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Revision as of 17:53, 29 December 2008

This article is about the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Famicom game. For the Game Boy game, see Mega Man II (Game Boy).
Mega Man 2
North American box art portraying the protagonist, Mega Man, battling with rivals Quick Man and Crash Man in a futuristic setting.
Developer(s)Capcom
Publisher(s)Capcom
Designer(s)Tokuro Fujiwara
Artist(s)Keiji Inafune
Composer(s)Ogeretsu Kun
Manami Matsumae
Yoshihiro Sakaguchi
SeriesMega Man
Platform(s)Nintendo Entertainment System, mobile phones, Virtual Console
ReleaseNES
Virtual Console
Genre(s)Action/platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Mega Man 2 (ロックマン2 Dr.ワイリーの謎, Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo, Rockman 2: The Mystery of Dr. Wily) is a platform game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the second installment in the original Mega Man series. The game was released on December 24, 1988 in Japan, and later in 1989 and 1990 in North America and Europe, respectively. Mega Man 2 continues the titular protagonist's battle against the evil Dr. Wily and his rogue robots. The game features several graphical and gameplay changes from the first Mega Man game, many of which have remained as elements throughout the series.

Although sales for Mega Man were unimpressive, Capcom allowed Keiji Inafune to create a sequel. With more than 1.5 million copies sold, the game is the best-selling Mega Man title. Mega Man 2 has received high praise by many publications as the best title in the series as well as one of the greatest video games of all time. Mega Man 2 has been rereleased on several consoles and has most recently made its way to mobile phones. It was released on the Wii's Virtual Console in Europe in December 2007, in Japan on August 26, 2008 and in North America on September 15, 2008.

Story

Mega Man 2 takes place after the original Mega Man, which was set in an unspecified year during the 21st century (the year 200X). Dr. Wily, the series' main antagonist, built a new fortress and army of robotic henchmen, led by eight new Robot Masters of his design. Mega Man was sent by his creator, Dr. Light, to defeat Dr. Wily and his Robot Masters.

Mega Man crushed the eight new Robot Masters and then sought Wily himself. In the final fight, Mega Man defeated Dr. Wily's holographic projection device. After the scientist begged for mercy, Mega Man spared Wily and then took a long walk home to think about his decision.

Gameplay

Mega Man using the floating platform items in the Crash Man stage.

Mega Man 2 is a platformer and action game like its predecessor, Mega Man. The player controls Mega Man as he traverses eight different stages to defeat the bosses, Dr. Wily's Robot Masters. 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.[2] After completing certain stages, Mega Man receives a special item.[3] These items create platforms that allow Mega Man to access areas that the he could not otherwise.

After defeating the eight Robot Masters, the player proceeds to Dr. Wily's fortress, which consists of six levels that are played linearly. 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 are not labeled.

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. Rereleases in North America do not contain this feature and instead default to "difficult". The choice of difficulty mode has no effect on the password system.

Mega Man 2 added several new gameplay elements. The E-Tank allows a player to refill Mega Man’s health at any time.[4] These are found placed throughout the game. Also introduced is 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.[5] The password stores the particular list of completed Robot Masters, as well as the number of E-Tanks that the player has accumulated.

Several features available in Mega Man were removed. Unlike the original Mega Man, the game does not keep a running score for the player. The player is unable to return to Robot Master levels once they have been completed.

Development

Mega Man 2 was developed and published by Capcom. The first Mega Man game did not have a large enough success to lead to an immediate sequel. Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune claims the development of Mega Man 2 was a "rogue effort".[6] Inafune was given the chance to create a sequel on the condition that he work concurrently on other projects as well.[7] 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.[6] Due to the limited amount of cartridge space available for the original Mega Man, much of the leftover design elements from the game were transferred to Mega Man 2.[8]

The soundtrack for Mega Man 2 was composed by a team of three people: Ogeretsu Kun, Manami Ietel, and Yuukichan's Papa, who composed the music for the original Mega Man. The three composers were credited with pseudonyms. Manami Matsumae and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi are credited as Ietel and Yuukichan's Papa, respectively. Ogeretsu Kun is a nickname implying rudeness, geretsu (下劣) meaning rudeness or depraved in Japanese. Ippo Yamada, composer for Mega Man 7, offered some explanation for this saying that even in 1995 "Capcom... was just beginning to transition from crediting staff members by aliases to their full names."[9]

Reception and legacy

Despite relatively low sales of the first Mega Man game, Mega Man 2 was a huge success. Since its 1988 release, Mega Man 2 has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.[10] The game is the highest selling in the Mega Man series and is Capcom's 20th highest selling title.[10] Mega Man 2 was named by GameSpot as one of "The Greatest Games of All Time".[11] It ranked at number 33 in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever" list.[12] It ranked fifth on Game Informer’s list of The Top 10 Video Game Openings.[13] Creator Keiji Inafune claims the success of Mega Man 2 is what made the Mega Man series a hit that continues to spawn sequels.[6] In ScrewAttack's "Top 10 Video Game Themes Ever" video, the Doctor Wily Stage Theme is ranked second in the countdown, behind only The Legend of Zelda Theme.[14]

File:MegaMan2 TeleporteRoom.jpg
The teleporter room, an element which appeared in subsequent Mega Man titles.

Many of the conventions of the original Mega Man series were defined by Mega Man, but 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 became the series' iconic health refill item.[15] 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 special movement items, precursors to Mega Man's robot dog companion, Rush.

Rereleases and novelization

In 1999, Mega Man 2 was rereleased for the Sony Playstation as the second of six Rockman Complete Works discs, though only in Japan and under the original title Rockman 2. It is largely identical to the original NES release, but had a number of bonuses, such as a "navi mode" for beginners presents the player with a slightly re-made version of the game, detailed encyclopedic content, image galleries, and remixed music.[16] Mega Man 2 was included with nine other games in the series in Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox, released between 2003 and 2005. The game's emulation is identical to the rerelease contained in Rockman Complete Works.[17] Mega Man 2 made its way to mobile phones in 2007.[18] The game was added as a part of the Wii's Virtual Console service in Europe on December 14, 2007. In celebration of the ninth title's release in September 2008, Capcom Japan released the game in Japan on August 26, 2008 [19] and a North American release on September 15, 2008.[20]

Mega Man 2 was novelized in the Worlds of Power series published by Scholastic in 1990. The novel mostly follows the game, even offering game hints at the end of some chapters.[21] Besides the added dialogue, the one major variation in the novel 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, a difficulty Mega Man must endure throughout the story.[22] The book's cover also lacks the gun depicted on the North American boxart of the game.[23]

Notes

  1. ^ "Mega Man 2 Info". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  2. ^ Capcom (1989), p. 7
  3. ^ Capcom (1989), p. 8
  4. ^ Capcom (1989), p. 6
  5. ^ Capcom (1989), p. 9
  6. ^ a b c Hoffman, Chris (2007). "Playback: Mega Man 2". Nintendo Power (219): 82. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Oxford, Nadia (2007). "Mega Man Retrospective: Getting Equipped With 20 Years". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
  8. ^ Interviewee: Keiji Inafune (November 20, 2003). "Mega Man". Game Makers. Season 2. Episode 19. G4 (TV channel). {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "Mega Man 9 music interview with Inti Creates' Ippo Yamada". Siliconera.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
  10. ^ a b "CAPCOM Platinum Titles". Capcom. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  11. ^ GameSpot (2003). "The Greatest Games of All Time". Gamespot. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
  12. ^ "NP Top 200". Nintendo Power (200): 59. 2006. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "The Top Ten Video Game Openings". Game Informer (187): 38. November 2008.
  14. ^ "Top 10 Video Game Themes Ever". ScrewAttack. 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  15. ^ "Guzzle Some Mega Man E-Tank Drinks". Wired. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  16. ^ GameSpot staff. "The History of Mega Man". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  17. ^ Parish, Jeremy (June 22, 2004). "Mega Man Anniversary Collection (PS2)". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  18. ^ Stern, Zack (April 13, 2007). "Street Fighter, Mega Man on mobile phones". JoyStiq.com. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
  19. ^ "Capcom News". Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  20. ^ "Mega Man 2, Strong Bad 2 and Potpourrii Hit Wii Shop Channel". Retrieved 2008-09-15.
  21. ^ Miles (1990), p, 16, 23, 36, 39, 50, 57, 61, 66, 71
  22. ^ Miles (1990), p. 4–6
  23. ^ Struck, Shawn (2006). "8-Bit Lit: Behind the NES' Worlds of Power Series". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2007-08-09.

References

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