I got Mega Man Zero 2 when I bought my Mega Man anniversary collection, since of course I have been playing all the collection games for the past couple of weeks I decided to wipe off the dust and start to play Mega Man Zero 2.

Now Mega Man Zero hit in 2002 and it was a pretty hard game although it wasn’t thee hardest Mega Man game (that award has to go to Mega Man and Bass) it was pretty brutal. Zero 2 is back and it returns to a bit of the classic Mega Man formula, but it’s still has it’s brutal edge.

Story.
In the year 21XX the Sigma virus tried to reboot the original programming of a famous Maverick hunter named Zero. The programming was intended for Zero to kill his best friend X, while Zero was able to fight off that command he became concern that one day he might actually do what he was created to do. So he sealed himself away in suspended animation.

100 years went by and Mega Man X went on to finally permanently delete the Sigma virus and build a city for humans and reploids to live in peace called Neo Arcadia. All was going well in till one day X just disappeared. A brilliant reploid engineer named Ciel resurrected the lost hero with a duplicate version of X. But when an energy crisis hit Neo Arcadia the copy of X solution was to kill all the repliods. When Ceil herd a rumor that Zero was not dead but merely asleep she sought him out and awoken him so he could save the reploids. With a little help from Ceil and a mysterious cyber elf named unknown X he was able to beat the faulty copy. But he did not return to Ciel and the restance base, rather he was separated from them and lost in the desert.

The game pretty much starts there after the first stage Zero get’s reuninited with Ciel and her friends and there under a new commander named Elpizo that has creep written all over him. It seems that Elpizo is after a cyber elf called the dark elf and has the story goes along Zero realizes what it is and has to stop him before it’s to late.

Graphics.
Well like pretty much every console Mega Man games the sprites never really change on a currant generation of consoles. Capcom only decides to redo them when they hit a more powerful console. That said Mega Man Zero might still have the same animation for Zero but that is not a bad thing. The graphics in the first where all drawn animated sprites and Zero 2 continues that. There are some pretty awesome effects when it comes to explosions to. My only complaint is that there are occasions where it looks like the color is bleeding when you play it on the GB player for the gamecube, but this doesn’t happen when you play it on a regular GBA or GBA SP.

Sound.
The sound in the game is pretty much like the last one. You get the usual Mega Man type sound that enjoyable to listen to.

Gameplay.
Well Mega Man Zero 2 is a bit more like a Mega Man or a Mega Man X game then it’s last one. You start off fighting 4 reploids with pictures on the screen. While you don’t get there power you might obtain an item that might help after words. The only powers you get out of them are 3 energy chips which are fire, ice, and electricity. Once chosen you go to the stage and try to complete your mission, while there is a mission objective that might score you extra points if you succeed in doing it, it’s no longer required that you succeed in doing it. Just get to the last boss and destroy him in order to proceed in the game.

Also you now have unlimited amount of continues and extra lives are maintain like they do in a regular Mega Man games. 3 lives per continue and unlimited continue. However there is no give up option like there was in the last game, they won’t even allow you to get back to the stage select screen without resetting. So once your in a stage your stuck in it in till you complete it. If you decide to reset you will loose all weapon power up’s and cyber elf’s collected in the stage.

And let’s talk about the stages they are long, hard, and mid way points are far and few in between. This means Mega Man Zero 2 when you die chances are you’ll have to start all over, if not then you’ll probably start back further then you want to be. This game takes a lot retrying to complete a lot of the stages, has well has a lot of patience. But it still winds up being an enjoyable game despite it’s challenges.

Anything new to the game.
A few new things where added to spice up the game play. The tri rod is now out and the chain rod has replaced it. With this new weapon Zero can stick to walls and swing across holes, has well has pull boxes and crates. It’s a handy item but not necessarily a great weapon. The gun, sword, and shield are back from the last game.

Another thing they added was a style change that can be unlock. These give Zero different states and usually have a special ability. The raise F form let’s Zero move fast and slash upword, while the energy style limits Zero’s to one slash at a time but gives him far more energy pellets in return. There nothing like the style changes in the battle network series but there still a nice addition to the game play.

Another new but hard to get addition (hard to get meaning I haven’t had a chance to get it) is Zero ability to absorb the bosses power. But to get this you have to get a perfect ranking on the stage. Which is pretty much impossible in less your either a gaming god, or a really big cheater. Going through a stage majority fast, killing all the enemies, and not using one single cyber elf (this includes the permit ones like the energy tanks), and not dying. It’s pretty much impossible but I hear it’s there if your good enough.

Final Recommendation.
Mega Man Zero 2 by no means changes the game play that was in the original, but then it’s a Mega Man game. If you liked the majority frustrating original then your probably going to enjoy the equally frustrating Mega Man Zero 2. If not then well your probably going to be doing yourself a favor by staying away from the sequel.

Recommended: Yes