The Rise of a Star

Mega Man, one of my favorite game series. In this review I’ll be going over what makes the game stand out as a all time great, my memories of it and what modern games took from it.

In the mid to late 80’s, a tough as nails platformer suddenly appeared in the market in Japan, titled “Rock Man”. Rock Man was developed by Capcom, and it had all the hallmarks of being a great title. The gameplay loop was simple; you run, jump and shoot in various places and at the end you fight a boss. Upon defeating the boss, you gain his weapon, and then you use it on a subsequent boss to make them easier to fight. Rinse and repeat! At the end, you go to the Wily’s Castle. Dr. Wily was the one who created the evil robots you fought, and in his castle you finally confront him. Of course, his castle is several stages long and very difficult, and you have to fight all the robots he built again at various points, along with other bosses at the end.

Rock Man in Japan was received well, even despite it’s difficulty. So, Capcom decided to follow it up with Rock Man 2. They really upped the ante with this one, and how did they do that? In Rock Man 1, there were only 6 bosses before confronting Dr. Wily, but in Rock Man 2, there are 8 bosses! So it’s potentially even more gameplay for your buck.

By the way, when Rock Man came out in the West, he was renamed Mega Man, because I believe Rock Man was already taken by something or someone.

So yes, in Rock Man 2, there are 8 bosses.

As stated above tho, the tradition is repeated here. Defeat 8 bosses, get their weapons, then go to Wily, then you win the game.

Overall, despite not changing much from the original Mega Man, Mega Man 2 delivers by just having a better aesthetic everywhere in the game, catchier music, better weapons and stage design and just a great package all in all.

Game ranking: 9/10