Mega Man 2 (1989)

Beat on difficult. I know I played this way back in the 90s but cannot remember if I actually beat it then. I love the core Mega Man gameplay loop of choosing the order to fight the bosses, trying to guess which ones are weak to which weapon, and using those weapons to make the stages easier. For whatever reason, woodman jumped out at me to attack first. Wood is a pretty weak element, how bad could he be? I got through the stage fine but woody himself got me well acquainted with the checkpoint save system, which was an excellent mechanic. I loaded the state upon game over though, so not sure how continues worked; probably just had to restart the stage. I slowed the speed down to 30 frames per second and managed to scrape through without losing any lives. I put the speed back up to normal until I found a drop spike trap area that made my Sprite disappear, though it was fine at slow motion. I left the rest of the game slow since it was more fun. Next was Bubble man because bubbles sounded weak. Damn instant death spikes in that stage, though the boss was not difficult. The leaf shield came in handy for some enemies that approached at odd angles so I could kill them with contact damage. The bubbles went low so were good for clearing enemies on lower elevations while also hurting some armored enemies that the standard shot could not. Then I fought Heat man because I figured he surely would be weak to bubbles, and yes kicked his ass easily. The stage was not easy though, taking a lot of save state scumming to get past those stupid disappearing blocks. The rocket sled thing would skip that. I never used the hear shot during the stages because it was just like the standard shot only it could charge up to front load damage. I could see that being good for certain tougher enemies. Next was Metal man because I figured heat would melt metal. So such luck, but he was not too difficult. His blades were very cool because they could be aimed in any direction. Then Air man as he seemed the weakest of the remaining. I guessed that wood was the closest to earth and that earth would beat air, which was correct. However his air attacks blocked my shots and were extremely difficult to get past without getting hurt. I would dread fighting him with just the normal shot. Air shot was great for hitting enemies at higher elevations, even through floors and walls. Then quick man as I figured air would be fast enough to beat him. Both he and his stage were the hardest of the 8. I had to spend a life to get back to the checkpoint as I saved state in a no win situation. I had to then make several attempts through those beam screens to find the flawless route through, which I would not have needed with the time freeze power. The boss was extremely difficult to avoid and I had to use an E tank to heal. Beat him with a mix of heat and air. I only used boomerang for a couple later bosses, but it could be handy for hitting enemies at slightly different elevations. By this time I knew that flash was quick's weakness so I did Crash man next. He was easily killed with air and I only used the bombs for 1 boss later. Last was Flashman, who was easy.

According to a walkthrough the optimal order through the stages was: metal, flash, quick, wood, air, crash, bubble, heat. I would move quick to after air. Then I did the end game. I got stuck at a point where I had to create 4 floating platforms because I had been pressing the turbo button which most often put 2 platforms down at the same time. Then some save state scumming to get past the free fall with instant death spikes. The guide said to beat the cannons by destroying the barriers then deliberately dying and restoring crash bomb energy, but I did it in 1 go. I did need to use an E tank. The 2nd form of dr. Wily was tough due to his shots moving up and down, but I powered through. Then the final form I was forced to only use bubble shot. I did not like how the late bosses could only be hurt by 1 or 2 weapons. Those fights should have been more drawn out with opportunity to use every weapon.

This was one of the best games on the NES with a good balance of action, difficulty and strategy around boss order and use of special weapons. The 3 platforming "weapons" were cool but should have had more creative names than "item 1, item 2". Perhaps the special weapons could have used some balance, but they were all fun to use. The boss gauntlet at the end was a great way to try out every weapon to see which was best for each boss, for better planning for the next playthrough. My only real gripe about the game was the excessively difficult platforming at certain points. I would have preferred more combat and less platforming. It had some banging music too; I even let the Wily castle stage theme play for a while in the pause menu.

9.0/10