Rereleases and Novelization
Tiger Electronics produced a handheld electronic version with abridged gameplay. In 1999, Mega Man 2 was rereleased for the Sony PlayStation as the second of six Rockman Complete Works discs, though only in Japan and under the original title Rockman 2. It is largely identical to the original NES release, but had a number of bonuses, such as a "navi mode" for beginners that presents the player with a slightly re-made version of the game, detailed encyclopedic content, image galleries, and remixed music. Mega Man 2 was included with nine other games in the series in Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox, released between 2004 and 2005. The game's emulation is identical to the rerelease contained in Rockman Complete Works. Also in 2005, Mega Man 2 was released alongside other Capcom games as part of a "Plug It In & Play TV Games" peripheral by Jakks Pacific. Mega Man 2 made its way to mobile phones in 2007. The game was added as a part of the Wii Virtual Console service in PAL regions on December 14, 2007. In celebration of the ninth title's release in September 2008, Capcom Japan released the game in Japan on August 26, 2008 and a North American release on September 15, 2008. In March 2009, Capcom released the game for iOS, while in September of the same year the Complete Works version of Mega Man 2 was released on the Japanese PlayStation Store, making it available for download on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. Inafune expressed a desire to remake Mega Man 2, similar to Mega Man Powered Up, but stated that such a project was dependent on the commercial success of the latter. A tech demo for the Nintendo 3DS called Classic Games was shown at E3 2010, displaying more than a dozen classic games, including Mega Man 2, using 3D effects. Reggie Fils-Aime announced that the titles were slated for release on the 3DS and would possibly use the 3DS' features, such as 3D effects, analog control, or camera support. The game was released on the 3DS via the Virtual Console in Japan on August 8, 2012.
Mega Man 2 was novelized in the Worlds of Power series published by Scholastic in 1990. The novel mostly follows the game, even offering game hints at the end of some chapters. Besides the added dialogue, the one major variation in the novel is that Dr. Light fears Mega Man's chances against Dr. Wily's more powerful new robots and while attempting to duplicate him, accidentally turns him into a human being, a difficulty Mega Man must endure throughout the story. The book's cover also lacks the gun depicted on the North American boxart of the game, due to a "no weapons" policy that Worlds of Power writers had to abide by.
Read more about this topic: Mega Man 2, Legacy