Mega Man 2

Mega Man 2
One of the best sequel ever made to a first installments.
Protagonist(s): Mega Man Genre(s): Platformer Action Platform(s): Nintendo Entertainment System PlayStation Mobile iOS Android Release Date: Famicom/NES JP: December 24, 1988 NA: June 2, 1989 PAL: December 14, 1990 PlayStation JP: September 2, 1999 Mobile phone NA: June 2007 iOS NA: March 26, 2009 Android WW: January 5, 2017 Developer(s): Capcom Publisher(s): Capcom Country: Japan Series: Mega Man Predecessor: Mega Man Successor: Mega Man 3

"So we, of our own accord, got together, spent our own time, we worked really, really hard, you know, just 20-hour days to complete this, because we were making something we wanted to make. Probably in all my years of actually being in a video game company, that was the best time of my working at Capcom, because we were actually working toward a goal, we were laying it all on the line, we were doing what we wanted to do. And it really showed in the game, because it’s a game, once again, that we put all our time and effort and love, so to speak, into it, designing it."

— Keiji Inafune, April 2004

Mega Man 2, known as Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo (ロックマン2 Dr.ワイリーの謎 Rokkuman 2: Dr. Wairī no Nazo, which translates to "The Mystery of Dr. Wily") in Japan, is the second game of the Mega Man series. The game was released in Japan on December 24, 1988, and in North America and PAL regions the following years.

Plot

In the year 200X (the first decade of the 21st century), a super robot named Mega Man was created by Dr. Light to stop the mysterious evil genius Dr. Wily's ambition to conquer the world in Mega Man. However, one year after his defeat, Dr. Wily returns on June 9 with eight of his own combat robots to challenge Mega Man. Mega Man, learning this, set out to defeat the eight Robot Masters which Dr. Wily had created, having to traverse their respective stages first.

Why It Mega Rocks

1. Like with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, the most impressive part about this game was how it was able to be completed in just four months, yet it still managed to be pitch perfect.
2. The game has eight robot masters to choose from compared to six in the first game, which, like last time, can be tackled in any order. That is also a major step up from the first game, and the eight robot master setup became a standard in later Mega Man games.
3. The graphics are very great for a NES game made in 1988; much like Ninja Gaiden on the NES, the game looks like a 16-bit game despite being on an 8-bit console. The graphics are also even better and have improved from the first game, which had good graphics but was not as detailed as this one.
   • It's also extremely colorful, and it's also added life to the game, despite being very good already; in fact, it's one of the best-looking NES games of 1988 due to how good the graphics are.
   • No matter what stage you are in, the game will never look bad, like Mega Man Zero (which was released later in 2002 for the GBA).
4. The controls are improved from the first game; Mega Man is no longer stiff to controls, and he isn't as slippery as he was in the first game. It's also added to the reason why this game is so good and a huge improvement over the first game; later Mega Man games will even improve the controls even more than this game, like Mega Man 8.
5. This game introduces the Energy Tank item to the Mega Man franchise; it's allows a player to refill Mega Man’s health at any time, which is an incredible cool feature of the series, and it's helpful when you have trouble with enemies or some boss fight.
6. The soundtrack is phenomenal for a NES game made in 1988, especially for its time. In fact, it's so good that the soundtrack of the game is considered to be some of the best soundtracks of any NES game. This includes, but is not limited to:
   • Air Man theme, which became one of the most iconic musics from not only the NES library but also in the entire gaming history, also fits the stage itself, and it's one of the best musics of the game.
   • Bubble Man theme is also very good and fits the stage, especially in the underwater section; it's also unique in itself.
   • The boss battle theme sounds very great and is one of the best boss battle music of all time ; it's also sound epic, though not as much as Dr. Wily Castle 1.
   • Dr Wily Castle 1 is one of, if not the greatest, songs of the game, as it's very epic and, along with the Air Man theme, one of the most iconic pieces of music in gaming history. It's also unforgettable, even for a Mega Man game.
7. To this day, Mega Man 2 is considered one of the best video games ever made, and for good reasons due to how great the game is.
8. The game introduces a password system, so you can continue the game where you left off without having to beat the game in one sitting.
9. A much more balanced difficulty than its predecessor (but still challenging). The international version even adds an option to choose between two difficulties: normal and difficult. In normal mode, the weapons do double damage to the bosses.
   • In fact, the game is more fun than the first because of this main reason; it's also another improvement over the first game.
10. Great Robot Master designs like Quick Man, Flash Man, Metal Man, and Crash Man—in fact, these robot masters look better than most robot masters in the first game due to how great they were designed.
11. It removed the pointless score system from the first game, even though some people would maybe like to get that score system back.
12. The final stage, Wily's Castle, is longer than the first Mega Man, with six stages in total.
13. The stages are creative and exciting and an improvement over the first Mega Man game on the NES, as they were designed much better than the first Mega Man game.
14. It saved the series from being abandoned by Capcom, as the previous game sold very poorly and a sequel was very unlikely to happen, but the team behind the first game wanted to make a sequel and believed Mega Man had some potential, and since the developers put so much care into the final product, it resulted in this sequel receiving positive reviews and also becoming the best-selling game in the series until Mega Man 11 surpassed it in 2018, thus making Mega Man the mascot of Capcom and one of the most important video game franchises of all time.
15. Creative and fun boss battles (except for the Boobeam trap and Wily Alien Boss fights).
16. The ending is entertaining and an improvement over the first Mega Man on NES.
17. The weapons are much better than the first Mega Man game on NES (despite most of them being already good).
    • The Metal Blade is very strong, since it can fire in eight directions and deals massive damage to enemies, and has a lot of ammo.
    • The Quick Boomerang is also a good weapon, since it can deal a good amount of damage to enemies and serves very handy in defeating certain bosses.
    • The Air Shooter can be very good at taking down airborne enemies and has good damage output overall.
    • Crash Bomber is very useful at destroying certain areas in the game, and is important to use to defeat The Boobeam Trap.
    • The new utility items are also a welcome improvement over the previous entry's sole Magnet Beam. This time you have them unlocked after defeating certain bosses with items like a flying lift (Item 1), a jet platform to cross gaps (Item 2) or a climbing platform (Item 3).

Bad Qualities

1. The game was a victim of rushing; notwithstanding, it turned out to be one of the best games on the NES, making the next point happen.
2. Not all the boss fights are well-constructed.
   • The Boobeam Trap boss fight is extremely poorly designed. The player has to use the Crash Bomb to destroy the purple orbs on the walls that fire almost impossible-to-dodge (unless you glitch the game by constantly pausing and unpausing, which gives you invincibility frames) lasers, as well as two of the five breakable walls. The problem with this is that the player only has seven shots with the Crash Bomb, and all seven are needed to win. So if you mess up, you have to either grind for Crash Bomb energy (which takes absolutely forever and is not worth the effort) or intentionally get a game over to try the boss again!
   • You can only use Bubble Lead to defeat the final boss in the game. If you use anything else, you will give the boss full health. Even worse, if you run out of Bubble Lead during the final stage, you need to get the game over since there are no ways to refill your Bubble Lead energy.
   • Some of the Robot Masters are perhaps too difficult without using their weakness. Air Man is infamously tricky as he scatters his tornadoes in the arena in which you must have precise timing to dodge. Quick Man in his normal stage is a tough boss with a random jumping pattern and his fast boomerangs that are tricky to avoid while he zooms across the screen.
3. Dr. Wily is kept as a villain for this game and other games afterwards, even though there are subtle hints of him changing from being a villain into a hero or anti-hero.
4. Just like its predecessor, the US cover art is awful, though at least it's more accurate than the first.
   • Speaking of which, one of the European box arts is even worse. Mega Man looked more like a Silver Terminator than a Blue Bomber.
5. Quick Man's Stage is infamous for its unbearable difficulty. Above, in the laser part where it's the unbearable difficulty, you can use the time stopper to go through it easily, which helps you not die from that.
6. You can get hit by enemies you didn’t see coming, just like in the original Mega Man.
7. Poor weapon balance:
   • The Metal Blade is too overpowered, being capable of being shot in eight directions and having a whopping 112 shots of energy before running out of it.
   • The Bubble Lead is considered to be one of the worst weapons in the franchise, as it deals low damage and dings off many enemies, being only effective against Heat Man and the final boss.
   • The Crash Bomb deals weak damage for its energy cost.
8. Speaking of weapons, the Atomic Fire, Leaf Shield, and Time Stopper are also bad weapons.
   • The Atomic Fire takes half of the ammo when fully charged, and the uncharged blasts deal poor damage.
   • The Time Stopper makes the player unable to make Mega Man switch weapons or shoot enemies, you cannot toggle once activated. It doesn't help that if you use it against the force beams in Quick Man's stage, you won't have enough for the boss because you used all your weapon energy in one go on the stage! It also drains way too quickly too, making it very hard to use even against the lasers in Quick Man's stage.
   • The Leaf Shield only stays on if Mega Man does not move at all. It's not a shield that can block attacks either; then again, the Fire Storm from the first Mega Man game doesn't block either, but the Leaf Shield isn't as good of an offensive weapon as the Fire Storm is.
9. The game's password system is overly convoluted, thankfully, this would be rectified with Mega Man 3 onwards, giving a much simpler password system.
10. E-Tanks do not save upon losing all lives, particularly detrimental in the fortress stages where E-Tanks are scarce.

Development and reception

The first Mega Man game—released in 1987—was not successful enough to justify the immediate development of a sequel. According to Roy Ozaki, director Akira Kitamura had wanted to make a sequel to Mega Man, but producer Tokuro Fujiwara was against it. Kitamura then went to the Capcom Vice President to get permission to make the game. Capcom allowed the development team to create a sequel on the condition that they work concurrently on other projects as well. The staff spent their own time on the project to improve upon the original by adding more levels and weapons, as well as improving the graphics. The project supervisor of the first Mega Man invited Inafune to the sequel's development crew; Inafune was working on a separate game at the time. In the previous game, Inafune worked as an artist and character designer but became more involved in the production process of the sequel. "Working on [Mega Man 2] marked my second year at this, and I even got to mentor a 'new kid', which opened up a whole new world of stress for me," Inafune recounted. The development time for the game was only three to four months.

Due to the limited amount of cartridge space available for the first game, elements such as planned enemy characters were omitted from the final product. The unused content was later transferred to Mega Man 2. The team was limited by the graphical capabilities of the console and designed characters as pixel art to maintain consistency between the designs and final product; some design elements, however, were lost in the transition. The gameplay system from the original game was kept for Mega Man 2, but the team included more traps for the player to navigate. The game's three support items were added to aid the player because of complaints from consumers and Capcom's marketing department regarding the original game's high difficulty. Inafune's supervisor was "especially unsure" about the usefulness of the energy tanks.

The first game did not have any influence from fans, but for the second game, Kitamura wanted to get ideas from players and put them in. The developers allowed input from the public by including boss designs created by fans. Capcom received 8,370 boss submissions for the game, although even the designs for the final eight Robot Masters were "tweaked".

Inafune intended his artwork for Mega Man 2 to be more "anime-ish" than in the first game. A second difficulty setting was added for the North American release. The original version was labeled "difficult", and a "normal" setting was created that made the "arm cannon" and boss weapons more powerful. Veteran video game cover illustrator Marc Ericksen painted the North American box art, which included Mega Man firing a pistol instead of his trademark Mega Buster. Ericksen explained that he was unfamiliar with the game and was directed by the Capcom America creative team to give Mega Man a pistol.

While the first Mega Man had relatively low sales, Mega Man 2 is the game that caused the Mega Man franchise to become popular. Mega Man 2 has sold over 1.51 million units since its release in 1988, making it the second-highest-selling game in the Mega Man franchise and one of Capcom's highest-selling titles.

Reception

With more than 1.5 million copies sold, the game is the best-selling Mega Man title. Critics praised its audio, visuals, and gameplay as an improvement over the first game. Many publications rank Mega Man 2 as the best title in the series and as one of the greatest video games of all time. In the last issue of the gaming magazine Nintendo Power, released in December 2012, Mega Man 2 was ranked the 6th-best game released on a Nintendo platform.

Version differences

1. There is no difficulty selecting in the Japanese version of the game. There is a Normal mode and a Difficult mode in the English versions, in which Difficult is the original Japanese mode and Normal is an easier mode in which Mega Man's attacks cause twice the damage against bosses and enemies' HP amounts are halved. The difficulty select is only available in the American, European, and Australian NES and mobile phone ports of the game.
2. In the Mega Man Anniversary Collection version, the "normal" difficulty is treated like the difficult mode of the original English version. The "easy" difficulty, however, is not the same as the normal mode of the original English version. Differences in the Easy difficulty of Mega Man Anniversary Collection's version include halved damage taken, enemies being removed from stages, and fewer hits required to kill enemies than in the Difficult mode of the original version (although more hits are required to kill enemies than in the Normal mode of the original version).
3. There is an iOS version of the game made by Capcom Mobile. The game on iOS is fairly faithful to the NES original. However, unlike the original game, the player can now replay levels at any time, including Wily Castle levels, and when replaying a level, the boss also reappears at the end, like in the first Mega Man game. There is also an "EXIT LEVEL" feature in the submenu; when the player selects it, they are sent out of the level and can select another one while retaining the energy tanks and extra lives obtained in the level they exited. Also added is an Easy Mode for newcomers to the series, in which the bosses and enemies die quicker and the player takes less damage. There are some problems, including the boss health meter sound being much shorter, the stage music stopping to start again, and the credits being removed from the end of the game.
4. Mega Man 2 was made into an incredibly stripped-down handheld electronic game by Tiger Electronics.
   • Every level is, in essence, the same; Mega Man must run to the right a specific distance while attacking or avoiding two differing enemies and leaping on two occasionally disappearing platforms until he reaches the area's boss. However, the player can still select any Robot Master level in any order.
   • This version had only six of the original eight bosses (Wood Man and Crash Man are not present), and the graphics art for Mega Man borrows from the cover art as well as the original graphic (he attacks with a pistol instead of an arm cannon, which, strangely, has a limited amount of weapon energy). The bosses that exist also bear little resemblance to their NES counterparts.
     • Of the eight bosses to fight, only Quick Man, Heat Man, Bubble Man, and Metal Man have their regular sub-weapons in check; Air Man and Flash Man fire out bullets similar to Mega Man's gun that can actually counter each other out. As a result, their sub-weapons are another batch of regular bullets.
     • The bosses do not possess any energy bars and can be destroyed by either fifteen shots with the regular shots or three hits with their specific weakness.
     • Once all six are destroyed, Mega Man then chases after Dr. Wily in his escape pod until he reaches the end of the level. However, like the original version, Bubble Lead is still his weakness, as no other weapon will damage him in the ensuing fight.
5. Mega Man 2 appears in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as a playable "Masterpiece" demo. The demo starts on the first stage of Wily Castle, and like with other Masterpieces in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, it gives the player a time limit before being returned to the Masterpiece selection, with three minutes in Mega Man 2's case, enough time to reach the Mecha Dragon.

Other Media

The game was adapted into the third story arc for the Archie Comics Mega Man comic, "The Return of Dr. Wily." In the arc, the Robot Masters are intended to either defeat Mega Man or infect him with a virus bit by bit as he absorbs their special weapons. All the Robot Masters are defeated, but Mega Man ends up under Dr. Wily's control until the Mega Man 1 and Powered Up Robot Masters come to his rescue. Dr. Wily escapes and sets his course for the Lanfront Ruins in South America, foreshadowing an adaptation of Super Adventure Rockman.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Mega Man 2 was composed by Takashi Tateishi (credited as Ogeretsu Kun), with Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae (credited as Manami Ietel) included for having her work on the credits theme from the first game repurposed for the title screen and for co-composing a minor part of the melody for Air Man's stage. Matsumae had been moved to the arcade division, considered more prestigious at the time, which necessitated a new composer. Matsumae and Tateishi worked closely during their time at Capcom, with Tateishi assisting Matsumae with the U.N. Squadron in a similar manner during the period, albeit uncredited. Tateishi's musical background was unusual compared to his contemporaries at Capcom, in that he had not been classically trained but was instead drawing on his experience performing in a band. He sought to consciously move away from the more classical-sounding themes that were common at the time. He was also relatively new to the games industry, having only been hired by Capcom earlier that year for Mad Gear (1988). Tateishi would not remain with the franchise after Mega Man 2, as he and Kitamura both resigned from Capcom soon afterwards to work on Cocoron.

Tateishi's initial compositions for the game were of varying moods, with some of them being considered "too cute" by Kitamura, who requested that they be changed to fit in with the rest of the soundtrack. A single fragment of this declined concept remains in the game as Crash Man's stage theme. Tateishi has indicated that "no one has" the earlier, softer score. Stylistically, the score was influenced by Mezzoforte and the Yellow Magic Orchestra.

The widely praised piece used for the first two Wily stages was heavily compromised due to data limitations, with Tateishi being forced to use the first eight measures of the song multiple times throughout it. The intention to compose a song exclusive to the second stage was quickly abandoned for the same reasons.

As with the previous game, the sound programming was handled by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, credited as Yuukichan's Papa.

Legacy

Kitamura chose to leave Capcom and joined the company Takeru, where he worked on the game Cocoron instead of Mega Man 3.

Keiji Inafune claims the success of Mega Man 2 is what made the Mega Man series a hit that continues to spawn sequels. 1UP.com commented that the game helped establish the series as a prominent and commercially successful video game franchise. IGN cited Mega Man 2 as helping define the platforming genre. Retro Gamer credited it with helping the series obtain the global presence that allowed spin-offs and more sequels to be created. Many of the conventions of the original Mega Man series were defined by the first game, but Mega Man 2 added crucial conventions that were retained for the rest of the series. The traditional number of Robot Masters for the series is eight as used in Mega Man 2, rather than the six used in the original. It was the first in the series to include an opening cinematic. Mega Man 2 also introduced the Energy Tank item, special movement items, teleporter room, and password system, which became staples in future games. The Energy Tank became the series' iconic health refill item and later served as inspiration for a promotional "Rockman E-Can" drink. In developing Mega Man 9, producer Inafune and Hironobu Takeshita looked to the first two games in the series for inspiration, with Mega Man 2 serving as a standard to surpass in order to meet fans' expectations. Mega Man Universe was to feature a remake of Mega Man 2's story campaign, as well as feature customizable characters and levels. However, Capcom has officially announced the game's cancellation due to "various circumstances." In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Wily Castle, as depicted in Mega Man 2, appears as a selectable stage in both versions of the game. The stage returned in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Rereleases and adaptations

In 1990, Tiger Electronics produced a handheld electronic version with abridged gameplay. Mega Man 2 was remade in 1994 for the Sega Genesis game Mega Man: The Wily Wars, featuring updated graphics and sound. In 1999, Mega Man 2 was rereleased for the PlayStation as the second of six Rockman Complete Works discs, though only in Japan and under the original title Rockman 2. It is largely identical to the original NES release, but had a number of bonuses, such as a "navi mode" for beginners that presents the player with a slightly remade version of the game, detailed encyclopedic content, image galleries, and remixed music. Mega Man 2 was included with nine other games in the series in Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, released between 2004 and 2005. The game's emulation is identical to the re-release contained in Rockman Complete Works. Also in 2005, Mega Man 2 was released alongside other Capcom games as part of a "Plug It In & Play TV Games" peripheral by Jakks Pacific. Mega Man 2 made its way to mobile phones in 2007. The game was added as a part of the Wii Virtual Console service in PAL regions on December 14, 2007. In celebration of the ninth game's release in September 2008, Capcom Japan released the game on August 26, 2008 in Japan and a North American release on September 15, 2008. In March 2009, Capcom released the game for iPhone OS, while in September of the same year the Complete Works version of Mega Man 2 was released on the Japanese PlayStation Store, making it available for download on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. Inafune expressed a desire to remake Mega Man 2, similar to Mega Man Powered Up, but stated that such a project was dependent on the commercial success of the latter. A tech demo for the Nintendo 3DS called Classic Games was shown at E3 2010, displaying more than a dozen classic games, including Mega Man 2, using 3D effects. Reggie Fils-Aimé announced that the games were slated for release on the 3DS and would possibly use the 3DS' features, such as 3D effects, analog control, or camera support. The game was released on the 3DS via the Virtual Console in Japan on August 8, 2012 and was released in Europe and North America on February 7, 2013.

Mega Man 2 was novelized in the Worlds of Power series published by Scholastic in 1990. The novel mostly follows the game, even offering game hints at the end of some chapters. Besides the added dialogue, the one major variation in the novel is that Dr. Light fears Mega Man's chances against Dr. Wily's more powerful new robots and while attempting to duplicate him, accidentally turns him into a human being, a difficulty Mega Man must endure throughout the story. The book's cover also lacks the gun depicted on the North American box art of the game, due to a "no weapons" policy that Worlds of Power writers had to abide by.

The game was also adapted into the third story arc for the Archie Comics Mega Man comic, "The Return of Dr. Wily." In the arc, the Robot Masters are intended to either defeat Mega Man or infect him with a virus bit by bit as he absorbs their Special Weapons. All the Robot Masters are defeated but Mega Man ends up under Dr. Wily's control until the Mega Man Powered Up Robot Masters come to his rescue. Dr. Wily escapes and sets his course for the Lanfront Ruins in South America, foreshadowing an adaptation of Super Adventure Rockman.

Influence on nerd rock scene

The Mega Man 2 soundtrack is one of the most widely remixed soundtracks in gaming, and a great many covers were produced in the 2000s by various artists. Mixdown magazine described the soundtrack as one that would be "rehashed and reimagined at conventions and festivals until the end of time" and further that covering it had been a rite of passage in the early period of the nerd rock scene. Numerous artists and bands performed all or part of the soundtrack on studio albums in the 2000s, including The NESkimos on Battle Perfect Selection (2002), Chromelodeon on Year 20XX (2003), The Minibosses on Brass (2005), Mega Ran on his self titled album (2007), and The Megas on Get Equipped (2008). Many bands of the era additionally drew their stage names from the series, such as Armcannon, The Protomen and DJ Cutman.

Capcom endorsed some of these groups, officially licensing Mega Ran's 2007 cover album and bringing him to San Diego Comic-con that year. In 2010 The Megas were hired by Capcom to produce music for a Mega Man Universe trailer. All of these groups performed at the gaming music event MAGFest through the 2000s and 2010s. Tateishi himself appeared at Super MAGfest 2019.

Trivia

1. • The "Town Mission 4" music from Sonic '06 has been compared to Flash Man's theme here due to the two songs having similar tunes.
   • This is the only installment to have only one theme for all bosses, even the final boss, Alien.
   • Dr. Wily's stage is shown in the stage select screen but can't actually be selected. The player automatically goes to it after defeating the eight bosses.
   • Roll is not present in the base version for the NES. However, she appears as the navigator in Navi Mode in the Rockman Complete Works and Mega Man Anniversary Collection versions.
   • Bosses have a short invulnerability period after receiving damage, allowing the player to quickly deplete their health with the Mega Buster. However, many can't be hit multiple times due to the way they act.
   • This is the first Mega Man game to:
     • Include a wise castle.
     • Have difficulty setting.
     • Have Dr. Wily create his own set of robot masters instead of using someone else's.
     • Feature the standard eight robot masters instead of six from the first game.

Use Robot Master mugshots instead of their sprites.

1. • Use Robot Master mugshots instead of their sprites.
     • Have the "Teleport System" when encountering the Robot Masters (the original game had teleporters, but you had to do them in a set order).
     • Have energy tanks, although the player could only carry four instead of nine as in later NES (and NES-style) games.
   • The North American cover art of the game is referenced in Resident Evil: Resistance; one of the sprays in the game is a direct reference to the art with the words "Mega Martin 2".
   • Many ideas that were not used in the original Mega Man game, due to cart size limitations, were recycled for Mega Man 2.
   • This game and Mega Man 3 are the only ones from Mega Man to Mega Man 11 to use a final boss other than the Wily Machine or Wily Capsule.
   • Quick Man's stage is taken from this game and is used as Dr. Wily's fortress stage in the Game Gear Mega Man game.
     • Also, Shadow Devil's stage in Mega Man X5 and QuickMan. EXE's stage in Mega Man Network Transmission is similar to Quick Man's stage.
   • Despite the original Mega Man having an alternate music track for fortress bosses, Mega Man 2 lacks this feature, something not repeated for Mega Man 3 but brought back for Mega Man 4-6 and 8-9. (Although in the latter cases, there was a separate music track for the final boss, whereas in Mega Man 2, the boss music is the same for all bosses.)
   • Like the first game, using a Game Genie on Mega Man 2 will cause the music to be riddled with quirks and odd sounds.
   • Despite the original Mega Man having an alternate music track for fortress bosses, Mega Man 2 lacks this feature, something not repeated for Mega Man 3 but brought back for Mega Man 4-6 and 8-9. (Although in the latter cases, there was a separate music track for the final boss, whereas in Mega Man 2, the boss music is the same for all bosses.)
   • Like the first game, using a Game Genie on Mega Man 2 will cause the music to be riddled with quirks and odd sounds.
   • Flash Man and Bubble Man are the only two robot masters from Mega Man 2 who did not appear in the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon. Also, Flash Man is the only robot master from the game absent in Captain N: The Game Master.
   • In the stage select screen, if the player holds the A button and chooses a stage, the stars that sit behind the presentation of the boss will turn into pipis.
   • At Wily Stage 5's boss rematches, if the player defeats a boss while not moving from the spot when teleported in, a glitch will occur, and the boss' life meter will freeze and turn green momentarily, letting the player go. It's easiest to do this glitch with Flash Man or Metal Man.
   • This game was the first to have more than four Wily Stages. Mega Man 3 and 10 would repeat this later on.
   • A player can warp to a glitched version of the Wily Stages via the boss room of four Robot Masters in order of level. They are (in order in which stage the level shares data): Heat Man (Wily Stage 1), Air Man (Wily Stage 2), Wood Man (Wily Stage 3), and Bubble Man (Wily Stage 4). All except Heat Man require Item-1 to perform the glitch.

1. • Promotional art for Marvel vs. Capcom Origins is heavily inspired by the U.S. boxart of the game.
   • At the end of Crash Man's stage, before the shutter, there is a pattern of stars in the background that resemble the constellation Big Dipper.
   • Wood Man's stage is given the name Titanium Park in the Archie Comics Mega Man series. Issue 55 of the series would also feature the design of Mega Man from the European cover of this game in its Short Circuits, which saw several different Mega Man characters and different versions of them appear.
   • Keji Inafune expressed a desire to remake Mega Man 2, similar to Mega Man Powered Up, but stated that such a project was dependent on the commercial success of the latter.
   • This is the only game in the franchise to be included on the NES Classic Edition.
   • Mega Man 2 is one of the video games that appear in the film The Wizard.

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