Three Great Things About Mega Man 2
At long last, there's a new mainline Mega Man game in the works. Mega Man: Dual Override (basically Mega Man 12) is on its way in 2027, and as a huge fan of the Blue Bomber's classic adventures, I couldn't be more excited. And what do I do when I'm excited? I look back on how we got here!
For the next, well, however long it's going to take for Dual Override to come into existence, I'm going to be running through the entire classic series of Mega Man games and coming up with 3 things I like about them. Obviously, there will be some games that I like more than 3 things about. But in the interest of brevity, I'm sticking with the first three that come to mind.
So, without further ado, here are three great things about Mega Man 2.
Its legendary soundtrack
You simply can't talk about the best of Mega Man 2 and not mention the music. It’s beyond incredible, and some of the most iconic on the platform. Not that the first game's soundtrack is bad, not by a longshot. But the music Takashi Tateishi came up with for this followup set the tone for the rest of the franchise. Phenomenal stuff. And if you want to hear just how much I love this stuff, A very long time ago, dan and I did a whole episode of the podcast about it.
Some of the robot masters are supposed to be more lethal versions of the ones from Mega Man 1
This never occurred to me until I read the excellent (and tragically cancelled) comic book series from Archie, but it makes total sense. Crash Man is an upgrade of Bomb Man. Metal Man is an upgrade of Cut Man. Heat Man is an upgrade of Fire Man. I don’t know why, but this makes the whole game so much cooler to me. It’s a fantastic touch. It’s also cool to know that there's still stuff to learn about this series all these years later.
There’s an official novelization, and it’s completely insane
The Worlds of Power novels are... not great, and the Mega Man 2 one is no exception. It's bonkers, but it’s still pretty neat that is exists at all because it’s so ridiculously weird! I also love how the cover is altered from the NES box art. Note Mega Man’s gun is missing. He’s just sort of… pointing his fist at Quick Man.
Of course there’s about a million things I love about Mega Man 2. Those weird floating heads in Air Man's stage, that giant fish in Wily's castle, and the dragon. Oh, the dragon is SO COOL! But again, we're keeping things simple. What are your favorite things about Mega Man 2?
