In december of 1993, Capcom realeased Mega Man X, a spin-off game of the classic Mega Man series. The game proved immensley popular with critics and Mega Man fans alike, so Capcom followed up with a sequel the following year. But does this game live up to the popularity of its successor?

Plot: Six months after X's triumph over Sigma and his Mavericks, a trio of powerful Mavericks form a group called the X-hunters and collect the body parts of Xs recentley deceased comrade, Zero. In addition to the X-hunters, X must battle 8 more Mavericks and (preferably) recover the body parts of Zero. Whether or not you recovered all of Zeros parts does not affect the FINAL ending. For a Mega Man title, it actually feels like the producers put some effort into the plot rather than just having it be the typical "oh no wily/sigma is back stop him" kind of story. Creating 3 different main villians instead of ressurecting 1 is a fresh departure from the norm.

Graphics: The graphics are actually quite similar to those of this games predessor. One major difference however is that inside the cartridge is a C*4 chip, which allows for enhanced texture quality. In terms of style, the game is much "lighter" than its predeser and (especially) its successor. Textures for objects such as rocks, ice, power-ups, and even enemies are brighter than they were in the previous game. It's quite exiting to graphics improved from the original game.

Sound: Just like the graphics, the music is energetic and jovial. Examples of this include Dr. Cains theme and Crystal Snails theme. Such a departure from the series normally gritty nature proves to be a plus. All of the music fits with the equally jubulant stages, making for an exciting mix of visuals and sound.

Addictiveness: Like all Mega Man games, the gameplay revolves around jumping and shooting stuff up. The X games added to this by including the dash, which allowed for a great deal of satisfaction when you go dashig around, shooting up enemies, all while narrowly avoiding their attacks is all too much fun. Not to mention, with all of the obtainable powerups, there are multiple ways to play. My only complaint is that if you're trying to go for 100%, it is not feasible with just the blaster; you have to go back to some stages with certain weapons or power-ups to find other hidden areas and/or power-ups.

Depth: As mentioned above, there are a significant amount of power-ups to be collected. These include heart tanks, which increase your total health, and sub-tanks, which can be filled up with energy pellets when at full health and used to restore lost health. In addition, you can find members of the x-hunters through alternating stages after having deafeted 2 mavericks. Deafeting 1 will give you one of Zeros body parts. Deafeat all x-hunters to rebuild zero! But again, the game feels quite linear in that you can't get all power-ups immediatly.

Difficulty: Even for a Mega Man game, this installment is quite easy. One reason for this is that the stages are actually quite a bit less trecherous than many stages in the series (Weak enemies, relatively few hazards, e.t.c.). Another reason is that Most, if not all bosses can be torn through rather quickly with their weakness.

In the end, Mega Man x2 is a worthy successor to the much-beloved Mega Man x. If your a fan of platformer games for the SNES, this is just the game for you.

This is a great review. Its has lots of details and you broke into different categories. So anyway keep up the good work. Have a nice day.

Great job on both your reviews, Boxia.  I've always been curious about the Mega Man series.  Maybe it's about time I take them up.  LOL  After your descriptive reviews, I'm more determined than ever to make some time for that this summer.