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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mm2.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Music/TheMegas "My name is Mega Man, and I'll do all I can to save mankind".]]''[[note]]'''L-to-R:''' [[BlowYouAway Air Man]], [[ExtraOreDinary Metal Man]], [[MakingASplash Bubble Man]], [[SuperSpeed Quick Man]], [[GreenThumb Wood Man]], [[HavingABlast Crash Man]], [[TimeStandsStill Flash Man]], and [[PlayingWithFire Heat Man]][[/note]]]]
3->''In the year of 200X, a super robot named Mega Man was created. Dr. Light created Mega Man to stop the evil desires of Dr. Wily. However, after his defeat, Dr. Wily created eight of his own robots to counter Mega Man.''
4-->--The intro to the game, [[ExcusePlot summing up its entire story.]]
5
6''Mega Man 2'' (''Rockman 2: The Mystery of Dr. Wily'' in Japanese) is a run and gun {{Platformer}} VideoGame, released by Creator/{{Capcom}} for the [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] in 1988 in Japan and 1989 internationally.
7
8Although [[BigBad Dr. Wily]]'s ambitions of [[TakeOverTheWorld world conquest]] were [[VideoGame/MegaMan1 previously]] thwarted by Mega Man, the mad scientist refuses to give up on them, and one year on he tries again -- this time, though, his robot army is led by eight new Robot Masters of his own creation. Unlike Dr. Light's industrial robots, these are designed to withstand and outmatch Mega Man -- who, hero that he is, must defeat them and put down Dr. Wily's plans for revenge.
9
10The core gameplay from the previous game remains largely the same. You, as Mega Man, run and gun through stages and defeat their bosses in a non-linear order while [[PowerCopying acquiring their weapons]] to use against another boss in a [[ElementalRockPaperScissors rock-paper-scissors]] strategy. The developers made numerous changes, however, to make the gameplay more flexible and accessible to gamers. ''Mega Man 2'' offers two difficulty settings[[note]]only in the international versions; the Japanese version only has the "Difficult" setting[[/note]], a new password function, three special items, and energy-refilling E-Tanks to make the game more forgiving in difficulty. The boss roster received two extra slots (eight robots rather than six) and the stage designs are much improved over the previous game's. The presentation also received some extra love courtesy of well-designed stages, better sprite and artwork, a cartoony plethora of enemies cribbed from design contests, and [[AwesomeMusic/MegaMan a load of energetic 8-bit tunes]] to complete the picture. Capcom also dropped the arcade-style score system from the original, but nobody really missed it.
11
12While the [[VideoGame/MegaMan1 original game]] was only a modest hit in Japan and an outright flop internationally, this sequel quickly put the series on the map worldwide and became the best-selling game in the entire series (over 1.5 million copies). To this day, critics and fans alike consider ''Mega Man 2'' not only one of the best [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] games ''and'' one of the best games (if not ''the'' best game) in the whole series, but also ''one of the greatest video games of all time''. Even Keiji Inafune himself calls this one his favorite game in the series.
13
14The game later received a [[UpdatedRerelease 16-bit upgrade]] for the Platform/SegaGenesis as part of the [[NoExportForYou Europe and Japan only]] ''Mega Man: The Wily Wars''/''Rockman Megaworld'' cartridge (as well as the Japan-only ''Rockman 2: Complete Works'' [=PS1=] port). The game eventually saw a major re-release as part of ''Anniversary Collection'' for Platform/PlayStation2, Platform/NintendoGameCube and Platform/{{Xbox}}. The NES version has received a Platform/VirtualConsole re-release on the Platform/{{Wii}}, Platform/Nintendo3DS, and Platform/WiiU, with the latter two versions including a [[SaveScumming save state]] ability, and is part of ''Legacy Collection'' for Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/XboxOne, PC, [=3DS=], and Platform/NintendoSwitch. The ''Wily Wars'' remake eventually saw an American release, first as part of the old "Sega Channel" service, then as part of a bundle with many other games in the ''Sega Genesis Mini''.
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16There was even a literary adaptation via the ''Literature/WorldsOfPower'' series, which can be heard read by Creator/JamesRolfe over [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6_XJHcHg7I here]].
17
18The game's roster of Robot Masters includes:
19
20* DWN-009: Metal Man, weak to Metal Blade[=/=]Quick Boomerang, gives [[ExtraOreDinary Metal]] [[DeadlyDisc Blade]].
21* DWN-010: Air Man, weak to Leaf Shield, gives [[BlowYouAway Air Shooter]].
22* DWN-011: Bubble Man, weak to Metal Blade, gives [[BubbleGun Bubble Lead]].
23* DWN-012: Quick Man, weak to Time Stopper, gives [[SpamAttack Quick]] [[BattleBoomerang Boomerang]].
24* DWN-013: Crash Man, weak to Air Shooter, gives [[ThrowDownTheBomblet Crash Bomb]].
25* DWN-014: Flash Man, weak to Crash Bomber[=/=]Metal Blade, gives the [[TimeStandsStill Time Stopper]].
26* DWN-015: Heat Man, weak to Bubble Lead, gives the [[ChargedAttack Atomic]] [[PlayingWithFire Fire]].
27* DWN-016: Wood Man, weak to Atomic Fire[=/=]Air Shooter[[note]]technically, the Metal Blade/Crash Bomb, too[[/note]], gives the [[GreenThumb Leaf]] [[ThrowingYourShieldAlwaysWorks Shield]].
28
29[[SimilarlyNamedWorks Don't confuse this game with]] ''VideoGame/MegaMan2ThePowerFighters'' for the Arcade or ''VideoGame/MegaManII'' for the Platform/GameBoy (the latter of which is a companion title to the NES version).
30
31----
32!! ''Mega Man 2'' contains examples of the following tropes:
33* AbnormalAmmo:
34** Mega Man himself gets to use bubbles, leaves, and mini-tornadoes.
35** Many of the game's enemies use thematic ammo: Robbits fire carrots, Pipis drop eggs that spawn small robotic birds, Kerogs fire small frogs and Kaminari Goros throw lightning bolts (not actual bolts of lightning, mind you, but javelin-like projectiles that look like lightning bolts).
36* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer:
37** Heat Man's stage looks like one, albeit one filled with magma. With the industrial look, it's commonly interpreted as being part of either a steel foundry or a geothermal power plant.
38** Wily Stage 3 takes place inside the Wily Castle's plumbing system.
39* AdvancingBossOfDoom: The Mecha Dragon in Wily Castle 1 pulls double-duty as both this and an AdvancingWallOfDoom, since touching him will kill the player in one hit.
40* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The North American boxart features adult-sized musclemen dressed up as Mega Man, Quick Man, and Crash Man in an airbrushed futuristic setting, compared to the more stylized cartoon artwork used by the Japanese cover and the in-game graphics.
41* AnimalMecha: Several enemies are robots modeled on animals, such as frogs, fish, bats, and more. Every enemy in Wood Man's stage (a large forest) is one of these, with the largest being the massive Hot Dog minibosses, which are giant fire-breathing robot dogs.
42* AngryGuardDog: Three giant robotic dogs called Hot Dogs are fought in succession in Wood Man's stage, and they block progression due to their size (and you can't pass through them thanks to an invisible wall that disappears when they're beaten).
43* ArtEvolution:
44** The game's art started to become more anime-influenced than the previous game, and the spritework is more refined, although Mega Man's sprite remains unchanged.
45** While the first game only used background graphics for the Wily bosses, they're used more frequently here to create larger and more detailed enemies, such as the mini-bosses in Wood Man and Bubble Man's stages, and the Mecha Dragon and Guts Tank, which dwarf even the previous game's Yellow Devil in size. Such graphics would become a staple of the series for the rest of its time on the NES.
46* AutoScrollingLevel: The final part of Wily Castle 1 becomes an AdvancingBossOfDoom when the Mecha Dragon shows up. Mega Man must perform a series of precise jumps, but the screen scrolls by itself to prevent the player from getting too far ahead.
47* AwesomeButImpractical:
48** The Atomic Fire is very powerful and looks cool when fully charged, but it chews up so much ammo that it's best used sparingly, and its normal shot is so pathetically slow and weak that it's all but useless otherwise.
49** The Time Stopper is only really useful to avoid the lasers in Quick Man's stage, as it consumes ammo quickly and Mega Man can't attack or change weapons while using it.
50* BattleBoomerang: The Quick Boomerang can be shot continuously like a pseudo-chainsaw.
51* BeneathTheEarth: The true final stage happens in an underground tunnel deep below the Wily Castle.
52* BewareTheSkullBase: Starting a trend that would continue across the series, Dr. Wily's fortress features a giant skull.
53* BittersweetEnding: Though there is no text narration in the ending cutscene, the somber tone of the soundtrack suggests that Mega Man feels quite alone and confused, having shouldered the task of fighting his own kind "for everlasting peace". [[GainaxEnding Then again, your guess is about as good as anyone's...]]
54* BlackoutBasement: Part of Quick Man's stage becomes this, as the lights go off and are lit up by Changkey Makers (destroying them turns the area black again).
55* BleakLevel: The final stage [[spoiler: where Mega Man pursues Wily underneath his fortress]] has no music and no enemies, is rendered in drab browns and greens, and aside from some acid dripping from the ceiling is simply a straight shot to the FinalBoss.
56* BlowYouAway: The main attack of Air Man, as well as the Matasaburo mooks throughout his stage, involves producing strong winds with their fans to blow Mega Man away from them.
57* BookEnds: The game starts with Mega Man putting on his helmet and ends with a shot of it abandoned.
58* BootstrappedTheme: The famous title screen music and the Wily Stage 1 song are generally regarded as Mega Man's main theme songs. ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' eventually [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3VdGw0YmUc merged both of them.]]
59* BoringButPractical:
60** The Mega Buster, due in part to its quick firing, infinite ammo and being able to kill enemies that are immune to the Robot Master weapons.
61** The Bubble Lead isn't the best weapon in the game, but it can be used to detect fake floors and do damage to ground-hugging enemies (providing they don't deflect it).
62** The three Items aren't very fancy -- a floating platform, a jet platform, and a wall-climbing platform -- but all of them are very useful and are essential for traversing through the final stages and beating the game.
63* BossCorridor: Every Robot Master stage ends with a short hallway before Mega Man reaches the Robot Master, and unlike the first game, they are all a single screen long and devoid of enemies. This style of boss corridor would go on to be used in every ''Mega Man'' game afterwards.
64* BossRush: Wily Castle 5 is a single-room level that makes the player fight all eight Robot Masters again before they can fight Dr. Wily. This also marks the series' first use of a one-room Teleport System to access the bosses, as opposed to each one being fought in a fixed order.
65* BubbleGun: The Bubble Lead shoots large bubbles that fall to the ground and crawl along the ground and down walls.
66* BullfightBoss:
67** Heat Man charges towards you after being hit.
68** Quick Man mostly hurts you via CollisionDamage as he charges towards you.
69* CallBack: The boss of Wily 3 is the Guts Tank, a giant robot built to resemble Guts Man from [[VideoGame/MegaMan1 the previous game]].
70* CarryingTheWeakness: Metal Man is weak to his own weapon, the Metal Blade.
71* ChargedAttack: The Atomic Fire weapon obtained from Heat Man can be charged for a more powerful shot by holding the fire button before releasing, two games before this became a standard feature with the Mega Buster in ''Mega Man 4''. There are three levels of charge, with the more powerful levels doing more damage and requiring more weapon ammo.
72* ChickenWalker: The Sniper Armor enemy is a giant mecha with a pair of reverse-jointed legs. However, it never actually walks in-game, preferring to jump instead.
73* CheckPointStarvation: None of the Wily stages have {{Boss Corridor}}s like the Robot Master stages, meaning that if the player dies to a boss, they'll respawn at the stage's halfway point, rather than just before the boss. Worse, weapon usage is often required to get back to the boss, which can eat away at the player's reserves if they happen to die a lot to them.
74* ClockworksArea: Metal Man's stage has numerous gears turning in the background, and Pierobots even try to ride large gears into you.
75* CollisionDamage: Colliding with enemies is generally more painful than getting struck by their projectiles, especially the Mecha Dragon, which is an outright OneHitKill.
76* ContinuingIsPainful: The game [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zags this trope]] -- continuing after a GameOver will refill all of your weapon energy, but cost you all your E-Tanks, and return you to the beginning of the current stage, regardless of any checkpoints.
77* ConvectionSchmonvection: Heat Man's level is covered in lava that instantly kills Mega Man upon contact, but can simply be harmlessly jumped over.
78* CoresAndTurretsBoss: The boss of Wily Castle 4, the Boobeam Trap, is a set of wall-mounted turrets dotted around a single room. Defeating it requires destroying every last turret (without prematurely running out of Crash Bombs).
79* DarkerAndEdgier: Though not by much. The more upbeat melodies of the previous game are largely replaced by more serious and intense ones. Plotwise, Dr. Wily is now actively carrying out war against Mega Man in particular, and the ending is noticeably more somber than the first game's upbeat one.
80* DeadlyDisc: Metal Man's weapon of choice are a series of flying buzzsaws.
81* DeadlyDroplets: The final stage in the game leading up to a boss consists no other hazards than red liquid dropping down from the ceiling. The said liquid deals heavy damage upon contact.
82* DifficultyByRegion: The English release includes a "Normal" mode where Mega Man takes less damage and deals more damage to bosses. Selecting "Difficult" on the English release simply sets everything back to the Japanese version (it should be noted that the Wily Wars version did not include the "Normal" mode).
83* DiscOneNuke:
84** The Metal Blade is the most powerful weapon in the game -- and one of the most powerful ''in the entire series''. It delivers high damage, cuts through multiple mooks at a time, has a machine gun rate of fire, travels fast and long, can be shot in eight directions, has [[RuleOfCool a cool appearance]], and comes with an ammo capacity so large (112 shots) that it takes a conscious effort to deplete it. On top of all that, besides Metal Man being very easy to beat (meaning you can get the weapon right at the start of the game), the Metal Blade is a major weakness for four of the robot masters, the second-to-last boss, and ''[[DeathByIrony Metal Man himself]]''. If it weren't for several enemies and some of the bosses being immune to the Metal Blade [[note]] Air Man, Crash Man, Quick Man, Mecha Dragon, Guts Tank, Boobeam Trap and the Alien [[/note]], it would make the Mega Buster all but obsolete.
85** The Quick Boomerang isn't as impressive as the Metal Blade, but it isn't a bad substitute: It also has a ton of ammo and travels in an arc that makes hitting things above and below the level of the Mega Buster much easier. (It doesn't have the range of the Metal Blade, though.) The original release of the game also gave Quick Boomerangs an extra bit of utility thanks to a bug that was not caught before it shipped: The weapon would damage ''any'' stage enemy (but not necessarily the bosses) without fail -- including some enemies that are otherwise invincible. (Capcom fixed that bug in ''Wily Wars'' -- which surprised some folks, since they thought that the [=QBs=] being so good was a reward for getting through the [[BraggingRightsReward brutally difficult Quick Man stage]].)
86* DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud: Air Man's weapon is a SpreadShot of mini-tornadoes. While they deal damage on contact, being within their vicinity deals no damage at all.
87* DownTheDrain: Bubble Man's stage and Wily Stage 3 both have you going down into underwater areas. The latter is even more fitting, as it looks more like the castle's waterworks and has a long spike-filled drop in it.
88* DramaticWind: On the title screen, Mega Man's hair is seen blowing in the wind as he stands atop a tall building.
89* DubNameChange: Some of the minor enemies were renamed in the English manual (Friender became Hot Dog, Shotman became Crazy Cannon, the Guts Tank became the Guts-Dozer etc.) and "Clash Man" became "Crash Man".
90* DungeonBypass:
91** Item-2 creates a platform that flies forward at high speed, which can be used to bypass several tricky obstacles.
92** The Time Stopper can (among other things) be used to freeze the lasers in Quick Man's stage and skip some of the Hot Dogs in Wood Man's stage.
93* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
94** The Metal Blade creates an awkward sense of balancing, being the effective weakness of no less than four Robot Masters, including Metal Man, the original wielder, himself. Later games makes the ElementalRockPaperScissors more strict, with a special weapon typically only being effective on one Robot Master and never the one you get it from.
95** The utility items in this game are generic, nondescript-looking devices simply called Item-1, Item-2, and Item-3. Mega Man's robot dog Rush would take their place from ''Mega Man 3'' onwards, although [[https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Transport_items a few other non-anthropomorphic items]] would make occasional appearances.
96** Item drops from defeating enemies in this particular game are '''exceedingly''' generous, often giving the player more big health/weapon energy pickups than most of the other games would give out ''small'' pickups, even on Difficult mode. Subsequent games made item drops much more conservative to keep the difficulty high but balanced, as well as to make Energy Tanks more valuable.
97** During the BossRush, every Robot Master's arena is identical (save for Bubble Man's having water), which results in quirks such as Quick Man and Flash Man being fought on flat ground, Metal Man lacking a conveyor, and Bubble Man not having SpikesOfDoom on his ceiling. Later games' refights would preserve the layouts of each boss's original arena, though usually retextured to match the refight stage's aesthetic.
98** Every Special Weapon has unique behavior when being reflected by an enemy, while later games would often have them bounce off at a 45° angle just like the Mega Buster.
99** A few bosses will receive health refills when certain weapons are used on them, typically their own. In later games, the worst a weapon will often do to a boss is no damage at all, with Freeze Man from ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'' being the only boss since to outright heal from a weapon.
100* EasterEgg: Holding A when you select a boss will cause the stars on the bosses intro screen to turn into Copipis.
101* EasyLevelTrick: On the very last stage, hold right while falling and keep going. You will be ahead of all the lava/acid drips that you don't need to time your movements.
102* ElementalPowers: This game (almost) has the five Chinese elements (Fire, Water, Wood, Metal) and the four classical elements (Fire, Water, Wind).
103* ElementalRockPaperScissors: This game toys with this. While there is a clear circular line of weakness, most of the bosses have at least one other weapon (typically the Metal Blade) that they're weak against. This is one of the few ''Mega Man'' games where it can be considered open-ended.
104* EmergencyEnergyTank: This was the first game in the series to give you E-Tanks, which can instantly refill your health on the go, and were essential to toning down the difficulty of the original game.
105* EnergyWeapon: Quick Man's stage has several vertical corridors where you have to outrun giant laser beams that insta-kill Mega Man if they touch him.
106* EpilepticFlashingLights: The Wily Castle bosses in particular; when fighting the Mecha Dragon, Guts Tank, Wily Machine 2, and [[spoiler: the Alien]], the whole screen flashes white ''every time they take damage''. After defeating them, the screen continues to rapidly flash while they fade out. The screen does not flash while fighting the Picopico-kun and Boobeam Trap, although it still rapidly flashes after they're defeated. The [[Platform/Nintendo3DS 3DS]] Virtual Console version tones down the screen flashing, though this is likely because of different screen refresh rates.
107* EternalEngine: Metal Man and Quick Man's stages look the most mechanical out of the main eight, and the Wily Stages past the first look like they're made of metal bulkheads.
108* ExcusePlot:
109** Dr. Wily is back for revenge with a batch of his own robots to counter Mega Man. Go at it!
110** The ''Wily Wars'' remake plot is centered on Dr. Wily creating a time-travelling Wily Machine and trying to take down Mega Man in the past, prompting Dr. Light to send Mega Man back in time to fight him while reliving his second adventure. Of course, that plot point is exclusive to the manual -- the in-game plot is as bare bones as ever.
111* FanFare: The iconic Mega Man theme at the title screen, as well as the "Boss Selected" music. Finally, there's the triumphant victory theme after defeating the final boss.
112* FlashOfPain:
113** The minor enemies briefly flash white when hit.
114** The Robot Masters and Mega Man himself blink in and out during MercyInvincibility.
115* {{Flight}}: [[spoiler: Wily's alien form]] is capable of this [[spoiler: by virtue of being a floating holosphere.]]
116* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Quick Man's boomerang pokes out of his mugshot frame on the stage select. This is meant to make him look more menacing, as he was deliberately programmed to be one of the hardest Robot Masters in the game.
117* FragileSpeedster: Quick Man moves really fast, but takes double damage from the Mega Buster.
118* FrictionlessIce: Although it's not really ice (in fact, the ''Wily Wars'' version makes it out to be crystals), Flash Man's stage is made up of surfaces that carry Mega Man forward even after he stops/tries to change direction.
119* GameMod: More ROM hacks exist of ''2'' than of any other game in the series (and possibly more than all of the other games ''combined'').
120* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: [[spoiler: Dr. Wily is revealed out of nowhere to be an alien right at the end, and this form of him is the final boss. Though it's ultimately subverted, as it turns out this "alien form" of him was a hologram controlled by the real Dr. Wily.]]
121* GlassCannon: Wood Man. His leaves do a lot of damage, but he has the most weaknesses of all the Robot Masters and takes a lot of damage from all of them. He is still rather resistant to the Mega Buster, only taking 1 bar of damage per shot.
122* GreenThumb: Wood Man's ability is to use a ring of leaves as shields and weapons.
123* HairRaisingHare: The Robbits from Wood Man's stage are robotic rabbits that attack by shooting carrots at you.
124* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Metal Man is killed in one hit by his own weapon (two on Difficult).
125* HoppingMachine: The Sniper Armor and Robbit enemies move by hopping.
126* HumongousMecha: The Mecha Dragon in Wily Castle 1 and the Guts Tank in Wily Castle 3 are the two largest bosses in the game, with both of them taking up almost the entire screen. In the latter's case, its fist is as big as Mega Man is.
127* ImprobableWeaponUser: Wood Man uses leaf-shaped energy pieces, Bubble Man shoots dangerous bubbles, Mega Man can use both after beating the two of them, and the Robbits from Wood Man's stage fire carrots.
128* InCaseOfBossFightBreakGlass: The second form of Wily Machine 2 can only be damaged by hitting the glass cockpit where Wily himself is.
129* InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt: The main obstacle in Metal Man's stage are conveyor belts that are designed to send Mega Man into a bottomless pit or towards enemies. They also show up in his boss room, but only during the first battle against him.
130* InvincibleMinorMinion:
131** Springers act as successors to ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'''s Gabyoalls by being small enemies that patrol floors and can't be killed without certain weapons. Unlike the Gabyoalls, though, Mega Man can't even stun them by shooting them as they reflect the Mega Buster.
132** The Big Fish enemy in Wily 3 is seemingly ''supposed'' to be this, as nothing can damage it except the Quick Boomerang (which damages everything), and ''VideoGame/MegaManTheWilyWars'' removes even that weakness.
133* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: Crash Man and Wily Stage 1 both have you climbing up to a high point. Crash Man's stage goes from having a blue sky to a starry black one as you progress, and it's unclear whether it's a day-to-night transition or if the tower's so high you're actually heading up into ''space''.
134* JokeWeapon: The Bubble Lead, which besides a limited pool of enemies is only useful for beating Heat Man, one of the Wily Castle bosses, and the [[spoiler: final,]] final boss. It's also useful in detecting the fake floor traps in Wily Stage 4.
135* KillItWithFire: Wood Man's biggest weakness is against the Atomic Fire, with a fully charged shot able to one-shot him on the NES version's Normal difficulty.
136* KillItWithWater: Bubble Lead is Heat Man's weakness, as well as the weakness of the [[spoiler: actual]] final boss.
137* LaserHallway: Exaggerated in Quick Man's stage, where the bulk of the stage has Mega Man evading giant, instant-kill laser beams.
138* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: Quick Man's stage select icon is different in that the crescent on his head sticks out of the border instead of being inside of it. Keiji Inafune wanted Quick Man to have this unique feature as a subtle way of conveying the difficulty of his stage.
139* LethalJokeCharacter: Wood Man, in universe. What seems like a hilariously awful idea on paper turns out to be surprisingly formidable foe, so much so that Dr. Wily considers him one of his favorites.
140* LethalLavaLand: Heat Man's stage is filled with instant death lava.
141* LevelInTheClouds: Air Man's stage takes place on a series of platforms high in the clouds.
142* LogicalWeakness: Wood Man, despite being a robot, is made of wood and is weak to Heat Man's weapon. Heat Man, however, is naturally weak to Bubble Man's weapon. Bubble Man's weakness to the Metal Blades also makes sense as bubbles do not react well to sharp stuff. Quick Man, meanwhile, is weak against the Time Stopper. This even extents to the enemies -- the fiery Changkey Makers are destroyed in one shot by the Bubble Lead and Air Shooter. Also applies to the final boss- [[spoiler:It's really a hologram, so Bubble Lead causes it to short circuit.]]
143* TheLostWoods: Wood Man's stage is set in a forest, with matching AnimalMecha enemies patrolling it.
144* MalevolentArchitecture:
145** The Wily Castle stages are a particular standout. Heat Man's stage also has this with its infamous row of disappearing blocks.
146** The Picopico-kun, in which pieces of the surrounding room fly out two at a time and combine together to form flying robots that attacks [[CollisionDamage by trying to fly into Mega Man]].
147* MascotMook: Mets, which are present as Neo Metalls and can now walk around.
148* MercyInvincibility: Mega Man and the Robot Masters have this, but the Wily Castle bosses noticeably don't, allowing a single Crash Bomb explosion to hit them multiple times, although making that happen is easier said than done.
149* MiniMecha: The Sniper Armor enemies are mecha piloted by Sniper Joes.
150* MinusWorld: Glitches can be used to go to other levels (albeit using tiles from the current level) through Robot Master arenas. The glitchy version of Wily Castle 2, which is accessed via a glitch in Air Man's stage, is perhaps the most well-known iteration of this glitch.
151* MoodWhiplash: Present in the ending; after defeating Dr. Wily with a triumphant fanfare, a scene (set to oddly somber music) of Mega Man walking through the seasons before leaving his helmet on a hillside plays. And before you can wrap your head around what ''that'' all means, the credits play with a reprise of the upbeat, energetic title theme.
152* MookMaker:
153** The Changkey Makers in Quick Man's stage throw Changkeys from the first game.
154** Goblins release Petit Goblins from their sides so long as Mega Man stands on them.
155** Ankos release Shrinks from their mouths until they're destroyed.
156** The Guts Tank launches Mets from its chest if Mega Man stays off its base.
157* MusicalNod: The opening strains of the title theme is a rearrangement of the opening strains of the original ''Mega Man'''s ending theme.
158* NintendoHard: While the game's difficulty is much more forgiving than the original game, some parts are still very challenging, especially if you try to proceed without the most helpful item or weapon. Difficult mode only ramps up the challenge even more. This was unarguably a part of this game's appeal. The Wily Wars remake ramps things up. Although it allows you to keep your E-Tanks after a Game Over, this is counter-balanced by the removal of the normal difficulty setting and several robot masters taking even less damage from your attacks then they did in Difficult mode from the NES version. Wood Man is also a significantly more difficult fight due to his leaf shield projectile having a larger hitbox that is much more difficult to jump over.
159* NoSell: Quick Man will stop to block quite a few weapons fired at him without them harming him, including the Metal Blade. He does stop moving briefly when he does so, though, allowing you to quickly switch weapons and hit him. The Wily Wars version omits this entirely though.
160* NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: Air Man, Wood Man, Heat Man and Bubble Man's stages lack any real diversions of interest like other stages do, and are straight paths towards the boss.
161* NoWaterproofingInTheFuture: Mega Man is able to defeat [[spoiler: the Alien (which is really just a hologram projector)]] by short-circuiting it with his bubble gun.
162* NotCompletelyUseless: The Bubble Lead is generally not a very good choice for a weapon, but is the only one that can reveal fake floors in Wily Castle 4 before you fall through them (and one of them has instant death spikes under it!), and is the only thing that works on the FinalBoss.
163* NotEvenHuman: Subverted. Before the final battle, [[spoiler: Wily transforms into an alien. However, defeating him reveals that the creature was just a hologram being controlled by the real Wily]].
164* NothingIsScarier: The very final level has no music, and the only sounds prior to the final boss are the echoing drips of acid from the ceiling, itself the only other threat to be found.
165* OneHitKill:
166** Spikes and the lasers from Quick Man's stage kill Mega Man regardless of how much life points he has left.
167** Mega Man can do this himself to several bosses on Normal difficulty, a rarity for this series. Wood Man can be downed by a fully charged Atomic Fire. Crash Man can be done in with a properly placed Air Shooter. Quick Man can be destroyed by [[ArtificialStupidity running into the same properly placed Crash Bomb over and over]]. And the second time you run into Metal Man, [[WeaksauceWeakness he can be downed by a single Metal Blade]]. (Bear in mind that, on Difficult, most of these one-hit kills require at least two hits)
168** A fully charged Atomic Fire, as well as the Leaf Shield will beat the Hot Dog mini-boss in Wood Man's stage in a single hit on either difficulty.
169** Directly touching the Mecha Dragon will blow you up no matter how much health you have.
170* OneWingedAngel: Wily pulls this by [[spoiler: turning into an alien in the final boss battle. Of course, it's just a hologram]].
171* {{Oni}}: Air Man's stage has oni as a recurring motif; it features several giant floating oni heads as platforms, smaller oni heads appear in the ground as part of the stage's tileset, and the Kaminari Goro enemies are stylised oni robots that throw lightning.
172* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The boss of the first Wily Stage is the Mecha Dragon, a robot [[AllThereInTheManual with a blimp built into its body]] which has no impact on the story, but looks more imposing and is far more dangerous than every previous enemy.
173* OutsideTheBoxTactic:
174** Returning Sniper Joes in Sniper Armors are very vulnerable to the Air Shooter and Leaf Shield, and several HumongousMecha are vulnerable to the Quick Boomerang.
175** While neither are true weaknesses, the Crash Bomber and Air Shooter are able to damage Wood Man through his Leaf Shield; the former by exploding against the shield, and the latter by firing it while standing right next to Wood Man himself.
176** During the BossRush portion of the same game, Metal Man dies to one hit of [[PowerCopying his own weapon]] on Normal difficulty (two hits on hard).
177** Detonating a Crash Bomb just below Wily Machine 2's cockpit during the second phase will cause the explosion to hit it multiple times when it moves backwards, defeating it very quickly.
178** When using the Crash Bomber against Flash Man (who is ostensibly weak to the weapon), ideally the shots should be pinned to walls and timed so they go off when Flash Man uses the Time Stopper and stands still in the bomb's explosion. Said tactic also works well against Quick Man.
179** Destroying all the walls in the Boobeam Trap room, dying, refilling the Crash Bomber, and returning will result in the walls not returning (so long as the player didn't get a game over), making it significantly easier. The designers were even kind enough to start you back just before an excellent spot for farming weapon capsules after your death.
180** Though normally a FragileSpeedster who never stays still, Quick Man will come to a complete stop when blocking a weapon that does no damage to him (such as the Leaf Shield or Metal Blade). By switching back and forth between hitting him with a weapon that he blocks and a weapon that hurts him, Quick Man can be defeated while he stands (mostly) still.
181* PauseScumming: If you pause while falling, Mega Man's falling speed will reset. Repeatedly pausing will allow you to slowly float to the ground and make much longer jumps than normal. This can be used to bypass some hard jumps and also makes certain sections, such as the spike shaft in Wily Stage 3, much easier.
182* PlatformBattle: The fight against the Mecha Dragon gives the player only three very small platforms to stand on, while a BottomlessPit lies below. If you take damage, falling off can be surprisingly easy.
183* PlayingWithFire: Heat Man fights by shooting fire pellets that ignite the ground, and can also surround himself in flames for a charging tackle. Upon obtaining [[PowerCopying his weapon]], Mega Man gains the ability to charge his shot to unleash a highly damaging fireball forward.
184* PowerupLetdown: Most if not all of the weapons the player obtains are less potent than their boss versions. The Time Stopper is the most noticeable example; while Flash Man can fire while using it and can use it multiple times, the player can only use it once before having to seek ammo and can't fire while using it.
185* PunnyName: The giant, fire-breathing dog robots in Wood Man's stage are called Hot Dogs in the North American manual.
186* PuzzleBoss: The Boobeam Trap requires strategy to defeat, given how the one weapon that can harm it is limited in quantity and has only just enough ammo to defeat it.[[labelnote:*]]The Crash Bomb has seven shots. It takes one shot each to destroy the five turrets that compose the boss, and one additional shot apiece to destroy the two walls which block access to turrets. The three additional breakable walls are {{Schmuck Bait}}.[[/labelnote]] Adding to this, it's possible to defeat it and keep one more shot in reserve[[labelnote:*]]which can destroy Wily Machine 2's second form all by itself if fired below the cockpit while he's driving backwards into the explosion[[/labelnote]], but this requires very careful placement of one particular shot. If you're willing to sacrifice a life, you can blow up all the walls, die, refill your Crash Bombs and when you come back the walls will not have reappeared, allowing you to make it out of the fight with two shots remaining.
187* RegeneratingHealth: Using the wrong weapons (usually their own) on some bosses will replenish their health. [[spoiler: In the Alien's case, EVERY weapon but the Bubble Lead regenerates its health]].
188* RuleOfThree: Wood Man's stage has three Frienders as mini-bosses, all of which are fought one after the other.
189* SchizophrenicDifficulty: Certain stages are either brutally difficult or utterly trivial depending on whether you have the right weapon or item on hand (i.e. Time Stopper for Quick Man's stage, Leaf Shield for Crash Man's stage, and Item-2 for Heat Man's stage.) Though in Quick Man's case, having Time Stopper on hand gives you a choice whether you want to have a hard time with the stage or a hard time with the boss.
190* ScoobyDooHoax: The true final boss [[spoiler:is thought to be an extraterrestrial lifeform, but turns out (upon defeat) to not only be a hologram-emitting drone, but said drone also was being controlled by Dr. Wily.]]
191* SelfImposedChallenge:
192** Beating the game with [[MinimalistRun only the Mega Buster (except in spots where you are required to use a specific weapon or item)]].
193** Beating the game [[NoDamageRun without taking a single hit]] or [[NoDeathRun dying even once]].
194* SequelEscalation: Quite -- more weapons, more Robot Masters, more stages, more bosses (some of which are even larger)...
195* SharedLifeMeter: The game has the Boobeam Trap and Picopico-kun in Wily's Castle, the former being a series of turrets on the walls that all have to be destroyed, the latter featuring wall panels that combine into flying robots.
196* ShoutOut:
197** Heat Man looks like a human-sized Zippo lighter.
198** In Wood Man's stage, you fight a giant blue robot wolf / dog that breathes fire. Its Japanese name is Friender, much like ''Anime/NeoHumanCasshern '''s sidekick, who is visually identical and possesses the same ability.
199* SigilSpam: Dr. Wily's "Dr. W" logo makes its debut in this game, and it appears over every Robot Master's door, on Wily Castle's skull, the barricades in Wily Stage 1, and even Wily Machine 2.
200* SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom: Presses, found in Metal Man's stage and Wily Castle 2. Somewhat surprisingly, they're *not* instant death if they hit you, though they do deal quite a bit of damage, and attempting to jump over them without waiting for them to come back up first will result in Mega Man getting hurt by their ''chains''. Two of them in the Wily Castle have barely enough space between them for Mega Man to fit-- if you don't place yourself just right, you'll take damage (unless you used the Time Stopper to freeze them).
201* SpamAttack: The Quick Boomerang can be autofired.
202* SpikesOfDoom: Particularly in parts of Bubble Man's stage (and his boss room, where they're attached to the ceiling) and Wily Stage 3 (which has a 5-screen long pit lined with the same kind of spikes, with the water physics the only thing that can help you [[note]][[GoodBadBugs you can reset Mega Man's falling speed by pausing to go through the pit easier, however]][[/note]]).
203* SpreadShot:
204** Air Man's weapon, the Air Shooter, fires three cyclones that spread out as they fly upwards.
205** Flash Man fires out a spray of energy pellets after using the Time Stopper.
206* StealthPun: The Air Shooter ''blows up.'' Which is likely why Crash Man, the explosives Robot Master, is weak to it.
207* SupervillainLair: Wily Castle makes its debut here (Wily's base in the first game was a factory with no skull motif anywhere).
208* TemporaryPlatform: Both malevolent and benevolent, both of the "timed" variety; while Heat Man's stage (and only his stage) brings back the infamous Appearing Blocks, the three Items you get in the game serve as helpful platforms.
209* ThisIsADrill:
210** The Mole enemies that pop up in Metal Man's stage and later Wily Castle 2 are living drills that emerge from the floor and ceiling to attack Mega Man.
211** Crash Man has drills on the end of his Crash Bombs (absent on Mega Man's version).
212** The Goblin enemies in Air Man's stage have drill horns that slowly emerge from the top corners of their head before sliding back down.
213* ThrowingYourShieldAlwaysWorks: Wood Man's weapon of choice is a leaf shield that he hurls forward to damage Mega Man with. Once obtained, it works the same way (but in four possible directions), and is more effective as a projectile than an actual defensive shield, doing significant damage to a number of enemies such as Moles and Sniper Armors.
214* TimeBomb: The Crash Bomber pins to walls and explodes after a short delay, but when fired at some enemies it'll explode immediately.
215* TimeStandsStill: The Time Stopper, as you could no doubt tell, freezes all enemies and projectiles in the area for the duration of its effect (though curiously, the Boobeam Trap isn't affected despite its graphics freezing like other enemies).
216* TornadoMove: Air Man fires swarms of miniature tornadoes at the player, pushing them backwards against the wall in the process.
217* TrialAndErrorGameplay:
218** Quick Man's stage, as without the Time Stopper, knowing the room layout and positions of each laser before entering is key to getting out of the latter's way in time. Encouraging this, the level contains three 1-Ups out in the open, more than any other level in the game (though getting them isn't always easy).
219** Wily Castle 4, by virtue of its invisible pits (though they're mainly an inconvenience, can be revealed in advance with the Bubble Lead, and are confined to the first half of the stage). More prominently, a first-timer likely won't know that they're supposed to conserve most (if not all) of the Crash Bomber's energy before facing the Boobeam Trap at the end.
220* TruckDriversGearChange: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2si_9Dk9zo The music for the third, fourth and fifth Wily Castle stages]] consists of a 4-bar phrase that shifts up a semitone every cycle, and drops back down after going up a full octave.
221* UndergroundLevel: Flash Man's stage seems to be set within an underground crystal mine, and the very last part of the game is underneath Wily Castle.
222* UnderwaterBossBattle: Bubble Man is fought underwater both times you face him.
223* UnwinnableByDesign:
224** The Boobeam Trap can't be damaged by anything other than the limited-use Crash Bomber. There's no way to restore ammo during the fight, so if you waste even one shot (or come in with less than a full stack), you've already doomed yourself[[labelnote:*]]Technically you can waste one shot and still have enough ammo, but this requires making a very tricky shot while falling to catch both a turret and a wall in the same blast[[/labelnote]]. Fortunately, you aren't truly ''stuck'', but you will need to sacrifice a life and fight enemies in the hopes of squeezing ammo from them. Thankfully, your respawn point is right before a prime ammo-farming spot.
225** The final boss is impossible to defeat if you don't have enough Bubble Lead ammo. As you're unable to farm for weapon energy in the final level, your only course of action in this scenario is getting a Game Over and continuing from the beginning of the level, which will refill all of your weapons.
226* UpdatedRerelease: The Europe and Japan only 16-bit upgrade included in ''The Wily Wars'' for the Platform/SegaGenesis (although it did get a Sega Channel exclusive American release), and ''Rockman 2: Complete Works'' for the [=PS1=] in Japan (this version was later incorporated into the ''Anniversary Collection'').
227* UtilityWeapon:
228** Crash Bombs are the only thing that can destroy certain walls.
229** The Time Stopper can be used creatively in certain areas to trivialize certain parts of stages, such as freezing the lasers in Quick Man's stage, freezing the Goblins in Air Man's stage and move across them much more quickly, freezing time to skip the Hot Dogs in Wood Man's stage, and more.
230* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The climax of the game takes place at Wily Castle, which Mega Man journeys to after defeating all eight Robot Masters.
231* WalkDontSwim: Mega Man can't swim, so he just sinks in Bubble Man's stage. Unlike the first game, he can jump ''very'' high, which became the standard for all subsequent water stages in the series.
232* WeaponizedOffspring: Pipis drop eggs containing tiny Copipis that will ZergRush you in large clusters upon release (though destroying the egg before it hits the ground stops this from happening).
233* WhamShot: The moment before the final boss fight where [[spoiler:Wiley turns into an alien without warning, revealing he wasn't human! Subverted, because after you beat the alien it turns out it was just a trick on his part using a hologram projector.]]
234* WhenTreesAttack: Wood Man resembles a humanoid tree stump.
235* ZergRush: If a Pipi's egg lands on the ground, it releases several tiny Copipis that gun straight for Mega Man in a large flock.

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