(Played on PC via the X Legacy Collection)
X1
X3
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
Xtreme
Xtreme 2
With Mega Man X putting Sigma out of the picture in the previous game, Maverick incidents have gradually became less and less frequent while peace gets restored to the world. 6 months pass and the Maverick Hunters have tracked down the final remnants of Sigmas forces to an abandoned warehouse in Mega Man X2, a sequel to the first Mega Man X released only a year after that. Surely with a release that quickly after the previous game, that can't be a good sign about the quality of this game... right...? If you couldn't guess by my rating, no it absolutely fucking isn't a bad game, in fact being my overall favorite game in the entire X series. It's an overall improvement over the first game in all but a few extremely minor aspects that I will discuss in this review alongside this games range of strengths.
First major thing that changes between X1 and X2 is the gameplay. Fundamentally they're near identical, so what's exactly changed? The answer to that question is that X can now dash from the very beginning of the game, whereas in X1 it was tied to a Light Capsule. This simple change is a total fucking gamechanger as it allows your boss orders to be a LOT more varied unlike in X1 where you'd almost always start off with Chill Penguin. This is really the only major gameplay change between X1 and X2, but man is it a welcome one.
With that out of the way the next logical thing to talk about would be the items, in particular that the Dr Light Capsules are back to give X a brand new set of armor (dubbed the Second Armor) with different abilities than X1s armor. The Head piece allows X to scan the area around him for secret paths. The Chest piece gives him a 50% damage reduction and also allows him to convert received damage into a screen nuke called the Giga Crush, the Buster upgrade gives X a new stronger tier of charge shot that allows him to fire two charge shots back to back, alongside being able to charge his special weapons, the Leg piece grants X the ability to dash while airborne and like in X1 there's a secret capsule that allows him to perform another Street Fighter move, this time around it's the Shoryuken. This is a damn good set of armor, with the double charge shot being an absolute beast of an attack that goes through bosses i-frames and the air dash being another new helpful tool for movement and avoiding boss attacks. Only real gripe I have though is that the Head piece is worthless, but are these ever really useful outside of a certain later armors head piece? The 8 Life Ups and the 4 E-Tanks are back, alongside a set of 3 new items that I will wait until I get to this games plot to discuss. Only major gripe I have with the items however is that some of them can feel WAY too cryptic for new players to find, and I get that this was probably intentional due to the way the Head piece of Xs armor functions in this game, but even that feels rather cryptic to find as well as it's hidden underneath what seemingly looks like a bottomless pit in Crystal Snails stage. Despite that though there is lots of fun to be had when you do know where the items are.
With these returning items comes level design to accommodate them, which this game does WELL. X2 is significant as this is one of 2 Mega Man X games alongside X7 that you can 100% without having to backtrack for any items you couldn't get previously if you followed the correct order. This does require a bit of sequence breaking, as you must first beat Wire Sponge and then use the Strike Chain to get the Buster capsule in Wheel Gators stage (which you're intended to get with an air dash) and then damage boost of an enemy later in that same stage to get the Life Up (which you're intended to get with a charged Speed Burner). While I can get the Life Up just fine with damage boosting but I usually just wait till I have the air dash to get the Buster Capsule as trying to get it with the Strike Chain requires a pretty precise chain of inputs. Anyway I'm getting sidetracked, X2 has some damn good level design with gimmicks that don't feel too intrusive, like destroying an enemy submarine in Bubble Crabs stage, avoiding spotlights in Magna Centipedes stage or changing gravity in Morph Moths stage. This game also saw the introduction of the Ride Chaser, a mechanic that would become very infamous in the later games solely due to a certain stage in Mega Man X5. X2s Ride Chaser is significant as it's the only instance of it where you can turn left and right with it so you have a lot more control over it, and you are intended to use it to get a Life Up in Overdrive Ostrichs stage but doing that's a pain so you can just sequence break it with a charged Speed Burner instead. All in all, some very good level design for what are among some of my favorite levels in the entire series.
Next up is the plot. 6 months have passed since Sigmas defeat in X1 and the Maverick Hunters have tracked down the last remnants of Sigmas army to an abandoned warehouse that's been converted into a factory for producing mechaniloids. X rushes in, accompanied by an unnamed Maverick Hunter dubbed the "Green Biker Dude" by fans, to storm the warehouse and stop the Maverick production. After destroying a mechaniloid, the scene cuts to X being watched by a trio of undefined Mavericks called Serges, Agile and Violen who vow to avenge Sigma and stop X. After defeating 2 stage bosses, it's revealed that Zeros body was salvaged from Sigmas old fortress!... however his body has fallen into the hands of that Maverick trio from earlier, dubbed the X-Hunters, who contact X and challenge him to a fight against the 3 of them for Zeros 3 parts: his head, his body and his arms, otherwise he gets resurrected as a Maverick under the X-Hunters controls. There's still hope however, as the main part needed to give life to Zero, his control chip, is in the hands of Dr Cain. Following this the X-Hunters make themselves present across optional areas in any 3 of the remaining 6 Maverick stages, and here the story goes off into 2 different branches depending on whether you fight these guys in the Maverick stages or not, but regardless the story plays out the same for the most part: X defeats the remaining 6 Mavericks, and if you fail to gather all of Zeros parts from the X-Hunters then they raid Dr Cains lab to steal his control chip and any other parts you may have collected, but if you do get all of Zeros parts then Dr Cain will begin trying to revive Zero. X powers through the X-Hunters' secret base at the North Pole, defeating the X-Hunters for good alongside re-fighting the 8 stage bosses he fought earlier. However once that's over, Sigma reveals himself to X, likely having been brought back by the X-Hunters off screen. X makes his way to Sigma where he's confronted by him alongside either a.) the real Zero revived as a Maverick who you must fight or b.) a fake Zero (that may or may not have been the inspiration for Black Zero in the later games) that quickly gets destroyed by the real Zero. These scenarios obviously vary on if you got all of Zeros parts or not. Regardless Sigmas plans to defeat X with Zero are thwarted, and X confronts Sigma himself, who reveals his true nature as a computer virus that can brainwash reploids into becoming Mavericks. Sigma is defeated, the X-Hunters' base is destroyed and X ponders AGAIN about how much fighting does he have to do to achieve peace in the world, this ending also beginning the foreshadowing of the X vs Zero battle in X5. It's a good step up from X1s already serviceable plot, with the sub-plot of resurrecting Zero being a nice twist on what would also be just another serviceable plot, and that leads me into discussing the bosses.
Going onto the bosses, X2 rocks another well-designed set of them like in X1. Less of them can be locked into a pattern, but more of them have unique gimmicks to make them more of a threat, most notably Magna Centipede who can take away one of your abilities at random if you get hit by his tail attack, but if you hit him with Silk Shot you break his tail, preventing him from using that attack for the remainder of the fight. Or Morph Moth, who starts off as a cocoon who only really swings around and throws trash at you, but goes through a metamorphosis once you get him down to half health where his attacks are a LOT more varied. Or Overdrive Ostrich who has the ability to leap at you from the background if you off-screen him. Or Flame Stag whos whole fight revolves around vertical combat. It's hard to decide between this, X4 or X8 which has my favorite set of bosses. Furthermore the special weapons you get from the bosses are all great fun to use as well. Speed Burner for instance is effectively just a glorified double air dash once charged up allowing for some fun sequence breaks (and hell, some items like extra lives are PLACED in such a way that you have to chain an air dash with a charged Speed Burner). Silk Shot, when charged up in areas that seemingly look like dead ends net you a shit tonne of health regens which is useful for quickly filling your E-Tanks up (this is cryptic but it's still a damn good application of the weapon). Crystal Hunter is another favorite of mines as it allows you to freeze enemies to turn them into platforms. Also located in each of the 8 Maverick stages are special rooms that are used for you to engage with an X-Hunter should any of them be on that stage, and beating them nets you a part of Zero. There's Violen who primarily attacks with his big mace in a rather unpredictable pattern, Agile who primarily attacks with projectiles and fast sword strikes in a much more predictable pattern, and Serges who plants bombs from atop a platform that's equipped with a shield that you can only get through with charged shots. Failure to defeat all 3 of these guys in the Maverick stages means having to fight Zero right before Sigma in the final level, but as they're optional you only have to fight them if you want to. This creates a LOT of variety in your routes if you do decide to go after the X-Hunters for Zeros parts, as where they appear is completely random, and even getting to their rooms in some cases can be a bitch itself, particularly in Bubble Crabs stage as that's where the submarine eventually goes to, but to trigger the X-Hunter encounter I think you either have to get there before the submarine does or just destroy it before it can get there which is easily done with a Giga Crush. Anyway as I mentioned earlier you fight Zero in the final act right before Sigma if you fail to defeat the X-Hunters here, and unfortunately he is really fucking predictable, as you can lock him into spamming his ground punch and punish accordingly, allowing you to reserve your energy for Sigma, who is also somewhat easier due to his damage output being toned WAY down compared to X1. Even on my last playthrough I only had to use 1 E-Tank across the whole fight even with fucking up in getting Zeros parts. IMO it's the 2nd easiest Sigma battle, with X6s Sigma being the easiest, but more on that whenever I get to X6.
Last thing really is minor complaints, such as that a few of the tracks can be ear-grating, but not the point where I want to lower the volume, or that the English version removes all the teases to Serges being Dr. Wily from the classic series. The OST is a little weaker than X1s but it still has its high points (shoutouts go to the Intro Stage, Flame Stag, Bubble Crab, Wheel Gator, X-Hunter Stage 1/2, X-Hunter Stage 3, Zeros theme and the Credits), and the visuals are a step up too, most notably for me in Overdrive Ostrichs stage due to the distinct desert theme alongside the mirage effect alongside Wheel Gators stage where you can see the screen shake from the vibrations of the giant tank travelling across the ground.
So in conclusion, this is an absolutely worthy sequel to X1, and a HUGE step up in all but the most minor aspects, hell I'd even go as far as to say it's the absolute peak of the entire X series. So if you loved what you got in X1, absolutely try this as you'll be sure to enjoy this one a LOT with the sheer amount of replayability it has thanks to the fun level design & bosses, and if you liked this, then absolutely try Mega Man X3, which I will review in due time.
X1
X3
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
Xtreme
Xtreme 2
With Mega Man X putting Sigma out of the picture in the previous game, Maverick incidents have gradually became less and less frequent while peace gets restored to the world. 6 months pass and the Maverick Hunters have tracked down the final remnants of Sigmas forces to an abandoned warehouse in Mega Man X2, a sequel to the first Mega Man X released only a year after that. Surely with a release that quickly after the previous game, that can't be a good sign about the quality of this game... right...? If you couldn't guess by my rating, no it absolutely fucking isn't a bad game, in fact being my overall favorite game in the entire X series. It's an overall improvement over the first game in all but a few extremely minor aspects that I will discuss in this review alongside this games range of strengths.
First major thing that changes between X1 and X2 is the gameplay. Fundamentally they're near identical, so what's exactly changed? The answer to that question is that X can now dash from the very beginning of the game, whereas in X1 it was tied to a Light Capsule. This simple change is a total fucking gamechanger as it allows your boss orders to be a LOT more varied unlike in X1 where you'd almost always start off with Chill Penguin. This is really the only major gameplay change between X1 and X2, but man is it a welcome one.
With that out of the way the next logical thing to talk about would be the items, in particular that the Dr Light Capsules are back to give X a brand new set of armor (dubbed the Second Armor) with different abilities than X1s armor. The Head piece allows X to scan the area around him for secret paths. The Chest piece gives him a 50% damage reduction and also allows him to convert received damage into a screen nuke called the Giga Crush, the Buster upgrade gives X a new stronger tier of charge shot that allows him to fire two charge shots back to back, alongside being able to charge his special weapons, the Leg piece grants X the ability to dash while airborne and like in X1 there's a secret capsule that allows him to perform another Street Fighter move, this time around it's the Shoryuken. This is a damn good set of armor, with the double charge shot being an absolute beast of an attack that goes through bosses i-frames and the air dash being another new helpful tool for movement and avoiding boss attacks. Only real gripe I have though is that the Head piece is worthless, but are these ever really useful outside of a certain later armors head piece? The 8 Life Ups and the 4 E-Tanks are back, alongside a set of 3 new items that I will wait until I get to this games plot to discuss. Only major gripe I have with the items however is that some of them can feel WAY too cryptic for new players to find, and I get that this was probably intentional due to the way the Head piece of Xs armor functions in this game, but even that feels rather cryptic to find as well as it's hidden underneath what seemingly looks like a bottomless pit in Crystal Snails stage. Despite that though there is lots of fun to be had when you do know where the items are.
With these returning items comes level design to accommodate them, which this game does WELL. X2 is significant as this is one of 2 Mega Man X games alongside X7 that you can 100% without having to backtrack for any items you couldn't get previously if you followed the correct order. This does require a bit of sequence breaking, as you must first beat Wire Sponge and then use the Strike Chain to get the Buster capsule in Wheel Gators stage (which you're intended to get with an air dash) and then damage boost of an enemy later in that same stage to get the Life Up (which you're intended to get with a charged Speed Burner). While I can get the Life Up just fine with damage boosting but I usually just wait till I have the air dash to get the Buster Capsule as trying to get it with the Strike Chain requires a pretty precise chain of inputs. Anyway I'm getting sidetracked, X2 has some damn good level design with gimmicks that don't feel too intrusive, like destroying an enemy submarine in Bubble Crabs stage, avoiding spotlights in Magna Centipedes stage or changing gravity in Morph Moths stage. This game also saw the introduction of the Ride Chaser, a mechanic that would become very infamous in the later games solely due to a certain stage in Mega Man X5. X2s Ride Chaser is significant as it's the only instance of it where you can turn left and right with it so you have a lot more control over it, and you are intended to use it to get a Life Up in Overdrive Ostrichs stage but doing that's a pain so you can just sequence break it with a charged Speed Burner instead. All in all, some very good level design for what are among some of my favorite levels in the entire series.
Next up is the plot. 6 months have passed since Sigmas defeat in X1 and the Maverick Hunters have tracked down the last remnants of Sigmas army to an abandoned warehouse that's been converted into a factory for producing mechaniloids. X rushes in, accompanied by an unnamed Maverick Hunter dubbed the "Green Biker Dude" by fans, to storm the warehouse and stop the Maverick production. After destroying a mechaniloid, the scene cuts to X being watched by a trio of undefined Mavericks called Serges, Agile and Violen who vow to avenge Sigma and stop X. After defeating 2 stage bosses, it's revealed that Zeros body was salvaged from Sigmas old fortress!... however his body has fallen into the hands of that Maverick trio from earlier, dubbed the X-Hunters, who contact X and challenge him to a fight against the 3 of them for Zeros 3 parts: his head, his body and his arms, otherwise he gets resurrected as a Maverick under the X-Hunters controls. There's still hope however, as the main part needed to give life to Zero, his control chip, is in the hands of Dr Cain. Following this the X-Hunters make themselves present across optional areas in any 3 of the remaining 6 Maverick stages, and here the story goes off into 2 different branches depending on whether you fight these guys in the Maverick stages or not, but regardless the story plays out the same for the most part: X defeats the remaining 6 Mavericks, and if you fail to gather all of Zeros parts from the X-Hunters then they raid Dr Cains lab to steal his control chip and any other parts you may have collected, but if you do get all of Zeros parts then Dr Cain will begin trying to revive Zero. X powers through the X-Hunters' secret base at the North Pole, defeating the X-Hunters for good alongside re-fighting the 8 stage bosses he fought earlier. However once that's over, Sigma reveals himself to X, likely having been brought back by the X-Hunters off screen. X makes his way to Sigma where he's confronted by him alongside either a.) the real Zero revived as a Maverick who you must fight or b.) a fake Zero (that may or may not have been the inspiration for Black Zero in the later games) that quickly gets destroyed by the real Zero. These scenarios obviously vary on if you got all of Zeros parts or not. Regardless Sigmas plans to defeat X with Zero are thwarted, and X confronts Sigma himself, who reveals his true nature as a computer virus that can brainwash reploids into becoming Mavericks. Sigma is defeated, the X-Hunters' base is destroyed and X ponders AGAIN about how much fighting does he have to do to achieve peace in the world, this ending also beginning the foreshadowing of the X vs Zero battle in X5. It's a good step up from X1s already serviceable plot, with the sub-plot of resurrecting Zero being a nice twist on what would also be just another serviceable plot, and that leads me into discussing the bosses.
Going onto the bosses, X2 rocks another well-designed set of them like in X1. Less of them can be locked into a pattern, but more of them have unique gimmicks to make them more of a threat, most notably Magna Centipede who can take away one of your abilities at random if you get hit by his tail attack, but if you hit him with Silk Shot you break his tail, preventing him from using that attack for the remainder of the fight. Or Morph Moth, who starts off as a cocoon who only really swings around and throws trash at you, but goes through a metamorphosis once you get him down to half health where his attacks are a LOT more varied. Or Overdrive Ostrich who has the ability to leap at you from the background if you off-screen him. Or Flame Stag whos whole fight revolves around vertical combat. It's hard to decide between this, X4 or X8 which has my favorite set of bosses. Furthermore the special weapons you get from the bosses are all great fun to use as well. Speed Burner for instance is effectively just a glorified double air dash once charged up allowing for some fun sequence breaks (and hell, some items like extra lives are PLACED in such a way that you have to chain an air dash with a charged Speed Burner). Silk Shot, when charged up in areas that seemingly look like dead ends net you a shit tonne of health regens which is useful for quickly filling your E-Tanks up (this is cryptic but it's still a damn good application of the weapon). Crystal Hunter is another favorite of mines as it allows you to freeze enemies to turn them into platforms. Also located in each of the 8 Maverick stages are special rooms that are used for you to engage with an X-Hunter should any of them be on that stage, and beating them nets you a part of Zero. There's Violen who primarily attacks with his big mace in a rather unpredictable pattern, Agile who primarily attacks with projectiles and fast sword strikes in a much more predictable pattern, and Serges who plants bombs from atop a platform that's equipped with a shield that you can only get through with charged shots. Failure to defeat all 3 of these guys in the Maverick stages means having to fight Zero right before Sigma in the final level, but as they're optional you only have to fight them if you want to. This creates a LOT of variety in your routes if you do decide to go after the X-Hunters for Zeros parts, as where they appear is completely random, and even getting to their rooms in some cases can be a bitch itself, particularly in Bubble Crabs stage as that's where the submarine eventually goes to, but to trigger the X-Hunter encounter I think you either have to get there before the submarine does or just destroy it before it can get there which is easily done with a Giga Crush. Anyway as I mentioned earlier you fight Zero in the final act right before Sigma if you fail to defeat the X-Hunters here, and unfortunately he is really fucking predictable, as you can lock him into spamming his ground punch and punish accordingly, allowing you to reserve your energy for Sigma, who is also somewhat easier due to his damage output being toned WAY down compared to X1. Even on my last playthrough I only had to use 1 E-Tank across the whole fight even with fucking up in getting Zeros parts. IMO it's the 2nd easiest Sigma battle, with X6s Sigma being the easiest, but more on that whenever I get to X6.
Last thing really is minor complaints, such as that a few of the tracks can be ear-grating, but not the point where I want to lower the volume, or that the English version removes all the teases to Serges being Dr. Wily from the classic series. The OST is a little weaker than X1s but it still has its high points (shoutouts go to the Intro Stage, Flame Stag, Bubble Crab, Wheel Gator, X-Hunter Stage 1/2, X-Hunter Stage 3, Zeros theme and the Credits), and the visuals are a step up too, most notably for me in Overdrive Ostrichs stage due to the distinct desert theme alongside the mirage effect alongside Wheel Gators stage where you can see the screen shake from the vibrations of the giant tank travelling across the ground.
So in conclusion, this is an absolutely worthy sequel to X1, and a HUGE step up in all but the most minor aspects, hell I'd even go as far as to say it's the absolute peak of the entire X series. So if you loved what you got in X1, absolutely try this as you'll be sure to enjoy this one a LOT with the sheer amount of replayability it has thanks to the fun level design & bosses, and if you liked this, then absolutely try Mega Man X3, which I will review in due time.