While Mega Man X2 is still an attractive package, there are a few problems that drag the game down.

User Rating: 8.5 | RockMan X2 SNES
Mega Man X, in all of it's awesomeness, made Mega Man... just better. The gameplay was faster, the graphics were prettier, and the gameplay was just a bit more solid. So of course, hopes for a sequel were very high, but I consider Mega Man X2 to be one of the series' weaker installments.

Graphically, the game still looks good for 16-bit, but doesn't really improve on anything. The graphics feel very "Cut-N'-Paste." Although a few enemies look a bit better, and the water effects look cooler, nothing really stands out that didn't in the original Mega Man X.

The Controls are still as tight as Mega Man X's, but for some reason, I found myself having to wrestle with the air dash a bit more to get it working in the right direction. The Air Dash feels very loose and out of control, but other than that, I can't really find any problems with the controls.

The story gets a surprising twist, this time around. This time, a group of mavericks called the X-Hunters have gathered Zero's parts since he died in the last game, and they intend to bring him back to life to fight with them. So X has to go out, kill the X-Hunters and resurrect him with Zero's original control chip that he held onto when he died.

One thing that kind of bugged me about Mega Man X2 is that the music really isn't as good. In the original Mega Man NES series, there wasn't a single game in the series that didn't have some seriously funk-a-licious tunes, but the only tunes that I really like in this game are X-Hunter Base Stage 3 and Bubble Crab's stage.

Graphics: 7
Controls: 8
Entertainment: 9
Difficulty: 8
Story: 10

Final Score: 8.7/10

Good and Bad
---------------------
+Same tight gameplay
+Cool Weapon Upgrades
+Creative Maverick Names
+Better Plot
+The Shoryuken Street Fighter Attack
-Easier Difficulty
-"Meh" Soundtrack