Mega Man II (Game Boy)

Quint

Mega Man’s later self from some utopian future. He is captured, brainwashed, and modified by Dr. Wily. Instead of giving him a mega buster, he instead equips him with a pogo-jackhammer called a Sakugarne that only tosses up a few rocks. Good job, Wily! He doesn’t even die when Mega Man fights him; he just teleports out after taking enough hits.

Much like the first Game Boy release, the sequel merges two NES titles into one, though it is a bit more expanded in scope than before. The four Robot Masters from Mega Man 2 that didn’t appear in Dr. Wily’s Revenge show up here, along with Top Man, Needle Man, Hard Man, and Magnet Man from Mega Man 3. However, the latter four Robot Masters now have complete stages selectable from teleporters in Wily’s Fortress. Rush is available only after Mega Man beats the bosses who hold his powerups, which means Rush Coil isn’t available to at the start.

The game this time was outsourced to Biox, a company unfamiliar with the Mega Man series, and it shows. Rather than fully reimagine the original stages, most layouts are cribbed from the Nintendo titles with new elements slapped in haphazardly, much like a plagarized piece masking its swipe with some amateurish additions. For example, Wood Man’s level matches a shrunk copy of the NES’s, aside from a Gemini Man-inspired water segment with Needle Man spikes to dodge, in order to shoehorn in an area to use the Rush Marine. Everything feels a bit off, from the slower speed to some out-of-place new graphics to squashed enemy sprites (how does Wily shrink into his final mech?). And the music – oh dear, the music! Like Revenge, the tunes are rearranged from the originals with a few new tracks, almost becoming an entirely new soundtrack. However, the pitch is so high and tinny that everything screeches and the percussion is nothing but staticy. It ruins what could’ve been fairly catchy compositions. The new exclusive weapon is lame and hard to hit enemies with. Needless to say, Capcom didn’t hire this team again.

All these flaws add up to make Mega Man II the worst of the Game Boy series. Its only saving grace is that it’s kind of easy and super common, so it’s at least not too much of a chore to play through with the sound muted.