GB Review: Mega Man II

System: Game Boy
Genre: Action/Platformer
Developer: Biox
Publisher: Nintendo
Release: Dec. 20, 1991 JPN / Feb. 1992 USA / 1992 EUR
Players: 1
Rated: N/A

The first portable entry in the Mega Man Game Boy series, Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge was only published by Capcom. Development was outsourced to Minakuchi Engineering and the company proved that they really had a handle on how a Mega Man game should play on the small screen. For whatever reasons, Mega Man II was not designed by this same developer, with the reigns instead being given to Biox. Mega Man II isn't the worst Mega Man game you can play, but it has issues that make it the worst of the Mega Man GB titles.

Running with a similar format of Dr. Wily's Revenge, Mega Man II starts the player off with four Robot Master stages to choose from before moving on to an intermission stage and allowing you access to four more Robot Master levels. The second set of Robot Masters are in teleport hatches but rather than being taken directly to the boss upon entering the teleport capsule, you'll have to go through the Robot Master's level in order to face off against him. Mega Man II is a mishmash of the NES Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3, giving Mega Man all three forms of Rush (though you have to defeat certain Robot Masters to gain these Rush forms) and the ability to slide. Stage layouts are remixed versions of the levels from the corresponding games and aren't just cut and past areas. The lower section of Wood Man's level has a Freinder waiting to attack, but it's also home to an underwater section, complete with a bottomless pit. So while there is a feeling of familiarity with the stages, there's also plenty of differences.

Even without Rush Marine, the underwater
section in Wood Man's stage is super
simple.

The version of Rush Jet in this game is the
one from Mega Man 3. Hooray for broken
Rush Jet!

What isn't familiar and is the biggest thing that hampers Mega Man II is the feel of how it plays. Right off the bat you can tell that this game lacks the same tightness from Dr. Wily's Revenge and the NES games. Later games in the series like Mega Man 7 and Mega Man 8 would have a different feel to them, largely due to not using the same NES 8-bit style design, but they still played a heck of a lot better than Mega Man II. This game is a prime example of how being 8-bit does not define the Classic Mega Man experience. Mega Man II feels sloppy and unpolished and this is probably due to developer Biox knowing very little about Mega Man.

Most enemies are slow on the draw so
evading their fire is child's play.

You can actually beat Air Man a lot quicker
with your default weapon thanks to the
game's near nonexistent invincibility period
after attacks.

Mega Man games have always been designed to be difficult but even with the occasional tricky jump, Mega Man II is pretty easy. So easy that you can take out each boss with just the Mega Buster if you feel like. You might be relying on that for boss fights more than anything because your weapon energy can be depleted rather quickly. Weapons like the Crash Bombs have always been energy guzzlers, but the Metal Blades should never be drained so fast.

Composer Kenji Yamazaki was bold enough to give Mega Man II completely brand new tunes as opposed to the shrunken down arrangements found in Dr. Wily's Revenge (which were quite good, by the way). Mega Man II's compositions aren't really bad but the choice of instruments used make the music sound screeching, loud and grating on the ears. Each music track in this game is pitched so high that it's a chore to listen to as you play, especially Crash, sorry, Clash Man and Metal Man stages. If a different selection of instruments were implemented, Mega Man II would probably fare a lot better in the sound department. What's worse is that you can slightly alter the sound of each level you're in just by shooting a weapon, even Mega Man's default arm canon. When simply firing your weapon distorts the music, we've got major problems. There's a lot of GB games that have excellent sound quality despite the system's limitations. Mega Man II is, regrettably, not one of them. There are actually videos on YouTube that show just how good Mega Man II's audio can be when done with a different set of sound tools.

Dr. Wily gains the incomparable power of time
travel and the clown on the right is the best
he can come up with. 

The final level is the most challenging
and that isn't saying much.

The GB Mega Man games usually have a few characters unique to them, such as the Mega Man Killers. Mega Man II has Quint, a brain washed Mega Man from the future that rides a jackhammer/pogo-stick combo called Sakugarne. Quint is a sad excuse for a character and is sometimes confused for being one of the the Mega Man Killers when he could never hold a candle to those guys. Mega Man II is easy enough as it is, but the fight with Quint is a terrible joke, requiring you to shoot him in the head while he jumps right over you on his tricked out jackhammer toy. Quint is another reason Mega Man II is such a forgettable experience. Dr. Wily has the power of time travel at his finger tips and rather than go to the past to prevent Mega Man from being created, he goes to the future to convince his reformed future self to kidnap Rock and turn him into Quint, a loser on a pogo-stick. Really, Wily, THAT'S the best you can do when you can travel through time? Astronomic fail.

Keiji Inafune has said in the Mega Man Official Complete Works that he really didn't care for Mega Man II on the GB, even going as far as to say he felt like he owed the fans an apology for it. There have been a lot worse Mega Man entries (Mega Man X6-X7 spring to mind) but Mega Man II is definitely a low point for the Blue Bomber. This is the reason why Capcom placed the GB Mega Man games back in the care of Minakuchi Engineering for Mega Man III-V. We can only dream of what Mega Man II would be like had they developed it instead of Biox.

                                                                     SCORE: 5.5/10