History YMMV / MegaMan2

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: The poor sales of [[VideoGame/MegaMan1 the first game]] in the US and the SleeperHit sales of the game in Japan gave Capcom [[ItWillNeverCatchOn little faith that the series would catch on]], so ''Mega Man 2'' was only greenlit as a minor side-project inbetween working on its other major titles. The small dev team proceeded to knock the project out of the park with it, and it not only resulted in one of Capcom's best selling and most critically acclaimed titles, but also established the Mega Man franchise as Capcom's [[CashCowFranchise headlining breadwinner]] for decades.

* DisappointingLastLevel: After clearing the Wily Castle's exciting and challenging first couple of stages, the fourth stage is where things start to falter. You have to get through a puzzle stage outfitted with illusion floors and line-guided platforms; once you figure it all out, the stage becomes very tedious. To top it all off, you must fight the Buebeam Trap, which requires the Crash Bomber's entire weapon energy to defeat (a fact made worse as the only nearby enemies to item-farm from are Tellys and Sniper Armors). It doesn't help that instead of hearing the amazing Dr. Wily Stages 1 & 2 theme throughout this stage, you hear a more melancholy tune instead, which is used in Stages 3, 4, and 5, dampening your spirits even more. After that comes the series' very first Boss Rush teleport room in the next stage, which doesn't even have a segment giving you the chance to restock your weapon energy beforehand. You have to fight a battle of attrition with Dr. Wily once the Robot Masters are dealt with. Luckily, the last stage and its boss are far less brutal.

** The Crash Bomber, like the Atomic Fire, is a glutton with weapon energy, has surprisingly bad damage, and takes a while to explode when pinned into a wall (and doesn't explode at all if it hits an enemy). While it's ostensibly Flash Man's weakness, the [[GameBreaker Metal Blade]] ends up doing a better job at destroying him as it does the same amount of damage, can be fired more rapidly, and doesn't require strategic placement to defeat him with the fewest amount of shots possible. Oh yeah, and it's needed against [[ThatOneBoss the Buebeam Trap]].

* SequelDifficultyDrop: Due to the addition of more utility items, [[EmergencyEnergyTank Energy Tanks]], and a password save system; plus an actual Easy Mode in the North American version (there called "Normal", but the "Difficult" mode is actually the original difficulty). Mind you, it's still {{Nintendo Hard}}, just not so much as the first game.

** A certain [[SoBadItsGood poorly-done]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFlOvW2xtpM MIDI of Wood Man's stage music]], called [=mm2wood.mid=], has made that particular song memetic thanks to Music/SiivaGunner, particularly when paired with an MS Paint drawing of Wood Man.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: The poor sales of [[VideoGame/MegaMan1 the first game]] in the US and the SleeperHit sales of the game in Japan gave Capcom [[ItWillNeverCatchOn little faith that the series would catch on]], so ''Mega Man 2'' was only greenlit as a minor side-project inbetween working on its other major titles. The small dev team proceeded to knock the project out of the park with it, and it not only resulted in one of Capcom's best selling and most critically acclaimed titles, but also established the Mega Man franchise as Capcom's [[CashCowFranchise headlining breadwinner]].

** When the Time Stopper is active, it drains its energy like no tomorrow and stops only when its energy has drained completely. Not to mention that the Mega Buster (and any other weapon) can't be used while the Time Stopper is active.

* BreatherBoss: In the rematch with all eight Robot Masters, Metal Man's rematch is infamous due to the fact that he die in one hit (or two on Difficult). The weapon that can do that is ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard his own weapon]]'', which isn't even remotely difficult to use.

* MemeticBadass: Air Man, due to [[ThatOneBoss the frustration he's caused players worldwide]], tends to be portrayed by fans as pretty badass.

** Heat Man's stage becomes this during the disappearing blocks segment (unless you happen to have Item 2 on hand). Until you memorize the three tricky jumps (which isn't easy because it's somewhere around 30 blocks long) you need split second reflexes. One slip up will send you to your death. This segment makes the Ice Man and Guts Man stages from ''Mega Man 1'' look ''easy''. Much of this can be attributed to the fact the rhythm the blocks follow is very awkward, unlike anything else in the entire ''franchise''.

* DisappointingLastLevel: After clearing the Wily Castle's exciting and challenging first couple of stages, the fourth stage is where things start to falter. You have to get through a puzzle stage outfitted with illusion floors and line-guided platforms; once you figure it all out, the stage becomes very tedious. To top it all off, you must fight the Buebeam Trap, which requires the Crash Bomber's entire weapon energy to defeat (a fact made worse as the only nearby enemies to item-farm from are Tellys and Sniper Armors). It doesn't help that instead of hearing the amazing Dr. Wily Stages 1 & 2 theme throughout this stage, you hear a more melancholy tune instead, which is used in Stages 3, 4, 5, and 6, dampening your spirits even more. After that comes the series' very first Boss Rush teleport room in the next stage, which doesn't even have a segment giving you the chance to restock your weapon energy beforehand. You have to fight a battle of attrition with Dr. Wily once the Robot Masters are dealt with. Luckily, the last stage and its boss are far less brutal.

* AntiClimaxBoss: The Alien boss has [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere the element of surprise]], a gruesome appearance, and [[SceneryPorn an awesome background]] to its advantage. But it's just ''way'' too easy for a pivotal boss fight (and a much easier fight than the [[DiscOneFinalBoss Wily Machine 2]] fight that precedes it). It has an insultingly simple attack pattern (fly in a figure-8 pattern and slowly shoot a easily dodgeable pellet for each turn). It is impervious to nearly every weapon in the game, which can really throw off new players. However, the weapon it is weak to is ''Bubble Lead'' (the weakest weapon in the entire game), which easily makes short work of it. Possibly an InvokedTrope given that [[spoiler:it's actually just a hologram, and 'dies' as soon as you destroy the transmitter projecting it.]]

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Virtually ALL of the tracks, but especially the now-iconic track that plays in the first two Wily Castle stages. This game has more remixed music tracks than any other game in the franchise!

* DisappointingLastLevel: After clearing the Wily Castle's exciting and challenging first couple of stages, the fourth stage is where things start to falter. You have to get through a puzzle stage outfitted with illusion floors and line-guided platforms; once you figure it all out, the stage becomes very tedious. To top it all off, you must fight the Buebeam Trap, which requires the Crash Bomber's entire weapon energy to defeat (a fact made worse as the only nearby enemies to item-farm from are Tellys and Sniper Armors). It doesn't help that instead of hearing the amazing Dr. Wily Stages 1 & 2 theme throughout this stage, you hear a more melancholy tune instead, which is used in Stages 3, 4, 5, and 6, dampening your spirits even more. After that comes the series' very first Boss Rush teleport room in the next stage, which doesn't even have a segment giving you the chance to restock your weapon energy beforehand. You have to fight a battle of attrition with Dr. Wily once the Robot Masters are dealt with. [[spoiler: Luckily, the last stage and its boss are far less brutal]].

* GameBreaker: The Metal Blade. It's a weakness of Bubble Man, Wood Man, Flash Man, [[{{Irony}} Metal Man himself]], and the second-to-last boss, not to mention it uses a ludicrously small amount of ammo per shot, meaning it would take a conscious effort to try and deplete it of ammo! Also, unlike any other weapon in the game, this one can be thrown in all eight directions, making it much easier to strike any GoddamnedBats. Plus it can cut through lesser enemies in a row, and it has a huge size, making it easy to hit with, especially against enemies that are so small that the Mega Buster goes over them. Their biggest downside? They ''don't'' work against [[ThatOneBoss Quick Man, Air Man or the Buebeam Trap]].
* GameBreakingBug: Downplayed with Quick Man. While the bug doesn't make him undefeatable, it makes him [[ConfusionFu far more unpredictable than he should be]]. The bug in question? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBYhn781J3M He moves so fast that sometimes he clips into the wall]], which cuts short his jumps and disrupts his attack pattern, and there's no real way to keep it from happening.

*** One can pull off this trick in other levels to access similar glitched up Wily Castle levels. However, the boss data doesn't load up in any of these cases, meaning getting up to that point will trap you.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** The final boss, an Alien, is [[Film/{{Signs}} killed by a water-based weapon]].
** The US instruction manual has a walkthrough [[http://kobun20.interordi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/mm2-10-11.jpg specifically for]] [[http://kobun20.interordi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/mm2-12-13.jpg Air Man]].

* MemeticLoser: Metal Man dies in one/two hit(s) ''[[EpicFail from his own weapon]]''. Bubble Man also gets picked on quite a lot, especially in the [[ComicBook/MegaMan Archie adaptation of the game]], where he is destroyed with the Leaf Shield -- a weapon that [[AdaptationalWimp doesn't even faze him in the game itself]]!
* MemeticMolester: [[FoeYay Crash Man]], thanks to Music/{{Hyadain}}'s song.

** Quick Man. Does he sound intimidating? He lives up to it, leaping from one end of the room and back in about a second, tossing out spreads of homing boomerangs along the way. He's bad enough if you're playing normally -- most players just load up on E-Tanks and whittle him down in a battle of attrition -- but he's ''infamous'' among those who try for a NoDamageRun, as demonstrated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDNEzzLPxIQ here]]. [[labelnote: Why's that?]] Quick Man's collision detection is bugged if he touches one of the outer walls of the room (and there's no real way to stop that from happening, especially in the rematch room), which changes his pattern from "three fast jumps of varying height and length, then run at the player" to "''zero'' to three jumps of varying height and length, then run at the player". As programmed, the only random factor is supposed to be the height and length of the jump (either a long and high jump over the player, or a mid-size jump directly onto the player, or a short hop in front of the player), and the Quick Boomerangs are only supposed to be thrown at the peak of the second jump, but the collision detection issue throws the normal pattern for a loop.[[/labelnote]] It's also worth noting that Quick Man is one of the few bosses who's straight up ''immune'' to the [[GameBreaker Metal Blade]].

** The Crash Bomber, like the Atomic Fire, is a glutton with weapon energy, has surprisingly bad damage, and takes a while to explode when pinned into a wall. While it's ostensibly Flash Man's weakness, the [[GameBreaker Metal Blade]] ends up doing a better job at destroying him as it does the same amount of damage, can be fired more rapidly, and doesn't require strategic placement to defeat him with the fewest amount of shots possible. Oh yeah, and it's needed against [[ThatOneBoss the Buebeam Trap]].

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: While the game is well liked even to this day, the refinements it made have been taken for granted amongst other games, it's suffered from HypeBacklash, and many of the game's own faults (such as bosses that necessitate use of a specific weapon or else you can't beat them, E-Tanks being limited to four, all of which are lost upon getting a GameOver, and an unbalanced weapon roster that's divided into "[[ScrappyWeapon never used outside of boss fights]]" and "[[GameBreaker the Metal Blade]]" categories) have been addressed in later games.

** The Buebeam Trap at the end of Wily Stage 4. Not only do you have to use Item-1 to reach the higher part of the chamber, with the boss's attacks being almost unavoidable for much of the fight (you need ''frame perfect timing'' to dodge its attacks, which makes a NoDamageRun against it a nightmare), but the boss can only be defeated by Crash Bombs, and unless you're ''very'' skilled at placing the bombs, you are required to use every one of your extremely limited supply correctly. If you waste even a single one of them, [[UnwinnableByMistake you're screwed]].

** Quick Man's stage is notoriously irritating without the Time Stopper. There are two segments where you have to outrun a batch of instant kill lasers coming out of the wall, and you have very little room for error -- especially with the second set. If you do manage to pass through the second set, you have a few respawning Sniper Joes in walkers waiting for you.

** Crash Man's stage is about near constant upward movement and is filled to the brim with enemies attacking you from above or below, usually while you're either on small mobile platforms or on ladders, meaning guaranteed lost progress whenever you get hit. Fortunately, if you have Leaf Shield it renders the majority of these threats rather trivial.
** Among the Wily Castle stages, stage 4 easily qualifies due to its tedious string of fall-through floors and line-guided platforms, constantly respawning enemies from all directions, and [[ThatOneBoss the Buebeam Trap]] at the end.

* MemeticLoser: Metal Man dies in one hit ''[[EpicFail from his own weapon]]''. Bubble Man also gets picked on quite a lot, especially in the [[ComicBook/MegaMan Archie adaptation of the game]], where he is destroyed with the Leaf Shield -- a weapon that [[AdaptationalWimp doesn't even faze him in the game itself]]!

* HypeBacklash: As probably the most popular game in the ''Mega Man'' series and one of the most acclaimed games of all time, it naturally tends to get this reaction. In particular, more than a few fans consider ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'' to be the actual pinnacle of the series, and consider this game to be overly simplistic by comparison. Some have criticized the game on that the Metal Blade is [[GameBreaker too powerful]] while most of the weapons are useless or impractical. Enemy placement and attack patterns are also rather cheap, making a NoDamageRun of certain levels, particularly Wood Man's to be almost purely memory-based. The first Wily Castle theme also gets this reaction, having been so heavily hyped and remixed over the years it easily overshadows all other Wily and villain themes in the franchise.

* ItWasHisSled: No, Wily isn't actually an alien. The alien form in general counts, though: Back when the game came out it was a huge surprise for obvious reasons, but now it's one of the most famous moments in the franchise's history.

* BreatherBoss: In the rematch with all eight Robot Masters, Metal Man's rematch is infamous due to the fact that he can be killed in one hit (or two on Difficult). The weapon that can do that is ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard his own weapon]]'', which isn't even remotely difficult to use.

** The Mecha Dragon at the end of Wily Castle 1 is no slouch, either. After a brief AutoScrollingLevel with the Dragon chasing you, you must fight it on a set of three tiny platforms (where the KnockBack from any of its fire breath attacks is likely to be fatal). The Dragon can also [[OneHitKill kill you in one shot]] with CollisionDamage. If you die, you don't start right before the boss as usual -- you respawn [[CheckPointStarvation at the midpoint of the level]].
** Quick Man. Does he sound intimidating? He lives up to it, leaping from one end of the room and back in about a second, tossing out spreads of homing boomerangs along the way. He's bad enough if you're playing normally -- most players just load up on E-Tanks and whittle him down in a battle of attrition -- but he's ''infamous'' among those who try for a NoDamageRun, as demonstrated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDNEzzLPxIQ here]]. [[labelnote: Why's that?]] Quick Man's collision detection is bugged if he touches one of the outer walls of the room (and there's no real way to stop that from happening, especially in the rematch room), which changes his pattern from "three fast jumps of varying height and length, then run at the player" to "''zero'' to three jumps of varying height and length, then run at the player". As programmed, the only random factor is supposed to be the height and length of the jump (either a long and high jump over the player, or a mid-size jump directly onto the player, or a short hop in front of the player), and the Quick Boomerangs are only supposed to be thrown at the peak of the second jump, but the collision detection issue throws the normal pattern for a loop.[[/labelnote]] It's also worth noting that Quick Man is one of the few bosses who's straight up ''immune'' to the [[GameBreaker Metal Blade]].

** Crash Man's stage is about near constant upward movement and is filled to the brim with enemies attacking you from above or below, usually while you're either on small mobile platforms or on ladders, meaning guaranteed lost progress whenever you get hit. Fortunately, if you have Leaf Shield it renders the majority of these threats rather trivial.

** Air Man's toughness has inspired the [[EarWorm catchy]] project-Delta song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opADNvgeZYY "Air Man ga Taosenai"]] ("I Can't Beat Air Man" among other varying translations).

* AntiClimaxBoss: The Alien boss has [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere the element of surprise]], a gruesome appearance, and [[SceneryPorn an awesome background]] to its advantage. But it's just ''way'' too easy for a pivotal boss fight (and a much easier fight than the [[DiscOneFinalBoss Wily Machine 2]] fight that precedes it). It has an insultingly simple attack pattern (fly in a figure-8 pattern and slowly shoot a easily dodgeable pellet for each turn). It is impervious to nearly every weapon in the game, which can really throw off new players. However, the weapon it is weak to is ''Bubble Lead'' (the weakest weapon in the entire game), which easily makes short work of it.

* SurpriseDifficulty: Averted. While some portions are very hard, especially for beginners, the game in general is quite easier than the rest of the franchise, due to the introduction of [[EmergencyEnergyTank E-Tanks]], simple level design, bosses with simple strategies, an abundance of areas to use [[OutsideTheBoxTactic Not-So-Outside-The-Box-Tactics]], and the general usefulness of the weapons, ESPECIALLY the Metal Blade.

** Subverted with [[MemeticBadass Air Man]]. Despite what [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opADNvgeZYY the song]] claims[[labelnote:*]]Techically the song is about the vicious cycle of needing Leaf Shield to beat Air Man, but needing to beat Wood Man to get the Leaf Shield, needing Atomic Fire to beat Wood Man (another ThatOneBoss due to his hard-to-dodge falling leaf attack and his constant advancing on the player) needing Item-2 to easily cross the infamous "disappearing blocks over lava" segment in Heat Man's stage to get Atomic Fire, and needing to beat Air Man to get Item-2[[/labelnote]], he's fairly easily taken care of by making at least a modicum of effort to avoid his tornadoes (some of which are unavoidable, however, most likely being the reason for his reputation), and rapidly firing your arm cannon. He's reduced to an utter joke if you happen to have the [[WeaksauceWeakness Leaf Shield]].

*** The only way to refill Crash Bomber energy if you run out is shooting hundreds of impossibly-placed Tellys and a bunch of Sniper Joes in narrow hallways in the hopes of getting the necessary energy capsules. You're pretty much better off [[DrivenToSuicide killing yourself to restart the stage]].

* UnwinnableByDesign: The Buebeam Trap if you enter with a full supply of Crash Bombs and either waste one and/or run out of health.

** There are a number of okay ground-crawler type weapons in the series, from the Search Snake to the Power Ball, but Bubble Lead certainly ain't one of them. It doesn't even ''damage'' most enemies, and when it does, its damage is usually bad. It's practically a JokeItem.

* GameBreaker: The Metal Blade. It's a weakness of Bubble Man, Wood Man, Flash Man, [[{{Irony}} Metal Man himself]], and the second-to-last boss, not to mention it uses a ludicrously small amount of ammo per shot, meaning it would take a conscious effort to try and deplete it of ammo! Also, unlike any other weapon in the game, this one can be thrown in all eight directions, making it much easier to strike any GoddamnedBats. Plus it can cut through lesser enemies in a row, and it has a huge size, making it easy to hit with, especially against enemies that are so small that the Mega Buster goes over them. Their biggest downside? They ''don't'' work against [[ThatOneBoss Quick Man or the Buebeam Trap]].

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Most of the weapons are very good, and the game is generally considered to have one of the better weapon sets. Of course, none of that matters considering the Metal Blade is ''insanely'' broken, being an omnidirectional weapon with high damage, a large bullet, and so many shots it might as well be unlimited. Many players prefer to go after Metal Man first simply because they want the Metal Blade.

* HypeBacklash: As probably the most popular game in the ''Mega Man'' series and one of the most acclaimed games of all time, it naturally tends to get this from time to time. In particular, more than a few fans consider ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'' to be the actual pinnacle of the series, and consider this game to be overly simplistic by comparison. Some have criticized the game on that the Metal Blade is [[GameBreaker too powerful]] while most of the weapons are useless or impractical.

* AntiClimaxBoss: The Alien boss has [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere the element of surprise]], a gruesome appearance, and [[SceneryPorn an awesome background]] to its advantage. But it's just ''way'' too easy for a pivotal boss fight (and a much easier fight than the [[DiscOneFinalBoss Wily Machine 2]] fight that precedes it). It has an insultingly simple attack pattern (fly in a figure-8 pattern and slowly shoot a easily dodgeable pellet for each turn), and its only weakness is ''Bubble Lead'' (the weakest weapon in the entire game), which easily makes short work of it.

* HypeBacklash: As probably the most popular game in the ''Mega Man'' series and one of the most acclaimed games of all time, it naturally tends to get this from time to time. In particular, more than a few fans consider ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'' to be the actual pinnacle of the series, and consider this game to be overly simplistic by comparison. Some have criticized the game on that the Metal Blae is [[GameBreaker too powerful]] while most of the weapons are useless or impractical.

* HypeBacklash: As probably the most popular game in the ''Mega Man'' series and one of the most acclaimed games of all time, it naturally tends to get this from time to time. In particular, more than a few fans consider ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'' to be the actual pinnacle of the series, and consider this game to be overly simplistic by comparison.

* FandomBerserkButton: As far as most hardcore ''Mega Man'' fans are concerned, this game only has one difficulty setting, namely the "Difficult" mode -- which actually ''was'' the only difficulty setting in the original Japanese release and the later ''Wily Wars'' remake -- and anyone who dares mention the "Normal" mode is just a wimp who can't handle the full difficulty of a ''Mega Man'' game. Among more mainstream gamers, however, it's the complete opposite, as this game's selectable difficulty and more accessible nature have ensured its enduring popularity.

** The Crash Bomber, like the Atomic Fire, is a glutton with weapon energy, and takes a while to explode when pinned into a wall. While it's obstensively Flash Man's weakness, the [[GameBreaker Metal Blade]] ends up doing a better job at destroying him as it does the same amount of damage, can be fired more rapidly, and doesn't require strategic placement to defeat him with the fewest amount of shots possible. Oh yeah, and it's needed against [[ThatOneBoss the Buebeam Trap]].