This is one of those games that we loved when we were kids... because we hated it. It drove us nuts and made us reconsider going outside for fresh air... all of this on the normal difficulty setting. The Mega Man series was spawned out of the Japanese version known as the Rockman series... games available for play on the Famicom system. Since then it has grown into one of the most iconic titles in video games, spanning multiple consoles. There were 6 Mega Man games made for the NES, this one was, and is, my favorite.
It was released in North America in 1989. You play Mega Man, who is trying to stop Dr. Wily from taking over the world with his robots... typical weak story that is fairly underdeveloped. However you don't find yourself looking for more story or wanting to know more about the characters. This is a game that is gameplay driven and while it is weak from a plot perspective, it is impressive on nearly every other level.
I played this game when I was young more than any other platform game out there. It is, for many reasons, my favorite platform game of all time. Some would argue that it is not a platform, but after jumping into spikes, falling into giant lasers, getting trampled by robot rabbits and crushed from above by falling blades, there is no
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The graphics are strong for an old NES game. The games is crisp and clean. The framerate almost never suffers, although there is a distinctive 'slow down' when there are a lot of enemies on the screen. The colour palettes are vibrant without becoming a strain on the eye. Thus for a NES game, this is a strong showing in the graphics department.
The music, composed by Takashi Tateishi, is fantastic for a game of this era... it keeps you moving and playing for hours. The sound effects are not astonishing for an 8 bit title but they are integrated very well into gameplay and are not overdone or annoying.
A reason to love this game is the exceptionally low amount of time it takes to get into playing it. We have all sat through those games that show us the five companies that made it, then the storyline comes up, then character development, etc, etc. You can read a little plot development about Mega Man being created in the year 20XX to stop Dr. Wily's evil desires BUT you can press start and actually START the game. This game should be used as a guideline for platform/action games for how quickly the player is allowed to play the actual game.
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There are not a lot of negatives with this game. The only thing that comes to mind is when Mega Man gets hit by an enemy. When this happens Mega Man goes all blurry and gets knocked back slightly. While the blurryness actually makes you invincible for a moment, the knockback is what can be problematic. Too many times have I been hit by an enemy to be knocked back over the edge of a precipice. Beyond this minor detail, the game is an incredibly immersive experience keeping the player on edge for a solid amount of game length with an array of interesting and strange enemies.
Mega Man 2 will likely always be in my top twenty games of all time. It is fun, engaging and totally addictive... three elements that are hard to find, particularly in games made today.
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