Tag: NES

Although the first Megaman game, released in 1987, had not so stellar sales, CAPCOM gave permission to Megaman’s development team to create a second game in the series. This would improve upon the previous game in nearly every aspect: audio, visual, gameplay, etc. The “Master Robots” were increased from 6 to 8 allowing for a longer, more complex game (it was the intent of the creators to have 8 bosses in the original, but they were strapped for time). Megaman II is the best selling Megaman game to date, and has always been a favorite among critics and players alike. This article is dedicated to one of the greatest videogames of all time, and arguably the greatest game in the Megaman Franchise. This article will contain everything you need to remain informed about this 1988 classic.

Graphics: 10/10

For an NES game these graphics are perfect to me. Though this is long before the time of graphics even appearing to be 3-D, CAPCOM fully utilized the 8-bit power of the NES to create vivid colorful backgrounds and large impressive bosses in Dr. Wily’s castle. All the backgrounds fit the levels perfectly. Towards the end of the game some of the backgrounds become less impressive, but the darkness kind of fits the end game ambiance so I give it a pass

Audio: 10/10

Best NES soundtrack ever, no jokes. The tracks are very upbeat and Dr. Wily’s Castle 1 theme is considered one of the best songs in videogame history.

Controls: 9.9/10

Megaman II’s controls are slightly improved over the original game, but basically keeps the same TIGHT controls that the Megaman series has become known for. Megaman does not jump ridiculously high like most game’s heroes, but it is still much better then some NES games that jumping is absolute torture because the hero jumps like an inch. His jump, in my opinion is the perfect balance of these two extremes. Movement, jumping and shooting are all incredibly smooth and can be performed simultaneously without any issue. Climbing ladders is somewhat slow and when hit by enemies falling speed is nuts off of ladders, but thats the only issue with the controls I can find (this can be corrected by holding up on the D-Pad, while falling you will grab the ladder again after the initial shock of a collision.)

Fun: 10/10

This game is ridiculously fun and is a great game to start at if you are new to the NES Megaman series, which are considerably difficult if you are not used to the games. All the levels are awesome and different enough to make this game unique among the series. You can choose at which order you tackle the Robot Masters to choose your own path through the game. After defeating each boss, you obtain their weapon which does critical damage against one other robot master in the game, so it is quite possible to beat the game quickly by exploiting the weaknesses of each one. My only gripe with this game is it is a little to easy, especially when compared with the nearly impossible Megaman I… some of the boss battles in that game were BRUTAL. There is however a Difficult Mode to choose to make up for this, which is only slightly more difficult, but good enough to get this game a perfect score for FUN.

ALSO THIS GAME CAN SAVE YOUR DAMN PROGRESS with a password system, which is so awesome and such an improvement over Megaman I.

Replayability: 9.5/10

This game is highly replayable as there are so many paths to take through the game and two difficulty levels to try. This game is a TIMELESS classic and you can pick it up 20 years from now and still have as much fun as you do know. The only reason this section got any points off is because of the lower difficulty of this game (however, this may make it even more replayable for some because this game is actually possible to beat)

The suggested order in which you should defeat the bosses: METAL MAN, FLASH MAN, QUICK MAN, WOOD MAN, AIR MAN, CRASH MAN, BUBBLE MAN, HEATMAN (Keep in mind this is one of the few Megaman Games were the order almost doesn’t matter because METAL MAN’s weapon absolutely decimates everything except a few)

Metal Man

Seriously the easiest battle ever for the best weapon in the game. Use the Arm Cannon against him and he will go down quickly. What you need to do is avoid his Metal Blades, which is actually slightly challenging, considering you are battling him on a conveyor belt. The best strategy is to jump up and down shooting as quickly as you can, this makes Metal Man shoot is blades in a way that leaves an opening for you to jump through.

When you defeat Metal Man you get his weapon and the ability to shoot metal blades in all directions (including diagonally). This weapon also requires very little power so it basically replaces the arm cannon for the rest of the game.

Flash Man

Maybe even easier than Metal Man… Use the Metal Blade to demolish Flash Man, but really the arm cannon does the job as well. He has a pattern of charging towards you while jumping up and down, you can probably just get away with taking the hits and continuing to shoot, but he can be dodged when he gets close. Jump over him and shoot him some more then he repeats the pattern.

After you defeat this poor excuse for a Robot Master, you get a pretty useful power: time stopper. The enemies on the screen freeze and can’t move, but it used its whole power in one shot. Another drawback is the inability to stop it once started.

You also get Item-3, which is useful for reaching high places. It attaches to a wall and allows you to jump on it. It’s the least useful of the 3 items in my opinion, but it is still good.

Quick Man

Quick Man is an especially easy opponent if you have acquired the Time Stopper weapon. Use it once and it will drain his health half way, the arm cannon should finish the job. If you haven’t its still okay he isn’t especially hard. He moves very quickly across the screen towards megaman and will occasionally jump and fire a boomerang. A player with even slight skill could take him down with the arm cannon, but using a Crash Bomb will do the trick if you are willing to let Megaman take a little damage. Simply fire a Crash Bomb at the wall and stand under it, Quick Man will continue to rush towards you and be caught in the explosion. A few hits of this should significantly damage/ kill QuicK Man.

When you defeat Quick Man you will gain the ability to shoot his Quick Boomerangs. It is a pretty useful weapon as it returns to you after firing. This is my second favorite weapon in the game I’d say… but nothing compares to the Metal Blade.

Wood Man

Wood Man is a little tubby tree stump who is a bit of a pain in the ass if you do not have a weapon that can damage him. He is surrounded by his leaf shield for most of the battle except in the instances in which he decides to fling it at you. He also has leaves fall from the ceiling which are damaging as he simultaneously launches the Leaf Shield at you. To avoid this position yourself between the falling leaves as far as possible from Wood Man, when he fires the shield jump over it. This is harder than it sounds.

Woodman is weak both to Atomic Fire and Crash Bombs. A fully-charged Atomic Fire can kill Woodman in one hit, but does not effect him if the shield is up. Crash Bombs are very effective and penetrate his shield, so I tend to stick with the Crash Bombs because one can just fire away instead of be way to precise. Now if you are following my suggestion you won’t have either of these… WHAT!?!?!? Well thankfully the Metal Blade will be more than enough to defeat him because they can be fired so rapidly, but this requires more skill dodging his leaves (You definitely can do it trust me)

After winning you receive the Leaf Shield, which surrounds Megaman with the same shield as Woodman. The shield can also be fired both horizontally and Vertically (for vertical hold the D-Pad up)

Air Man

Air Man is somewhat of a challenge, at least more than some of the others. This challenge comes not from being able to take alot of hits, but from his annoying attacks and patterns. Air Man has a pretty predictable pattern that can be taken advantage rather easily…. IF you can recognize it quickly enough: he blows tornadoes toward you (5 or 6) 3 times in a row and then will jump to the other side of the screen and blow tornadoes again. Where it gets difficult however, is the random placement of the tornadoes that he blows at you forcing you to adapt. He also blasts wind that will push you backwards.

You want to attack Air Man when he is jumping from one side to the other… he will it takes him two jumps to make it across so blast him, preferably with the Leaf Shield which takes a large chunk of his health away with each hit. The Arm Cannon will still do the job relatively quickly, but avoiding his attacks becomes even more important.

After defeating him you get his Air Shooter, which shoots out a tornado and Item-2, which is a rocket-propelled platform that quickly moves you in the direction you are facing without having to worry about pitfalls (it will fly away without you if you are not quick so be forewarned).

Crash Man

Crash Man is a pain for me and always has been. I have always had alot of trouble with him… UNTIL I started beating Air Man before playing against him. So my main hint for beating Crash Man is beat Air Man First . Now that we have that out of the way he is very easy now shoot him with the Air Shooter a few times and he is dead. He tends to jump and shoot his Crash Bombs this is when you want to hit him as the Air Shooter naturally travels upwards when fired.

If you want to be stubborn and use the Arm Cannon, well I finally learned how to defeat him… DON”T STOP MOVING, seriously just run and gun with the arm cannon avoiding his jumps and crash bombs. Easier said than done, but it is definitely possible. Some people can defeat him unscathed, but I usually get hit AT LEAST once.

When you defeat Crash Man you get his Crash Bomber as a weapon, which can be used both to attack and blow out walls that are composed of small blocks.

Bubble Man

Some say Bubble Man is hard, I disagree. You have to have a good touch with underwater jumping to defeat him with the Arm Cannon, but its definitely possible. The spike lined ceiling, which kills you in a single hit, is more of a threat than Bubble Man himself. He swims around semi-slowly firing his bubbles at you. Just jump slightly and shoot (DO NOT HOLD THE JUMP BUTTON TOO LONG OR YOU WILL HIT THE CEILING).

Now if you followed my suggested order, you already have the Metal Blades… If this is the case its the easiest battle ever. Stand at the bottom and aim the Metal Blades at Bubble Man who is at the ceiling. Shoot fast and avoid jumping as it is now unnecessary.

Once You defeat Bubble Man you receive Bubble Lead, which shoots a bubble across the ground which travels until it hits something.

Heat Man

Heat Man is one of the coolest looking Robot Masters (besides Metal Man of course). He is somewhat challenging, but winning is definitely possible. He shoots three fire balls at you which then form fiery columns of death. When you hit him he sets himself aflame and hurls him at you making him temporarily invulnerable. This pattern can be taken advantage of by constantly hitting him with the Bubble Lead which severely damages him. A hit will cause him to charge at you, thus skipping the fireball shooting portion. He isn’t so bad really.

After defeating Heat Man you get the Atomic Fire weapon which is able to charge for a stronger attack. You also get Item-1, which allows you to use up to 3 upward floating platforms at once to better traverse the levels.

Mecha Dragon

I remember the first time i fought him, thought he was invulnerable to attack… what a pain. Luckily I figured out his weakness: Quick Boomerang. The setup of the platforms as seen in the picture and this is important in dodging his attacks simply jump between the 3 platforms (making sure to mix it up enough to keep away from the dragon… a solid strategy is to jump from the back block to the two front ones in alternating fashion). As you dodge the dragon keep shooting him with Quick Boomerangs and he will die (I don’t think anything else actually works)

Room (Wall) Robot

This boss forms from the very room itself. Sections of the walls combine to form robots and are a pain to kill with the Mega Buster. However, the Bubble Lead can easily kill the robots if you can manage to hit them (Try jumping as they are forming). If you are having trouble with the Bubble Lead, use the Metal Blade, which can more easily hit them, but requires a good amount more shots to take down this Boss.

Guts Man Bull Dozer

This is a massive recreation of Guts Man from Megaman I, but re-shaped into a vicious looking bulldozer. This is an easy ass fight with the Quick Boomerang. Just jump onto the platform of this bulldozer and shoot him in the face a bajillion times with the Boomerang.

Wall Cannon Room

There are Cannons lining the walls protected by walls, both of which can only be destroyed by the Crash Bombs. However there aren’t enough crash bombs to finish the job. MY SOLUTION: destroy all the walls, then let cannons kill you, then replay level and regain power for the Crash Bombs, Then destroy all the cannons (the walls will remain missing). The advantage is this is simple, the disadvantage is that it is annoying and takes one life away from you.

There is another solution if your play it out right, bombs can be placed in specific places to blow up two things at once, and some walls need not be blown up. A video detailing how to do this is below (STARTING AT THE 5:12 MARK on the video)

Starting from the 5:23 minute marker in the video (the whole video actually shows how to beat the previous boss too)

Wily’s Castle 5 is simply a room full of transporters. You simply have to go through each one a fight the games bosses all over again, use the same strategies, with a few exceptions. Use the metal blade against metal man, for a OHKO, that’s right he dies in one hit by his own weapon. Also I would suggest saving Crash Bombs (or what’s left of them), Atomic Fire, and Bubble Lead (MOST IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!) for the next phases of fighting. After defeating all the Master Robots a final time, another transporter becomes available, enter it and prepare to fight Dr. Wily.

STAGE 1:

The first stage of the battle you face against a flying robot. If you have Atomic Fire left you can hit the robot in the black bubble with 2 fully-charged shots of fire, if not you could use the arm cannon OR metal blades… I find metal blades easier since the can shoot diagonally. Wily shoots a laser ball out of the bottom of the machine that comes toward megaman in a U-shape. The U-shape will become steeper and steeper the more in the air you are since the ball homes in on you, its still pretty easy to dodge though.

STAGE 2:

The second stage of battle, Wily pokes his head out now and he is visible, but still in the flying machine. If you have any Crash Bombs shoot directly at Wily with them to make quick work of him. If not, you can use the arm cannon or Metal Blades to shoot Wily directly, once again I suggest the Metal Blades. Wily will shoot the same laser balls at you, but this time they bounce of the floor at you and he fires them nearly continuously, these are a little more difficult to dodge, so you may take a few hits.

YOU WIIIINNNNNN ….. not yet!

Ok so this level has no enemies its a straight shot to the boss room, but there is lava dripping from the ceiling that is absolutely devastating to be hit with, proceed very cautiously and slowly time your movements right to make it to the Final Boss with FULL HEALTH.

When you enter the boss room, Dr. Wily appears in his little UFO looking thing and then transforms into….

Alien Wily

Yeah, he’s an alien now…. ok. You have no choice but to use bubble lead, its the only thing that works against him (that I know of at least). He simply floats around the room and shoots single shots of small laser balls at you, which are pretty simple to dodge and only do moderate damage if they hit you. BUT, DO NOT LET HIM RUN INTO YOU, if Wily runs into you it does MASSIVE damage avoid it at all costs. The best time to shoot him with bubble lead is when jumping and dodging a laser ball, make sure you are shooting when you are above him so it drops on him. This battle is kinda hard so stay on your toes.

After defeating the final boss, you will find out the alien was just a projection, and the real Dr. Wily begs for his life.

CONGRATULATIONS YOU BEAT THE GAME