Some games deserve to be played again and again, to be mastered. When the game’s standard difficulties have been beaten and you still want more out of it, what can you do? Artificially raise the difficulty! For instance, completing all of the classic action game Mega Man 2 (NES) without a single death, something I’ve achieved recently with great pride. It’s certainly a daunting challenge considering how many bottomless pits and spikes there are, and it takes practice, but is certainly not impossible.
How to succeed:
- Don’t skimp on using your special weapons in the first eight stages, since they get refilled after every stage. This changes once you get to Wily’s castle: they won’t refill again, and since this is a no-death run you certainly won’t be continuing. But even then there are plenty of refills lying around.
- Energy tanks are your friend. if you play your cards right you could have four of them going into Wily’s castle and that makes things so much easier. With these you really only have to worry about the instant death areas, like that damn dragon boss of Wily 1…
- There are many different orders you can use to take out the bosses. I prefer starting with Air Man, because he’s easy to take out with your normal weapon, his special is nice, and you also get the extremely valuable Item 2.
- For some further inspiration there’s a 30 minute speed run at Speed Demos Archive, that while the runner plays on Normal difficulty (boooo) it has a lot of nice tricks and I learned much of what I know from it. Also, the TAS is there if you want to see some sploitz in action: there’s lots of warping through walls.
The special weapons:
- Bubble Lead: Well OK, this weapon is worthless other than for Heat Man and Wily’s final form. Moving on…
- Air Blaster: The counter for Crash Man, and also great against machinery in general for the most part. I always whip this one out when I see one of the giant mech soliders to take them out in 1-2 shots.
- Quick Boomerang: The counter for Metal Man, the dragon boss at Wily 1, and the Guts Dozer boss of Wily 3. Pretty good all-purpose as well with lots of ammo, but of course, it’s no Metal Blade.
- Atomic Fire: I don’t use this one much except for a couple spots. It seems like crap at first glance, but you can charge it if you hold down the button. It’s great against Wily’s first form, and great against other big enemies that you want to take down quick, like the fire-breathing dogs in Wood Man’s stage. You just won’t have much ammo so think ahead.
- Leaf Shield: Supposed to be the counter for Air Man but I prefer just using the normal blaster. However this one has obvious defensive uses. It’s perfect for protecting yourself from the metal drill corridors, and also in Wily 4 when you’re on the motorized platforms from Crash Man’s stage, to stop the annoying drones from knocking you off.
- Metal Blades: Easily the most useful weapon in the game, you should be using this one a lot. It’s powerful against many types of enemies, it can be fired in eight directions, it moves fast and it has lots of ammo. Think of it like an improved version of your standard blaster. It’s the counter to Bubble Man, it’s great against Wood Man, it cuts through Metal Man himself in two shots (!), and also a good choice for Flash Man though not necessary. Essential against the Wily 2 boss (red chamber), the big fish that spit seahorses in Bubble Man’s stage, and many other places. Use it whenever you have ammo for it.
- Time Stopper: The counter for Quick Man, it will drain half his life. Plan out when you will use this since you can’t stop it once you’ve started. Essential for Quick Man’s stage (unless you’re a badass, but even then this is a no-death run and I wouldn’t risk it) and otherwise great for trouble spots like the falling chain spike things in Metal Man and Wily 3. Also there’s a great trick for skipping the fire-breathing dogs of Wood Man’s stage in the above speed run video.
- Crash Bomb: I prefer not to use this against any of the standard bosses, but it’s the counter for Wily’s second form. You will of course need full ammo for this to take on the Wily 4 boss. It’s also great to have for Flash Man’s stage.