Where the original game was played mostly in samey-looking claustrophobic corridors, this added a whole lot of variety in both stage structure as well as mission objectives; this was both good and bad. One minus-point is that the controls didn't evolve enough from the first game to reflect some of the new situations you'd find yourself in, and so I routinely found myself pressing the lock-on button and then turning my back on the FIVE TANKS advancing on me showering me with deadly bullet in order to lock onto one single turret chilling behind me. The very existence of That One Dungeon left enough of a bad taste for me to rank this one slightly below the original in terms of my enjoyment of it.

But in general this was a more than worthy sequel to the first game made with more of the same charm and personality. Some boss battles were really nail-biters (particularly the final boss) but nothing felt overly unfair or frustrating. The voice acting still holds up. I only wish the teased third installment didn't get canned.

Also, I ship Volnutt and Tron (Voltron?) Dont @ me

Mega Man Legends if it were bigger and better. It's just a straight improvement from the already good original game; better controls, better locations, better missions and dungeons, better enemy variety and bosses, better customization, better weapons, better story, better music, and so on and so forth. I had so much fun with the game. My only complaint is the Nino Ruins dungeon. I understand that it was that slow likely due to hardware limitations, but still. Regardless, I'm not gonna let one iffy dungeon sour the rest of my experience. I also found the end-game to be super cool too, particularly learning about Elysium and Mega Man's history. I hope that one day it's expanded on further.

Cant wait for... Legends 3...

Really strong conclusion that ups the ante on the OVA-esque drama and setpieces, though it also has its fair share of low points like the mission where the mayor suicide-bombs his own town if you miss a few targets and the god-awful water dungeon. A transition away from 1's lackadaisical homeliness to a more epic anime fare. The transition brings its own strengths and updates to the original's gameplay and design, though its ambition often gets the best of it. It can often feel like the controls took a single step up while the rest of the game design takes 2, demanding a level of money grinding and enemy challenge that a ps1 game can't prepare you for.

I'm still pissed Legends 3 never came to be but I also don't feel like it would've been very good under Inafune's direction. The way he was setting it up treated 2's ending like a major cliffhanger that needed to be formally resolved instead of a brief end-credits gag. Literally insane that the MML fandom at large has been gaslit into believing otherwise JUST because of this one man. What a deranged person.