Megaman II (GB)

Megaman now has a dog!!!!

The Blue Bomber has set the standard for game to come with the release of MegaMan 2 on the NES. It was one of the most popular games for the system and still sells for over 20 dollars at some stores. When the Gameboy came out, Capcom knew it needed to bring on of it’d flagship series over. Bring it over they did. MegaMan is one of the few 2-D platforming games out there now, but when this was released, MegaMan was something new. There have been over 7 other MegaMans, the MegaMan X series, MegaMan Legends, which the is only MegaMan that goes into 3-D, in many Capcom fighters, and some best left obscure titles (MegaMan Soccer?) But he still has his fanbase. But it is growing smaller every day, because the great 2-D titles of yesteryear are dying. Though I do like the how Capcom keeps up with 2-D titles, they really haven’t done anything really new to keep it alive since X. Now, I take the reason that MegaMan got popular, MegaMan 2. This began a long line of MegaMan on the NES and Gameboy. For this version on GB, they needed to edit some things out of the original, most noticeably, color. They also took out some bosses in exchange for some later ones. Unless you are a novice for the MegaMan series, then you shall find this game very easy.

THE STORY: The story is like a basic MM plot: Dr. Wily and Dr. Light were partners, trying to make robots. Dr. Wily turned evil and changed the robots to do evil. Only one of them resisted the programming. His name was MegaMan. Dr. Light sent him to beat up all the other robots and put Dr. Wily to jail. The Blue Bomber does just that. (that was backplot.) No, Dr. Wily has escaped from the slamma, and built some more robots. Along with them, this pogo stick with an attitude. MegaMan must takes down all these baddies, and then confront Dr. Wily, in space.

THE GRAPHICS: These are, how should I say it? Piss Poor Graphics. PPG. They look worse then the NES version, and because of the lack of color, nothing looks right. I think they should have made this SGB compatible (if the SGB was out then) and it would look like a NES game. MegaMan looks exactly like the NES ones, but worse then SNES. The stages have some detail to them, and the one that you will notice considerable it Wood Man stage. All the bosses look amazing, and Dr. Wily’s final boss looks pretty good for a game this old. Every weapon MM uses looks different. Rush also looks mighty fine in every form. The normal enemies look terrible though. Even though they are good for their time, they could of done much better. How do I know? Go look at Zelda. Go look at Pokemon. They were better. Even though Pokemon can out later. Capcom might have rushed it, as they began to do with MMs after the first 4 or 5. They just reused most of the artwork, which they do almost all the time now. This was the beginning of using the same artwork again and again. Now, most of the things look unoriginal and not planned out right. That is why this gets a 5.

THE GAMEPLAY: The Gameplay might have been done before, but MegaMan has always done it so well. This is the first time that they had Rush, the robotic dog on the GB, so it added a whole new sense of platforming. You needed Rush to get certain energy tanks, or to even pass a level. You have over 5 kinds of weapons, ranging from the unbelievably useful Metal Blades to the slow, but Powerful, Hard Knuckle. They also have something that sets it apart from all the other MMs, the why you select the stages. You begin with 4 stages you can pick. After you best those, you can get to another 4. This is different from the others because that most of the time you get all 8 at once and then some more, but, the GB could not hold that much data, so the scrapped that. However, they added some more challenge to the GB ones, with large jumps and strange sliding positions. But, they make up for it by making the last boss (Dr. Wily) very easy. That is a real letdown, because it took me longer to beat Air Man’s stage then beat Dr. Wily. Also, like the first MM games, this game uses “ugh” passwords. As most people know, passwords are Satan. In password form. MM2 uses a 5x5 grid that you put circles in, and that tells you how many bosses you have beaten. Passwords are prone to human errors, and I made my way into Wily’s final level and then.....I loss my password. It was almost heartbreaking, like losing my doggie. It took me a whole week for me to get that far again. Why doesn’t Capcom just get a battery? But, if you like jumping and shooting stuff, The Blue Bomber has it all.

THE SOUND: Ugh! Nasty, Ugly, evil. NGE. And I thought Capcom knew what it was doing on the GB. This could come from the Apple 1 and it would just squeak by. MegaMan is known for good sound and music, but hooey! I turn it down. I also don’t like playing portable games with sound, because it distracts we from the TV. Yes, I am able to play this game and watch TV at the same time? How do I do it? Without sound. Good thing, because the squawks that come from my little GBA is horrendous. Though every stage has different music (I noticed by the different pitches of squawking) an un-keen ear could mistake them. Each weapon has it’s own effect. However, Capcom put quantity over quality as some people do. Oh Capcom? When will you learn?

OVERALL: If this had been done in 1997 then it would have been much, much higher, but then the over amount of the same games again and again to the point where they just release the same game under a different number, which they didn’t in the beginning. When it came out a decade ago, it was fresh and new, but now, it shows its age and seems to fall apart at the seams. Some parts of the game are just downright hard, and me being an experienced platformer, that is saying something. I spent a few minutes just getting this one jump, because of the D-pads somewhat loose control on this game, you needed some luck and a prayer to get it. Though some MM diehards will flock to this game like goats on a butter churner, most people will stay clear of it, knowing that they could get a newer version of it, with better graphics and more things to do inside the game. So, would you buy or rent?

I would do neither, since you could get a later one on GB or GBC for not enough money more to make you think about getting this. This game did bring Rush to the GB, but, other then that, there was nothing different.

NAME: MEGAMAN II
SYSTEM: Game Boy