This review contains spoilers
Over the years after god knows how many replays, I still think mega man 2 holds up quite well. Pretty much everything has been improved from 1; the presentation is much better, being way less rough around the edges than the first game which as much as I still enjoy that game, just visually screams early nes game. The level design is way more varied, and the boss fights (with one exception) are overall much more interesting and generally makes this game more fun to run through again. The music is also so much more memorable, it's no wonder why this is one of the most recognizable video game soundtracks ever.
However, there is one thing about this game that kind of just brings the whole experience down for me, and yeah, it's Wily stage 4. For the most part Mega man 2 steps off the bullshit moments from the first game, and got rid of permanently missable items that can softlock you from beating the game, thank god. However, Wily 4 completely throws that out the window. First of all, this is by far the worst level design in the game and it's no contest. The first half of the level has invisible walls, which is mostly just really annoying more than anything. These can easily be overcome with the bubble lead, which I'll admit is actually a pretty cool puzzle. But then you get to the second half of the level, which has extremely slow moving platforms, and ends off with spamming a ton of the more annoying enemies in the game. And then you get to the boss fight, the boobeam trap. Dear. God. You have to use the crash bombs to get rid of these dome things on the wall, and you have an extremely limited supply. There are a bunch of walls that are breakable via the crash bombs, but nope! You're actually meant to traverse around using the transport items to make your way around the stage in the most obtuse way possible, and yeah this part blows. I usually play these games through the legacy collection, and this is the only part in the first 6 games where I don't really feel that bad if I end up using the rewind feature just so I can get it over with. This is by far one of the worst stages and bosses in the entire classic series, and honestly bogs the experience down a little bit, especially since it comes so late into the game. And it sucks I often finish this game feeling relieved more than anything, because I actually really like this game! But dear lord I dread this boss fight so so much whenever I play through this game
However, there is one thing about this game that kind of just brings the whole experience down for me, and yeah, it's Wily stage 4. For the most part Mega man 2 steps off the bullshit moments from the first game, and got rid of permanently missable items that can softlock you from beating the game, thank god. However, Wily 4 completely throws that out the window. First of all, this is by far the worst level design in the game and it's no contest. The first half of the level has invisible walls, which is mostly just really annoying more than anything. These can easily be overcome with the bubble lead, which I'll admit is actually a pretty cool puzzle. But then you get to the second half of the level, which has extremely slow moving platforms, and ends off with spamming a ton of the more annoying enemies in the game. And then you get to the boss fight, the boobeam trap. Dear. God. You have to use the crash bombs to get rid of these dome things on the wall, and you have an extremely limited supply. There are a bunch of walls that are breakable via the crash bombs, but nope! You're actually meant to traverse around using the transport items to make your way around the stage in the most obtuse way possible, and yeah this part blows. I usually play these games through the legacy collection, and this is the only part in the first 6 games where I don't really feel that bad if I end up using the rewind feature just so I can get it over with. This is by far one of the worst stages and bosses in the entire classic series, and honestly bogs the experience down a little bit, especially since it comes so late into the game. And it sucks I often finish this game feeling relieved more than anything, because I actually really like this game! But dear lord I dread this boss fight so so much whenever I play through this game