Mega Man was one of the most popular game series of its time. It amassed a large, devoted fan base, attracted to the series gameplay. Then rolled along the Game Boy, a handheld console that was the first popular one of its kind (not counting the much less popular Game and Watch). Every successful game series had an installment on the Game Boy, and Mega Man proved to be no exception. Mega Man: Dr. wily revenge was released in 1991 at the request of countless fans. The game was decent, but fans soon wanted more Game Boy Mega Man flavour, and they needed it fast. So this game was released just six months after the first GB MM game. Fans clamored for a copy of this game........ Only to realize just how horrible it was. Let's take a look at what many consider to be the worst game in the classic Mega Man series!

Story: 1/10
Well, there's not a single bit of the story explained in game. To gather the plot together, you have to tape together excerpts from magazines, ads, and the instruction manual, which explains different parts of the story depending on your region. After all of that, the story apparently goes like this. Dr. Wily stole a time machine, went into the future, and found Mega Man. Mega Man is now pretty much a house servant because he has finally brought peace into the world, and all of his weapons were removed because they have no use anymore. Wily snatches the defenseless Mega Man, brings him back to his time, and modifies him to become the super-robot Quint. He also apparently resurrects eight robot masters destroyed in MM2 and MM3, for NES, because they are sent to destroy the blue bomber as well. So once again, Mega Man must destroy Wily’s robots and stop the mad scientist once and for all....... provided the latter doesn’t escape through a back door.

I give the story a 1 out of 10. Capcom tried a bit too hard to boast Quint as a tough new foe to await your challenge after the eight robot masters. Not only that, there's something a bit wrong here. Imagine if Quint destroyed Mega Man. The problem is, since Quint is Mega Man, and suppose he did manage to kill his past self.......... TIME PARADOX.

Gameplay: 3/10
Mega Man is tasked with eliminating eight robot masters, Quint, and finally Dr. Wily. All of these lay at the end of their own stages. Initially, you only have your default weapon to rely on, the Mega buster. If you manage to defeat a robot master, however, you will get their weapon. To aid you in the stages you also have Rush coil, Rush Jet (the one from MM3), and Rush Marine, though to obtain the last two you must complete air man’s stage and wood man’s stage, respectively. You also have numerous other special items to help you out, like e-tanks, and extra lives.

I give the gameplay 3 out of 10. My problem here is not so much the lack of innovation as it is that the gameplay actually feels dumbed down from games preceding it. You can only go up against 4 robot masters first, and then the other four. Thankfully, blowing up enemies is still fun...... if the game lets you hit them.

Graphics: 5/10
Someone playing this game for the first time would be surprised by the amount of detail that went into most of the sprites and backgrounds....... until they realized that all of these textures were just carried over from MM2 and MM3. No changes made. Now for the negative stuff. The backgrounds that weren’t carried over from an NES mega man game look absolutely dreadful. An example is the background of the final stage. Dali-styled melting clocks against a white backdrop. Not only is it bland, it makes absolutely no sense. Another major problem is the issue of sprite sizing. Some sprites look absolutely massive, even when they should be fairly small. A perfect example is Rush, who in the weapon screen, is half the size the Blue Bomber is. What the heck? Mega Man isn't that short and Rush isn't that tall!

I give the graphics 5 out of 10. I would dock points because all of the good textures are brought from the NES games, but they're the only things that keep the game from making you want to tear your eyes out!

Sound: 1/10
OK, this is a soundtrack that's sure to make you want to tear your eardrums out. Instead of carrying over the music from MM2, the developers decided to create a whole new soundtrack. Ambitious, but when you only have six months to do the job, something's bound to go wrong. Case in point, the music is impossibly high-pitched, and the audio quality can be surpassed in quality by a recording made in the 20s. The music doesn’t match the stages, either. We have a depressing tune for wood man’s stage and a serial killers anthem for magnet man’s stage.

The sound effects are even worse. The one you'll hear the most is the sound of your attack hitting an enemy. That sounds like static, and it drowns out every other sound in the game. Some sound effects don't even make any sense, like for when you pick up an e-tank. That one sounds like........ Someone swallowing, I guess.

I give the sound a 1 out of 10. There is nothing that redeems it. A two-year-old could bang on a keyboard for 12 hours, throw it into Auto tune, and the product would still sound better than any song in this game.

Difficulty: 1/10
Unlike its predecessor, Mega Man II is a cakewalk in the park. Extra lives and e-tanks are so plentiful; you'll actually end up with a storage problem. Though it's not like you'd need them in the first place. Stages are almost completely devoid of any plat forming challenges, enemies are placed in spots where you can easily snipe them from a distance, and the Mega buster proves to be the only weapon you'll actually ever need. Sure, special weapons make your life easier, but the Mega buster with its powerful "hit multiple enemies" ability, proves quite overpowered. The bosses aren’t much difficult themselves either. Returning bosses have had their patterns dumbed down and take more damage from their new weaknesses, and new bosses can be rid of amazingly quickly. So much for a challenge!

Addictiveness: 1/10
There is absolutely NOTHING addictive about this game. The bosses are ridiculously dull, and the stages are short, with little going for them other than a shortage of threatening enemies. Most of the special weapons are just retextured Buster shots, and you might not even have to use them against bosses. There's nothing fun here.

Depth: 1/10
There is nothing hidden in this game. No secrets, no collectables, nothing. As for the stages, there are 9 of them. Eight robot master stages and one stage that consist of the Blue Bombers trek through Dr. Wily’s melting clock space station. These levels are VERY short. Case in point, I can beat any given stage in 5-10 minutes, so that means it could take me anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes to beat this game, not counting time between levels. Do you really think there is bound to be much to a game that you can beat in 45 minutes?

Overall: 2/10
I give Mega Man II for GB a 2 of 10. A spectacular failure in just every way, Mega Man II is sure to make even the most hard-core of Mega Man fans want to puke after playing it.

At first I was like, "Wow, I like MM2, and this review is crapping all over it" then I saw the Gameboy version screenshots. Now I understand why it's so crappy. It's basically an unlucky pattern of games to have a good console game, and have a polar opposite in handheld games. Well done.

Even though this may not be the best mega man game out there, I still think you did a fantastic job with the review. You broke it down nicely and you went into detail with every category of it as well which is amazing. I am also glad you explain your reasoning behind each score as well, I always find that very important, and yet not all reviewers do it, so I am glad you did. 


Overall you are organized and neat and your review is lengthy and detailed but at the same time it is nice and easy to read and well put together. Nice job man, I think this came out great and it is nearly 1,500 words. Impressive my friend. Keep up the awesome work as always and keep making awesome reviews as you always do, I look forward to reading your next one! 

Good review, but it certainly isn't the worst Mega Man game out there. That belongs to the bad Game Gear version, with screeching music, bad screen ratio, and just overall broken gameplay. 

Megaman V GB is the best Gameboy Megaman, and by far one of the greatest Megaman games ever.