Jeremy Parish checks out Mega Man 2 in NES Works 127

One of the finest NES releases for 1989, and in fact for any year, Mega Man 2 redefined run-and-jump single-player action games. Which is funny, because everything here already appeared in the original Mega Man, back in 1987. But it appears BETTER here, with improved visuals, control, music, level design, enemy and weapon designs, and just a general sense of mind-blowing excellence (by 1989 standards).

As the NES found itself staring down the barrel of imminent obsolescence thanks to the looming launch of the advanced Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 consoles, Mega Man 2 proved that Nintendo’s 8-bit system still had plenty of room left for technical advancement and creative innovation.