Game Review: Mega Man 2 (Mobile)

Alongside Castlevania, the Mega Man series just wasn’t one that I played as a child. I think it was because we (my family) defected to Sega without giving the NES much time. In fact I hadn’t played a single Mega Man game until a few years ago but I never felt like I was missing out.

As the mobile gaming market improves & more classic games are seeing re-releases, this was the perfect time to experience what many consider the greatest of the Mega Man games, Mega Man 2.

A 2-D platformer, the player controls Mega Man as he makes his way through eight very different stages where a boss waits at the end. Once all eight have been defeated, the fortress of Dr Willy stands between Mega Man & the end credits.

Each stage is themed on one of Dr Willy’s robot masters: Metal Man, Air Man, Bubble Man, Quick Man, Wood Man, Crash Man, Heat Man and Flash Man. Defeat the robot master and Mega Man will get their weapon for use. This is where things get interesting…

All the stages can be attempted right from the start, what order you play them in is up to you but each robot master has a weakness to another’s weapon so you need to have a bit of strategy when it comes to choosing what order to battle them in.

I love this idea & it makes it so much more non-linear than most 2D platformer games. The choice is up to you.

There are plenty of enemies along the way with devious traps to steal away Mega Man’s health but the guy is versatile enough that the game is challenging but not too tough.

What is a problem are the controls, a touch screen D-pad & A and B button are imposed on the screen. The size of the D-pad is perfect but the A and B buttons are too close together meaning one is often pushed by mistake. This really becomes a problem when having to make a lot of quick succession jumps.

The game looks great on a phone or tablet and the music is fun and exciting.

If, like me, you’ve never played Mega Man growing up this is the perfect time to experience a great game that is incredibly playable & fun.