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Mega Man 2

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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
Artwork of a navy blue, vertical rectangular box. The top portion reads "Mega Man 2", while the artwork depicts a humanoid figure in a blue outfit firing a gun at a second humanoid figure in purple and red outfit.
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)Game design
Akira Kitamura
Producer
Tokuro Fujiwara
Artist(s)Keiji Inafune
Composer(s)Takashi Tateishi
Manami Matsumae
Yoshihiro Sakaguchi
SeriesMega Man
Platform(s)Nintendo Entertainment System, Mobile phones, Virtual Console, iPhone OS, PlayStation Network
ReleaseNES
Mobile phone
Virtual Console
iPhone OS
PlayStation Store
Genre(s)Action/platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Mega Man 2, known in Japan as Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo (ロックマン2 Dr.ワイリーの謎, lit. "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 in Japan in 1988, and in North America and Europe the following years. Mega Man 2 continues the titular protagonist's battle against the evil Dr. Wily and his rogue robots. The game features graphical and gameplay changes from the first Mega Man game, many of which have remained throughout the series.

Although sales for Mega Man were unimpressive, Capcom allowed the Rockman team to create a sequel. They worked concurrently on other Capcom projects, using their free time to develop the game. Unused content from the previous title was integrated into Mega Man 2. Takashi Tateishi, Manami Matsumae, and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi composed the soundtrack.

With more than 1.5 million copies sold, the game is the best-selling Mega Man title. Critics focused on the audio-visuals and gameplay, and commented that it was an improvement over the first game. 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 re-released on several consoles and mobile phones.

Plot

Mega Man 2 takes place after the original Mega Man, which is set in an unspecified year during the 21st century (the year 200X).[6] Dr. Wily, the series' main antagonist, builds a new fortress and army of robotic henchmen, led by eight new Robot Masters of his design. Mega Man is sent by his creator, Dr. Light, to defeat Dr. Wily and his Robot Masters.[7] Mega Man crushes the eight new Robot Masters and then sought Wily himself.[6] In the final fight, Mega Man defeats Dr. Wily's holographic projection device. After the scientist begs for mercy, Mega Man spares Wily and returns home.

Gameplay

A square video game screenshot that depicts a character sprite standing on a red floating platform between two yellow structures near the top and bottom of the image.
Mega Man using the floating platform items in the Crash Man stage.

Mega Man 2 is a platform and action game like its predecessor, Mega Man. The player controls Mega Man as he traverses eight stages to defeat the bosses, Dr. Wily's Robot Masters: Metal Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man, Crash Man, Flash Man, Heat Man, and Wood Man. Each Robot Master features a unique weapon and stage related the their weapon's power. For example, Air Man shoots small tornadoes and is fought in a sky-themed level, while Wood Man can use a shield of leaves and is found in a forest-themed stage.[7] After defeating a boss, their signature weapon becomes available to the player. 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.[6][8] After completing certain stages, Mega Man receives a special item.[9] These items create platforms that allow Mega Man to access areas that the he could not otherwise.[7]

After defeating the eight Robot Masters, the player proceeds to Dr. Wily's fortress, which consists of six levels that are played linearly.[7] As in the first title, the player is required to fight each Robot Master a second time in Dr. Wily's fortress. However, these battles take place in a single room rather than a series of linearly connected rooms. The room contains teleportation devices that lead to each Robot Master. The devices can be entered in any order, but are not labeled. Once the bosses are defeated again, the player must fight Dr. Wily.

Mega Man 2 features several gameplay changes from the original Mega Man.[6] A new item, the Energy Tank, allows a player to refill Mega Man’s health at any time.[10] Also introduced is a password system.[7] 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.[11] The password stores the particular list of completed Robot Masters, as well as the number of accumulated Energy Tanks. Unlike the first game, Mega Man 2 does not feature a score counter, and the player is unable to return to Robot Master levels once completed.

Development

Mega Man 2 was developed and published by Capcom. In retrospect, series producer Keiji Inafune described the game's development as a "rogue effort". The first Mega Man game lacked the success large enough to lead to an immediate sequel.[12] Capcom gave the development team the chance to create a sequel on the condition that they work concurrently on other projects as well.[13][14] The staff spent their own time on the project to improve upon the original by adding more levels and weapons, as well as improving the graphics.[12] In the previous title, Inafune worked as an artist and character designer, but began to become more involved in the production process.[15]

Due to the limited amount of cartridge space available for the first game, much of the leftover design elements were transferred to Mega Man 2.[16] The team was limited by the graphical capabilities of the console, and designed characters as pixel art to maintain consistency between the designs and final product; some design elements, however, were lost in the transition.[15] A second difficulty setting was added for the North American release. The original version was labeled "difficult" and a "normal" setting was created that made the enemies weaker.[17]

The soundtrack for Mega Man 2 was composed by a team of three people: Ogeretsu Kun, Manami Ietel, and Yuukichan's Papa, who also 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."[18]

Reception

Though the first Mega Man game had relatively low sales, Mega Man 2 was a huge success. Since its 1988 release, Mega Man 2 has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. The game is the highest selling in the Mega Man series and is Capcom's 20th highest selling title.[19] Mega Man 2 was well received by critics. Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers—Steve Harris, Ed Semrad, Donn Nauert, and Jim Allee—rated the game favorably. They stated that it was better than the first Mega Man, citing the improved audio-visuals, new power-ups, and password system. Nauert and Allee, however, expressed disappointment that the game was less difficult than the first game.[20] Nadia Oxford of 1Up.com complimented its aesthetics and gameplay. She further stated that Mega Man 2 improved the gameplay of its predecessor by removing excessively difficult elements.[14] Mean Machines' two reviewers, Julian Rignall and Matt Regan, praised several aspects of the game. Rignall lauded the gameplay, citing its addictiveness and the puzzles. Regan praised the difficulty and called the gameplay balanced. Both reviewers complimented the graphics, calling them detailed and stunning, and described it as a great platform game.[21] Retro Gamer editor Richard Burton described it as a "must-have" title for the system, comments echoed by two of Electronic Gaming Monthly's reviewers.[20][22] Zach Miller of Game Informer attributed the success of the game to the players' option to defeat the stages in the order or their choosing. He praised the simple control scheme and variety of weapons and items.[23]

Mega Man 2 is a favorite among Mega Man fans, with many calling it the best in the series.[24][25][26] Critics have also referred to the game as the series' best title. Oxford considered it one of the most memorable titles in the series, and Burton called the game the best in the series.[14][22] IGN's Levi Buchanan listed three of the game's bosses among the "Top 10 Mega Man Robot Masters".[27] Several publications consider the game a critical success and have listed it high on "top game" lists. At the end of 1989, it was the top ranked game on Nintendo Power's Top 30 list.[28] GameSpot named Mega Man 2 as one of "The Greatest Games of All Time".[29] It ranked number 33 in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever" list.[30] Miller considered it one of the greatest games of all time.[23] In 2007, IGN's three editorial offices—United States, United Kingdom, and Australia—compiled a list of top 100 games. They listed Mega Man 2 as number 67, citing the action and strategic elements along with the impact it had on the series.[17] The game's soundtrack has been well received by critics. Joey Becht of IGN listed three stage themes from Mega Man 2 along with the main title song among the best in the series.[31] In 2008, Game Informer listed Mega Man 2's introduction sequence as the top five video game opening, citing the build up of excitement the music and appearance of Mega Man instills.[32] In ScrewAttack's "Top 10 Video Game Themes Ever" video, the Doctor Wily Stage Theme is ranked second.[33] In 2009, Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield describe the music as easily recognizable, and lamented that contemporary video game music lacked that trait.[34]

Legacy

A square video game screenshot that depicts a character sprite standing in the middle of room with eight entrances and computer screens in the background.
The teleporter room acts as a stage to fight the bosses again, and appeared in subsequent Mega Man titles.

Keiji Inafune claims the success of Mega Man 2 is what made the Mega Man series a hit that continues to spawn sequels.[12] 1Up.com's Kat Bailey commented that the game helped establish the series as a prominent and commercially successful video game franchise.[25] IGN cites the game as one of the titles which helped define the action-platforming genre.[17] Retro Gamer credits it with helping the series obtain the global presence that allowed spin-offs and more sequels to be created.[6] Many of the conventions of the original Mega Man series were defined by the first title, but Mega Man 2 added its own conventions, which were retained by the series.[6][26] The traditional number of Robot Masters for the series is eight as used in Mega Man 2, rather than the six used in the original.[15][17][26] It was the first in the series to include an opening cinematic.[31] Mega Man 2 also introduced the Energy Tank item, special movement items, teleporter room, and password system, which became staples in future titles.[17][26] The Energy Tank became the series' iconic health refill item and later served as inspiration for a promotional "Rockman E-Can" drink.[35] In developing Mega Man 9, producer Inafune and Hironobu Takeshita looked to the first two games in the series for inspiration, with Mega Man 2 serving as a standard to surpass in order to meet fans' expectations.[15][24]

Remakes 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.[36] 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.[37] Mega Man 2 made its way to mobile phones in 2007.[38] The game was added as a part of the Wii's Virtual Console service in PAL regions 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 and a North American release on September 15, 2008.[3][39] In March 2009, Capcom released the game for iPhone OS, while in September of the same year the Complete Works version of Mega Man 2 was released on the Japanese PlayStation Store, making it available for download on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable.[4][5] Inafune expressed a desire to remake Mega Man 2, similar to Mega Man Powered Up, but stated that such a project was dependent on the commercial success of the later.[40]

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.[41] 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.[42] The book's cover also lacks the gun depicted on the North American boxart of the game, due to a "no weapons" policy that Worlds of Power writers had to abide by.[43]

Notes

  1. ^ "Mega Man 2 for NES". GameSpot. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  2. ^ Vasconcellos, Eduardo (June 26, 2007). "Mega Man II Review". IGN. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Mega Man 2 for Wii". GameSpot. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  4. ^ a b Buchanan, Levi (March 26, 2009). "Mega Man II on App Store". IGN. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
  5. ^ a b Spencer (September 9, 2009). "Mega Man 2 Brings Robot Fish To PS3, PSP". Siliconera.com. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Retro Gamer Staff (2008). "The Classic Game: Mege Man II". Retro Gamer (49). Imagine Publishing: 36–37. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e Nintendo Power Staff (1989). "Mege Man II". Nintendo Power (7). Nintendo: 8–23. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Capcom (1989), p. 7
  9. ^ Capcom (1989), p. 8
  10. ^ Capcom (1989), p. 6
  11. ^ Capcom (1989), p. 9
  12. ^ a b c Hoffman, Chris (2007). "Playback: Mega Man 2". Nintendo Power (219): 82. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ IGN Staff. "Top 100 Game Creators of All Time: Keiji Inafune". IGN. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
  14. ^ a b c Oxford, Nadia (May 10, 2007). "Mega Man Retrospective: Getting Equipped With 20 Years". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
  15. ^ a b c d Elston, Brett (2008-07-03). "Mega Man 9 - exclusive interview with the mind behind the machines". Retrieved 2009-07-27. {{cite web}}: Text "publisher GamesRadar" ignored (help)
  16. ^ 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)
  17. ^ a b c d e IGN Staff (2007). "IGN Top 100 Games 2007: 67 Mega Man 2". IGN. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
  18. ^ "Mega Man 9 music interview with Inti Creates' Ippo Yamada". Siliconera.com. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
  19. ^ "Capcom Platinum Titles". Capcom. Archived from the original on 2008-01-16. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
  20. ^ a b Harris, Stever (1989). "Electronic Gaming Review Crew". Electronic Gaming Monthly: 11. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  21. ^ Rignall, Julian (1991). "Mega Man II Review". Mean Machines (4). EMAP: 16–19. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  22. ^ a b Burton, Richard (2008). "Back to the Nineties: The Latest News from January 1991". Retro Gamer (54). Imagine Publishing: 22. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  23. ^ a b Miller, Zach (2007). "Greatest Game of All Time". Game Informer (165): 121. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  24. ^ a b Nutt, Christian (August 4, 2008). "He Is 8-Bit: Capcom's Hironobu Takeshita Speaks". Gamasutra. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
  25. ^ a b Bailey, Kat. "Top 5 Overlooked Prequels". 1UP.com. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
  26. ^ a b c d Thomas, Lucas M. (September 16, 2008). "Mega Man 2 Review". IGN. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
  27. ^ Buchanan, Levi (July 1, 2008). "Top 10 Mega Man Robot Masters". IGN. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
  28. ^ Nintendo Power Staff (1989). "Nintendo Power Top 30". Nintendo Power (9). Nintendo: 80. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  29. ^ GameSpot Staff (October 24, 2003). "The Greatest Games of All Time". Gamespot. Retrieved June 11, 2006.
  30. ^ "NP Top 200". Nintendo Power (200): 59. 2006. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  31. ^ a b Becht, Joey (October 31, 2008). "Top 10 Mega Man Musical Moments". IGN. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
  32. ^ Game Informer Staff (2008). "The Top Ten Video Game Openings". Game Informer (187): 38. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  33. ^ "Top 10 Video Game Themes Ever". ScrewAttack. GameTrailers. 2008. Retrieved November 11, 2008.
  34. ^ Sheffield, Brandon (May 1, 2009). "Opinion: What's Wrong With Game Music?". Gamasutra. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
  35. ^ "Guzzle Some Mega Man E-Tank Drinks". Wired. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  36. ^ GameSpot staff. "The History of Mega Man". GameSpot. Retrieved August 20, 2007.
  37. ^ Parish, Jeremy (June 22, 2004). "Mega Man Anniversary Collection (PS2)". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  38. ^ Stern, Zack (April 13, 2007). "Street Fighter, Mega Man on mobile phones". Joystiq. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
  39. ^ "Capcom News". Capcom. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  40. ^ Theobald, Phil (2005-09-17). "Mega Man on PSP -- Keiji Inafune and Tatsuya Kitabayashi Interview". GameSpy. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
  41. ^ Miles (1990), p, 16, 23, 36, 39, 50, 57, 61, 66, 71
  42. ^ Miles (1990), p. 4–6
  43. ^ Struck, Shawn (August 3, 2006). "8-Bit Lit: Behind the NES' Worlds of Power Series". 1UP.com. Retrieved August 9, 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

References

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