Had a lot of expectations for this game... but in the end it sucked really bad. The level design absolutely butchers it and also the fact that Intelligent Systems turned this beautiful, RPG franchise to a platformer and could not recover after that. SPM also ruins the best moments in the game with either humorous dialogue in a very dark atmosphere/setting or reviving characters in the game which were clearly considered dead for the "happy" ending. The story was good at best, very different for a Mario game I'll say. A romantic story as well as a villain who posed a huge threat to the universe itself... this was also not executed well as the villain does nothing in the beginning parts of the story and suddenly starts doing something during the ending. The gameplay was horrible, and the game itself was way too easy. The final boss was one of the most disappointing battles of all time, and I will say it's my least favorite out of the Mario franchise. Expected so much from this game, in the end I got a bad platformer with missed potential.

Sequels to video games often have large shoes to fill. They are expected to push the ideas and framework of their predecessor to new heights, to solidify the essence of what made the previous game so great and to trim the parts that were hindering the original vision.

In a good number of cases, games manage to accomplish this feat. Super Mario World, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy IV, etc. They live up to the hype and standards surrounding them, and some have even helped birth new genres or refine them. These are the pinnacle examples of what good sequels can accomplish.

So then, what happens when you have a sequel to a game that was already subpar… and it winds up being an even worse experience?

Enter Mega Man Zero 2.

This game takes two steps forward in fixing certain problems I had with Zero 1, but then also takes two steps back for new problems like its level design as well as problems from Zero 1 that it flat out did not fix at all.

Let’s start with the very few positives I have. Firstly, the Retry system has been removed and the traditional life system has returned. I don’t know if this is because of the Legacy Collection, since that was the version I played for this game or not, but it is a welcome improvement… that still has problems that I despise but we’ll get back onto that.

Secondly, the music is much better. They don’t reuse Zero’s theme from the X series, which means I don’t have to hear it be absolutely butchered, and the other music from the game is pretty good. There are points where the background music sounds like asses farting directly into my ears, but personally those moments were few and far between and weren’t experience ruining.
Next, while there are times where you will revisit earlier stages, those revisits usually take place in an area within that stage that you didn’t see previously, allowing for a different aesthetic. Sometimes though you will just go to an area that looks aesthetically the same and it sucks when that happens.

Finally, the story is at least a step up from Zero 1. Zero finally returns to the resistance after wandering the earth fighting against Neo Arcadian forces on his lonesome. He returns to find the resistance under the lead of a new commander, the reploid Elpizo. Elpizo is a very arrogant and stubborn leader who ultimately means well, but his brash decision making results in terrible consequences.

He commands Zero to help him and his army with taking down specific Neo Arcadian operations to bolster the effect of “Operation: Righteous Strike”, which is meant to destroy the defenses and army of Neo Arcadia, something which former commander Ciel believes is a bad idea. Ciel is also working on a way to create a renewable energy source using these Baby Elves that she’s found, and believes that if she can do so, they can solve the energy crisis and stop Neo Arcadia from hunting them down.

Damn, if that doesn’t hit home nowadays, huh?

Zero winds up helping out Elpizo, who then decides to start “Operation: Righteous Strike” despite the protests of Zero, Ciel, and Cerveau. This results in a massive failure as the Neo Arcadian forces knew this would happen, and much of the resistance winds up completely annihilated, resulting in Elpizo snapping and deciding to go and destroy Neo Arcadia on his lonesome.

It is somewhat implied earlier in the story that Elpizo is jealous of the admiration that much of the resistance has for Zero, and this envy along with the guilt of his failures is what begins his Face-Heel Turn.

Zero is eventually sent by Ciel to find Elpizo, eventually coming into conflict with the Three Guardians once more, before finding out that Elpizo has gone to the deepest part of Neo Arcadia to awaken the Dark Elf using the Baby Elves that Ciel was studying earlier. This of course means world destruction and the extinction of the human race (as well as Reploids honestly) and needs to be stopped.

This ends with a final bout between Zero and Elpizo, now powered by the Dark Elf after he killed X’s body to release it. Elpizo loses and comes to his senses, realizing that he had done the wrong thing. The Dark Elf then temporarily turns to the light and frees Elpizo’s soul, before turning back to evil and escaping the scene.

Zero and X ponder on what has transpired, thus ending Mega Man Zero 2’s story.

It’s definitely more engaging than Zero 1, I’ll say that much… but the story could not save this game from the other myriad problems it has.

Onto the many complaints and I’ll start with the most egregious: The level design in this game is the fucking pits. Spikes are fucking everywhere, like it’s an X6 reunion party. Literally the first recommended level of the game is an ice level with spikes all over the fucking place. Spikes on the walls, on the ceiling, on the floor, fucking everywhere and it feels so fucking senseless.

Not only that, but the level of Phoenix Magnion has a very similar gimmick to, guess who, Blaze Heatnix’s stage from X6, with you fighting the same mini-boss at least 4 times, one right before the boss fight itself, which also has a 30 second cutscene before it, which you have to witness every time you die.

If there is something I hate about both Zero 1 and this game, it is the fucking unskippable cutscenes. This is a problem I swear only exists in the Zero series, because guess what. If you die at a boss in X5 or X6, games that came before this one, they wouldn’t do the fucking dialogue before the boss fight, you would just fight the fucking boss. Why is it that this doesn’t apply to Zero 1 or this game? It’s the single most aggravating shit and serves nothing but to waste time mashing buttons to get to the god damn fight.

Another thing I hate, carried over from Zero 1, there are no checkpoints if you play this game raw. These levels aren’t short either and making even a single mistake (which is very easy to do in an early game with your first playthrough because you don’t know where shit is, and also the overwhelming amount of spikes) will result in you going to the very beginning of the stage, which fucking sucks.

Again, the X series, hell even the Classic series had fucking checkpoints, what is with the Zero series and this bullshit.

If you are going to play this game for the first time, I recommend using the Legacy Collection’s checkpoint feature that it added. It makes the game far more bearable to experience. That or use save states if you intend to emulate this shit.

Bosses in this game feel far more learnable than in Zero 1, which is nice, but there’s still some fights that just feel like ass, and I’m mostly referring to the fight with the double beetleborg brothers. One of which is a boss from Zero 1 who reappears in the final dungeon for the rematch and it was a 2 Vs. 1 fight in a fucking Mega Man game where you don’t really have the tools to deal with that shit, and there aren’t even walls to walljump on to avoid most attacks for this fight. It sucked massive dick.

Cyber Elves return and are still useless 90% of the time. They still have some that lock health upgrades behind themselves, which is a terrible design choice when again, the X series had a perfectly functional way of doing this.

And of course, weapon grinding also makes a comeback… I still have to grind for a basic three hit combo… in a fucking Mega Man game.

There is so much about this game that just pisses me off to an almost irrational degree, but weapon grinding basically not even changing between Zero 1 and now was the biggest deal breaker for me.

The moment I booted up the tutorial and realized that my basic necessities from Zero 1 were gone, I wanted to quit playing the game immediately. It looked as though almost nothing had been fixed, and honestly… almost nothing had been fixed with this game.

When you play a sequel to a game, you would at least expect more than just two improvements… but no. Mega Man Zero 2 fails to deliver much of any positive improvements and instead adds more problems.

EX Skills, which are only given to players who have high rankings and beat a boss, basically fucking new players out of techniques that would probably make the game a lot more enjoyable and manageable. New forms where the way of acquiring them isn’t actively told to you, and most have very specific requirements.

It all just results in an experience that had me wanting the game to end before it even started.

I didn’t try to be excited, I didn’t try to put too high of an expectation on this game like I did with Zero 1. I only expected at least some baseline improvements, and Zero 2 didn’t even give me that.

What I got was a mangled remake of X6 in all honesty, and it disgusts me on an inherent level.

As an aside, I’ve been told that Zero 1 and Zero 2 get better upon replays, but I ask you this: If a game isn’t fun or remotely enjoyable upon the first playthrough, why would anyone want to replay it to see if it gets better. A game should present its encompassing positive traits on a first playthrough, because if it can’t do that, then I don’t believe those positive traits exist.

I’m not looking forward to Zero 3 at this point, or Zero 4. Zero 2 has damaged my perception of this series to such an extent that I’m afraid that even having the most minimal expectations for its sequels will just leave me further disappointed.

I hate this game, because it couldn’t even fulfill the most basic needs to even be a subpar sequel.