Mega Man Battle Network 2

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⭐8/10

What started as a nostalgia trip has quickly developed into an obsession. These games are good! They are fun to play! I don't want to stop! 

I am now getting into true nostalgia territory as this is a game a beat a hundred times as a kid and still knew inside and out today. It is an improvement on the first entry in essentially every single way, now introducing a bunch of mechanics that would last the rest of the series. There are a million quality of life changes, such as ways to avoid random encounters or the ability to run from them if not. They also make each online space unique and interesting to explore, and there are plenty of balance changes so that progression feels more linear and fair. 

I'll start out with the negatives. The first negative is that the story is way more involved. This is a negative because the story still sucks, and now there is more of it. The story in this game is just the annoying thing that happens between boss fights, and so now there is more mashing of the A button. But they also pad out the story with fetch quests and meaningless busywork which is annoying. The greatest offense the game has is that that you get 90% of the way through the story before it screeches to a halt and sends you all over the real-world and virtual maps for hours doing nothing. It was made a little easier with a guide but I'm not sure how 12 year old me kept his sanity. Maybe because I had nothing better going on in life... 

Those negatives alone probably make this game impossible to recommend to a modern audience, but I think there is still so much here on offer otherwise that this is a legitimately good game. The fighting is super rewarding, and in this game the map opens up a little more and you can challenge yourself in fun and unique ways.  Those challenges in turn offer real, tangible rewards which compels you to keep trying for them, and you get this super rewarding loop of taking on bosses and using their rewards to fight harder bosses. 

Battle Network 2 also has some of the best post game, letting you dive deeper and deeper into the net until it feels like you are in uncharted territory, fighting bosses not meant for mortal players. That feeling of exploration is terrific, and it culminates in a boss fight with one of the coolest ideas for a character, one that gives me goosebumps to this day. The dialogue is all so hacky and lame that it takes away from the intrigue a bit, but what a cool concept for a kid's game. 

I continue to be impressed with this series. It's got some issues you'd expect from a game released in 2001, but I believe it is genuinely creative with engaging combat, passable puzzles, vibrant art, catchy music, and well-planned, thoughtful maps with those cool interweaving themes like in souls games. We need more games like Mega Man Battle Network! 


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