreadfully absent from 2.

EDIT: Bah, forgot to talk about Carry. Carry is probably one of the more useful utility weapons in the series- it allows you to spawn a static platform underneath you if you're falling. This saved me plenty of times from falling into deadly spikes or into a pit. You could only have one out at a time, which meant you couldn't make bridges with them, but they were still very useful. This would be the only time in the Game Boy series that Mega Man has a specified utility weapon- after that, his robotic canine Rush would serve as his utility provider.

Stages: For such a small game, the stages are actually pretty long- especially the last Wily stage. (It's got two checkpoints, for crying out loud!) Suprisingly, Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge also mixes in a few new gimmicks that are exclusive to this game. Ice Man's stage features falling icicles that can be stacked and used as platforms, and ice blocks that slowly melt the longer you stand on them. Fire Man's stage features the fire conveyor belts, as I call them, that can only be stopped by Ice Slasher (trust me, you'll want to stop them- they do a lot of damage). Cut Man's stage features easily the most annoying stage obstacle- the dreaded Circle Cutters. They go around in a loop and you must jump over them to avoid them- but they can be stopped by Ice Slasher which is enormously helpful. The enemies are all pretty standard fare, taken from the first two games- but the Hotheads are suprisingly more difficult in this game...

Playthrough

The first time I got this game, it was hard as balls. It took me five days to vanquish the dreaded Wily and his mechanized minions- which was actually pretty nice since I was sick for an entire week and it gave me something to do. The game was made a little more bearable thanks to the godsend known as restore points, but it was still difficult. A year and a half later, at 10:46 P.M. yesterday, I beat the original cartridge game. Total time: 4 hours, 23 minutes. Ouch.

So what happened? Why was it so easy to beat the second time? This game is supposed to be hard, right? I'll admit, I had a bit of trouble with Enker because he's a fricking dirtbag when it comes to his attack pattern, but otherwise it was a cakewalk.

Perhaps the game became easier after I got used to the whole Mega Man schematic. The only other game beside that I beat was 2 (which, of course, isn't that hard). Up to this point, I became much more familiar with the game, beating 4, 5, II, and III. After taking down those games, I guess the fairly easy Dr. Wily's Revenge didn't stand a chance. Elec Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, and Cut Man fell within an hour of playing- roughly about the time I finally managed to beat Spark Man's stage in the third game. With this, I truly cemented my current point of Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge being a perfect starting point into the Mega Man games.

Wrap-Up

Music: 9/10 (The developers did a good job with making the music stay faithful while still giving a unique twist, and the Wily themes are especially well-made).
Weapons: 7/10 (The weapons were well-balanced and the Mirror Buster was a great addition. However, adding Quick Boomerang doomed it to second status under Rolling Cutter's shadow...)
Stages: 8/10 (The stages are long and provide a good challenge. The added gimmicks are especially nifty)
Difficulty: 6/10 (The game is short and easy, but there's still a bit of added toughness with the bosses and Enker)
Overall: 30/40

Dr. Wily's Revenge was a milestone in Mega Man's portable adventures, starting off Mega Man' monochrome series with an impressive title. Easy to get into but still offering slight challenge, this would give you a good taste of Mega Man's "glory years" in a small, portable package. The game is a solid start to a line of quality Mega Man games on the Game Boy, but it takes a back seat to three of its sequels. I'll rank this title 4th out of the 5, as it drops behind the more polished games. Unfortunately, the second edition would not be as tight as the original. What went wrong? Is there anything salvageable from this game? We'll have to wait and see...

[Hallan Parva]

There was a lot of all five games and the boxes and inserts for the first two at $150. After waiting a few days, I placed my bid at the base (for some reason, nobody bidded on it before) and managed to get it at that price.

how can you maney so hard I am stingy spending three dollars for gmod



Anyway, I liked the review. Extensive enough without going too in-depth and revealing every part of the game, and gives a subjective opinion on the game's good points and flaws. I am eagerly awaiting the other four.

[Beed28]

MEGA MAN: DR. WILY'S REVENGE
Released: July 26, 1991 in Japan, December 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe
Platform: Game Boy
Genre: Platformer

You forgot to put in the European release date! How could you?

Anyway, I really wish'd Capcom would start releasing the other Game Boy games on the 3DS Virtual Console. I felt great to actually play the first one on an actual handheld console (and with a save state slot as well, to boot!).

[Gumballtoid]

I loved this game. My first classic Mega Man. I remember playing this on my school bus every afternoon when I was in fourth grade.

Some bitch behind me kept saying, "Why play Mega Man when you could play a Wii?" with such a nasally tone. Pissed me off.

[Magnet Dood]

Oh dear replying time

Smash, thanks for the input. Also I have this thing called birthday and christmas cards where people give me monies

Beed, I would've put the European Release date if they had a month at least. To be honest, I rather enjoyed playing the game with save states and such- made it feel more natural and less reliant on those things. I would like to see the other Game Boy games on there, though, since I think people should get a chance to play these.

GBT, I sure do wish I could play this on my bus...

[Dr. Freeman]

One of the main problems I have with this game is the whole MM2 Robot fighting. It's a really cool idea in concept, but the execution was poor. Getting 4 weapons in the span of 2 minutes is kind of repetitive, even more so because the game gives you one stage to play around with all of your new weapons. With the other ones, the other robot master stages gave you more moments to use the weapons, but this game they're not really needed.

[Magnet Dood]

I was sick yesterday and beat II so why not

MEGA MAN II
Released: December 20, 1991 in Japan, February 1992 in North America
Platform: Game Boy
Genre: Platformer

Just six months after Dr. Wily's Revenge hit the shelves, Mega Man II blasted its way on the scene. Featuring the reprogrammed Mega Man from the future, Quint, and all new levels to bust your way through, Mega Man II promised a quality Mega Man adventure with four more stages and increased difficulty.

Instead, we got a ridiculously easy Mega Man game with a pitiful 'Killer', deformed sprites, and ear- splitting music. The game was handed off to another third-party developer instead of the one that worked on Dr. Wily's Revenge, and the company had very little experience with Mega Man. It showed.

I'll admit, however, that I have a soft spot for Mega Man II. My first experience with this game was way back in March, when a neat little store called Play 'N' Trade opened up. After perusing through the Game Boy games, I spotted this game- its label was beaten up and the game's cover had a few scratches, but it was still Mega Man. I purchased along with Super Mario Land and sat down to play it. The game, suprisingly to me, fell within 5 hours. It didn't matter too much to me, though- this was the first original Mega Man game I've ever owned, and I was proud to own it. I must've beaten it about four times before it finally died on me, and I replaced it with the rerelease version seen in 1996.

Overview

Mega Man II carries on the traditions seen in the first title, with four bosses from the second game- Wood Man, Air Man, Clash Man (strangely, his name wasn't translated), and Metal Man- and four from the third- Magnet Man, Top Man, Needle Man, and Hard Man. The bosses from 2 are fought first, and the ones from 3 second. II gave the second set stages, however, making the game longer than it's prequel... in theory, anyway.

Interesting to note about this game is it features completely original music and does not take any sounds from the original NES games. However, originality does not equal quality, but we'll discuss that later. The game features nine stages- eight Robot Master stages and one Wily stage. The story in this installment (trivial as it may seem) pertains to Wily stealing a time machine and stealing Mega Man from the future, reprogramming him into evil bot Quint, and is attempting world domination again. He has revived old Robot Masters again and is tearing up the world. Mega Man must set out to crush this menace once again.

Despite the massive dip in quality that became apparent, the game managed to sell over one million copies and was rereleased twice: once as a Nintendo best-seller in 1996 and again on the Nintendo Power cartridge service in 2001.

Elements

Music: I was hoping to save this for later, but I guess I don't have much of a choice. The music in Mega Man II is all original- every theme is new. However- this might be hard to understand- it wasn't the compositions that were bad, it was the soundfront that made the music suffer. The notes for the songs all follow the nice and catchy Mega Man themes seen throughout the series, but the developer's choice in instruments was... strange. There were many very bad sounds found inside the music, and only a few songs managed to come out relatively unscathed and would pass as- at the very most- mediocre (Hard Man comes to mind in this category). As for the others... well, just listen to Quint and you'll see what I mean. If the soundfront was changed, however, the music would actually be very nice. Unfortunately, no one caught the problem and the game suffered terribly from it. At least the credits theme was nice.

Weapons: The weapons are borrowed from the Robot Masters again, this time featuring Air Shooter, Leaf Shield, Clash Bomb, Metal Blade, Top Spin, Hard Knuckle, Magnet Missile, Needle Cannon, and the new weapon Sakugarne. The weapons featured a few differences from the originals, though- the most notable of these being Leaf Shield, in my opinion. When you activate the shield, it spawns as normal- just like in Mega Man 2, the shield is thrown as soon as you move. Interestingly enough, though, is if the leaves bounce off a reflective service, the whole shield doesn't get flung into space- rather, only the leaf that hit it does. This makes the weapon very interesting and quite fun to use, not to mention the fact that it helps against the Tellies and Pipis in Clash Man's stage- trust me, you'll want it.

The Sakugarne is a very clumsy and awkward weapon to use- you ride a jackhammer that burns off energy as soon as you spawn it. If you press the jump button, the weapon will perform a super jump, crushing anything unfortunate enough to be caught underneath. Like Wily. Who's weak to this weapon. Yeah...

Small note, as well- this is the first game that uses Rush as a support item helper.

Welp, ran out of room. I guess I'll type Part Two soon.

[Magnet Dood]

Hrm, this thread isn't that old, is it.
OK lemme start this up again

Stages: There are essentially 9 stages in MMII (technically 10 if you count the cruddy Quint stage): Crash, Air, Wood, Metal, Magnet, Needle, Hard, Top, and a Wily stage. The stages aren't paticularily difficult, nor do they add anything new. The only gimmick the developers really cared to add to stages was water, which makes appearances in a number off odd stages. It's disappointing to not see some of the underused gimmicks from MM3, such as Top Man's top platforms, not make an appearance in this game either. The enemies do pitiful amounts of damage, which doesn't make sense especially when the stages hold huge amounts of health pick-ups. It's like playing a duel on BME's Endless Hall map.

Playthrough

Mega Man II was essentially a joke. I beat the game in 45 minutes. The first four MM2 Robot Masters were walloped in probably 10 to 15 minutes. I honestly had the most trouble with the Wily Stage, but that has a lot to do with the platforming they sprinkle in the middle of the stage (stupid really long ladder segments...). There were some small cosmetic changes I enjoyed from II, though- Mega Man explodes twice when dying, Blocky's movements recieve more streamlined sprites- but ultimately they can't help save this game from being a train wreck compared to the other 4.

Wrap Up

Music: 6/10 (It's all original, which is definitely a plus, but the instrumentation leaves a lot to be desired...)
Weapons: 4/10 (Leaf Shield is neat, but most of the other weapons have serious problems- Crash Bomb, Sakugarne and Hard Knuckle come to mind)
Stages: 5/10 (Nothing very special, no added gimmicks and the enemies are essentially cannon fodder)
Difficulty: 3/10 (Nonexistant- there is way too many health pick-ups present and the bosses are much too easy)
Overall: 18/40

I know through this review that I've come off as pretty critical torward this game. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed MMII when I first got it. But this definitely not Capcom's best work, and compared to the other four this has to be ranked 5th.

Capcom realized their mistake, and switched gears for the third title. Mega Man III would be coming soon- hopefully it could erase any bad memories II instilled in the minds of fans of the Monochrome Bomber...