Mega Man 2: The Legend Continues

Mega Man vanquishes Dr. Wily and the six robot masters he stole from Dr. Light. However, instead of giving up and reforming, Dr. Wily plots his revenge against Mega Man with eight robot masters of his own creation - Air Man, Quick Man, Flash Man, Heat Man, Metal Man, Bubble Man, Crash Man and Wood Man. Unlike their predecessors, the new batch of robot masters were meant for combat from the get-go and were not meant for industrial purposes.

The persistent Dr Wily would then deploy his troops in an attempt to conquer the world. Mega Man gets an assist from Dr. Light to combat this new menace through the development of vehicles 1, 2 and 3. The vehicles help Mega Man avoid enemies and obstacles as well as reach areas he normally could not.

Dr. Light also developed the energy tank which allows Mega Man to replenish his health in one fell swoop. He can carry four of these at any one time. These tanks would be a staple in later games. This would make the game a bit more forgiving than the first game where the margin of error is very slim.

Mega Man 2 is the debut of the Wily Castle. While Wily does have a factory in the first installment of the game, nowhere in the game does it show a castle. In the wily castle would be the first "rematch room" which contains teleportation pods which lead to the robot masters' chambers. The matches are much easier however, since you already have the complete set of weapons and could easily use each robot master's weakness against him.After you vanquish the robot masters a second time, Wily appears in a new crazy contraption to stomp Mega Man. After you trash Wily's newest toy, you would follow Wily into an underground cavern where Wily would seemingly transform into an alien. Was Wily an alien all along or is Wily collaborating with aliens to conquer the world? Beat him to find the answer.

The game continues to be a platformer with the rock-paper-scissors concept where each robot master is vulnerable and resistant to certain weapons in your arsenal. New elements to the game are the ability to store energy tanks and the ability to now use vehicles to avoid or get through obstacles. The game now has a save ability through a password system. The game also has two levels of difficulty.

Dr. Wily has improved his designs and increased the variety of his robot army from robot monkeys to lightning wielding robots to mechanical rabbits.Wily hopes these improvements help him decimate the blue bomber.

The first game featured six robot masters. This installment goes with eight robot masters. All eight are Dr. Wily’s design but he has incorporated some aspects of robotics that he has learned working with Dr. Light. Once you banish the robot master, his special weapon is yours to command.

Metal Man’s blades are made of ceramic titanium which was inspired by Cut Man’s shears. Just like his spiritual predecessor, Metal Man is lightweight and is a very agile combatant. He is the very first robot master created by Dr. Wily. Defeat him and gain the Metal Blade.

Air Man is able to use the huge propeller in his chest to suck opponents towards him or to repel them. He could also generate multiple tornadoes to damage his foes. Defeat him and gain the Air Shooter.

Bubble Man is the first aquatic robot in the series. He is similar to the DC hero Aquaman where he is a boss underwater but is fairly limited when on land. Bubble can swim extremely fast in the water and can shoot bubbles from his head gun and arm cannon and also shoot his own version of the buster cannon. The bubbles can be used to trap foes or to protect Bubble Man from attacks. Defeat him and gain the Bubble Lead.

Quick Man is based on Elec Man’s design. This speedster can run fast and is quick to think and act. Aside from his blazing speed, Quick Man has razor sharp boomerangs that he can hurl at opponents. Quick Man has a lightweight chassis that enables him to always maintain top speed. Defeat him and gain the Quick Boomerang.

Crash Man was created using the combined schematics of Bomb Man and Guts Man. Crash Man can withstand the detonation of his own bombs. The bombs themselves are hard to get rid of as they attach to the target and have a timed detonation. Defeat him and gain the Crash Bomber.

Flash Man has one of the most powerful weapons in the game as he can literally stop time. He also has a rapid fire buster weapon that he can unleash on his now frozen foes. Defeat him and gain the Time Stopper.

Heat Man is an upgraded version of Fire Man. Instead of producing a mere 7000-8000 degrees like Fire Man, Heat Man can produce flames as hot as 12,000 degrees Celsius. He can hurl fire projectiles at you and flame up and charge at you similar to the attack of M. Bison of Street Fighter. Defeat him and gain the Atomic Fire.

Wood Man is unique in a sense that he is actually made of wood – hinoki cypress wood. His mechanisms are all wooden and he is just reinforced with metal to increase his durability. He is the first robot to use a barrier shield as a defense mechanism and as a weapon. The shield is comprised of ceramic titanium leaves that are controlled by electromagnetism. Defeat him and gain the Leaf Shield.

It is a general consensus that this game is the best in the original series. It has greatly improved upon the original in terms of graphics, music and play-ability. Though it may not be as difficult as Mega Man 1, Mega Man 2 is a worthy successor to the original.

The game is very engaging and fun to play. Adding a password feature is important to be able to save your progress and avoid the frustration of repeating things over and over once Mega Man runs out of lives. The difficulty options also eases you through the game if you are a newbie.