The Best Nintendo Game Every Year 1983 - 2024

For a time, video game developers weren’t necessarily sure how to approach sequels. In many ways, Capcom’s Mega Man 2 showed that “more of the same” was a viable option.

Mega Man already had an air of coolness that most other games struggled to crack, with strong character designs, bold use of colour to craft a set of immediately identifiable stages and, let’s be honest, some of the best gaming music of all time.

But Mega Man 2 set a standard that the franchise, and other games, chased forever more on all these fronts and then some. The game was punishingly hard, only made fair but its tight controls. Mistakes were on the player’s head, but the addictive feeling of piloting the heavy Rock and the drive of the incredible design kept players coming back over and over (only to lose to Quick Man yet again).

It’s got a lot of strong competition but often being called “the greatest 2D platformer of all time” isn’t bad for an initiative sequel.