What’s funny is the “hard” difficulty in Mega Man 2 is how the Japanese Rockman 2 is designed, there was no difficulty option. The “regular” mode they added for Mega Man 2 in the US that basically acts as an easy mode where you take less damage and enemies have more drops.
I blame Nintendo Power’s. I remember getting the issue with Mega Man2 on the cover and saying “AirMan first? I don’t think so” as I selected MetalMan first like i always.
I definitely agree that Mega Man 3 was even better. I also love the Castlevania games. Part 2 was unique but it was awesome. My son and I keep talking about getting matching Belmont Crest tattoos. 😆
When I was I kid I was amazing at the Mega Man games and I tried one on my PS5 a couple months ago and could barely get through the first 1/4 of a level. Amazing how much those skills degraded after I got old.
Could be your TV. Those NES games relied and precisely timing everything. No way I'll ever beat mr dream in punch out on the switch ROM but I just got an old CRT TV on facebook and legit NES and beat Mike Tyson on my second try.
the original instruction manual that came with my copy even told you to start with Air Man and gave you a step-by-step walkthrough on making all the jumps (which barely helped anything)
Yep! They definitely channeled the unforgiving torment from the first ones! I still have all the OG Megaman games. Haven’t tried that new Toenam & Earl, I’ll have to check it out! Side scrolling games are fun! 🤘
one of my favorite games of all time and if you could actually beat it as a child, you have superhuman reflexes and could probably dock a space shuttle to the ISS with your eyes closed
I was about to post this, but it feels like bragging.
After mastering Mega Man 1, 2 felt pretty straightforward, almost a letdown. Surprised to see its reputation for difficulty here, but I guess it'd be a rough go if it was your first.
Mega Man 2 sincerely ruined childhoods. My older cousins wouldn’t let me play it because they didn’t want to traumatize me. I resented them as a kid but appreciate them in retrospect.
We made all games multiplayer games in my neighborhood, like a heist. We had specialists for different parts of games.
Lucas and Greg were better at jumps and fine motor execution. I was more of the strategist and calmed people after “the game cheated.” Jacob was the driver: anything with wheels.
Quick Man's is worse. Those giant instant death lasers you can only easily get by using up the charge on the one weapon that kills him are a nightmare.
That soundtrack is the friggin best!! My brother convinced me when we were kids that it had won a Grammy award and I, to this day, feel like it really should have
The difficulty varied wildly. Some of the stages were very challenging but it also had had some of the most overpowered weapons in the entire series. You could start by beating Metal Man and then use his weapon almost nonstop afterwards.
One of my all-time favorites! Mega man inspired this Bluesky handle, among other things. I played it again the other day and had a surprisingly tough time in the first part of Bubble man's stage. If you beat metal man first, then the birds dropping eggs in Air man's stage are much easier to beat. 🙂
Are you doing Metal Man, Wood Man, Air Man, or some other order? Wood can help.
Either way, NES games can be very unforgiving.
I dusted off the NES and ordered a copy of Tecmo Super Bowl. Randall Cunningham and the Eagles gave my son, a fourth grader, more than he could handle.
the reason to beat airman first is to enable you to get the extra life / energy tanks from the crashman and metalman stages that you can't reach without one of the floating-platform items. if you're good enough not to care about those, you do metalman first, to get that badass sawblade ASAP.
I may showing my age (45) but I always felt like the Mega Man games were challenging but fair. I think the energy bars and the weapon counters were a big part of that.
Games like Contra (without the code) were the unfair ones to me because it was one hit on your toe and you were done.
Comments
Truly macabre that some 8 year old in 1988 gets this game for Christmas, picks Air Man as their first stage, and has the worst time of their life
I have a special place in my heart for Mega Man 2 though.
Castlevania 3 was also better than part 1. And the same goes for Mario 3.
I appreciate the innovation of the originals and the execution of the sequels.
There was no reason whatsoever for that music to go so hard.
It was a warning.
Maybe it was just because I played that particular game so much.
There's also a new Toejam and Earl from a few years ago if you ever played that
The soundtrack for this game goes so hard
3 is the best.
Pretty sure I couldn't beat Airman these days, though, let alone the rest.
'looks at teenager'
Because that's apparently standard game prep now...
After mastering Mega Man 1, 2 felt pretty straightforward, almost a letdown. Surprised to see its reputation for difficulty here, but I guess it'd be a rough go if it was your first.
Lucas and Greg were better at jumps and fine motor execution. I was more of the strategist and calmed people after “the game cheated.” Jacob was the driver: anything with wheels.
I got my oldest boy into it for a bit.
Might need to dig it out again.
and i promise it is so simple you will scream
(Harder =/= better, to be clear.)
Either way, NES games can be very unforgiving.
I dusted off the NES and ordered a copy of Tecmo Super Bowl. Randall Cunningham and the Eagles gave my son, a fourth grader, more than he could handle.
Good bonding.
The soundtrack though, is a masterpiece.
https://open.spotify.com/track/63IIF56MgVBdQOmRS6trTf?si=NAXUVh7ZTKm4QZczJeHBGg&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A3XIETonOVIQiYRCf5B9bC1
Franchise is nigh impossible. I only beat any of them with game genie
Flash
Metal
Wood
Air
Crash
Bubble
Heat
Quick
I think Quick went last because the barriers section was the bane of the whole family.
Games like Contra (without the code) were the unfair ones to me because it was one hit on your toe and you were done.
Its wholesome you are bonding with your kids over a classic.
It’s the only way to get past the giant invisible head platforms with the drills on the ends
I was way better at gaming when I was a kid.