Mega Man X2 - Reception and Legacy

Reception and Legacy

Reception for Mega Man X2 has been primarily positive by virtue of its graphics, sound, and a persistently enjoyable gameplay model which critics and fans of the Mega Man series had come to expect. Comparing the game to the first Mega Man X, GamePro's Chris Nicolella called Mega Man X2 "improved in almost every way". Nicolella summarized, "The new C4 chip energizes the already great graphics, the extremely responsive controls are perfect and the levels contain more enemies and hidden locations than any MM cart yet." Dave Halverson of GameFan likewise enjoyed the level designs and judged the new armor abilities and the music to be better than the original Mega Man X. GameSpot editors Christian Nutt and Justin Speer were appreciative of Capcom's attempt at expanding Mega Man X2 over its predecessor in all aspects, especially the story, which they called "involving ... with engaging characters". IGN named Mega Man X2 as the 31st-best game in its list of the top 100 SNES games of all time. "Following up the explosive debut of the Mega Man X series was no small task," the website abstracted, "but Mega Man X2 accomplished the job admirably."

In spite of the general praise given to Mega Man X2, some sources complained of its lack of deviation from Mega Man X and earlier games in the series. Both Jeremy Parish and Nadia Oxford of 1UP.com found the game a forgettable entry in the franchise. Parish stated that although it carried the plot of the first Mega Man X forward, the game itself was simply "more of the same ... but not as good". Oxford commented, "In light of Mega Man 2's vast improvement over the original Mega Man, Mega Man X2's feeble innovations are disappointing." Aside from thinking it was uninspired, Super Play columnists Zy Nicholson and Wil Overton felt that Mega Man X2 did not use Capcom's Cx4 chip to its maximum potential. The writers were unimpressed by the 3D graphics of the sparse in-game instances where the Cx4 is used, particularly when compared to late-1994 SNES releases like Donkey Kong Country and Street Racer, neither of which use added cartridge technology.

In 2006, Mega Man X2 was included as part of the North American Mega Man X Collection for the GameCube and PS2. A version for i-mode and EZweb-compatible mobile phones was made available in Japan between 2008 and 2009. Mega Man X2 was released on the Wii Virtual Console service in Japan on December 27, 2011, in PAL regions on May 31, 2012, and in North America on June 14, 2012.